DON'T BANK ON AMERIKA:
The History of the Isla Vista Riots of 1970
The definitive history of the Isla Vista Riots of 1970 and the Student Movement
at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1968-71) is available in paperback for
only $29.95, plus shipping and handling. To order please go to:
DBOA Online Store
At 357 pages (7.5" x
9.25"), 171,929 words and approximately 50 images, this history of
student activism and the student movement at the University of
California Santa Barbara campus, 1968-71, is the most detailed single
source of those exciting times -- written by one who was there.
Here's an excerpt:
Excerpt from DON'T BANK ON AMERIKA
A couple of times a year, I send out a newsletter with updates on Isla Vista/UCSB history. You can receive yours by emailing me:
Free DBOA Newsletter.
There
is also a DBOA Blog that contains correspondence from people writing in, as
well as new information added about the riots, UCSB, Isla Vista, The
Movement and other stuff pertinent to the book:
DON'T BANK ON AMERIKA Blog 
DON'T BANK ON AMERIKA, The History of The Isla Vista Riots of 1970, is dedicated to my sons, Das and Senyo. They had far less time with their father because of the time devoted to research and writing (1983-87) necessary to complete this work. Thank you, sons!
As the night progressed, attention shifted from the realty companies to the Bank of America building, next to the park. The plywood facing, erected after the previous night’s actions, was attacked and then, around 8:15 p.m., a trash bin on rollers, called a “dipsy dumpster,” was moved into the street in front of the bank and its contents set on fire. Around 8:30, the dumpster was pushed up a concrete ramp, jammed through the doors of the bank, and the plywood facing caught fire.
Ricky Fisk:
"We were floating around on Embarcadero... We were deciding if there were any good targets and we saw some people congregating by the bank. The bank windows had already been broken the night before and the windows were boarded up. We’d beaten the pigs. We were all so happy we had finally beaten the pricks. At this time I was wearing a green Army jacket. And the collar is big on it. So I pushed it up so you couldn’t see my cheeks, or mouth. My hair was really long. So I’m pretty hard to tell in the midst of chaos and other friends of mine did typically the same thing with their coats. And we like pulled this trash can right in front of the boarded window of the bank. And what happened was people were talking in frenzied voices and saying beautiful, crazy things, like 'I wish we would blow this fucking bank up.' Just then some people started to rip down the boards from the window and, just out of inspiration, I threw a match in the trash can trying to start it, you know... The inspiration was like, 'Light this fuckin’ trash can.'
"The inspiration must have hit all of us at once ‘cause we pulled the sleeves of our jackets over our hands so we wouldn’t leave fingerprints on the trash can handles, and then — WHAM! Right through the fuckin’ open window. The trash splattered out all over the bank. Papers caught on fire. People were going wild, yelling out, 'They’re burning the bank!' The people started throwing matches and shit."
“Ours!” One unidentified rioter exclaimed. “Now if you wanted to strike something, what would you strike first? The bank, right? Some people had wheeled up one of the dumpsters, you know, filled with newspapers and stuff, and a match was struck... they shoved the burning load right on in there. The bank caught fire immediately.”
Writing of Ricky Fisk, one of the original dumpster movers, long-time Isla Vista resident Al Plyley wrote, “the outside world knew that the Bank was burned as a protest against the war, (but) the street story was that it was set by one of the downer freaks that hung out trying to be a part of the radical group.”
A sizable portion of the UCSB student population was not in favor of doing damage to the Bank of America Isla Vista branch. Charles Johnson was one. An ex-Marine and Vietnam veteran going to school at UCSB, Johnson lived in Santa Barbara. “I wasn’t comfortable with the whole Isla Vista scene,” he explained. “I thought that the apartment buildings were something of a rip-off, and there were over ten thousand people packed into a square mile.” He happened to be in Isla Vista on the 25th, however, and witnessed the initial attempts to burn the bank during the early evening. “From my perspective,” said the history major, “it was just a bunch of kids having fun and got carried away. And there was no more rationale to it than just doing something else to see what would happen next. There was nothing organized about it. It was a spontaneous combustion.”
