The BofA Burning in Isla Vista - 50th Anniversary

The Bank of America Burning in Isla Vista on the 50th Anniversary - The Santa Barbara Independent

1968 With Tom Brokaw

1968 With Tom Brokaw - YouTube

"Sunshine Revolutionaries," 4th Edition

First self-published in 1987 under the title "Don't Bank on Amerika," this comprehensive history of the Isla Vista riots of 1970 was later titled "Sunshine Revolutionaries" (1996-2002). I changed the title back again in 2004 to "Don't Bank on Amerika," but I found many people confused between my history of the riots and the film that was done during those times, with the same name.

So, for this fourth edition (2017),  I've reverted back to "Sunshine Revolutionaries," the name under which it is copyrighted. At 224 pages, it remains the best and most detailed single resource available on the riots.

It is now available as an ebook for $4.99 at Lulu.com:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/malcolm-gault-williams/sunshine-revolutionaries/ebook/product-23317893.html

"Sunshine Revolutionaries," 2017

The first edition of my history of the Isla Vista riots ("Sunshine Revolutionaries") came out as a self-published spiral-bound photocopy in 1987 with a print run of less that 50 copies. One is still archived in Special Collections at the UCSB Library. Additionally, I shared a digital copy with friends and those most interested.

The second edition ("Don't Bank on Amerika") was also self-published, but this time as a true paperback, in 2002, with no digital copy. This hardcopy was moderately popular for the ten years of its publication, selling over 100 copies. It became a real resource to those who wanted to know the details of the riots. Unfortunately, both the first and second editions are no longer available.

For the third edition, I'm going back to my original title, the one it is copyrighted under: "Sunshine Revolutionaries." It will no longer be published as a hardcopy, but will be all digital as a very affordable e-book. Be on the lookout for it this year. -- Malcolm

I.V.: A History, Pt. 3

The final installment of Peter Mounteer's 3-part history of Isla Vista:

http://dailynexus.com/2014-12-03/i-v-a-history-part-iii/

So proud to see my son carrying on our family's long association with Isla Vista (44 years to-date) and efforts to improve it:

I.V.: A History, Pt. 2

Part two of Peter Mounteer's history of Isla Vista, focusing on the issue of self-governance:

http://dailynexus.com/2014-12-02/i-v-a-history-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-1321167

IV History, Pre-1970

Taken from the pages of THE ISLA VISTA FREE PRESS from 1987:

"From Anisq'Oyo to Student Ghetto" by Carmen Lodise

I.V.: A History, Pt. 1

A rather good series in the Daily Nexus. Here's part 1 of "I.V.: A History," by Peter Mounteer:

http://dailynexus.com/2014-12-01/i-v-a-history-part-i/

GT's History of Isla Vista

UCSB alumni director George Thurlow wrote what he called an "Unofficial History of Isla Vista" that was published in the winter 2014 issue of the alumni magazine Coastlines. It is no longer available online, but here are some of the responses to it from long time Isla Vistans:

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Carmen Lodise replied:

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Affairs and Executive Director of the UCSB Alumni Association

I enjoyed reading your zesty and commendably comprehensive “Unofficial History of Isla Vista” in the recent issue of Coastlines.  Overall, I found it very informative.

While it’s true that I have played a “controversial” role in Isla Vista over the years, the question is controversial to whom?  The vested interests (the County, the University and absentee landlords) for sure.  And that quarrelsome clique of a dozen homeowners from I.V.’s West End that hate everything about UCSB, including its students.  However, in town I was always considered a “moderate”.  

What I found most problematic in your account is it gives me far too much credit for carrying too much of the major issues facing the town.  I’m a big boy; I can take it.  But it’s embarrassing among my peers, because you portray a significant social movement as a personality cult.  The perspective in your article seriously understates the contribution of literally hundreds of people that played major roles in Isla Vista’s community-building period following 1970.  Many of these people today play leadership roles in government and business, both locally and across America, and who credit their hands-on experience in Isla Vista as the foundation for understanding how society could work better. 

