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  Isla Vista, the tumor growing off the rear end of UC Santa Barbara, is one square mile filled with 20,000 college students and at least that many kegs and bongs. With a population density that high, the only "hidden treasures" you're likely to find are exotic STDs and the occasional sea cucumber hanging out in the tide pools lining town's northern stretch of beach. You also might be able to find The Hard to Find, a cubicle-sized venue just outside of Isla Vista's borders. The Hard to Find attempts to fill the void left in Isla Vista's alcohol-poisoned soul after the demise of the indie institution The Living Room by providing a cheap and ostensibly drug- and alcohol-free venue to catch a show.
  
  The Hard to Find once posted a manifesto of sorts on their now-defunct website, and it was one of the most irritating mission statements ever. Something along the lines of, "We are not 'in it for the kids.' The kids can go to hell. After all, they're the ones who brought us Limp Bizkit and Creed. We don't care about the kids. We are in it simply because we are tired of having to drive to Los Angeles whenever we want to see a decent show. That, and we are actually too poor to own cars so we have never actually been to LA. Oh, and we thought that putting on shows might help us find girlfriends. Which is hasn't. But wait till we book The Shins. Then, we will be literally drowning in, you know..." OK, I made up the last sentence or five, but you get the idea.
  
  The bands range from the lame-yet-local (see: Kissing Tigers) to the almost-about-to-be-huge-for-indie (see: The Walkmen and Hot Hot Heat) to the OMG-I-actually-paid-five-dollars-AND-a-can-of-­food-to-see-this (see: The Microphones/Mt Eerie). It's intimate, it's cheap, and if you live in Goleta or Isla Vista, you can't beat the location. While it doesn't quite live up to the Living Room's egalitarian cuddlecore legacy, it  does offer one improvement:  it's right across the street from both Albertson's and Rite-Aid, so it's super easy to score some booze before the show.

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  Posted on 01.29.07 Ben P.

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