Isla Vista. The mere mention of the name brings a flood of emotions, opinions and memories to a local. A lot has happened on this small area of land in a short amount of years. When you cram thousands of people into less than two square miles, you can expect […]
Dos Pueblos is Spanish for two villages, but to locals, that’s the name of our high school. And the name of a ranch on the outskirts of town. But why would this ranch and our high school be named “Two Villages”? Good question…. Dos Pueblos is in fact the oldest […]
It can be said that Nicolas Den is one of the most important people in the history of Goleta. He landed here by chance and never left. Over the course of his life, he changed Goleta and Santa Barbara for the better. It’s remarkable there isn’t a street, or anything […]
At the far west end of Goleta, the Tecolote Canyon winds down from the uppermost reaches of the Santa Ynez mountains. The canyon descends rapidly into a pastoral valley and down to a beach that that has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years. At the mouth of the […]
Devereux Point. Also known as Coal Oil Point. Today it’s a popular surf spot and a great place for a nice walk on the beach. But, like most places in Goleta, there’s a lot of interesting history here. The earliest known name for the point was the Chumash name P’ok’oy, […]
At the far west end of Goleta there’s a road that for years only locals knew about. It doesn’t really go anywhere because it ends at a locked gate, but the view is the attraction. Looking back down at the rolling empty hillsides gives you a glimpse into the past of Goleta, […]
Most folks know there’s a stretch of the Gaviota Coast that’s referred to as Naples. But do they know how it got this name? It was first called Naples all the way back in 1887, by a wealthy world traveler named John H. Williams and his wife Alice. They had a […]