Most of these overlooked builders attended UCSB and many are likely subscribers to Coastlines.  In fact one of your readers wrote: I never knew you that well but his description did not fit you. And thanks Carmen for sticking up for us all. We DID try to create the kind of culture we wanted to live in and even if we failed, we all grew as a result and the effects are still with us.

Over a hundred of these folks have been attending Isla Vista “reunions” in recent years, something that is certainly unique.  How many towns have reunions?  It’s puzzling that these reunions have yet to be noticed by Coastlines, since the event last July had its banquet in the Mosher Alumni Center.

I make no apologizes that “Isla Vista: A Citizen’s History” is an account from the trenches.  Prof. Bob Potter said it was written in the tradition of Howard Zinn and I’m good with that.  However, you stated that the perspective of the book is “purely Lodesian”, when actually it packages the writings of several people.  In fact, the examples you offer are the writings of other, not mine:

1. The chapter featuring “a photograph of the former Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Captain Joel Honey wearing a medieval sword and mace on his uniform during the Isla Vista riots,” was written by UCSB grad Malcolm Gault-Williams.

2. You state that “Lodise argues that . . . under pressure from locals, the Regents backed off [a plan] to incorporate Isla Vista into the main campus and build its student housing there . . . and allowed Isla Vista to develop with little urban infrastructure, planning or oversight.”  In fact, the chapter in the book on the shenanigans of the University and County in the creation of Isla Vista has only minor changes from essays written by two other UCSB grads, IVCC rep. JoAnne Yokota and Associated Students president Abby Haight, not I.  Their documentation of that era is compelling enough that even you wrote it up nearly as they told it. 

In fact, well over half the book is composed of writings, speeches, and interviews of other major players in the town’s rich history.

Because I have conveyed the message, it’s often disregarded that I was reflecting the opinions of a lot of people during my 30 years of activism in Isla Vista.  For example, I was elected to the IVCC in 1972 along with Bill Wallace and Dr. Dave Bearman.  There was an advisory measure on the same ballot on the subject of local government options for Isla Vista.  Over 80% of the 4,000-plus voters supported an independent City of Isla Vista, so I worked towards that.  Eight more such elections over 15 years also supported it; I advocated on behalf of those results.  I didn’t invent Isla Vista Cityhood, which is what your “unofficial history” implied.

I appreciate your comment that: “Almost 45 years later [the 1970 Trow Report’s] recommendations seem as current today as then.”  Readers of your article may be surprised to find that this is also the stated conclusion of the 20-plus pages in my book dedicated to the Report’s text and analysis.  You perhaps aren’t aware that the IVCC asked the UC Regents to review the findings of the Trow Report in 1984.  However, Chancellor Robert Huttenback vehemently dismissed the request as a “red herring” and prevented even a vote on undertaking such an evaluation.

Your article quotes Ed Birch saying recently that the lack of government structure is “the” problem in Isla Vista, an observation I find particularly galling.  As Huttenback’s hatchet man in the community, vp Birch was in charge of the Administration’s campaign opposing I.V. cityhood in the 1980s.   First they claimed it wasn’t financial infeasible, then several months later hired a consultant to “document” that assertion.  This was quickly followed by Birch’s ending of University funding to the IVCC in retribution for its continued pursuit of cityhood after their declared disapproval.

However, the County’s EIR, which was completed under state guidelines by two UCSB professors, concluded that the proposed city was financially feasible if each resident would be willing to pay $18-per-year to have policy control over police, planning, transportation, etc.  When these study results were announced, a front page story in the Daily Nexus quoted Administration officials saying that students couldn’t afford what it would cost to run such a city.  At literally the same time, the Administration was promoting a referendum in which students were being asked to assess themselves $54-per-quarter to pay for an addition to the Ucen.  While it was IVCC rep. Mike Boyd, not I, who popularized the moniker of “Fast Eddie” for Birch, it was definitely well deserved. 

