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It was summertime when I first met Jorge, he was stepping out of his USPS mail truck to deliver a package to my front door. He knew I was new to this cramped college town, a half square mile-plot of land crumbling into the ocean with echoes of faint EDM music, home to University of California, Santa Barbara students. With a smile that reached from ear to ear he said “Hey!” with the cadence of a Disney character. For the rest of summer we smiled and waved at each other every time our paths crossed. His joy stuck with me and reminded me of how precious passive interactions are.
Whenever he came to drop off the mail while my housemates and I were home, we always discussed how much we loved him and how happy he made us. My housemate Minami would joke exclaiming, “What is he on?! Whatever it is, I need some.” We would laugh in agreement. His joy was a drug.
During my interview with Jorge, I had to ask him: “What is the secret?”
Credit: Olivia Basura and Jasmine Schwam
Jorge was born in the heart of Los Angeles, then moved to Mexico at the age of 13. His time in Mexico was filled with music and family which he kept close to him, even after he moved back to Los Angeles at 17. His family lives all along the California coast which enabled him to make frequent trips to Isla Vista, where he would cruise the streets with his cousins and became familiar with the youthful spirit of IV. The energy he felt was his first taste of his second home.
For the past 6 weeks I have tried to understand his secret. Jorge warmly welcomed me into his sphere, going above and beyond to give me a little taste of what his relationship with Isla Vista is like. This piece is filled with spur of the moment conversations on the streets and a formal sit-down interview where Jorge opened up to me about how much he cherishes his role in Isla Vista.
Heading into adulthood, Jorge didn’t know what he wanted to do with his career, but he knew he loved talking to people and hanging outdoors. In the 90’s, after his time working merchandising at 7Up and driving all over LA for Bimbo Bakeries, he became comfortable working the streets. After visiting his family on the central coast, he finally settled in Goleta where he followed his uncle’s footsteps as a mailman.
“You know [how] somebody will say, “Oh, I have an old soul”, I'm the opposite. I've always been, I don't know how you say, young spirit, or young heart, whatever.”
Map of Isla Vista
Credit: University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012
Isla Vista is an intimidating place for anyone driving a vehicle larger than a sedan. The roads are packed so densely with student’s cars that the streets feel more like one way roads. Bikes zoom by quickly and people walk and skate in the middle of the street without care, since they have right of way in this town. The layout is a simple grid located right next to the University of California, Santa Barbara campus, so students are all moving to and from the same places, providing mail carriers with a delivery experience that feels more like delivering on the freeway.
Isla Vista’s bustling streets act as an unaffiliated extension of UCSB housing, with the majority of upperclassmen calling it home. With increasing enrollment, students cram themselves into crowded apartments and duplexes, even living in homes with upwards of 20 people. This can be daunting for a mail carrier – there is a lot of mail, a lot of mailboxes, and a lot of college students.
In recent years, mail delivery has been getting crazier. According to the USPS, there was a total mail volume of 127.3 billion in 2022, with 7.2 billion packages, nearly double of 4 billion from 2014. This is in part due to the pandemic where the Postal Service was considered an essential service that was critical to democracy and people like Jorge remained tasked with delivering billions of packages to the nation.
For good reason, many of Jorge’s colleagues wanted to avoid delivering mail in Isla Vista. The beautiful weather, crisp ocean air, view of the mountains, and clear skies were not enough to make the tedious and rowdy Isla Vista mail scene appealing. When Jorge first started the job, he mainly assisted other carriers in the Isla Vista routes, and the challenges of Isla Vista did not phase rookie Jorge.
“I would hear everybody like, oh, no, no, no. I don't want to go… but I'll go! I'll go! Because it wasn't my route at first. But I would say, I'll go help them. I'll go help them. It was fun because I would walk and be out there and say what's up to everyone.”
But Jorge felt right at home from his first day working in Isla Vista. At the age of 25, he was familiar with the debauchery on Del Playa, the infamous party street. “So I didn't really like party it up, but I did go and we would cruise around and hang out.” Instead of backing away from the challenge of working in our community, Jorge leaped forward.
Jorge, age 25 in his early days as a mailman
Credit: Jorge Lopez
“I've been out there since pretty much day one. Then they sent me to another post office in Santa Barbara for like a month to cover a route and I was like, I don't want to go there… So then they brought me back here for a month to cover and the route went up for bid. And nobody - I mean nobody - wanted to bid. And I didn't have any seniority - I started here like a year ago. But I was the only one that bid on the route, so I got it.”
So only a year into his career, Jorge won the bid for the route he has now worked for the past 25 years. This wasn’t because he thought it would be easy. He was one of the few that could see the beauty of Isla Vista through the many challenges that come with the route. Nearly thirty years later, he still delivers mail on Trigo, Pasado, Fortuna, Fortuna Lane and Sueno on the 6600 through 6800 blocks, as well as to the IV Food Co-op on Seville. This route is where he interacts with the students, families, and businesses that have become his family.
