VENTURA COUNTY AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.— For years, a giant red stiletto standing tall along Highway 101 near La Conchita has sparked curiosity and brought joy to drivers. “It was just that little bit of humor that somebody I don’t know if somebody put there for our eyes to just enjoy,” said Frances Tiger, who lives in Santa Barbara.
“It’s like a little monument,” said UCSB Student Kiersten Falat, who was shocked to find out the stiletto had gone missing the last week of February. But who would take a giant red shoe?
“Either somebody really hates high heels or somebody that loves high heels,” said David Mendoza. “ I do believe there are several people that know what happened to it,” said Sarah Pozzebon. Sarah Pozzebon’s husband found the giant shoe a few years ago by a dumpster and relocated it by the 101 Freeway, breathing new life into the styrofoam creation. If you open up a Reddit thread, you’ll find several comments, and the majority of them lead back all the way to Isla Vista. “The person that took it isn’t going to just take it to their basement and keep it a secret forever,” said Pozzebon. So we went exploring in Isla Vista. One Instagram user sent us a screenshot of a YikYak social media post that showed the red stiletto outside of 6600 block of Sabado Tarde. The image looks like it has a fresh coat of paint—a striking detail the owner noticed back in early February. She said she had also noticed that the heel was broken and the stiletto had mysteriously moved to another part of the field before it ultimately disappeared. “We should have put an AirTag in it when that happened,” Pozzebon said. Henry Sarria has lived in Isla Vista for years, and says he saw a different social media post from Yikyak that showed the stiletto in the 6500 block of Del Playa Drive…