The stretch of shoreline from the Hook at 41st Avenue to Natural Bridges State Park is as close to holy as it comes for many surfers, so why shouldn’t it receive the kind of recognition afforded the temples at Chichen Itza or Notre Dame Cathedral? The Save the Waves Coalition thought world-famous breaks deserve worldwide props, so it came up with the concept of World Surfing Reserves, sort of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of surfing.
The Santa Cruz Video Game Revolution
A modern top-tier video game takes years to make, represents the work of hundreds and will cost tens of millions of dollars to develop—and that’s before any money goes into marketing it. If that game fails, it could very well mean the end for the studio that produced it. This is not an environment that is well suited to wild experimentation. There is innovation. There is steady growth in sophistication. But very rarely is something genuinely new and risky produced.
SCPD Launches Volunteer Program
The SCPD is calling on the public to volunteer their time and skills to help keep Santa Cruz safe. Community members will be able to engage in all facets of police work,while freeing up officers to focus on the most critical needs of the community. Police volunteers will be able to participate in everything from recordkeeping to investigations to maintaining police vehicles. They’ll also be able to participate in community service initiatives.
Race Brings in 500 Toys for Tots
Runners and walkers spread out across the levee on Sunday for the third annual Jingle Bell Rock 5K race.
Helping Out with Pocket Change
As Christmas fast approaches, the Salvation Army is coming out in force, asking passerby to donate their pocket change to help the needy this holiday season. A penny here, a nickel there, a quarter every so often all help, but one donation topped them all. In Watsonville an anonymous donor dropped a Canadian gold dollar into the collection kettle. The coin is believed to be worth between $1,000 and $1,500 dollars.
Snow Night in Santa Cruz
It snowed last night in Santa Cruz, or more precisely, in a one-block area downtown. The annual event, used to promote the Second Harvest Food Bank, was hosted by the Downtown Association and sponsored by the Santa Cruz Dads Group. Revelers, allotted 10 minutes each in the snow-covered, haybale-enclosed section of street, were asked to bring a can of food to support the food bank’s efforts.
New Chief for SCPD
Interim police chief Kevin Vogel, 47, has been named the new chief of police for the city of Santa Cruz.
Artists Rally Around ‘Art for Art’
It seems always to be the season when artists are asked to give their work in support of good causes. Every month there’s a fundraiser for children, for schools, for victims of disaster, and there, front and center, is the auction item that represents the time, materials, education and creative juices of a local artist. Two such events take place this weekend. The “STARS” auction benefits the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, which depends on artists to donate significant works—and every year artists do—to support MAH art programs. Local artists donate also to Monterey Museum of Art’s annual “Miniatures,” which raffles over 300 works. So it’s no surprise that the only fundraiser designed for local artists by local artists is also a gift—as much to the public as to the profession.
Police Searching for Bank Robber
The SCPD is searching for a man who robbed the Mission Street branch of the Comerica Bank on Wednesday afternoon
Another Blue Christmas
It’s hard to say who or what stole the show at last year’s sold-out An Altared Christmas concert at the Rio. Was it the reindeer union marching in, demanding better wages for Rudolf and his ilk to the tune of a famous Police song? Was it Patti Maxine as a shell-shocked psychiatric patient singing a mournful “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” or the angular, black-clad David Wallis as Santa singing “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” in an ominous key? Or was it Tammi Brown fronting a shimmering, jazzy “Angels We Have Heard on High”?
