UC Santa Barbara is the yin to UCLA’s yang. Nestled in the sleepy town of Isla Vista, UCSB boasts beachside housing, the politically incorrect mascot of the heavily-mustached Gaucho and after dark, the title as the unbeatable “party school” of the UC system. Halloween is often considered Isla Vista’s Tour de Force ““ a solid week of wild costumes, excessive drinking and general party mayhem.
The entire week of Halloween is cause for huge parties and crowds of people roaming the streets in costume. The Thursday, Friday and Saturday during the week of Halloween bring hoards of people and festivities. Isla Vista’s small, seemingly quiet streets become jam-packed with ridiculous costumes, from current to revealing to ridiculous, as everyone wanders toward a party.
“Either you love it here for Halloween or you hate it,” said Matt Valaika, a fourth-year UCSB student.
The main issue is the destruction often caused by people who don’t live in Isla Vista.
“It’s been such a huge problem. People come and there’s nowhere to stay, so they call random people just because they heard Santa Barbara’s so fun,” Valaika said. “Those are the people who supposedly cause all the trouble.”
Undergraduates of Santa Barbara receive an annual reminder to “Keep It Local” from the Office of External Local Affairs regarding the week of Halloween. All of UCSB’s dorms and many Isla Vista apartments factor this time of the year into leases and contracts. Often, tenants are required to sign their lease with the specific clause that they will not have a party during the week of Halloween.
Because the main revelry occurs on the streets of Isla Vista, particularly Del Playa Drive, which runs along the beach, arrangements must be made by the city to keep everything under some semblance of control. Alcohol poisoning is common, as are drunken violence, injuries and theft. Police and medics roam the streets, taking away anything that could be construed as a weapon and checking for harmful situations.
“You can’t really tell what’s going on because there’s so many people,” said Johnny Sanchez, a fourth-year UCSB student who plans to participate in this year’s festivities dressed as a lion. “Last year I saw a guy get full-on tackled and arrested by the police.”
It gets tricky handling all the students from Santa Barbara, let alone housing the entire out-of-town crowd. Fourth-year UCSB student Cassidy Kohlmos had to make special Halloween arrangements with her roommates.
“We had this thing last year where you had to pay more utilities if friends come for Halloween ““ everyone’s taking showers and stuff and I already live with 10 other people,” Kohlmos said. “Then they get super drunk and just puke everywhere. But how can you regulate your friends’ best friends?”
Third-year UCSB student Jake Laury decided not to invite any friends from other schools.
“It’s just more fun,” Laury said. “You don’t have to shepherd everyone around.”
Not every Gaucho sees Halloween as such a difficulty.
“Every year we’ve had people from out of town. It’s been crazy, but it’s just fun,” said Taylor Lauren, a fourth-year student at UCSB. “We’re proud of it.”
If you do plan to come to Isla Vista for Halloween, it’s imperative that you plan the basics beforehand: You need a place to stay, a place to party and you’ve got to leave early enough, as police have been known to shut down the freeway exit to non-residents by nighttime.
Also, parking can be a nightmare. Anyone who’s ever had friends visit Westwood has experienced just how difficult it can be to find street parking and how depressing it is when someone gets one of those bright yellow parking violations.
Isla Vista during Halloween is worse. If you have friends with an apartment or dorm parking spot, beg them to park their car on the street earlier in the week so you can switch when you arrive. Or get there early and expect to devote some earnest time to finding a spot.
And if all this seems to be too much to handle, there are still numerous reasons to head up to UCSB’s beaches some other time.
The campus, culture and students vary immensely from the city life and all-nighters in Powell that we live among. If you’ve got a buddy with a car, it will be a weekend you will never forget.
And if you go up for Halloween, leave the nunchucks at home and the beer inside the party, and enjoy the beauty and outrageous fun that makes Isla Vista so popular.