Santa Cruz

Good Grief, Charlie Brown!!!! Freaked out Santa Cruz is hardly representative of the rest of California. I clicked over to "moving to California". We have everything the rest of the country has, but we don't have to go as far to get it. Not everyone's impolite or self-centered. Nice photos though!

Excellent photos. Santa Cruz is one of most relaxed, chilled out places I have ever been (though being a brit this is not hard), I loved the countryside and it was a real escape after a fortnight working in Palo Alto. The main street has some of the best coffee bars ever.

Thank you for these photos in particular. I was in Santa Cruz and San Francisco this past October, and had the tragic experience of losing my camera. I currently dwell in Ann Arbor, MI, where no one likes each other anymore than they do in California and it snows to boot. That said, I venture back to California as often as time and money permit. Your photos remind me of roaming Santa Cruz pier at night and, oddly and happily enough, most of them are of objects or spaces I photographed myself; they replace that lost roll of film to some extent. Whenever I miss the smell of sage managing somehow to strangle the smog over 101, or seaweed-and-eggflower soup with straw wine, or Vans repair shops or the Grog Shop, I take a gander at your Santa Cruz photo collection. Thanks.

I lived in the Bay Area for 9 months last year as part of a consulting project I did, and when I had the chance, I would try and grab a hotel room in Santa Cruz or Scotts Valley.

The best place to go in the whole Bay Area is Big Basin State Park, off Hwy. 9 or Hwy. 17, between Santa Cruz and San Jose. This park is quiet; it's just you and the massive redwood trees. These aren't the biggest redwoods in California, those are in Redwoods National Park 300 miles north of San Francisco.

I highly recommend the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail, if it isn't closed. You end up on the PCH on the unspoiled coast between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, out near Pescadero. Budget travelers can stay in Pigeon Point Lighthouse hostel, and you dot-commers with severance checks can blow them at the eco-resort Costanoa.

I don't think I'd want to take any pets into Santa Cruz anyways, as the Satanist are known to snap up the stray pet for their "rituals". But as for Greenspun's general comments about Cal., Its about what you'd expect from a "techy" hanging out with snooty yuppis sweating their stock options in Silicon Valley. Why would anybody be hostile to them? But for a quick vacation, on the other hand, what could be finer than playing music all night with old friends in a lovely old house in the cool parts of Oakland, and then trapsing around the corner to College Av for a latte and a scone, while deciding on who to visit, and where to go for the rest of the day? Not too baaaaaad!

The Bay area is bursting with interesting communities, many of them formed of interest, but also of neighborehoods. That's always been one of the charms its known for. Its only since the influx of new money from Silicon Valley that the social landscape has begun to decay. Many of those people are from the (gasp) east coast. What a shock!

I grew up in Santa Cruz and I currently go to UC Berkeley. Basically I lived, and am currently living in probably the two most liberal cities in California, and for that matter probably in the country. I disagree with what most people said about California. I also disagree with the "Moving to California" article. The majority of California is not L.A. or San Fransico. Even in a "hippie" towns like Santa Cruz and Berkeley, the majority of the people are normal. What you see and what you think is California is mostly influenced by the minority because the minority stands out. Even though there are signs posted with rules throughout Santa Cruz, those rules are not strictly enforced. On a final note, Santa Cruz is a tight-knited community.

I think you missed one of the most incongruous aspects of the place: all the people from every different social strata spewing over the hill on hot weekend afternoons to hangout on the Beach Boardwalk or beaches further down the coast. The beach boardwalk has to be the best locale for traditional Street Photography.

I went to college there and I always thought the way it was set off a little from the "real world" of the Bay Area (Silicon Valley, Berkeley, San Francisco) was kind of cool. (The university newspaper was even called "City On a Hill" .) After when I was in grad school at Stanford with my nose to the grindstone 24 hours a day, I used to day dream about the whole afternoons we'd take to sail out in the bay from the UCSC sailing club and watch whales. The place is all a little unreal, like a dream.

Yep, it is all true. Cali sucks, esp SoCal. No one should ever move there. Stay away. If everyone would listen to Phil then I could get my rent down to a livable price.

Thanks Phil.

Santa Cruz is one of the most expensive places in the world to live. Many of the people are isolated and deluded into believing the world is a place filled with love, the US filled with misguided greedheads who can learn the world is a place filled with love. Soon the bootheel of economics (see the first sentence) will push the cabal out of Santa Cruz allowing those earning in excess of $500,000/year to acquire their rightful and exclusive place in one of the best places to live in the world. Visit soon before Santa Cruz becomes gated.

I grew up in Santa Cruz, went to UC Riverside, and now reside in Castle Rock CO (in the vicinity of the People?s Republic of Boulder!). I disagree with what most people say about California. I disagree also with the "Moving to California" article. The majority of California is not like Santa Cruz (often quoted in my youth as ?Land of the free and home of the hippie? and majority of the people are normal (well, at least what will pas as such). What you see and what you think is California is mostly influenced by the minority because there the minority stands out. On another note, Santa Cruz is a tight-knit community ? and still (I was back last year) beautiful. Other ?jewels in the crown? are Monterey and Carmel.

Nice photos. I was trying to find professional photographer Manny Cruz and checked out your site. I lived in Santa Cruz for 20 years, and now live in the most similar city,,, Sarasota, FL.. Very artsy and division of wealth/service persons. Also, New College, very much like UCSC and that community. Has Bradenton (city) right next door much like Watsonville. Sarasota has a "tourist season" just like Santa Cruz, with all the usual complaints by those who live here. there are even Monarch butterflys. It's HOT here, but the sun sets in the west - just was nice to "travel" to Calif. for a quickie. Peace!