Around 8:50 p.m., fraternity members armed with fire extinguishers, scuffled with the crowd and then put the fire out. However, those who had pushed the dumpster through the bank thought they had succeeded in their arson. Ricky Fisk revealed:
"I split. We went and checked to see if there were any pigs in the area, if we were being followed. We were pretty sure we’d gotten away with it. So we went home and smoked some more dope and relaxed and waited to see the outcome. Actually, it was rather tense after we smoked the dope. We were elated and then we settled down for our one paranoia stretch. We got the guns out of the closet and just loaded..."
Question: “You had guns in your closet?"
"Yeah, I mean, fuck it. Like when you do this stuff, you shouldn’t generally be prepared to die right then and there. My politics are I believe in armed self defense. I believe in having guns in your house. ‘Cause I believe there is so much repression that you never know who they’re going to get. And, like, I was once formerly an SDS member, so my name is on lists. They know who the fuck I am. So, I’m not taking any chances. Any time repression can hit. It’s not something you should laugh and play about."
“I watched the going-on the night the Bank burned from across the street and saw much of what happened,” recalled Al Plyley. “The bank was entered by pushing a dumpster through the front window. Among the people pushing were some of the people who were tried for setting the fire... Later someone set fire to the dumpster which was still in the bank. The same ‘activists’ were among the people who pushed the dumpster outside and put out the fire. Later still they brought papers and other burnables outside and lit a bonfire on the sidewalk, which I believe was a further statement that they weren’t going along with the burning of the bank.”
All entrances to campus and IV were roadblocked by police and no cars admitted in or out of the area. What was an advantage for law enforcement, was also an advantage for Isla Vista rebels. “You see,” one unidentified street fighter explained, “the cops have to come into Isla Vista from outside the community. They don’t have a station here or anything, so they are like these hired mercenaries in foreign territory... Since there are only two roads which lead in, it was easy to know when they were going to attack. And the cops were super-uptight — someone heard a group of them trying to get charged up before coming in. One pig says, ‘Shall we hit ‘em?’ and the others scream, ‘Yes!’ ‘Shall we shoot ‘em?’ ‘Yes!’ ‘Shall we kill ‘em!’ ‘Yes!”... It was a pig pep rally!”
Student Greg Bishop related his personal account:
"About 9 o’clock, I was driving my car, trying to get towards campus to pick-up my girlfriend... about 35 or 40 sheriff’s officers with leather jackets and helmets ran out from Pasado and ran across Camino Pescadero [in the residential area, well away from the loop], blocking my way... evidently, trying to arrange themselves, getting themselves together to have a charge, a counter-charge of some sort, getting morale up or something. Anyway, as I stopped so that I wouldn’t run over these 'gentlemen,' they came up to me with clubs... they smashed the front window of the car, the back window of the car; showered me with glass. I was screaming 'What am I doing? Just stop it, stop it!' The car behind me... They clubbed through his windshield, his face was covered with blood, glass shattered everywhere... As I turned around, more sheriff’s officers were still hitting the sides of the car; more glass was coming in. My whole windshield just caved in. I said to him: 'Who in the hell is going to pay for this?' He said, 'You are, buddy, you are.' Well, I drove home..."
At the Associated Students press conference the next day, Bishop would tell this story and raise the refrain of property rights protection, an issue mostly brought up as justifications by law enforcement itself:
"This doesn’t seem right. You know, here’s this argument going on for property rights... who’s property is being taken care of here? I called the sheriff’s office this morning and I said to them, 'I’d like to talk with somebody who has some legitimate authority, someone I can complain to over this matter.' And I got the man on watch... he said to me, 'Well, it sounds pretty ridiculous... twenty policemen don’t surround a car and start beating the windows, you know. Are you sure it wasn’t students?'
