After the last presidential election, I knew I needed to make some changes. I had been drifting, exploring beautiful places, only working enough to survive. The bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies I completed at UCSC in 2010 hadn’t gone exactly as I’d hoped, and my burgeoning career in habitat restoration had dried up into a…
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The untold story of the UCSC Trailer Park
As a UCSC undergrad, Luis Delfino lived in all kinds of precarious housing situations: an attic, a closet, even the bed of his truck. It was the housing crisis of the mid-80s, and things were getting dire. “People were living in their vehicles, or living in the forest because they couldn’t afford to be in…
High Time: A guide to Santa Cruz cannabis dispensaries
The Boardwalk. The beaches. The redwoods. The weed. Long a hotbed of cannabis and counterculture, Santa Cruz County boasts the largest number of cannabis dispensaries per-capita in the entire state. Each and every type of user—recreational or medicinal—is sure to find exactly what they need at any of the many cannabis retailers right here in…
Where to find comedy in Santa Cruz
Most schools choose mascots that reek of misogyny, but in true Santa Cruz fashion, the Banana Slug is a hermaphrodite—and any university that has a Banana Slug as a mascot also has a sense of humor. Luckily for comedy fans of all ages, Santa Cruz has a thriving comedy scene active virtually every night of…
After The Fall: One Boomer’s Tale of Reckoning
One Boomer’s story about the day he stopped feeling invincible, and how he learned to deal with it
A Sleep Doctor’s Advice for Quality Shut-Eye
A Santa Cruz sleep doctor reveals how to beat our ever-worsening dreamtime deficit
By Richard Stockton
Secrets of a Serial Santa Cruz Movie Extra
My second career as a movie extra began entirely by chance. The saga of how I was lucky enough to work with Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Hanks and Michelle Pfeiffer—to name a few—began when I worked on the Santa Cruz County film board with local casting assistant Judy Bouley. When she opened her own company, Central…
Gay and Gray: 60Plus Program Supports LBGT+ seniors
The Santa Cruz Diversity Center’s 60Plus program seeks to support LBGT+ seniors
Terroir in a Jar Finds Life for Farms’ Unsellable Foods
It’s no surprise that Tabitha Stroup is cooking up something new, different and delicious. Stroup is one of the longtime culinary queens of Santa Cruz. She started her career in the Dream Inn kitchen in the early ’90s, then to other venues and projects—notably Friend in Cheeses Jam Company. But Stroup is moving on from…
Santa Cruz County’s New Theater Boom
Editor’s Note: This story is part of Good Times’ annual Santa Cruz Visitors Guide 2019. Read the full publication here. You can find drama of all kinds in Santa Cruz—on Pacific Avenue on a Saturday night, at the Boardwalk’s Giant Dipper, or at the surf breaks of Steamer Lane. But if you’re looking for theater…