I was properly impressed with UCSB planner Chuck Haines vision of a more physically integrated campus and town presented in your interview with him.  But as to Birch’s recommendation that “the University should partner with local investors to upgrade the housing stock . . .”, good luck.  The partnership between the County and local investors through the RDA resulted in several new multi-storied apartment buildings.  The Icon structure, which you properly called “ostentatious”, has 105 beds but only 17 parking places.  This is hardly progress.

owever,

Finally, I found your summary statement that my activism was “often to no avail” was a bit over-the-top.  Today, there are a lot of parks in a town that had only one when I arrived and I was on the park board when the first million-dollar-package was purchased.  In addition, I was in the leadership of saving Perfect Park from a County-approved development and the later campaign to establish a monument there to the worldwide anti-war movement of the 1970s.  Also, the issues of my weekly newspaper, the Isla Vista Free Press (1987-89), were considered important enough to have been digitalized and made available at UCSB Special Collections (http://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/research/ivweb/ivFP).  And then, there’s that book . . .

I only found a few points I would question for accuracy in your account:

1. “The University . . . did support Isla Vista being annexed to Goleta when that city incorporated.”  I believe that the U failed to state an opinion.

2. I don’t believe the census information you provided is about the half-square mile everyone knows as Isla Vista, which is still 95%-plus renters the last time I looked vs. the 83% you reported.  Your data appears to be that of the “Isla Vista CDP”, a 1.86 sq.-mile area that includes many owner-occupied residential units along Storke Road.

3. The decision whether the RDA-owned Clinic building is to be sold hasn’t been made yet – it’s due any day now from the state Dept. of Finance.  Your article didn’t mention that the community is also seeking the vacant RDA-owned building next to it as a meeting hall.  Together, these buildings would become the community center that the RDA proposed to build out on Estero Road, which also is not mentioned in your list of approved RDA projects scuttled by the state’s financial crisis.  This community center outcome is being supported by Supervisor Doreen Farr, Assemblymember Das Williams and State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson.  So, it’s a substantial issue pertaining to the community, one in which I’m involved.

It’s interesting to note that Chancellor Yang signed a “treaty” to end the 1994 hunger strike by minority students that committed the U to do everything possible to help establish a community center in Isla Vista.  Yet, the U hasn’t been heard from in this five-month old campaign to save the two RDA-owned buildings.  In case you’re interested, I’ve been told a copy of that signed document is available in Special Collections.  This failure to act doesn’t bode well for the “Promises to Pay” commitments you outline as UCSB expands enrollment to 25,000 over the next 20 years.

All in all, however, I believe your article fairly affirms the community’s shortcomings, although not its assets, and the foundation of the challenges it still faces – after all these years.

Sincerely,

Carmen Lodise


PS  You write that “Carmen Lodise was the irascible pot stirrer . . . .”  I had to look that up:

i·ras·ci·ble adjective: having or showing a tendency to be easily angered (irritable, quick-tempered, short-tempered, hot tempered, testy, touchy, tetchy, edgy, crabby, petulant, waspish, dyspeptic, snappish) 

While I admit to being quick-tempered in some instances, I don’t believe I’m petulant.  But I admit to admiring your vocabulary skills.

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Never give up, Carmelo.

kind of a ho-hum article.  i thought your response was more interesting...i don't understand how he could write an iv article and not mention the ivrpd and all the bluff top land that was kept in open space by bill wallace...

Random thoughts---Thank you for sharing this, Carmen, and for your reply! I don't even know where to begin in commenting on UCSB's dismal history with Isla Vista. The only good thing I can come up with easily is the foot patrol, which put campus cops onto community-based teams with sheriffs. I still use that as an example of authentic community-based policing when advocating for the cops to get out of their cars in the city I live in. IV taught me about the effects of capitalism on the housing market, and instilled in me a life-long commitment to renters' rights.

