You’ve most likely heard of Isla Vista, or IV, because of its reputation of being a “party town”. This is likely due to stories of past Halloweens, Deltopias, and house parties on Del Playa. Because of this, it’s not uncommon for a person to encounter someone who’s drunk or high walking on its streets. Isla Vista is a town where many college students live, mingle, and eat. It’s a bustling community when school is in session, but practically a ghost town during school breaks. It’s really unlike any other college town because most of its businesses are contained in a small and central area just seconds away from the UCSB campus. Business owners target UCSB students and watch as they are constantly moving in and out over the years. Because of this, many temporary residents may think that IV always stays the same when in reality, it has evolved and shifted slowly over the years. Restaurant owners are some of the only ones to have witnessed these changes because they have been in IV for years, and yet they are often overlooked as IV community members. Because of them, we have a means of finding a black box full of memories for this community. Mike Hassan and Daniel Dunietz, owners of two different IV restaurants, tell us about themselves, their restaurants, as well as some stories about IV that many of us couldn’t even imagine.
IV DELI MART:
MIKE HASSAN
Michael Hassan, or Mike, is the sole owner of IV Deli Mart and has been since 2003. He is a devoted business owner from Ventura and commutes each day in order to overlook his restaurant. He is well-respected in the community, which is most likely due to his kindness and helpfulness towards his customers. When we came in for our interview, he didn’t know who we were and yet, he greeted us with a big smile and welcoming words as we walked into the restaurant. He is a very spontaneous and creative person, which is shown in how he began the restaurant and his menu. He has encountered many good and bad things in his years in Isla Vista and through it all, he continues to love it here and keep a positive outlook.
"It was an accident, opening the restaurant. It was something that didn't seem meant to be, but turned out to be meant to be."
HOW IT OPENED
The restaurant used to be in a much smaller location, which was just on the other side of IV Deli Mart's parking lot, but due to his success, he was able to expand his business and move to its current location
IV Deli Mart's old location.
(Dos / Flickr)
Micheal opened this restaurant in IV on a beautiful “accident”, as he described. He has been living in Ventura for his whole life, so he didn't know much about the IV community except for its party reputation.
When he was 22 years old, he decided to officially start his career by making food from his culture--Mediterranean food and had been looking for a spot for this authentic Mediterranean restaurant. He couldn't decide on the a few options he had in Ventura. At that time, his friend's dad happened to know and told him about this open spot in IV that was once a bookstore. To Micheal, who was only at the age of a college senior, this was an opportunity to start a business while still being able to have fun and partying. So he took a leap of faith and opened IV Deli Mart in this not-so-spacious spot on Pardall street and started his new life in Isla Vista.
"I thought it seemed like a fun place to be with all the college kids and I was in my early 20s, so I jumped in."
IV Deli Mart started as a Mediterranean food place with only fifteen items on the menu. Gradually, Mike added more items to the menu, like cold-cut sandwiches and burgers, expanding it into a full-blown deli.
"We test out new items and if people like them we add them to the menu. Our best selling item is the buffalo chicken cheese fries and its been around for 9 years."
Mike is always trying out new recipes and food combinations for his customers to try. Because of this, the menu has a huge variety of different kinds of cuisines, that you wouldn't necessarily expect from a deli. His menu is a big reflection of who he is as a person: fun, outgoing, and unafraid to take risks. His traits and creativity helped lead him to create some of the most popular foods in IV. For example, the iconic Buffalo Chicken Cheese Fries was a creation that Mike made because the burger version was quite popular at the time. He had the interesting idea of putting all the ingredients from the buffalo burger on top of crispy french fries. Without hesitation, he put his idea into action and, nine years later, it's still a big hit.
likes & Dislikes about IV
❤️
❌
Being in IV for already 16 years, Mike says he loves IV. Mike opened his business in his twenties, which was a very fun and important time for him. When he was younger and had just opened shop, he used to go to parties on DP and to bars downtown. He even claims that these things were more fun in the past than now. His tone even raised as he eagerly talked about IV in the past, which seemed to reflect his nostalgic feelings. Although he doesn't party anymore, he still loves making friends with students and talking to them about their lives. He feels good about his place here and thinks that it's a fun place to be because the college students constantly infuse energy into the community.
