Fred Eissler Dies

Fred Eissler, a loud voice crying in Santa Barbara’s environmental wilderness throughout the 1970s and 1980s, died last week at age 91. Eissler led the charge against what would become Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort along Cabrillo Boulevard. Although he would ultimately lose at the ballot box in the early 1980s, his effort substantially whittled down a development plan initially so large that a substantial stretch of Highway 101 would have had to be relocated to accommodate it. Eissler was also active in the unsuccessful effort to develop a massive housing development near El Capitan campground along the Gaviota Coast.