Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Isla Vista, CA

Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, immediately west of the University of California, Santa Barbara campus.

The Chumash people called the Isla Vista mesa Anisq'oyo, and the land later formed part of Rancho Dos Pueblos, an 1842 Mexican land grant.

Isla Vista was subdivided in 1925 by John and Pauline Ilharreguy, who gave it its Spanish name meaning 'island view' and laid out its bluff-top streets, including Del Playa Drive, Sabado Tarde, Trigo and Pasado.

The community became a student town after UC Santa Barbara moved onto the former Marine air station land next door in 1954, and most residents today are UCSB or Santa Barbara City College students.

The 2020 census counted 15,500 residents in Isla Vista, packed at roughly 28,000 people per square mile, one of the highest population densities in California.

Isla Vista has about 4,763 households averaging 2.52 people each, and only about 1.2% of its homes are owner-occupied, since nearly all housing is student rentals.

Many of Isla Vista's most popular apartments line the south side of Del Playa Drive on eroding bluffs 30 to 60 feet above the Pacific Ocean.

Isla Vista sits on a south-facing stretch of the Santa Barbara County coast between Coal Oil Point and Campus Point, in view of the Channel Islands, and enjoys a mild Mediterranean climate.

The community is famous for Deltopia, a massive annual spring street party that began as Floatopia.

After decades of pushing for self-government, Isla Vista residents created the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District in 1972 and formally established the Isla Vista Community Services District through Measure E in 2016, giving the unincorporated town its own local services.