 LOVE your reference to our community reunions!  They should be noted in national publications!  I recently told the Isla Vista story to a couple of fairly young union organizers as a way of explaining who I am today. One of them borrowed your book from me! We were always more stoned than drunk, though I do remember going down to the ABC office with Eileen Yamashita to ask them to give us liquor licenses in IV. Also the pot is so much stronger now.  I think the current party culture has more to do with the frat culture vs. the hippie culture.  You remember that one of the frat houses was leased to Das Institut during my time in IV. The current party culture is way over the top. My older son lived in IV one year (maybe 3 years ago) and it was even too much of a party scene for him. (and that is saying something!) I don't think that density is the problem so much as the culture.  I put a lot of blame on the starvation of California education. They don't provide enough services or small enough classes to keep students engaged and in relationship with older people. It is really easy for the students to get lost in the crowd, especially if they have mental health issues, substance abuse problems, etc.

 I got a kick out of the reference to "in loco parentis". I think that change came about when I was a student, and we were very happy about it!  There is no question that Isla Vista should have formed a city, and that the University's opposition is what blocked it.  My life was fundamentally shaped by my Isla Vista experience. Every day I practice something that I learned there, including local government powers and organization, canvassing (we called it "community communication"), persuasive analysis and writing, community organizing, and advocacy with public entities. Truly, this is what I do every day, and I learned it in IV!


Thank you Carmen, I enjoyed the read.


I never knew you that well but his description did not fit you.

And thanks Carmen for sticking up for us all. We DID try to create the kind of culture we wanted to live in and even if we failed, we all grew as a result and the effects are still with us. 


Irascible or not we are lucky to have you.   You may stir the pot – but the ingredients for that toxic stew were designed by UCSB


I am trying to understand what Thurlow means by a "Lodisean" history.  I guess you were pretty good at arch-criticism, so that if the emperor had any clothes at all, you could strip 'em bare, give 'em a fig leaf and a new descriptive nickname.  If I were to do the same to you I would frame your style to be fitting as a graduate student of Machiavelli.  But I never thought you to be amoral, but always to have a large part of your agenda in the realm of the public good.

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You can submit comments to George at: george.thurlow@ia.ucsb.edu
And comments to Carmen at: Lodise0711@hotmail.com

I.V. Reunion 2013

The best and greatest reunion of IV activists took place in the summer of 2013.

Here's the link to many images from the reunion, courtesy of Robert Bernstein: http://swt.org/events/islavistareunion2013/

1968 DNC Organizing

‎44 years ago, Bob Fass, Abbie Hoffman, Paul Krassner and many others stormed Chicago during the DNC. Here's excerpts from a powerful film by Newsreel documenting those events:

FBI's 'Dirty Tricks'

What many of us felt at the time turns out to be more true than we feared:

Student 'Subversives' And The FBI's 'Dirty Tricks' : NPR

When America Burned By The Sea

Ski Gajewski has done a fine documentary on the student unrest and burning of the Bank of America branch bank at Isla Vista in 1970. It is located here: https://vimeo.com/36123261


Ski wrote about his "rough cut," in 2012:

Hello All,

I realize that many of you have not heard from me since I interviewed you or tried to interview you for my documentary about the IV riots I was working on in 08. For this I would first like to apologize. The reality is life, school, and a mishap got in the way of me sending you a copy of the film which in various ways all participated in. Sadly when I was moving from one apartment to another in NY my friends car which contained my media drive, caught fire do to what seems to be from an oil leak in the engine. At the time I had though the fire had destroyed the only copies of the film. Though about two months ago I found a very early rough cut of the film and posted it to vimeo.com (I have attached the link below) as part of my body of work in post production. And to be honest largely forgot about it as it was in essence an incomplete version.

But about two weeks ago I joined the UCSB alumni linked in group and thought maybe someone would enjoy it. I figured that a few people would watch it and that would be the end of it. But the response, even though it is very rough and still contains place holder graphics and titles, has been very positive from both alumni and current students alike. The topic itself remains one of the top topics in the alumni forum, so i would assume the number of people that seen it will continue to grow for the near future.

This coupled with the fact that I have spent the last year working freelance got me thinking maybe now is the time to pick the project back up again and actually make it into a feature. Obviously I would have to raise money and apply for grants, but with the rise of crowd sourced funding such as kickstarter and I hope some private funding I think I could realistically raise the money in which to make the film. Now in order for me to do this I would have to ask those of you that have interviewed in the past to sit down with me again on camera. And those that I could not meet the first time to be interviewed for the first time. Obviously I do not have a time frame for when this would happen but I would hope if I could raise the money all of you would be interested in being interviewed again. As I do not think it would be possible to move forward with this if you feel the time for this has passed and you are no longer interested in being a part of this project.

