Until 1920, the Upper and Lower Plazas of Mission Hill in Santa Cruz, California were both the town center and a popular neighborhood. Schools, businesses, and hotels wer...
Today’s Chestnut Street in downtown Santa Cruz, California is a quiet residential street, with the occasional passing of Roaring Camp’s Santa Cruz Beach Train...
Today’s City Hall at 809 Center Street, is located in the two blocks along Church Street between Chestnut and Cedar Streets. In the late 1800s however, this area wa...
Today’s Red Restaurant, at 200 Locust Street, is in the old Santa Cruz Hotel building, built in 1877. The restaurant on the lower level was known throughout much of...
At the end of Rincon Street in Santa Cruz, California, is a small park which today looks mostly like a landscaped median strip. But in the late 1880s, neighborhood proper...
This retaining wall and stairs are one of the distinctive features of Walnut Avenue. The Pratchner family lived at the top of these stairs and George Pratchner built the...
Before it was subdivided in the 1940s, the broad street now known as “Chrystal Terrace” was just narrow “Christal Lane” running from Mission Street to a farm house surrou...
There have been stairs going up Mission Hill from here for over 100 years. The stairs here today were built after 1964. The retaining wall, however, is considerably older...
Many of present-day parks established at the Spanish missions feature a chapel, cloistered buildings, and gardens around a central plaza. Nearby Missions San Juan Baptist...
Santa Cruz’s Town Clock is a beloved landmark, the symbol of the downtown neighborhood and a frequent gathering spot. But it hasn’t always been where you see it tod...
