Capitola’s Wave Motor
Around the turn of the last century, many forward-thinking folks in California tried to figure out how to harness power from the ocean. Several wave and tidal energy proj...
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Lesser-Known Stories of the Long Marine Lab Neighborhood
Lots of great things happen at Long Marine Laboratory, including marine research, marine education, and lagoon and bluff habitat restoration. The lab sits atop a beautifu...
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Vista Point: The Heavens Above San Francisco Bay
The vista point parking area along Highway 35 sports a spectacular view. It’s about 8.5 miles south of Highway 84 and depending on the smog level or cloud layer, yo...
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The Steinbeck House: A Salinas Home That Made a Writer
A 20th century Nobel- and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, Steinbeck’s writing is infused with his experiences from growing up in a town full of productive agric...
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The Making of Skyline Boulevard
Skyline Boulevard, which stretches through California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, is much more than just a transportation corridor. Its gentle curves and spectacular vi...
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Mitchell Cove: Erosion of a Sea Stack
Mitchell Cove beach, along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, has lost its stack. Its iconic rock tower, or sea stack to be more precise, is now merely a rock as...
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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 covered in an undulating meadow of native grasses. From...
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Celebrate Qing Ming at Evergreen Cemetery
The Qing Ming Festival is a Chinese ceremony that dates back to the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, around 618 AD. Qing Ming translates to “pure brightness.” Its pur...
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Community Volunteers Help Native Plants Thrive Again
Ancient peoples might have managed the landscape around Santa Cruz, California through fire, but we can also see current small-scale land management practices along Pilki...
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A Very Small Big Deal: How the Integrated Circuit Made Silicon Valley
The integrated circuit might not inspire the same level of excitement as other tech breakthroughs, such as Facebook or the iPhone, but the impact of its invention was jus...
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