UCSB Walking Tour

Yesterday I thought about taking a beach walk, as it was a stunningly gorgeous day. So, I drove to Goleta Beach. The tide was high, however, and Kevin was planning to be at Campus Point, so I decided to make it a walking tour of UCSB. Come along with me!

Maps for your reference:

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As I walked along, I got a whiff of a mix of eucalyptus and tar, and the breeze blew just right. A flood of memories and emotions washed over me. Those were such great years!

The brand new Welcoming Gate at UCSB. Pretty!

View from the bluffs across from the gate.

There has been a lot of construction on UCSB the last few years. There are more than a few new buildings. UCSB has never been known as an architectural marvel. There must be as many architectural styles as there are buildings. There are a few standouts, like Bren Hall, which has won awards for being Green.

Here are a few buildings near the entrance to campus. You see Kohn Hall and Elings Hall.

Elings Hall

Kohn Hall

As I walked along the bluffs, I came upon this guy:

Here is the beach where I visited Kevin and watched him surf. This is Campus Point.

Not enough hours were spent here.

Here is the Lagoon. Rumors abounded that if you fell in, you'd have to go through detox.

Can you see why the rumors started?

Here is a view of San Nicolas Hall from the beach. When we were Freshmen, I lived on the 4th floor on the wing to the right, and Mike lived on the 5th floor on the wing to the left. Yes, we had ocean views when we were poor college students!



Below is a closer view of San Nic. Count up four floors and go over 3 windows, and that is where I lived Freshman and Sophomore years.

Let's go inside!

Here is the famous elevator (the one on the left):


Here is my room:

It's so boring in there now! Gone are the creative murals painted by students up and down the halls. Now the walls are boring textured white. I was disappointed that the graffitied "I'm Stoked!" was gone from the stairwell wall.

During our sophomore year, a bunch of us dorm-mates went camping in Yosemite over Spring Break. We weren't prepared for the snow and freezing weather, so we came back early. The dorms weren't open yet, so we camped on this lawn between the dorms and the beach.

Ortega Dining Commons

I have fond memories of my career at Ortega. Working there was serendipitous. I technically wasn't allowed to work there, since I wasn't living in the dorms anymore. But they agreed to let me be a substitute one summer. I parlayed it into a climb up the Commons ladder to eventually become Student Supervisor, and I worked close to full time hours by the end. I met Trish there, too, and had lots of fun! Despite the drudgery of many of the tasks in the job, it was a great experience.

Psychology Building. No windows! (the part on the right is new and wasn't there when I was a Psych major)


Storke Tower from the Library parking lot.


The Library. Many hours were spent there.


The Arbor. Always a good place to get a bite there between English classes. It was much smaller back in the day!


Girvetz Hall is where we rehearsed and performed Love's Labour's Lost and Measure for Measure.

The Engineering Building. Many, many hours were spent there!



I passed by the lagoon on the way to Isla Vista to have some lunch. It is a nice water bird sanctuary! I didn't see any coots, though. Mikey, Alan, Carol, George, and I would often take bread from our dinner and feed the coots in the evenings. I even caught one once, on a dare!

Though there were no coots, enjoy these other water birds.























Berrilicious stands where Burnardoz once was. Burnardoz was a favorite destination for huge scoops of ice cream. I googled it, and there is a Burnardoz in Arroyo Grande. Might be worth a trip!


Here is another view of Storke Tower from the base. It is named after Thomas Storke, onetime publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press. Wouldn't he be sad to see the state of the News-Press today ...but that's another blog post.

I saw this sculpture on my way back to the car. The accompanying plaque reads:

Rufus Magnus. Artist: Barbara McIntyre. Funded by the Weeden Foundation and others. California Steelhead Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) live their first few years in freshwater streams, emigrate to the ocean, where they grow, and then return to the streams to spawn.

The presence of California Steelhead Trout in our streams indicates a healthy aquatic ecosystem, but reduced flows, blocked access and pollution have threatened their continued existence in streams near Santa Barbara.

UC Santa Barbara’s Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and Marine Science Institute strive to understand and restore ecological conditions in our environment.

I hope you enjoyed our walking tour. Please feel free to come visit, and we shall do it together in real life!