You pass by him every day
But who is he?
Eric Hansen is a free-spirited man that has always found solace by the sunny beaches of Santa Barbara, of course while rocking a Hawaiian shirt and safari hat. From a local high school student to a flower vendor on the UCSB campus, he has always found a way to stay involved in the community of Isla Vista.
Now working for the Wahoo's Fish Taco vendor in front of Davidson Library, Eric continues to be a local bystander among the thousands of students roaming the school’s campus daily, watching students pass through his hometown during their college tenure.
As these students develop their own connection to Isla Vista, some may be oblivious to the deeper connections of residents that are right in front of our very eyes. Eric Hansen has his own compilation of experiences to share, or more accurately, talk for about as long as he has your attention.
Eric is more than just a stop on the way to class
He's an integral part of our community
And he has a story to tell
Courtesy of Shuttershock
Goleta has been Eric's home for as long as he can remember. Born in Michigan, Eric moved across the country to Goleta when he was just five-years-old.
Growing up, his dad had a car stereo shop in Isla Vista, so Eric spent most of his childhood walking the streets we know and live on. Even as a young child, Eric remembers his dad letting him go anywhere, exploring IV by himself.
One summer in particular stood out in his memory...
Courtesy of Pardall Center Isla Vista Resource Guide
"I hung out with the poor kids of IV one summer, and this guy thought of a hustle that we'd go around telling college kids that our parents were out of town for the summer and that we needed a few bucks. We'd end up with 10 of 15 dollars a day and spend it on candy. The one time I got caught, I was at my dad's store hanging out, and some of the guys that gave us money showed up," Eric chuckled.
Through the years, Eric watched the community change around him
While attending Dos Pueblos High School, Eric went to keg parties and hung out in IV, among the many college students in town. This gave him a front row seat to Floatopia in its heyday and Halloween before the barricades.
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“In the old days, we used to have Halloween and it was 90 degrees the whole week. All the high school kids from LA, guess where they wanted to come up on the weekend to cool off? Santa Barbara. Halloween was notorious.”
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In 1992, IV attracted more than 40,000 people (with over 1,000 arrests) throughout the weekend, according to Noozhawk. For years, authorities tried to control the crowds, but change didn’t come until 2014. After a 22-year-old gunman tore through Isla Vista, shooting 11 people in his path, attitudes shifted.
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“When you have an active shooter anywhere, the police have to become SWAT Team guys, because they have to assume there’s gonna be a shooter. The police we get now and the IV law enforcement is because of those incidents. That’s why everything’s so strict these days.”
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These crackdowns have changed the way Eric views IV. Now, as a father of an 11-year-old son, Eric doesn’t trust the community like he did growing up.
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“As a parent, I’d never let my kid go, or even walk down IV alone nowadays it’s so dangerous. There’s people with cars, bikes, and scooters. It’s not the same.”
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That said, crime rates within IV have actually decreased in recent years. Since 2014, IV has seen a significant increase in safety measures around the large events, according to the Bottom Line. Overall, there has been a decrease in the number of arrests and citations since those measures began.
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As someone who lived through these incidents, Eric feels their impact firsthand. Crime rates reflect the facts and figures of change, but Eric experienced something more personal, an experience that still hits home today.
"Halloween was notorious"
Courtesy of Flickr
"I came around the point at goleta beach, and i saw there were like 500 kids"
Courtesy of Flickr
Despite the chaos, some of Eric’s best memories came from parties like Floatopia, or Deltopia at it’s recently known. Thousands of party-goers used to flood the beaches from Devereux to Campus Point, dancing, drinking, and floating on the waves, according to the Santa Barbara Independent. Back in 2006, Eric found himself among these festivities, taking his kayak out for a midday adventure.
“I came around the point at Goleta Beach, and I saw there were like 500 kids," he remarked while serving up some rice. "So I crashed the party and there were tons of beers. The funniest part was by 4:00, two people tried to bring kegs on rafts, and they had two of them sink within a half hour.”
