It was 101 degrees yesterday in Santa Cruz, which is fine if you live in Florida, but this is Northern California, where the weather is always cool and comfortable. In fact, the last time it hit even 90 degrees in town on that date was way back in 1926. Of course, it could be worse. And in fact, it was in Scotts Valley, where the thermometer reached 107, and in Ben Lomond, where it hit 104.
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Bruckner Swims Monterey Bay
Patti Bauernfeind tried earlier this week, but the jellyfish proved too much for her. This did not deter Bruckner Chase, 44, a Santa Cruz native with dreams of conquering Monterey Bay. He simply decided to be more prepared. He started his swim from Seabright Beach early Tuesday morning with just a swimsuit and lanolin to protect him from the chilly 55-degree water. The jellyfish did come—but this time Chase was prepared.
Santa Cruz Fall Arts: Autumn Theater
The curtain opens with Isabelle Grossman tweezing her grandmother’s chin stubble. The grand dame has hired a matchmaker, and as the audience will learn, she’s found the perfect man for her beautiful young granddaughter: a pickle cart vendor.
Santa Cruz Fall Arts: Visual Aesthetics
There’ll be no rest for the visual art consumer in and around Santa Cruz County in the upcoming months. Indeed, the remainder of 2010 is packed with great shows and significant artists. The following represents just a fraction of the season’s opportunities.
Santa Cruz Attorney Takes Up Plight of The Homeless
“Damn. I don’t know if the cops are gonna show,” says Ed Frey, looking left to right down Center Street and pulling his tattered blue sleeping bag snug. It’s midnight at Peace Camp 2010 and the 70-year-old activist lawyer is on the steps of City Hall with a dozen homeless people and supporters for Day 44 of an ongoing protest against Santa Cruz’s ban on camping within city limits. Perched in a polyester foldout chair, dressed in wrinkled khaki pants, a straw hat and the same faded orange sweater he had on 10 days earlier when he was arrested for sleeping outside the Santa Cruz County building, Frey fits in with his flock of rebels and malcontents, though many of them barely know him in spite of the fact that he organized Peace Camp 2010.
Santa Cruz Rock Icon Dead at 60
Michael Been may not have been a household name, but his band, The Call, had several major hits in the 1980s, and even had Bono sing backup to him on his song “Let the Day Begin.” Been died at the Pukkelpop Music Festival in Belgium last Thursday. He was attending as sound engineer for his son Robert Been’s band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Cabrillo Students Forced To Live in Cars, Use Food Stamps
The recession is taking its toll on students. Cabrillo College’s Vice President of Student Services Dennis Bailey-Fougnier reports that financial aid requests by students this year have already broken last year’s amount by more than 1,000, and that last year was a record year. He called it a “huge problem,” explaining that “We have students who are living in their cars, or at the beach, as you would in Santa Cruz.”
Jellyfish Cut Woman’s Bay Swim Short
When Patti Bauernfeind entered Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz at midnight, she had hoped that sometime this morning she would enter the record books as just the second person to swim across Monterey Bay. No one has done it since 1983, when Cindy Cleveland completed the grueling 23-mile swim across the frigid waters.
Santa Cruz To Go Chiefless
No one doubts that violence continues to be on the rise in Santa Cruz. Just last Friday night, a 17-year-old girl was shot in the hand during a car chase in what police are describing as yet another instance of gang-related violence, while the rival Vagos and Hell’s Angels motorcycle gangs are fighting over turf in the city. And in the middle of all this, Police Chief Howard Skerry’s resignation goes into effect next week.
Judge Orders Homeless Couple Off The Streets
Anna Richardson, 28, has been homeless for half of her life.
