We were so excited, we held a party that lasted well into the
next day! Local newspapers heralded the accomplishment that Isla
Vistans had made another major step in our struggle for political
and economic self-determination.
But the excitement didn't last long. About 10:30 the next night
a Dr. Ken Frank called me at home, telling me he was the new owner
of the Isla Vista Service Center and the front building. I thought
he was a crank caller, so I hung up. But Frank called back immediately
to assure me he had just settled a deal with Quaglino to purchase
both buildings.
But Frank told me he was willing to sell the community the back building for $100,000. Since he was buying both buildings for $140,000 and both had equal floor space, I immediately saw that this was not a good deal.
The next day I called Quaglino and he confirmed Frank's story.
He explained that his son Jack was about to go on trial for murdering
his wife by running her over with a car while she was jogging
on Cathedral Oaks Road in Goleta. The old man needed $25,000 immediately
to pay for a hotshot attorney to defend his son. He simply decided
he couldn't wait for the money from the County and had accepted
Frank's offer.
Incidentally, this was the second time one of the younger Quaglino's
wives had died under weird circumstances.
The great irony was that Frank had found out about the buildings
being for sale by reading newspaper accounts of the IVCC grant
from the County. He had apparently read something separately about
Quaglino's financial problems.
It turned out that Dr. Frank was one of several partners in the blood-collecting business in the front building. The company was called Plasma Quest and they paid virile college students in need of spending money $6-a-pint for their blood.
