After Decades, Isla Vista Gets a New Welcome Sign 

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This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

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Just before Los Carneros Road meets El Colegio Road, you’ll notice a sign with a message. The sign is direct: “Welcome to Isla Vista,” it says in bright white letters. A tree on the sign reaches just past the wood backdrop, and bright yellow flowers are shown growing at its bottom. 

The sign is new — it was replaced in December 2025. On February 25, the Isla Vista Community Services District held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially celebrate the replacement. District and county officials, along with a few community members, gathered for the event. 

For decades, some form of a wooden welcome sign has stood at that intersection. The county approved a sign as early as when the community group Joint Isla Vista Effort put forward the proposal. A photo from 1977 shows a circular sign that says “Isla Vista Welcome.” Later images show a rectangular sign, though it’s not clear when the sign was adapted or replaced. 

Jenna Norton, the district’s Public Works and Sustainability Director, said that she was sad to see the shape the sign was in last year. The sign’s white letters had faded, and the tree’s trunk was missing.

So, Norton said, she reached out to local woodworker Carson Brown. 

“This was an awesome opportunity to get involved with the community,” Brown said. Currently, he works as UC Santa Barbara Art Department’s woodshop technician. 

The sign itself, Brown said, is Douglas fir — he said it is more rot-resistant than the past sign, making it built to last decades. 

Brown said talk of replacing the sign started last spring. He said he took measurements of the old sign and examined archive photos of it. Then, he said, he digitized the sign’s measurements and used a CNC machine — a machine that can be programmed to cut, carve, and make parts — to create the shapes on the sign. The machine allowed him to use the exact same font as the former sign. 

After he assembled the sign, Brown said, he treated it with exterior-grade sealants. He said UCSB art student Emmy Birkholz helped with painting it. 

Catherine Carmichael, the Isla Vista Community Service District’s board president, said the tree depicted on the sign represents both Isla Vista’s historic push for self-governance and determination, as well as its ecological history, as the area that makes up I.V. used to be oak forest. 

All told, the sign cost the community services district about $3,000, public works director Norton said.