"It was really quite a horrible experience. I said to him, 'Well, what kind of channels can I go through? I think there’s a legitimate complaint to be made here.' And he said, 'Well, look, buddy, you can try a civil suit, but, you know, I’d call your insurance agent tomorrow.'"
In the late 1960s
and earliest 1970s, most American campuses experienced the kinds of political
upheavals as this book documents in Isla Vista. What makes the history
of the Sunshine Revolutionaries of the Santa Barbara area so unique is
its embodiment of the entire political/countercultural movement in the
United States during that time.
Whatever particular
events occurred on other campuses, all of them were duplicated or premiered
at the University of California, Santa Barbara
campus and its student community of Isla Vista.
What campus community
had three full-scale riots -- especially one where the police were completely
routed?
Where else did
the Bank of America get burned to the ground?
>During the Nixon
presidency, students were shot and killed on a number of American campuses
-- not just at Kent State. UCSB/Isla Vista was certainly one.
The drug culture
of the second half of the 1960s and first half of the 1970s permeated most
communities adjacent to college campuses -- few more dramatically than
Isla Vista.
Where was the
concept of an American student Liberated Zone more personified?
This is why this
history is so important. To lesser and greater degrees, the same sorts
of things may have occurred on other campuses, but nowhere else did they
all occur and, in the case of street fighting particularly -- to such intensity.
This edition is a second printing (2002) of the original book published in 1987. Like the earlier edition,
the second printing is an attempt to provide a detailed look at what happened to
the social change movement, in Santa Barbara/Isla Vista, between 1968 and
1971.
Told largely in
the words of the participants, protagonists and antagonists of the times,
this book looks at the student political radicalism that sprouted in the
late 1960s, Santa Barbara's most turbulent political period; the rising
student activism of the late 1960s; the burning of the Bank of America;
the subsequent riots; the trial of the Bank of Amerika 15; and the emergence
of community service organizations, out of the ashes of the burned bank,
at the beginning of the 1970's.
Admittedly, this
is a view from the Left. It is meant to be a "people's history," told primarily
from the student vantage point. As an Isla Vistan during those times, I
lived and was marginally active in the UC Santa Barbara/Isla Vista community
during this period and remember it well.
Most of the story,
however, is in the form of an oral history -- the collected transcripts
and writings of the most active people involved in this most dynamic period
of student activism at UC Santa Barbara and the adjoining student community
of Isla Vista. This study draws from sources unavailable or unused during
the period immediately after the riots, when the major inquiries into the
causes of the riots were conducted.
These untapped
sources include:
I moved to Isla
Vista, from the East Coast, just shortly before the Bill Allen demonstrations
began at the University of California Santa Barbara campus in late 1969.
Compared to a
campus like UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara
always has been a very conservative campus, politically. The years 1968-72
were the exceptional years in this regard. At the same time, however, UCSB
still maintained its sizeable reputation as a "party school," a reputation
it continues to deserve to present day.
The Allen demonstrations,
on campus, were preludes to three separate full-scale riots that took place
in Isla Vista, next door to UC Santa Barbara. Among many important events
associated with the Isla Vista riots were the burning of the Isla Vista
branch of the Bank of America and the shooting of several students, two
of whom died.
A hastily constructed
student ghetto since the mid-1960s, Isla Vista during the late '60s and
early '70s was considered by many of us politically active students and
non-students as a quasi "liberated zone," a place where progressive political
ideas could be put into daily practice.
As a neophyte
in poltical matters, I was one of many whom the Isla Vista riots specifically
-- and the "youth revolt" of the late 1960s generally -- politicized me.
My orientation became one that was anti-establishment, anti-war -- a pro-American
cultural revolutionary position.
However, I was
never what one would consider to be a radical political leader. In Isla
Vista, as elsewhere across the country where there were political actions
taken by us of the younger generation against the Vietnam War and for the
continuation of the Civil Rights Movement, there were "strings" of political
activists -- analogous to a basketball team with many team members.
