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Discover Places to Go and Things to Do
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Santa Cruz, CA
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Santa Cruz, CA 95060-2820
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Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 54,593. It is located on the northern edge of the Monterey Bay, about 72 mi (115 km) south of San Francisco and is considered the overlapping portion of the San Francisco Bay Area with the Central Coast of California.
Santa Cruz was one of the earliest settlements of the Spanish during the exploration of Alta California. As such, the area has a history spanning back to the later part of the 1700s. During the late 1800s, after California became part of the United States, Santa Cruz became widely popular for its idyllic beaches and Coastal Redwoods and became a popular resort community. Now known for its alternative community lifestyles and liberal political leanings, Santa Cruz is a bastion for many sub-cultures and counter-cultures.
HistoryMission and Pueblo PeriodIn 1769 the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà arrived in the land area which is now known as the City of Santa Cruz. When he came upon the river, he named it San Lorenzo in honor of Saint Lawrence. He called the rolling hills above the river, Santa Cruz, which means holy cross.
Santa Cruz was one of the earliest settlements of the Spanish during the exploration of Alta California. As such, the area has a history spanning back to the later part of the 1700s. During the late 1800s, after California became part of the United States, Santa Cruz became widely popular for its idyllic beaches and Coastal Redwoods and became a popular resort community. Now known for its alternative community lifestyles and liberal political leanings, Santa Cruz is a bastion for many sub-cultures and counter-cultures.
HistoryMission and Pueblo PeriodIn 1769 the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà arrived in the land area which is now known as the City of Santa Cruz. When he came upon the river, he named it San Lorenzo in honor of Saint Lawrence. He called the rolling hills above the river, Santa Cruz, which means holy cross.
Twenty-two years later, on August 28, 1791, Father Fermín Lasuén established the Mission Santa Cruz, also known as La Misión de la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz, the twelfth mission to be founded in California.
On April 1796, by order of the Viceroy of New Spain Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca y Branciforte, marqués de Branciforte, Captain Pere d'Alberní, and his First Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia, a 72-men irregular unit serving the Spanish Crown, were moved to California to take care of the Spanish military garrisons of Monterrey, Santa Bárbara, San Diego and San Francisco.
Across the San Lorenzo River, in what is now known as the East Side of Santa Cruz, Alberní founded a town called Villa Branciforte (Spanish for Branciforte Village), in honor of the Viceroy of New Spain. Villa Branciforte later merged with the Mission Santa Cruz community across the river, and together they formed what is today known as Santa Cruz.
By the 1820s Mexico had assumed control of the area and within the next twenty years, Americans began to arrive in great numbers. California became a state in 1850, and Santa Cruz County was created in 1850 as one of the twenty-seven original counties.
California StatehoodBy the turn of the century logging, lime processing, agriculture, and commercial fishing industries prospered in the area. Due to its mild climate and scenic beauty Santa Cruz also became a prominent resort community.
Santa Cruz was incorporated in 1866 as a town under the laws of the State of California and received its first charter as a city in 1876. At that time the city was governed by a Mayor and Common Council consisting of four members. A walk down Walnut Avenue past the Sorbet Santa will show any passer-by the unique architecture from the Victorian period in Santa Cruz.
In 1907, the citizens voted for a new charter designating a Mayor as chief executive and a City Council consisting of seven members. Subsequent charters gave a Mayor and four Commissioners both executive and administrative powers. At that time the city was divided into five departments: Public Affairs, Revenue and Finance, Public Health and Safety, Public Works, and Streets and Parks.
In 1948, the City of Santa Cruz adopted a new City Charter. This charter established a Council-Manager form of government, with a Mayor and six Councilmembers setting policy for the city and a city manager serving as the chief administrator of those policies. The Charter, with amendments, is still in existence today.
On October 17, 1989, the city suffered major damage from the Loma Prieta earthquake, which was centered on Loma Prieta, the highest point in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains. Many of the historic buildings in the downtown business district were damaged or destroyed; reconstruction of the district has continued in recent years, and some of the original buildings can be seen in Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" movie Sudden Impact.
Historic social activismAs a center of liberal and progressive activism, Santa Cruz became one of the first cities in California to test the state's medical marijuana laws in court after the arrest of several medical marijuana proponents by the DEA. The case was ruled in favor of the growers. In 2005, the Santa Cruz City Council established a "city government office" to assist residents with obtaining medical marijuana. In 2006, Measure K was passed by voters, making marijuana enforcement "lowest priority" for law enforcement.