Credit: Olivia Basura and Jasmine Schwam
I walked with Jorge on this route and got to see him in action. About ten minutes into the route Jorge’s nose started to bleed - a testament to the grueling nature of the job. It was a warm, dry day, but the weather and his condition did not phase him, and he continued to deliver the mail just as he was before, entertaining our curiosity and smiling as students rode by. It was apparent that he had been doing this for a while – he took time with each letter and package, demonstrating his love for the community with each delivery.
This walk was also an opportunity to get to know Jorge outside of the comfort of my own yard. My housemates and neighbors all know him well, but his sphere of influence extends far beyond my block. Nearly every student that walked by us greeted him with a smile and a hello, and Jorge would respond, calling them by name and asking how they were.
One day Jorge was riding down Trigo when he saw a student struggling to untangle her skirt out of her bike chain. He pulled over, helped release her out of the chain, and provided her with a nifty solution. “I got some rubber bands,” he exclaimed, telling her to tie the rubber bands at the bottom of her skirt, so the flowy material wouldn’t get caught in her chain anymore.
Life happens; bikes crash, people break up, friends fight, tires deflate, and we all are learning how to deal with it. In a town full of college students, the majority of us are away from our families, learning how to fend for ourselves and stand on our own two feet. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but what if that village is made up of children? In a neighborhood filled with my peers, I look to a figure like Jorge to be my crutch through my journey of becoming a full fledged adult.
Jorge's Favorite Quotes
My interview with Jorge turned into a philosophical conversation about life and how we choose to live it. Jorge shared with me that he is heavily influenced by positive motivational quotes he sees on instagram and reads in books. He texts them to his loved ones and keeps them in mind as he goes about his shift. These quotes and the energy that the students on his route radiate influence him to be an outstanding force in what he describes as the “feedback” loop of Isla Vista. In Isla Vista there is this magical presence of goodness that flows through the community, that feels like the sun, and Jorge is a ray of sunshine in that. Jorge concludes that “it just goes around.”
So… what is the secret? “There is no secret,” Jorge tells us. Positivity is something that you have to work out, like a “muscle in the gym.” By practicing positivity and choosing happiness, the small negative things that stack up and would usually get to you, roll off your back easily, and make you an unstoppable force of joy. That being said, it is hard work. Jorge works extremely long days and it would be expected of him to go about his job not entertaining the students of Isla Vista, but, that extra effort he gifts the community, makes positivity in IV infectious.
Credit: Olivia Basura and Jasmine Schwam
Jorge has always been a beacon of light and support for UCSB students in times of happiness. However, Isla Vista has had its share of tragedies and turmoil, from the Deltopia riots to the 2014 massacre, leading me to ask if Jorge felt more pressure to uplift the students
Jorge works Saturdays and often finds himself delivering mail in a town that outsiders could only describe as a Vegas for college students, where he has to weave his mail truck between staggering, drunk college students. He said the worst case of this was Deltopia 2014, the year when riots and danger overshadowed the carefree intentions of Isla Vista’s party culture. Jorge told me that one of his coworkers ended up stranded in a crowd after his mail truck was swarmed by visiting college students; his only escape was a police escort after the crowds had died down, contributing to Isla Vista’s bad reputation among service workers.
Deltopia 2014
Credit: Mike Eliason
Every morning, Jorge parked his mail truck in front of the Capri Apartments on Seville, marking the beginning of his route. Before they even came into view, Jorge could smell the three exchange students’ cigarettes in the air. Every morning, they would chat in their native tongue, only switching to English to exchange “what’s ups” with Jorge. These small interactions may seem trivial to some, but the consistency of this routine forged a relationship between Jorge and the boys.
In May of 2014, shortly after the Deltopia Riots, these three boys along with others throughout Isla Vista were murdered at the hand of their roommate. Even though Jorge is not a student, he still suffered the same losses as the UCSB community, and someone who would interact with the victims every day.
Following this event, Jorge felt immense grief and was offered an alternative route by the USPS. Isla Vista’s reputation had plummeted even further, yet Jorge knew the best way to confront this grief was by being there and showing up for the community. Despite all of the sadness he felt, he made the choice every day to spread positivity into the world.
He defends the challenge of working this route to his fellow mail carriers by asking them; “Why are you focusing on the bad stuff? It's a handful. Yeah. A handful. It's millions of things. Why don't you focus on the cool people, kind people, beautiful views, beautiful people.”
Jorge’s focus on the positive aspects of his job is a powerful reminder of the impact of attitude and perspective. Jorge tells us that amidst darkness and tragedy, resilience and compassion shine brightest. I admire that despite his own challenges, Jorge continues to provide Isla Vista residents with unwavering support and positivity.
Credit: Olivia Basura and Jasmine Schwam
As I interviewed him he expressed to me how proud he is of all the students for chasing their dreams. Jorge is so proud of Isla Vistans for studying, going to class and following their passions. He recognizes how hard we are working, while learning to stand on our own two feet.
“When you take off, try and start slowly. I feel like I see the students and I'm like, what if that was my child? I do it because I feel that I should - if anything happened to you guys or my friends or somebody that I don't know, I hope that somebody will stop and help.”