"I know its good for the students and we tried to bring our business on campus too but they said ‘oh, that’s for the school only.’ They are fighting with small business because they want to take over all the stores."
"I made a lot of friends. When students graduate and come back and say 'Hi Michael I’m back! How are you?', that's really the best part."
On the other hand, there are some aspects of IV that he really dislikes. First of all, he says that parking is a big problem. He then told us about the difficulties he had with UCSB and its administration. He feels a lot of competition with the stores and restaurants that the school has opened on campus and near Santa Catalina dorms. Because of all these new store openings, he has had a lot fewer customers. Business owners used to anticipate Halloween and Deltopia to make up for low business during the holidays, but now since both events have numerous restrictions by the school, the businesses have lost their chance to catch up. Business has become much harder to keep open nowadays than before.
Despite what happened at his store during the 2014 shooting, Mike remain committed to the IV community and the UCSB students. We asked him about the changes in IV and the students, and Mike said he noticed two main changes:
First is that the students’ willingness to socialize has dropped significantly, probably due to too much use of social media. He explained that students used to converse more before instead of just staring at their smartphones all the time. He seemed discouraged as he talked about how nowadays if a customer comes in and he simply asks how they're doing, they act surprised that someone is talking to them.
Second is that the students’ drinking tolerances seemed to have lowered over the past 16 years. He revealed that alcohol used to be sold on campus and that students could get a beer even in between classes. But, the law has evolved and driven out on-campus drinking behaviors. Mike remembered that students could drink quite a bit back then, but now he said he's seen students that only have one beer and already feel drunk.
These sentiments likely contribute to his belief that IV is not as fun as it used to be. He feels especially nostalgic for the earlier years of his restaurant because of how fun and laid-back it was. He thinks that there shouldn’t be so many restrictions to prevent students from having fun, especially in this precious time of early adulthood. He says that even the homeless people in IV used to party with the students because of how laidback everyone was.
IV Deli Mart in its old location (Daily Nexus)
"These are the best years of your life. These are the memories that you’re gonna remember yourself as a student for the rest of your life. You’re not gonna want to remember that you were just studying for the whole time. Everyone comes here to study, of course, but you want to have fun too."
Although he does not plan on expanding or multiplying the business anytime soon, he says he is focusing on enhancing IV Del Mart. His business has already expanded from a simple deli to adding on the convenience store aspect, as well as a smoke shop. The shop is too busy, which keeps him from considering adding more to his plate anytime soon. His love for the IV community has kept him here for all these years and will continue to for many more to come.
"I enjoy every minute in IV. IV is fun."
MICHAEL'S
FUTURE PLANS
BUDDHA BOWLS:
DANIEL DUNIETZ
“My real motivating mission was to throw my work, my voice, and my brand in order to help destigmatize and highlight the positives of cannabis culture and how it really can be the force of the good world.”
Daniel Dunietz is the co-owner of Budhha Bowls who initially constructed the idea of the restaurant. He convinced his partner, Willy, who also came from the midwest, to open the business with him. Daniel grew up in Chicago and came to IV for his undergrad at UCSB. He started Buddha Bowls while he was still attending UCSB in 2013, but opening a restaurant was his dream even back in high school. Although we were not able to interact with him in person very much, he took the time to answer questions we gave him, recorded it, and sent it back to us. Via the interview, we were able to see that he is a young man with a lot of passion and opinions. He seems like he always thinking about how can make the community better. As a business owner, it's a given that he focuses on store profits. Yet, he still adhered to his values and sense of community throughout the past several years that he's been in IV.
