Each book is signed by Co-Author Daniela Laborinho Schwartz

Interviews, stories and photos of the deep-rooted surfers who continue to call Isla Vista home.

“Beach town. Slum. Paradise. Gross. These are just a few ways Isla Vista has been described. Maybe they are all correct. The nearly two square mile radius is home to over 27 thousand people averaging 21 years of age. Only two percent of the residents are over 35. In recent years, EDM and pop songs tend to drown out the sound of wildlife and waves. However, Isla Vista wasn’t always this way—it too has lived many lives.” - The Lineup

It began with a simple curiosity about what lies beneath our alluring college town, Isla Vista. We wanted to know more about those who’ve called it home for greater than four formative college years. So together we combined our passions for photography and storytelling to explore the lives of Isla Vista’s longstanding surfers. Three years later, after many interviews, design concepts, photoshoots, and first drafts, we’ve created a 96-page coffee table book displaying Isla Vista’s deep-rooted culture and coastline.

The book includes personal accounts of Isla Vistans throughout the decades that detail the social and environmental changes on the coast. Stories from 74-year-old painter and surfer Hank Pitcher to 26-year-old IV born and raised Bela Lafferty fill the pages and illustrate a surfer’s keen observations of the changing environment and the remarkable characters living in IV.

 Features:

Measures 10" x 10" (when closed)

About:

Daniela Schwartz and Lukas Olesinski spent the last three years compiling interviews, taking photos, and teaching themselves the whole process of assembling a book: The Lineup.

Both Lukas and Schwartz were UCSB students when the project began in January 2021, and they took to the water any chance they could find between classes. Being out in the waves during winter 2021 among rippers like Aaron Howard, MJ Butts, and Bela Laffertry sparked their curiosity about the non-student members of the community. Who are these radical surfers and what brings them to this special location?

Schwartz, who was president of UC Santa Barbara’s Surfrider student club, and Olesinski, a UCSB grad and freelance photographer, collected stories from 15 longtime residents — from 74-year-old artist Hank Pitcher to 26-year-old I.V.-native Bela Lafferty — describing the deep connection they have with the community, sticky tarry feet, and the conservation of the open space between Isla Vista and Coal Oil Point Reserve.

“We hoped this project would celebrate every individual that holds this slice of nature between Isla Vista and Coal Oil Point Reserve close to their heart,” Schwartz said. “Before starting the project, I knew other people [who were no longer students] lived in Isla Vista, but I just saw it as ‘sticking around.’ Now I see it as starting a new life — when you find a community you love, you hold onto it,” she exclaimed. “Isla Vista is an unusual place to raise a family, but that only speaks to how meaningful of a place it is.”