In 2003, the Santa Cruz City Council became the first City Council in America to officially "denounce the Iraq War." The City Council of Santa Cruz also issued a proclamation opposing the USA PATRIOT Act.
Santa Cruz has an active community of independent media makers as demonstrated by the Santa Cruz Independent Media Center and many other do-it-yourself media projects. A pirate radio station, Free Radio Santa Cruz (FRSC 101.1 FM), has been in operation in Santa Cruz for a decade, operating with active participation from a cross section of Santa Cruz residents. Incendio is a bi-lingual journal to connect English- and Spanish-speaking anarchists throughout the world to anarchist, indigenous, ecological, and social struggles occurring throughout Latin America. Santa Cruz also has an active independent media outlet.
The Diversity Center is a non-profit organization organized in 1989 as the Santa Cruz Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center, Inc. and has served as Santa Cruz County's primary LGBT service agency ever since. The name "The Diversity Center" was adopted in the fall of 1999. The Diversity Center maintains a drop-in space, lending library, and numerous social and support groups. Since 1990, the Diversity Center has been the producer of the Santa Cruz LGBT Pride March and Rally, an annual event that draws thousands of people to downtown Santa Cruz each June. Before 1990, Santa Cruz LGBT Pride, which began in 1975, was produced by the Freedom Foundation.
Founded in 1976, The Resource Center for Nonviolence is one the oldest and most centrally located non-profit organizations committed to political and social activism in Santa Cruz County. The center is "dedicated to promoting the principles of nonviolent social change and enhancing the quality of life and human dignity".
Santa Cruz has an activist Veteran community. The United Veterans Council sponsors a community-based program for Veterans dealing with re-entry into society as an alternative to government remedies. The Bill Motto VFW post 5888 sponsors anti-war and peace efforts in Santa Cruz and throughout the country. The Veterans Memorial Building is host to punk, reggae, and hip-Hop acts from Santa Cruz and around the world. It is also the home of the Bill Motto Post sponsored Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. These dinners were started by post 5888 in the late seventies. In 2006, the Thanksgiving dinner served 1,400 people.Other non-profit organizations have been developed to address various issues in the community, such as The Santa Cruz AIDS Project, Barrios Unidos, and The Homeless Garden Project.
Law and GovernmentIn the state legislature Santa Cruz is located in the 11th Senate District, represented by Democrat Joe Simitian, and in the 27th Assembly District, represented by Democrat John Laird. Federally, Santa Cruz is located in California's 17th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +17 and is represented by Democrat Sam Farr.
Sister citiesSanta Cruz has five sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):
Alushta, Ukraine Jinotepe, Nicaragua Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela Sestri Levante, Italy Shingū, Japan
A monument next to the downtown Santa Cruz post office has a small circular plaza surrounded by marble posts topped with bronze maps of each of the sister cities.
The sister city relationship with Alushta was established in the waning days of the Soviet Union before the fall of Communism and was controversial at the time.
EducationK through 12Elementary schools
Santa Cruz City Schools Elementary District is made up of elementary schools where a complete K through 5th grade program is offered.
Bay View Elementary Gateway School (private) DeLaveaga Elementary Gault Elementary Westlake Elementary Monarch Elementary (alternative) Happy Valley Elementary LIve Oak Elementary Green Acres Elementary Del Mar Elementary
Junior high and middle schools
Branciforte Middle School Mission Hill Middle School Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School (private) Pacific Collegiate School (charter) Shoreline Middle School
High schools
Santa Cruz High School Cypress Charter High School Soquel High School Harbor High School Costanoa High School Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School (private) Pacific Collegiate School (charter) Empire Academy (private) The Ark (alternative) Delta Charter High School (charter)
Colleges & universitiesUC Santa CruzUCSC was built starting in the 1960s with a residential college system based on the British system, (see University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, or University of York). To date, there are ten colleges, each with a different theme and architectural framework. The UCSC campus sits among a redwood forest and overlooks Monterey Bay. Originally, UCSC did not use letter grades in evaluating student academic performance and had no organized sports teams, although both of these have now changed, students are faced with the same choices as most other UC campuses. There are also a number of NCAA division III sports programs, including tennis, water polo, swimming, diving, basketball, rugby, and soccer. The university mascot, the banana slug, was established by students on an informal basis, and recognizes an indigenous creature that can be found throughout the campus. The campus administration attempted to assign the sea lion as the mascot in the early 1980s. However, after a 1986 student referendum voted overwhelmingly in favor of the slug, the then-Chancellor declared the slug the official UCSC mascot.