Daniel had the idea to start Buddha Bowls back when he was in high school. He and Willy would try new recipes together in their hometown, then give their creations to their friends for them to try. Daniel had a passion for feeding people through cooking, but also passion for what he perceived as an injustice in our nation when it came to the criminalization of cannabis use. He wanted to create change in how people perceived cannabis and cannabis users. These two passions are what inspired him to create Buddha Bowls. He created a brand that brought both food and cannabis together in order to portray how both can bring positivity and creativity, even for total stoners. All he needed was a place to build his brand.
HOW IT OPENED
Daniel's dream was finally realized when he had found out about UCSB. He explained that he didn't necessarily have the idea to open it in IV, but rather when he saw the community, he felt a real connection to it. In fact, part of the reason why he chose UCSB for his undergrad was that he felt that IV was the perfect community for mission.
Daniel wanted to make food that would be affordable for college students, while still making their stomachs happy and full. His goal was to provide a product that is cost-effective and delicious, without compromising the quality of the ingredients.
Buddha Bowls serves bread bowls in which you can either build your own or choose one of the staff's favorites. Then get it toasted with a savory, garlic butter spread on the bread. The menu has stayed relatively consistent over the years which seems like a reflection of how Daniel stays true to himself and his beliefs. It also shows that he adheres to his purpose of serving students food at a reasonable price but still with good ingredients. As a result, Buddha Bowls has become recognized as comfort food (and munchie food) for many people in IV to this day.
Daniel says he loves the atmosphere in IV. The students are all full of energy and youth in a way that he can see himself in students all the time. He likes to joke around with the students and supply food for them. He mentioned that some aspects of IV he dislikes are the safety concerns and immature students, but these are things people would see in any college town. He also mentioned the difficulties that arise during school breaks due to decreased business. The budget is always hard to set during vacations since most students go back home and leave IV empty, so he has had to learn to adjust to these circumstances.
With UCSB’s overall ranking soaring over the recent years, the admission process has become more competitive. Having more academically serious students could be the reason why the party culture is, according to Daniel, “not as wild as it used to be.” This decrease in party culture has led to a decrease in sales for his business.
“I mean IV is still a party town, but it has been quieter. I'm not sure about whether this is better or worse.”
DANIEL'S
FUTURE PLANS
“I think if I wanted to build a second place anywhere in the world, I will want it to be in Colorado or Westwood, somewhere by college campus.”
Daniel in 2014
(Daily Nexus)
Daniel wants to expand Buddha Bowl in size and open more locations. He envisions to develop his restaurant in a stable way that keeps it long standing. Now he is starting to refine the system and tweak the formula. He values staying local, so he has been considering opening a second one in another location nearby in Santa Barbara. But, he recognizes that the concept itself is targeted towards the college student market specifically. So whether or not Buddha Bowl fits the demographic in Santa Barbara is something that he’s giving a lot of thought about. If he were to take his restaurant elsewhere, he would want to keep Buddha Bowls a students’ eatery.
BEST MEMORY
"I was working the late shift and I was probably at the store until 1 AM. There was a gentleman who was regular and he came in and you could tell that he was absolutely wasted. He ordered a Mac and chess bowl that was huge. It was basically the size of three meals for me. This guy, he straight up consumed it. He ordered it and he was barely coherent. He sat at a table and we watched him eat it. His food was on the floor, he was like missing his month and his eyes were shut. We watched him and did our best not to laugh at him. I mean, even if we were laughing, he wouldn't have notice, but we were trying to be as professional as possible until he left. Then, twenty minutes later, the same guy comes back in and you can tell that he has no recollection of having ordered. He did the same thing, he ordered a Mac and Chess spaghetti and waited in the line. He ate it in front us and exactly the same way too. I thought this is one of those stories that would only happen in IV, it was hilarious to see it. Until this day, I was wondering how he feels in the morning."
worst MEMORY
"It was 2014, the shooting occurred in IV. There were two marines that came in when it happened and we sheltered them. It was intense. You saw the chaos that was happening on the outside. Literally, bullets were flying. Thank god that none of my staff were injured. But I was friends with the girl who was shot in the leg so that was a tough day. It was one day that really shook the community to its core."