we gaucho back!

When it comes to understanding what makes Isla Vista Isla Vista, we’re a pretty good source. Island View Outfitters has been part of the community since 2009. If you don’t know about us, we started in an Isla Vista garage by second-year Gaucho at the time, Garrett Gerstenberger. The following year, Garrett partnered with tenured screen printer Jose Cardoso, and locked up a lease for our current headquarters and office: 6565 Trigo Road. The rest is history.

We’ve become a constant in the ever-shifting Isla Vista business landscape, we keep in tune with the young energy, we channel our creative art and print capabilities as best we can and use it as a vessel for curating and contributing to this unique little beach town. We like to see ourselves as a resource for anyone and anything. A safe space, a happy place, an opportunity for anyone to come in and get advice, honest answers, and a good laugh.

Accumulatively, between our collective UCSB experiences and the 10+ years, we get it all. Garrett often cries aloud about how old he feels now that they’ve passed their ten year business mark (hooray for local business!). We student-employees always laugh because while we think he’s old, he’s still young and one of us.

Okay, so IV food culture is perhaps one of the most interesting I’ve ever experienced. There is nowhere else on the planet, outside of maybe New York, where you can get a pastrami and mozzarella stick sandwich at 3AM. IV food ranges from surprisingly healthy to downright hangover cures and we honestly recommend you sample a little bit from everywhere. 

To the luck of our thin wallets, many of the IV restaurants have deals, whether that be weekly or biweekly, to incentivize people to try them out. Woodstocks is chief amongst deals, they have everything from Pint Night to, on occasion, pizza size upgrades.

It’s not too difficult to figure out these deals, as most restaurants in IV want you to try them out and they’re pretty keen to tell you why. Our personal recommendation is 1) don’t rush yourself, you’ll have time to try everything and 2) Head on into these places because they’re gonna need the business and if they don't get it, we’re gonna be so, so sad when they have to permanently close up shop. 

There is also something major that is often overlooked and rather serious here that I think it’s time we get into now… going to the beach. At this point you’re probably thinking, “we’re literally on the beach, I’ll be there everyday,” and while that’s completely fine, we definitely need consider the fact that every day can easily turn into every few months. We can’t personally stress this enough, but make time to go to the beach.

We recommend being proactive and take advantage of the proximity you have to the amazing nature that surrounds UCSB! The sereneness of the view we have is easily one of the best things for your mental health in the midst of midterms and finals, which hit a lot quicker here than they do in semester-based schools. 

As far as the beaches themselves, we have a few options to choose from. First, we have Devereux Beach. Dev's, as we call it for short, is a 2-3 minute walk from the end of 68 Block (the last block in IV) and it’s generally the best beach for recreational activities such as spikeball, tanning, tons of surfing, and general hangouts with a large group. This beach is generally a hotspot for everyone here, but there’s almost always plenty of room.

If the tide is low enough, you can walk from Devereux beach along the coastline until you hit Campus Point Beach, which is where UCSB is. Campus Point is pretty casual, and you’ll definitely see more people jogging or walking there as opposed to sands. The cool part about campus point has to be that it’s so easy to access from campus, we definitely recommend it as a study break spot.

In the opposite direction of Campus Point and at the very northern tip of Devereux beach is Coal Oil Point. Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve is a protected plant and animal habitat that is administered by the University. If you keep meandering up the coastline further north you'll find yourself on Sand's Beach, which is the home of the protected snowy plovers species (look them up if you don't know what they look like, they're adorable).

Also, circling back, the coastline you can walk along from Devereux Beach to Campus Point is free real estate, you can drop a towel or set up spikeball anywhere along the coast. If you have walked along Del Playa, you will also notice the handful of stairs that lead you down to the beach - one at the end of each block. Chances are you’ll see some people surfing or on floats in the water, as these are time-honored traditions for UCSB students. The last beach we have in close proximity is Goleta Beach Park. This spot is good for the occasional surf or general recreation as well as fishing, as this park has a pier that is optimal for sunset viewing.

With everything and everyone being within a square mile, it's normal to feel like Isla Vista is a bubble. Yet, there are so many things to do beyond IV!

Most obvious, there's Downtown Santa Barbara. While Santa Barbara is no big city, there's still tons to do here! For shopping, we recommend heading down State Streetand walking through Paseo Nuevo, the outdoor mall.

