Towels & Canisters 1970

Recently received the following message from Isla Vistan Murray Sobel (1967-1971):

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"Please ad me to your mailing list.

"I was at UCSB during the glory days, 1967 to 1971.

"We had an apartment on Madrid and became quite adept at soaking towels, rolling them up and sticking them under the door to block the tear gas. My roommate developed quite a pitching arm by putting on an army surplus gas mask and gloves and picking up the gas canisters and hurling them back at the police.

"Those were the days!

"Unfortunately, I have very little recollection of the classes I took.

"Best regards,

"Murray Sobel"

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Ah, yes... Those Were The Days!

Carmen Retires

Carmelo's retiring and some of us are going to be on hand to see him off. You are all invited.

Here's the mini-press release:

"Carmen Lodise spent 20 years in Isla Vista, 1972-92. He was part of the community building movement of that era and a leader in the three campaigns for Isla Vista Cityhood. During the period, he was elected to the Isla Vista Community Counil (1972) and the Isla Vista Park Board (1976-80). He was the publisher of the Isla Vista Free Press, the town's longest-lasting weekly newspaper (1987-89), and his history of Isla Vista can be found at:
www.islavistahistory.com

"Carmen will be moving to a village on the Pacific Coast of Mexico shortly after New Years.

"People are invited to bring memorabilia of their experience in Isla Vista. Finals are nearly over on Dec. 10, so there should be plenty of on-street parking available."

Etta James in I.V. 1970

This vignette just in from Dick Flacks:

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"I attended the Etta James concert. She told an Isla Vista story. It seems that in the early 70s she was at a Jazz festival here, and went to Eggs, etc. for breakfast. She sat on a stool there and broke it (she was heavy!) and was rudely ejected from the place. Later she got a call from Gregg Knell informing her that as an official of Associated Students he had succeeded in getting her an apology and a check for $10k from the restaurant. It was quite astonishing that she remembered Greg's name (and said that he was now a lawyer)."

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By the way, if anyone knows the whereabout of Greg Knell, please pass it on...

Jeff Probst

The neatest thing about having the DBOA website and blog is the occasional email I get from Isla Vista veterans. The most recent one comes from Jeff Probst, who was an active EL GAUCHO reporter during the period of the riots. With his permission, I am including some past and current info about him, as well as his email address for those of you who want to reconnect:

"I'm "Jeff Woodstock" (the name I adopted for a year or so in Isla Vista) and "Terry Lennox" (Jack Whelan's pseudonym for me) in dboa. I recently (I live in London) received a copy of your book and am enjoying reliving my and others' history and finding out much that I was unaware of. I expect to spend many interested hours reading it. Thanks for writing it..."

Years ago, Jeff wrote a very personal and hitherto unpublished version of those times. He has been kind enough to share it with me and I am reading it, now. I'll have more word about it and Jeff in future entries to the blog.

If you'd like to get a hold of Jeff, he's in London, at:

rosjeff@btinternet.com