Cabrillo CollegeCabrillo College, named after the explorer Juan Cabrillo, is a community college in Aptos, California. It is one of 109 public community colleges in the state of California. The college opened in 1959. Although the campus is not within city limits, it is the primary community college that supports the greater Santa Cruz area.
AttractionsPoints of interestUniversity of California, Santa Cruz, ArboretumMission Santa CruzMystery SpotNatural Bridges State BeachCocoanut GroveSanta Cruz Beach BoardwalkSanta Cruz Student Housing Co-opsSanta Cruz Museum of Natural HistorySanta Cruz Surfing Museum
ParksState Parks & BeachesHenry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Lighthouse Field State Beach
Natural Bridges State Beach
New Brighton State beach
Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park
Twin Lakes State Beach
Seabright State Beach
Wilder Ranch State Park
Greenbelt DistrictsArana Gulch
Agnes Street
Arroyo Seco Canyon
Meder Street
Bethany Curve Greenbelt
From Delaware Avenue to West Cliff Drive
Lighthouse Field
701 West Cliff Drive
Loch Lomond Park
100 Loch Lomond Way, Felton CA
Moore Creek
End of Meder Street/Highway 1 at Shaffer Road
Neary Lagoon
110 California Street
Pogonip
333 Golf Club Drive
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Regional ParksHarvey West Park
326 Evergreen Street
DeLaveaga Park
850 Branciforte Avenue
Depot Park
119 Center Street
Neighborhood ParksBeach Flats Park
122 Raymond Street
Central Park
301 Dakota Street
Derby Park
508 Woodland Way
Frederick Street Park
168 Frederick Street
Garfield Park
634 Almar Avenue
Grant Park
150 Grant Street
John Franks Park
Marnell Street
Laurel Park
301 Center Street
Lighthouse Neighborhood Park
Lighthouse Avenue
Mike Fox Park
San Lorenzo Blvd. & Third Street
Mission Plaza
103 Emmet Street
Moore Creek Overlook
Cypress Street
Ocean View Park
102 Ocean View Avenue
Round Tree Park
305 Nobel
San Lorenzo Park
137 Dakota Street
Star of the Sea
Frederick Street & Darwin Street
Trescony
Trescony Street
Tyrrell Park
Pilkington Avenue & East Cliff
University Terrace
Meder Street
Westlake Park
Bradley Dr & Spring Street
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Recreation Santa Cruz is well-known for watersports such as sailing, diving, swimming, paddling, and surfing. It is the home of O'Neill Wetsuits and Santa Cruz Surfboards, as well as Santa Cruz Skateboards and Santa Cruz Bicycles. Santa Cruz also houses Derby skate park, the first public skate park in the USA as well as the brand new Mike Fox skatepark. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is California’s oldest amusement park and a designated State Historic Landmark. Home to two National Historic Landmarks, a 1911 Charles I. D. Looff Carousel and 1924 Giant Dipper roller coaster, the Boardwalk has been owned and operated by the Santa Cruz Seaside Company since 1915.
Santa Cruz is the reputed site of the first surfing in California in 1885, when three Hawaiian princes, Prince Edward, Prince David and Prince Jonah Kalaniana’ole, surfed on locally milled redwood boards at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. Santa Cruz has 11 world-class surf breaks, including the point breaks over rock bottoms near Steamer Lane and Pleasure Point, which create some of the best surfing waves in the world. Home to the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum at Steamer Lane, which continues to be staffed by docents such as Harry Mayo and others from the Santa Cruz Surfing Club who have surfed Santa Cruz waves since the 1930s, Santa Cruz hosts several surf contests drawing international participants each year, including the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, the International Longboard Association contest, and many others. Was home to the Miss California Pageant, state finals to Miss America for six decades.
The Santa Cruz Wharf is known for fishing, viewing marine mammals and other recreation.
Many outdoor sports are popular in the area such as skateboarding, cycling, camping, hiking, and rock climbing.
