The Grasses that Feed the Cows In the late 1700s Spanish missionaries caused significant changes to the California lands...
New from the Blog
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The Hidden “Collateral Damage” in Santa Cruz
I think it is fair to say that when we see a historical memorial, we expect a fairly simple, direct statement about the...
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How Santa Cruz’s Bank of Italy Turned a New Leaf
Ever wonder why the New Leaf Market says “Bank of Italy” over the front door? The downtown New Leaf Market has found its...
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Santa Cruz’s Many Wharves: From Lime and Lumber to Ecotourism
When it was a bustling port city of the mid-18th century, Santa Cruz exported many goods: agricultural products, lumber,...
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Elkhorn Slough: From Salt Ponds to Bird Sanctuary
The mouth of the Elkhorn Slough has long been known for its natural salt ponds. In the late 1800s these areas were devel...
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Monterey Bay’s Long-Running Red Tide of 2016
Since early September of this year, the Monterey Bay has been experiencing greater and lesser degrees of a red tide. A r...
Self-Guided Mobile Tours
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Santa Cruz Marine Protected Areas Beaches Tour
This self guided mobile tour features five different beaches along the Santa Cruz, California coast. Each beach is part...
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West Cliff Drive Tour
No visit to Santa Cruz is complete without a walk along West Cliff Drive. It's home to several of Santa Cruz's iconic la...
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The Highway 17 Tour
Read the stories that make for a richer drive over Highway 17. A drive along Highway 17 will take the traveler from ocea...
Featured Blogs
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Bulls, Harems, and Pups at Año Nuevo
South of San Francisco, about 20 miles north of Santa Cruz along Highway 1, lies a beach hidden behind sand dunes covere...
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Moffett Field’s Hangar One Goes from Navy’s Dirigibles to Google’s Robots
Looking out over Silicon Valley, the airstrips of Moffett Field and its three gigantic hangars are a defining feature. T...
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Henrietta Shore and the Santa Cruz Post Office Murals
The next time you are standing in line to mail a package or renew a passport in the downtown Santa Cruz, California post...
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California’s Migrant Mother: An Unwilling Icon
It was March of 1936, in the farms of southwest California. The woman pictured above had just sold her tires as a last,...
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The Pulgas Water Temple and the Hetch Hetchy Water System
The Pulgas Water Temple sits in striking contrast to the coastal oak woodland that surrounds it in Redwood City, Califor...
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The Cool Staircase-Shaped Hills North of Santa Cruz
Have you ever wondered why much of the Westside of Santa Cruz and all the agricultural fields just north of it are so fl...
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Altamont Pass: What’s the Story With Those Windmills?
I’m sure many Californians have marveled at the thousands of wind turbines spinning atop the golden hillsides along High...
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The Waddell Bluffs: The Wall Keeps Tumbling Down
Along Highway 1, sandwiched between the elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park and the colorful kite surfers at Waddell...
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Patricia M. Scully: Her Memorial Road Sign Matters
As a college student in the late 1980s I frequently drove from my mom’s house just north of San Francisco to college in...