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Eric still kayaks to this day. He always likes to be among the waves.
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"I'm in the ocean everyday," said Eric, pulling a boogie board out from his cart.
But how did Eric get to Wahoo's?
His journey there was long and winding
Courtesy of Yelp
The Video Shop
After graduating from Dos Pueblos High School, Eric stuck around Goleta to work at his uncle’s video rental store, The Video Shop, rather than pursue further education. While Eric had known about UCSB most of his life, he had no desire to attend.
“As a local, I never wanted to go here because I knew if I spent all that money, I probably wouldn't find a job locally that needed that degree,” he remarked.
Over 93,000 people apply to UCSB each year, in hopes of attaining that degree. Eric knew the academic appeal, but didn’t want to waste the opportunity.
“Once you get a degree, you’re already kind of locked into having to go somewhere else for work,” he said, “There are startups here now, but those come and go with every economic up and down.”
Committed to his hometown, Eric decided not to take the risk. Instead, he worked at The Video Shop for the next 15 years.
Picture life-sized replicas of space aliens, floor-to-ceiling alphabetized discs, autographed movie posters, and a Darth Vader-esque mask looming above - you’re inside The Video Shop. After opening in 1979, the store collected over 22,000 DVDs. While having since closed its doors in 2018, The Video Shop still stands out in Eric’s memory.
“We were one of the biggest libraries in town,” he proudly said. “You just had to talk about movies and late charges. It was like Blockbuster, but better!”
In the world of Netflix and Hulu, places like The Video Shop are far and few between. Memories of one-on-one exchanges and flipping through discs are fading, but people like Eric remain. At first glance, we might see Eric as just another campus vendor, but behind the cart is a vast history waiting to be found.
After The Video Shop, Eric envied change in his life. This time, at a flower cart in UCSB’s Storke Plaza.
“As a kid growing up here, we had flower stands at every corner in town,” he said, “On Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, they always needed extra help. I knew one of my friend’s family [members] owned a flower business here in town, and that’s I how I got my start.”
Originally called “Earth, Wind, and Flowers,” the cart was operated by a woman for a long time, until she contracted cancer and could no longer operate the business. Eric noticed the cart had been vacant for a year, and he wanted to know why.
Turns out, no one had shown interest in the business. No one...until Eric. With a goal in sight, he saved up enough money to purchase the cart. For the next four years, Eric stood outside the UCen, selling flowers to anyone interested.
One of those people happened to be Stephen Hawking!
Beginning in the 1980s, Hawking’s relation with UCSB was longstanding, according to The Current. For many years, Hawking worked with James Hartle, previous director of UCSB’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. This made Hawking a regular campus visitor. And Eric just so happened to meet him.
“That’s when [Stephen] used to come here every year,” said Eric with a smile. “He walked by the stand one day in his wheelchair, and I went to give him a flower.”
Meeting people like Hawking made this job play and work, or what Eric liked to call “PLORK,” as he said in the 2005 UCSB yearbook. At the time, Eric felt he “offered opportunities to increase random moments of happiness” to the community.
That said, owning a flower cart wasn’t his dream job by any means.
“I wasn’t getting rich selling flowers, and I had just had my kid,” said Eric. “I was just looking for something to make a little more money.”
So when the time came to move on, Eric didn’t look back. He remembers his time at the flower cart well, but couldn’t be happier where he is now.
Campus Flowers
Before Wahoo’s, however, he had to take one more step...
Isla Vista Market
When his lease ended with the flower cart, Eric found himself in the heart of Isla Vista - IV Market, which he managed for a couple years. There, he dealt with the homeless, drunk students, and shoplifters. Not to mention, the electronics.
“You know, the [IV Market] owners got a cellphone roof, so you always wonder about the radiation,” said Eric. “My theory is… just that little bit of frequency makes you crazy.”