In addition to its reputation in surfing and skateboarding, which now has the first full pipe in Northern California, Santa Cruz is known for other alternative sports such as disc golf. The Santa Cruz Skatepark is open to the public 7 days a week and is free. The De Laveaga Disc Golf Course hosts PDGA tournaments, including the annual Masters Cup. De Laveaga was the disc golf and discathon venue for the WFDF-sanctioned World Disc Games overall event held in Santa Cruz in July 2005.
The Ken Wormhoudt Skate Park (formerly Mike Fox Park) is a 15,000 square foot park featuring a full pipe, two bowls with pool coping and tile, practice bowl and street course with steps, hubba ledges, wall-rides and metal rails. It is located at 225 San Lorenzo Boulevard at Riverside Avenue along the San Lorenzo River levee. The park opened in March 2007. It is open from 9 a.m. to sunset daily. All skaters must wear a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads and have skateboards and in-line skates with composite wheels only. Bicycles, scooters, and metal skate wheels are not allowed in the skate park. The skate park will be closed during rainy or wet conditions.
Santa Cruz provides many opportunities for birding (see bird list) and butterfly watching.
Many residents consider downtown Pacific Garden Mall to be the heart of Santa Cruz culture with its historic buildings, locally-owned businesses, and street performers. Representing an aspect of the "Keep Santa Cruz weird" contingent is Robert Steffen, a gentleman who walks slowly down Pacific Avenue dressed in pink women's clothing and makeup, including a parasol, thereby attaining the moniker "Slow Robert" and "The Pink Umbrella Man".
Cultural attractions Shakespeare Santa Cruz holds an annual summer festival at UC Santa Cruz. The festival typically performs two Shakespeare plays and one other play every summer, many of which are performed in a unique outdoor space among the redwoods.
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Santa Cruz Film Festival EarthVision International Environmental Film Festival Santa Cruz Blues Festival U.S. Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu U.S. Open Capoeira Santa Cruz Digital Arts & New Media Festival Santa Cruz Fungus Fair, Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History and the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz Arts & Lectures Presents, Sponsored by UC Santa Cruz Arts & Lectures Santa Cruz Pride Open Studios Art Tour O'Neill's Cold Water Classic
MediaTelevision
The Monterey/Salinas metro area is served by a variety of local television stations, and is the 124th largest designated market area (DMA) in the U.S. with 222,900 homes:
Channel 2: KOTR - (MNT) - Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz (Comcast Cable 11) Channel 7 (cable-only): ABC 7 - (ABC) - Del Rey Oaks Channel 8: KSBW - (NBC) - Salinas Channel 15: KMUV - (Telemundo) - Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz (Simulcast of KSTS 48) Channel 25: KCAH - (PBS) - Watsonville (Simulcast of San Jose's KTEH) Channel 33: KDJT - (Telefutura) - Monterey Channel 35: KCBA - (Fox Broadcasting Company) - Salinas Channel 43: KMCE - (Azteca América) - Monterey/Salinas Channel 46: KION - (CBS) - Salinas Channel 67: KSMS - (Univision) - Monterey
The Monterey/Salinas area lost its American Broadcasting Company broadcast affiliate in 2000, when KNTV was purchased, and then became the NBC station for the San Francisco Oakland San Jose metropolitan area. KNTV, now known as NBC11, later moved its tower from Loma Prieta Peak to San Bruno Mountain, ceasing its coverage in Monterey. At that time, ABC reached an agreement with Comcast Cable to provide a slightly-customized feed of San Francisco ABC O&O KGO-TV for the Monterey area, branded simply as ABC 7 and occasionally referred to by the mock call letters AABC.