Jorge’s support lingers beyond the city lines of Isla Vista, and beyond students’ college years. It continues on with the lives of all the people he has touched. Jorge told us that 7 years after graduating from UCSB, a student invited him to his wedding.
I sat down with my neighbor Dome, who has lived in Isla Vista for over three years, and asked him what makes Jorge so special to him. After calling Jorge a “legendary man”, Dome said Jorge is “someone that you can count on to, like, always be there to fire you up with a smile.”
“I think it's really cool that Jorge passionately acts to make all these friends
and sort of just like always, putting himself out there.”
It is clear to me that the students love Jorge, but so much of this is unknown to him. Each small interaction with Jorge is important, but due to the fleeting nature of these interactions, it is hard to let him know how much we appreciate him as we zoom by on our bikes or skate by. So, I decided to collect letters from students to Jorge, to let him know how much he is appreciated and illustrate what his joy does to our community.
Dome's Drawing of Jorge
Credit: @artbydome
Jorge Delivering Mail on Trigo Rd
Credit: Jasmine Schwam
I took to my instagram story, and prompted my followers to write a letter to Jorge. The word spread like wildfire. Acquaintances started reposting screenshots of my instagram story, then their friends started to repost, and suddenly I was flooded with messages. I spent the evening biking across Isla Vista between people’s homes, collecting heartfelt letters.
To my surprise, the movement reached far beyond current UCSB students, even people who had graduated or no longer lived in Isla Vista wanted to participate too. I found myself posted next to the printer in UCSB’s Student Resource building, printing out stacks of scanned letters from people throughout California and even all the way from the east coast who have all felt the impact of Jorge’s presence in their lives.
In the span of about 24 hours, the post was viewed by thousands of people, and over 50 letters were gathered. I was not expecting for there to be so much traction - after reading over these letters, I see why.
This year’s Valentine's Day was a sunny, temperate day. It stood out amidst the other rainy days of the week that caused flooding on the UCSB campus, resulting in the campus’ closure. It was a perfect day to give Jorge his letters.
Last minute participants delivered their letters to my mailbox while I was away at my 9am class. When I came home, my housemates told me how many people stopped by to drop off their cards as I flipped through them in my hands. Some people chose to write a note on a spare sheet of notebook paper, while others used colorful cardstock. It was all so beautiful, reminding me of the nostalgia of being an elementary school student in art class.
I rode my bike to meet Jorge around 2pm on the 6700 block of Sueno, one of the final stops of his route. “Hey!” He greeted me with a large wave and his classic huge smile. While I can’t exactly put into words what his greeting sounds like, the closest thing I would describe it as is a hug.
I wished his son a happy birthday, remembering the date from our previous interview. My unusual grin and mysterious bag I was holding hinted to Jorge that I was up to something mischievous, since I had an unprompted grin on my face and was holding a bag of something. I said, “I have something to give you!”
“Oh my god, you guys…” he responded.
I asked him if he wanted to take a look at the cards, but, choked by his tears, he said he couldn’t at that moment. “I don’t want to cry!” His smile remained as I noticed his face go flush. I knew he shed a tear behind his iconic sunglasses as he profusely thanked me and all the students who had written him a letter.
Later that week I sat down with Jorge outside the Camino Real Marketplace Starbucks, Where people in the community recognized him and said hello. The first thing I asked him about was his reaction to the letters.
Jorge recounts to me his Valentine’s day. That morning, Jorge noticed his son, Izaak, acting out of character, trying to rush him out the door. Jorge knew something was up, saying “He kind of kicked me out!”
Credit: Jorge Lopez
Upon returning from work, Jorge’s wife began excitedly asking Jorge about his day. Jorge said to her, “it seems like you know something...” and opened his work bag to show her all the letters.
It turned out that Jorge’s son got word of the letter ordeal when the snowball of posts had reached him. Izaak had been rushing his dad out the house in order to show his mom the instagram stories, so when Jorge came home she was excited to see what she thought.
“I had those letters. I was like, okay, I'll tell you what, let's open a bottle and we can read them… We just threw them all over the table. She was trying to separate them by street but some didn't have it. And then at the end I was just like, oh and I got the one for my son. I wanted to show him and then I mixed them all up.” You could hear the excitement in Jorge’s voice.
“Anyway, it was just so cool.”
We asked Jorge if he could describe what Isla Vista is to him in one word. He said this:
" FAMILY "
He went on to explain that “family is a very important word for me that I think of when I think of IV… I want everyone to know how special you all are to me.”
Credit: Olivia Basura and Jasmine Schwam
Jorge is more than a mailman and the students are more than residents in Isla Vista. It is a family. It is a family that focuses on positivity, support, and passion. It doesn’t matter who you are, someone will be there to help you off the ground when you fall off of your bike, or watch the sunset with you at the end of the day. Jorge helps us all have enthusiastic compassion for one another, and serves as a reminder of family when students are far from home.