Obviously, there is no pressure to commit to this as I do not know if I will be able to raise the money which would be required produce a film which is up to not only my standards but yours as well. But obviously I hope to find the financial support and have your support too. Below you will find the the link to the video which has a runtime of just over 30 minutes. Feel free to share it with whom ever you like. And I would also like to hear your feed back on things that could be improved upon. Though please keep in mind that this was a very early version so the titles and graphics are nearly all place holders which were replaced in the final version I handed in for grading. It also has not been color corrected and a few of the cuts are abrupt. So just keep that in mind.

I hope you enjoy it and I hope to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Matthew M "Ski" Gajewski.

Birth of The Environmental Movement

A nice video about the birth of the Environmental Movement that began with the Santa Barbara Oil Spill of 1969, which was a backdrop to the Isla Vista Bank Burning:

IV Reunion Photos

Robert Bernstein shot some great photos of the reunion, July 31, 2010, at Anisq'oyo' Park:

Isla Vista Reunion - 31 July 2010

Bob Potter (1934-2010)

Bob Potter passed away in July 2010, after having given so much to the communities he was an active participant in, including Isla Vista and especially UCSB. Please follow the links to learn more about Bob:

SB Independent: Bob Potter, 1934-2010, In Memorium

SB Independent: Bob Potter obit

Bob Potter’s Speech
Dedicating the Monument to the Anti-War Movement, in Isla Vista’s Perfect Park, June 10, 2003

"For years I watched him find the light in dark moments, provide clarity amid complexity, and express courage when threatened with violence. As a man of letters and action, he was truly a man for all seasons and those he touched will miss him forever." -- Carmen Lodise, July 2010

IV Reunion, 7/31, 12-8pm

The biggest reunion of Isla Vistans and mostly former Isla Vistans takes place Saturday, July 31, 2010 and goes from noon to 8pm:

You're invited to Isla Vista Reunion - July 31, 2010 on Jul 31, at 12:00PM

The Real ’70s

Community Builder and longtime Isla Vistan Carmen Lodise recently wrote in to the SB Indy about the true legacy of the Isla Vista Riots:

The Santa Barbara Independent: The Real ’70s, by Carmen Lodise

ISLA VISTA RIOTS Radio Series

KCSB-FM has been re-airing newly remastered and interview-supplemented episodes of Don’t Bank on America, Malcolm Gault-Williams’ 36-part radio documentary on the history of Isla Vista and its three 1970 riots, well-known as I.V. I, II and III.

Explained Ted Coe: "Rest assured that the KCSB crew is not simply pulling the shows, last aired in the late 1980s, out of the mothballs and throwing them on the air. The episodes are being newly remastered straight from their original reels of quarter-inch audio tape, and augmented with conversations featuring the shows’ creators and subjects. The first chapter features a discussion between series creator Malcolm Gault-Williams, who DJed on the station in the 60s and managed it through the 80s; KCSB development coordinator Ted Coe; and Art of Peace host Philip Levasseur. The three discuss the origins of the series, the challenge of capturing and conveying the times in audio, and what it felt like to be right there in the midst of so much social change.

"'I had begun commercial broadcasting in 1968 as a freshman in Arkansas,' Gault-Williams says in the segment, recalling his beginnings in the medium. 'When I transferred to California, I was a City College student. The station let me in the door even though I wasn’t a UCSB student. I started filling in over Christmas break 69-70. It was my first experience with freeform radio; it made a big impression on me, that style of programming, and I tried to continue with that through my radio career. Unfortunately, the changes in radio and formatting as time went by made the opportunity to do that less and less. But when I was here at KCSB, it was mostly as what we called a "night owl" DJ, holding down the FM shift between midnight and eight in the morning.'"