If you get sick of dining hall food, Downtown is the destination for some good eats. If you're 21, you can find some fun bars and clubs along State Street and in the Funk Zone. College Nights happen every Thursday where there's no cover charge and you can take the bus from IV to Downtown and back for $10-20.

If you're looking for more adventure, the mountains are just the place to go to. While we love having the beach as our backyard, we love having the mountains as our front yard even more! If you're into hiking, there are countless trails in the Santa Barbara area.

The Hot Springs are a must-do on your list while you're here. There's the Gaviota Hot Springsand Montecito Hot Springs—we recommend the latter. Lizard's Mouth is one of the best sunset spots in Santa Barbara. If you head up the mountain early, you can grab a spot on top of one of the water towers. If that's taken, you can head a little further down the road and hit the rocks - where most people have sunset picnics.

Here at IVO, one of our favorite things to do is head to the very place that inspired our name - the Channel Islands. On free weekends, many students go camping on Santa Cruz Island. We highly recommend doing this before you graduate!

One of the best ways to explore our beautiful home is through the Excursion Club! Once you become a member by paying per quarter or paying a cheaper fee for the year, you'll get weekly emails of different excursions. Make sure to keep an eye out and sign up ASAP because spots fill up fast! This is a great way to meet new people and explore the area.

One of the biggest concerns when coming into a new school in general has to be finding your people, which is considerably understandable. You go your entire life with a group or groups of people, only to head off to university and find yourselves amidst a sea of new faces and experiences waiting to be plucked out amongst the masses… this doesn’t have to be as stressful as we make it out to be.

There are plenty of opportunities amongst various groups and organizations to find your footing in this new chapter of your lives. As we mentioned earlier, clubs are a fairly streamlined way to find new friends fast.

Conversely, you might be looking for something outside of the school. In IV itself there are plenty of different organizations to join, one of which being greek life. While greek life is technically run through the school, you’re more likely to see it in its entirety while in IV. The greek process at UCSB is relatively simple, they host a range of traditional greek fraternities and sororities as well as education, major, and multicultural fraternities.

Recruitment primarily takes place in the fall for both Fraternities and Sororities whereas, in the spring, there is typically a recruitment for Fraternities. As far as recruitment itself actually goes, you can expect to go from most, if not all of the houses, where you get to engage in conversation with several members of the house. This is easily one of the quicker ways to make friends and find yourself exploring IV more.

As per the education, major, and multicultural fraternities, which often offer co-ed membership, the best way to get involved with these is through school and class. Members from these organizations often give presentations or table around campus at the beginning of the fall quarter. Additionally, you might find an advertisement for these fraternities on the kiosks we mentioned earlier. 

Greek life only consists of 11% of the school population, so rest assured, it is not necessary to join these organizations if you want to make friends. If greek life is not the direction you find yourself wanting to head in, we also recommend several volunteer opportunities in the IV region. Various political campaigns and volunteer operations make homes in Isla Vista due to the influence of the younger generation. These groups provide relatively good opportunities for making friends under the idea of community outreach or shared interests. These opportunities are also terrific resume boosters. 

If this seems like too much of an effort, fear not. There are constantly student-run concerts, taco stand pop-ups, parties, and other events that are sure to yield opportunities to find friends.

There are a bevy of resources in the region of Isla Vista. IV Foot Patrol is a division of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office that monitors IV regularly and thoroughly. They are an excellent resource for anything from noise complaints to general safety concerns. Additionally we have IV Clinic, which is a healthcare facility and can take care of a range of ailments, or, help you to find a branch of the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics which can take care of your specific ailment. 

As far as cultural resources, we’d like you to consider Island View Outfitters as your premier cultural hub. All of the team members here (promptly titled The Island View Crew) have undying passions for UCSB, IV, and the general Santa Barbara area. Our team consists of several UCSB Alumni as well as current and potential students who have all experienced Isla Vista and UCSB in their own unique ways. Whether you have a question or just want to chat, we want you to know that our doors are always open to any member of the community we’re so fortunate to be a part of. 

IV Foot Patrol: (805) 681-4179 

IV Neighborhood Clinic: (805)968-1511

Island View Outfitters: 
(805)845-1333
hello@islandviewoutfitters.com
Social Media: @islandviewoutfitters