Although Eric made his claims from everyday observations, his ideas aren’t entirely off-base. Non-thermal microwave electromagnetic fields (EMFs), commonly associated with cell phones, can cause headaches, depression, nausea, sleep disturbance, and irritability, among other symptoms, according to a 2016 study by the Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy.
Cell phone radiation may not have been what drove Eric away, but they were among the many reasons he didn't stay at IV Market long term.
“I got fired from IV market for taking a couple of extra days of vacation and the bosses didn’t like it,” laughed Eric. “I was having issues with the boss. I knew my time there was limited.”
Courtesy of Icon Apartments
While his position was short-lived, managing the market showed Eric how IV has changed over his lifetime. Eric saw one significant shift in the area - high rises, or the multiple-story buildings popping up across town.
“That’s going to be the prototype for IV for the next fifty, hundred years,” he asserted.
To illustrate his point, Eric pointed to the Icon building, a 21-unit apartment complex that sits above 7-Eleven. Completed in 2012, the complex is one of the largest in IV, with amenities designed for luxurious living, according to Noozhawk.
“You know how much that square piece of land with four stories is generating in rent? Like hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said. “That’s what they all look for as landlords. Instead of six thousand, they get 200,000 for the same property. I mean, the banks throw money at those buildings left and right.”
Over the past decade, other large buildings have started to emerge, like the 48-unit Loop complex and 18-unit Plaza Lofts. In last year alone, Playa Life I.V. bought out Del Playa Rentals for $80 million, according to the Daily Nexus. Under the new owner, rents are expected to rise for new tenants.
Even for someone who doesn’t live in IV, these shifts in housing are apparent, and even more so, impactful.
“It’ll be a mixture of those three-, four-story buildings that are everywhere,” said Eric. “That’s what I don’t want.”
Job after job, Eric found his way to Wahoo's
They may not have been his future
But they gave him perspective
And made him who he is today
After being fired, Eric was on the lookout for another position to fill, so he turned to Craigslist. There, he found an ad for a new Wahoo’s vendor, but that wasn’t all. A familiar name popped up on his screen.
“I knew Jeff [Wahoo’s owner] because my kid was going to the same school as his,” said Eric. “We had a connection, so I asked if I could run a cart.”
Wahoo’s main kitchen opened in the UCen in 2012. Since then, two associated carts have opened on UCSB’s campus, including Eric’s by the Arbor.
Monday through Friday, 11am to 2pm, Eric serves everything from carnitas tacos with pico de gallo to chicken burritos with cilantro sauce. Underneath a wide-brimmed hat, always sporting a Hawaiian shirt, he serves teachers, students, visitors, and alumni. His customers may only know Eric for the short conversation they share, but the interaction goes two ways.
“Students are the ultimate transients. You kind of come here with fresh eyes, you’re optimistic, and by the time your four years are up, you see the town for what it is. You’re paying tons of rent for moldy-infested places, life could be better, there’s no jobs in town. Everybody’s ready to get out of here.”
WHY HAVE YOU STAYED?
Courtesy of Wix
"They say positive ions in the air makes people mellow...There's a huge forest of kelp that we're all breathing in. And it's untouched"
When asked to describe IV and UCSB in one word, Eric said "the air".
“The air out here. They say positive ions in the air makes people mellow. And as soon as you get here, driving off the freeway, what’s the first we all smell are those positive ions. If you go kayaking out there, you’ll see it bubbling up from the reefs. A kelp forest creates oxygen. So what we’re doing, there’s a huge forest of kelp that we’re all breathing in. And it’s untouched.”
For over 40 years, Eric has made this mellow place his home, and he has no plans of leaving anytime soon. Now, with a family of his own, he’s watching his son grow up in Goleta, like he did all those years ago.
He’s watched Isla Vista change, UCSB expand, and student after student pass by. They may not know who he is, but he knows them.
Speaking with Eric feels like home
He's a storyteller at heart
And more than a cart
He's a hidden piece of history
And a breath of fresh air