Colin Marshall, in his column in the Santa Barbara Independent, March 15, 2010, gave some more detail on the series, its re-airing, and the context of the Isla Vista Riots of 1970.

The remastered Don’t Bank on Amerika currently airs every Friday morning from 8-9 a.m. on KCSB-FM, 91.9 (streaming on Internet, also.

40th Anniversary of The Bank Burning

Forty years ago, a mob of students stormed the Bank of America building.
Isla Vista would never be the same

By Taylor Haggerty / Staff Writer
Published Thursday, February 25, 2010
Issue 86 / Volume 90

Photos courtesy of Greg Desilet


On the night of Feb. 25, 1970, second-year student Greg Desilet grabbed his camera from his apartment on El Nido Lane and joined the crowds swarming the streets of Isla Vista.

After a year of high tension, unrest and anger, rioting students had looted and set fire to the local Bank of America, which stood on the site of today’s Embarcadero Hall.

“It was quite an extraordinary scene that night,” Desilet said. “People were in all kinds of different moods — happy, celebrating, freaked out, others shocked, stunned by what was going on. The police never did come the entire evening, nor did the firemen.”

Earlier that afternoon, William Kunstler, a defense attorney who represented well-known defendants in the Chicago Seven trial following the anti-war protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, spoke at the stadium on campus.

Authorities anticipated an inflammatory reaction and showed up in full force to control the crowd. As a group of students walked back toward Isla Vista after the speech, police beat 22-year-old student Rich Underwood into submission and arrested him for carrying a bottle of wine they assumed was a Molotov cocktail.

“Imagine being in Harder Stadium and having the lawyer of a high-profile national trial … draw connections between what has been happening nationally with what has been happening on campus,” then-Santa Barbara City College student and KCSB broadcaster Malcolm Gault-Williams said. “And then imagine a large part of those attendees leave the stadium and … watch as police not just arrest a student but beat the shit out of him.”

According to John Riley, a second-year student living on Del Playa Drive at the time, the police’s actions fueled student anger.

“Cops arrested this guy and set everything off,” Riley said. “It was like throwing a match into a gasoline can, everybody just went nuts.”

Later that night, the bank was looted and set on fire on two separate occasions — once between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. when a dumpster was lit on fire and once around midnight when gasoline was used to rekindle the blaze.

According to Professor Emeritus Richard Flacks, a well-known liberal leader whose appointment to the Sociology Dept. in 1969 caused a stir among conservatives including then-Governor Ronald Reagan, the burning of the bank was not a premeditated event.

“By evening I would guess hundreds of people were in the street and at some point people lit a trash dumpster and pushed it through the bank doors,” Flacks said. “I kind of never believed people thought that would happen.”

Some students saw the bank as a symbol of big business, capitalism and the Vietnam War, citing its ties to the defense industry.

“It was the biggest capitalist thing around,” Becca Wilson, a fourth-year student and then-editor in chief of El Gaucho, the predecessor to the Daily Nexus, said. “It was a symbol of the corporations that benefited from war and were oppressing people all over world, in whose interest government was acting.”

Others maintain that the bank was burned purely out of anger and frustration with overwhelming police presence.

“The day afterwards a lot of it was rationalized as anti-war,” Desilet said. “The bank was seen to be in league with defense corporations providing armaments for Vietnam. That was the rationale given, but in my view it was more. It was locally centered with a lot of local anger toward police that had developed over time.”

“People were just pissed off. They were really pissed off”

The 1969-70 year was tumultuous in the school’s history, with tension on campus growing alongside national unrest and disagreement over the Vietnam War.

The voting age in 1970 was 21, but after the lottery system was instituted for the draft, many younger students received numbers that increased their chances of deployment after graduation.

Wilson said that the draft was what really brought the reality of the war home to students.

“When I started in fall of 1966, there were literally a handful of people demonstrating, just a quiet little vigil in front of the library,” she said. “Three years later it was a widespread movement where probably most students were against the war. By that time, students started to be drafted. It changed the whole atmosphere, became much more personal.”

The charged political climate of the time was evident well beyond the confines of Isla Vista, too.