The first string
-- or "A" team -- were the leaders, the most active and usually most committed.
The second string -- or "B" team -- was the main backup to the leadership.
It was the group UCSB student leader Jim Gregory referred to when he testified
before the Citizen's Commission that investigated the causes of and the
abuses incurred during the Isla Vista riots:
"Before our arrest...
we were very concerned because we thought, who's going to take over? Because
we had been more or less keeping the thing under control... we all got
out (of jail)... and it was a shock because there were all these people
who had never been involved before, never had any responsibility and never
been in a position of leadership, had assumed that, were very good at it,
were learning all the things we had learned, and now we had twice as many
leaders, three times as many leaders."
Then there were
the third and fourth strings. These were made up of many people like me
-- kinda fascinated by it all, but on the fringe. We were what UCSB student
leader Geoff Wallace referred to when he, in frustration, claimed: "We
didn't HAVE two strings..."
So, I wasn't in
the thick of it like most of the people you will read about herein. Although
I was a DJ at student station KCSB-FM, I saw only limited action -- unlike
others in the station's news department. The night the bank burned, my
girlfriend (and future wife) and I listened to KCSB's reports from ten
miles away, up on Leadbetter Mesa. We were much more interested in sex
than street fighting. When the first reports came across KCSB-FM, my roommate,
Jon "Catherwood" Yenick (R.I.P.) high-tailed it to Isla Vista to be part
of what was going on.
As far as I knew,
coming from the East Coast, this sort of thing happened all the time! My
early contributions to the "liberation" of Isla Vista were in my role as
KCSB DJ and consisted of playing "music to riot by," or take acid by, or
get stoned on grass by... Later, I would see some street action in a group
we called "Force 5," named after the commando group popularized in the
movie Force Ten From Navaronne.
After all the
riots had run their course, when the rebuilding of Isla Vista began in
earnest, I spent time in the Strategic Hamlet collective. For a
short time, we published IV's most notorious street paper.
Much, much later,
1984-86, I served a three-year term as a board director for the Isla Vista
Recreation and Parks District (IVRPD) and was one of the last official
representatives appointed by the County on the Isla Vista Municipal Advisory
Council (IVMAC). As accomplishments during that time, I can point to the bike loop
around the Embarcadero, a re-focusing of the board on maintenance issues
over recreation, the dedication to the "Isla Vista Tree" in Dog Shit Park,
and help with the incorporation drives of 1983-87.
Yet, in terms
of giving something "truly Malcolm" back to Isla Vista -- for the many
great experiences I've had while living in IV, off and on, since 1969 --
this volume stands as my best contribution. In working on this, I remembered
how I felt back during the days I now write about and was reminded of what
Yippie! political activist Abbie Hoffman wrote, in 1986:
"It was fun to
have that sense of engagement where you jumped on the earth and the earth
jumped back -- the sense that you were a part of history."