Radio
KSCO, 1080 AMKUSP, 88.9 FMKZSC, 88.1 FMFree Radio Santa Cruz, FRSC 101.1 FMKHIP, 104.3 FMKPIG, 107.5 FM
Magazines
831 Magazine: The Lifestyle Magazine for the "Young & Hip" of 831(Includes Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito County)
Notable Santa Cruzans Grew up in Santa Cruz Cam Archer, filmmaker and photographer Cornelius Bumpus, saxophonist for bands Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan Rory Calhoun, actor Glenallen Hill, Major League Baseball player Noah Levine, author and buddhist teacher Marisa Miller, Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret model Sarah Lane Moran, television personality ZaSu Pitts, actor Derek Sherinian, keyboardist for Alice Cooper and band KISS Scott Weiland, vocalist for bands Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver
Lived in Santa Cruz Ralph Abraham, mathematician Susie Bright, sexuality expert James H. Clark, entrepreneur and computer scientist Angela Davis, professor Frank Drake, astrophysicist Sandra M. Faber, astrophysicist Donna Haraway, professor Steven Hassan, mental health expert John Hoyt, actor David A. Huffman, computer scientist and professor Frans Lanting, wildlife photographer Tom Lehrer, musician and satirist James Alan McPherson, essayist Adrienne Rich, feminist and writer Ben Stein, lawyer, professor, writer, and actor Robert Sward, poet Ted Taylor, physicist Robert Anton Wilson, author
Attended University of California, Santa Cruz Richard Bandler, author Jello Biafra, vocalist for band Dead Kennedys Gus Hansen, professional poker player Victor Davis Hanson, historian Bradley Nowell, guitarist for band Sublime Rebecca Romijn, model and actress Amy Tan, author Rubén Valtierra, keyboardist for "Weird Al" Yankovic
Santa Cruz-based bands Arsonists Get All The Girls (Experimental Deathcore) Bl'ast (Punk) The Call (experimental) Camper Van Beethoven (Alternative) Comets on Fire (Psychedelic/Noise/Rock) The Devil Makes Three (Folk/Punk) Estradasphere (experimental) Good Riddance (Punk) Sound Tribe Sector 9 (Electronic/Psychadelic Rock) Swingin' Utters (Punk) The Tikis with Dick Scoppettone, Ted Templeman and briefly, Randy Newman (Surf/British beat) which was later renamed Harpers Bizarre (Pop)
ControversyAfter Huntington Beach, CA trademarked the Surf City USA® name, Santa Cruz politicians tried to stop the mark from being registered by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office because of 10-year-old controversy over Santa Cruz's nickname "Surf City." Huntington Beach has obtained a total of seven registrations for the Surf City USA® trademark. Importantly, however, none of these registrations of the trademark are on the principal register, but on the secondary register, which means that Huntington Beach has no exclusive right to assert ownership over the Surf City trademark. Indeed, trademark scholar and law professor Tyler Ochoa has called Huntington Beach's assertion of ownership over the "Surf City" mark "weak, dubious, and probably unenforceable." Two Santa Cruz surf shops, Shoreline Surf Shop and Noland's on the Wharf, have sued the city of Huntington Beach in order to protect the public use of the term "Surf City." External linksGeneral information
Santa Cruz Wiki - The People's Guide to Santa Cruz, CaliforniaOutside Magazine article profiling Santa Cruz as one of America's Best Towns
Government
Santa Cruz City official siteSanta Cruz County GovernmentSanta Cruz Wiki
Visitor information
Santa Cruz County Conference & Visitors Council - Santa Cruz Visitor InformationInside Santa Cruz Website
Music history
WikiSCUM, a Wikicity for Santa Cruz Underground Music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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By Rickbali
3 days
Enjoy this active Weekend Getaway to Santa Cruz and take in the surfing spots, visit the Surfing Museum, get some serious tanning on the beaches and fill the rest of the days at the Boardwalk or the Gym. A fun trip!
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By Editor's Choice
12 days
From Big Sur to Lake Tahoe, this trip will take you to some of the most breathtaking natural wonders AND take in the best of the cities as well! Are you ready for this? You'll visit Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Jose, San Francisco, Napa, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe...Wow!
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7 people reviewed Santa Cruz
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Top
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at 10:55AM May 29, 2008
Santa Cruz has an easy-going pace. People are just chillin here so don't expect them to rush with your spinach/mushroom omelets if you dine in one of their many cafes, but DO expect to feel the city rush slide off you, leaving you feeling chill yourself! On lazy days, I like to head to where the surfers & wind-surfers go & watch them taking on the ocean, while I just relax in the sun, breathing in the ocean air & generally, just feeling good!
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at 4:27AM May 29, 2008
This town is awesome with it's bustling boardwalk and cool shops.
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at 12:49AM May 29, 2008
so many memeories taking the bus over hwy 17 (before I could drive)
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at 11:25PM May 28, 2008
I love the beaches
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at 9:01PM May 28, 2008
loved every second i was there
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at 7:53PM May 28, 2008
Surf City
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at 7:09PM May 28, 2008
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