“It’s hard to imagine now, but the whole country was just boiling then, with the Chicago Seven, the war, people getting drafted … the whole country was pretty well out of control,” Riley said.

According to Desilet, many of the students targeted their rage at the ever-present law enforcement officers patrolling Isla Vista.

“Tensions were high in I.V. toward anything and anyone who represented enforcement of the status quo, and the most immediate and visible representatives of this status quo line of defense turned out to be police and narcotics agents,” Desilet said. “The accumulated rage of the disenfranchised and the waiting and unwilling recruits in line for Vietnam landed squarely on the county sheriff and his agents.”

On top of this, the growing drug culture and hippie lifestyle of the time widened the generation gap between students and police, who patrolled Isla Vista and campus in riot gear, often using tear gas to disperse crowds.

“There was nobody over 25, hardly, and this counter culture, drug culture climate, which meant police were unable to understand, or appreciate Isla Vista so to speak,” Flacks said. “[The police] really thought the students were bad guys and that they were at odds with students. And vice versa. Students knew if they were driving [a] Volkswagen van painted up or generally had long hair hippy attire you were going to be harassed by police, stopped in traffic, pulled over, etc.”

Although many students were not embroiled in conflict with the police and demonstrations against the war, anger was the primary motivation for those who played a role in the burning of the bank.

An Occupied Territory

Once the smoke cleared on Feb. 26 — with the Bank of America building in ruins — Gov. Reagan declared a state of emergency.

“[Isla Vista] was just dramatically changed,” Gault-Williams said. “Everybody was walking on eggshells. Some were happy, some angry … all kinds of moods. Everyone began to unite even more so after the bank burning in respect to police.”

A curfew was instituted in Isla Vista and nearly 300 people were arrested and taken to the county jail.

“Everybody sensed huge confrontation the night after,” Desilet explained. “I went out on street again to photograph in the early evening. When I was on Ocean Road taking pictures of police in the San Rafael parking lot … they arrested me and I was taken to their staging area. We were then bussed out to fire station down on Storke Road and eventually over to the new county jail, which was so new that they didn’t even have it open yet.”

The National Guard and Los Angeles County SWAT teams were called in to help maintain order. Bank of America declared that it would not withdraw from Isla Vista and constructed a trailer as a makeshift bank, which quickly became the target of numerous demonstrations.

On April 18, a rally was scheduled against the temporary bank. Associated Students President Bill James went on the radio to speak against further violence, urging students to protect the bank from vandalism.

Police arrived in armored trucks, dressed in riot gear and armed with tear gas. Amid the confusion, 22-year-old UCSB student Kevin Moran was shot and killed.

Although the police claimed the bullet originated from a sniper in the crowd, a ballistics test determined that it came from a policeman’s rifle. The incident was deemed an accident, and the officer was later exonerated.

On June 3, 17 students were indicted for the bank burning, after supposedly being identified from photographs taken on Feb. 25. The indictments were met with controversy, however, as several of the students had solid alibis.

“What was obvious was that they were all well-known campus activist radical leaders,” Flacks said. “The idea that that particular group of well-known people were all together around that dumpster was outlandish. Especially since some of them were among those arrested the day before and were actually in jail when the bank burned.”

“Social Change, Fair Play and Peace”

The rallies, tear gas and arrests continued throughout the course of the year, and according to former students, fundamentally changed the face of Isla Vista.

“The riots destroyed the town,” Riley said. “Before the riots it was this cute little town, nice cinemas, new bookstores, more like a Santa Cruz or something, and after it was … burned out. It just destroyed the town.”

Yet a new Isla Vista emerged from the smoldering ruins of the Bank of America.

“It suddenly created a lot of attention on Isla Vista itself and how students were living and sparked the creation of many community organizations and grassroots movements that turned into institutions,” Wilson said.

The Bank of America closed its Isla Vista branch in 1981, opting to open an ATM on Embarcadero del Norte instead. Embarcadero Hall stands in place of the bank today. A plaque in front commemorates Kevin Moran.

It reads, “For Social Change, Fair Play and Peace.”