Special thanks go out
to the following for their Photo
above courtesy of Robert
Altman
Chapter 1: Decade
of Defiance
Prime Time Culture
- Counterculture & Movement - The Campus By The Sea - Above Average
Men: The Politics of Growth - Student As Nigger - Malcolm X Hall
Chapter 2: Our
Winter of Discontent
Making It Relevant
- Free Speech - United Front - Santa Barbara Oil Spill - Police Harassment
- Isla Vista Rezonings - Isla Vista: "Sin City" - New Free University -
Faculty Club Bombing
Chapter 3: Growing
Radicalization
Student Eledtions
& the Sloughway - Berkeley's People's Park - Drugs - Isla Vista's "First"
Riot - Academic Year 1969-70 Begins - The Bill Allen Controversy - The
Vietnam War - The Bank of America
Chapter 4: The
Bill Allen Demonstrations
A Little Help
From His Friends - Joining The Conspiracy - Wharf Takeover - Dean Evans
Bullhorn Incident - Off-Campus Police at UCSB for the First Time - The
Santa Barbara 19 + 1 - Faculty Club Liberation & Academic Senate Denial
- Serpentine March
Chapter 5: IV
1 & The Burning of the Bank of Amerika
The Chicago 8
- The Trigger To The First Riot - The Kunstler Speech - Police "Saturation"
Patrols - Street Fighters Repel Police - Bank Burn, 1st Attempt - Police
Unsuccessfully Counter-attack - The Bank Burning - Police Regain Isla Vista
Chapter 6: After
The Bank Burning
The Morning After
- Cheadle's Press Conference - Associated Students Press Conference - Cowardly
Little Bums - 3rd Night (Thursday, 2/26) of "IV 1" - National Guard in
IV; Day 4 - Pigs Out For Blood - Days 5 & 6
Chapter 7: Between
IV 1 and IV 2
IV 1 Stats -
Mistreatment of the Student Press - Local Accounts - Another Look at Isla
Vista - IV 1 Stories - The Violence Debate - Biggest Capitalist Thing Around
- Conservative vs. Radical Views - The UCSB Administration View - The Radical
Elite - Fascist Pigs
Chapter 8: IV
2 & The Death Of Kevin Moran
Clear & Present
Danger - "If it's to be a bloodbath, let it be now" - IV 2, Day 1: Thursday,
April 16th - Operation Wagon Train - The Peace Brigade - Second Night -
Operation Wagon Train, again - Paranoia Strikes Deep - Kevin Moran Killed
- After Moran's Shooting - Surveillance Installations - Other Shootings
- KCSB-FM Shutdown - Honey's Sword & Mace - Ghost Snipers - IV 2, 3rd
Day, Saturday, April 18th - IV 2 Winds Down, Day 4 - Politics Leaves the
Streets - Sheriff Webster's Press Conference - Police Motivations Questioned
- "Who's Responsible?!"
Chapter 9: Between
IV 2 & IV 3
IV 2 Police Abuses
- The Invasion Of Cambodia & the Kent State Killings - On Strike! -
UCSB Faculty Leadership... Finally - Isla Vista Community Council (IVCC)
- Highway 101 Blockages & Computer Center Attacks - The Santa Barbara
20 - Santa Barbara Grand Jury Recommendations - Jerry Rubin Finally Makes
it to UCSB - The Student Mood
Chapter 10: IV
3 & The Perfect Park Sit-In
The Santa Barbara
17 - The Catalyst to IV 3 - Boy Scouts Call for the Cops, June 6th - Pleasure
Faire & After, Sunday, June 7th - The Crackdown Begins - Isla Vistans
- Los Angeles Tactical Squad Abuses - Excessive Force Continues, Tuesday,
June 9 - Perfect Park Sit-In, June 10 - After the Police Riot Citizen's
Commission, Oral Testimonies
Chapter 11: After
The Riots: The Isla Vista Vision
The Bank Burning
Trial - Blood Money - Community Building - The Trow Commission - The Trow
Report Recommendations - A New Society Liberated Zone - The Fading Apocalypse
- Counterculture and Movement More
than 35 years later, I still learn new details of the events of which
I've written here. I look forward to any personal experiences you may
have from this period and are willing to share and/or information you
think would be good to include in the book. With your permission, I'll
post the info at the DON'T BANK ON AMERIKA Blog at: Please email me at:
Malcolm
To order DON'T BANK ON AMERIKA for $29.95, plus shipping and handling (also clothes, coffee mugs and other stuff), go to: Isla Vista Historical
Sources: Special
Collections, UCSB
IV Current and
Past Events: Isla Vista Org
Carmen Lodise's
Isla
Vista History and other IV-related links
This
page last updated 28 July 2007
Copyright ©
1987-2007 by Malcolm Gault-Williams.
All Rights Reserved.
Where
Was I?
Appreciations
their own work, assistance and encouragement in the writing
of this work -- the most detailed, comprehensive, single source of information
on this period of student activism in the Santa Barbara area:
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