This self guided mobile tour features five different beaches along the Santa Cruz, California coast. Each beach is part of California’s statewide program to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). MPAs are similar in concept to national parks and forests on land. The goal is to protect and restore ocean habitats and increase the health, productivity, and resilience of ocean ecosystems.

The tour spans approximately 47 miles, from Elkhorn Slough at the apex of the Monterey Bay to Año Nuevo State Park just north of the line where Santa Cruz County becomes San Mateo County. It’s a beautiful driving tour, but make sure to leave time to stop and explore each beach. You’ll learn about elephant seals, shipwrecks, kelp ecology, geology, how native peoples interacted with the coastal environment, and more.

Location of the five stops in Mobile Ranger’s Marine Protected Area Beaches Tour. The five beaches from north to south are: Cove Beach at Año Nuevo State Park, Greyhound Rock, Natural Bridges State Beach, Seacliff State Beach, and the “Moss Landing Wildlife Area” at Elkhorn Slough.

Each MPA beach in the tour is highlighted below. All of the stories are in our free Mobile Ranger Guides app, which is available for Apple and Android devices. You can also read the stories in blog form (as we release them weekly) by following the links at the bottom of this page.

Elkhorn Slough

Here, you’ll stop at the wildlife viewing area along Highway 1 and learn about the slough’s salt ponds and how sea otters help keep the eel grass in check. You’ll also see how agricultural practices close to the slough have changed in the last few decades.

An aerial view of Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing. Photo: US Army Corps of Engineers

Seacliff State Beach

Look for the famous “cement” ship, the SS Palo Alto (it’s really a concrete ship), and then learn how it was actually the last-ditch backup plan for a much more grandiose beachfront resort that wasn’t.

The S.S. Palo Alto in 1928 at what is now Seacliff State Beach. Photo: Gordon Woody, from the collection of Gerald Weber

Natural Bridges State Beach

Stop at Natural Bridges State Beach and discover where all of the bridges have gone, how “Fabulous Fred Swanton” almost turned it into a hotel and resort in the 1910s, and why so many monarch butterflies hang out here.

Natural Bridges State Beach in 2015 with no bridges in sight, and only one arch. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Greyhound Rock

You’ll find out whether this Santa Cruz County park is aptly named, how the native peoples of the area used its shells to get rich, and why there is no nuclear power plant anywhere near this beach today.

Does Greyhound Rock look like a hound to you? Photo: Lauren McEvoy/Mobile Ranger

Año Nuevo State Park

Here, you will walk out to Cove Beach and learn the history of kelp harvesting and how it affected the local surfers, find out exactly where William Waddell’s second wharf was located, be amazed by elephant seal feeding habits, and probably be glad you were not a lighthouse keeper at Point Año Nuevo.

Cove Beach, at the northern end of Año Nuevo Bay, in 2009. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project

The Mark Abbot Memorial Lighthouse at Lighthouse Point, along West Cliff Drive.

No visit to Santa Cruz is complete without a walk along West Cliff Drive. It’s home to several of Santa Cruz’s iconic landmarks, houses the heart of Santa Cruz surf culture at Steamer Lane and is a great place to see the local marine life. We highlight a few of the stops below, but all twenty one stories can be found in the mobile app and many can be read in blog form at the bottom of this page.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The lighthouses at Lighthouse Point have come and gone and moved around. Do you know how many there have been?

Aerial view of Lighthouse point circa 1941. You can see the beacon and the old lighthouse on the north side of West Cliff Drive. Image is used courtesy of Frank Perry. Ed Webber was the photographer.

Locals call it the blow hole. It is the last remaining vestige of a wave motor built in the 1890’s.

Waves spouting through a vented but plugged shaft: the last remaining vestige of the Armstrong Brothers’ Wave Motor.

Natural Bridges State Beach is so named because it used to have three bridges. Now there is just one arch.

The lone remaining arch at Natural Bridges State Beach in April 2012.

The three natural bridges circa 1900. Photo courtesy of Frank Perry and UCSC Special Collections.

Don’t miss the crazy “toilet bowl” formations lurking within the local rocks.

Half of a “toilet bowl” exposed along the coast near Swift Street. There are several whole toilet bowls. Can you find some?

Lexington Reservoir in 2014. Photo courtesy of Levy Media Works.

Read the stories that make for a richer drive over Highway 17.
A drive along Highway 17 will take the traveler from ocean influences in Santa Cruz, through rugged yet stunning redwood forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Lexington Reservoir. Our Highway 17 driving tour will delight with many hidden historical nuggets along eight stops from Scotts Valley to Los Gatos. We highlight a few stops below but all eight can be read in blog form at the bottom of this page or by downloading our app, Mobile Ranger Guides.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

Starting in the south, meet Swabby a heroic fallen pooch that served in WWII.

Swabby’s Grave at Pine Knoll Cemetery between 100 and 180 Sims Road in Santa Cruz, California.

Moving northward, discover Holy City and Father Riker, a charismatic religious man who believed in free love, for himself, not his disciples.

Holy City circa 1920s. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.

Discover One-Eyed Charlie, our 19th century cross dressing stage coach driver.

This mural of Charlie Parkhurst was at the Soquel Village Post Office from 1985 to 2012. Artist Frank Hill. Original image from Mrwrite.

Santa Cruz City Hall gardens and the accidental date palm tree. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

This self-guided tour of several trees in Santa Cruz’s urban forest was created in 2016 by UCSC Environmental Studies student Laurel Wee. Trees make urban spaces more inviting, cool, and pleasant, but they are often overlooked and under-appreciated. Trees have stories too, and the goal of this tour is to give some of Santa Cruz’s urban trees their due.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The tour has seven stops that form a loop around the downtown and west side of Santa Cruz. Each includes small historical anecdotes, information about characteristics of the tree, and additional fun facts. The tour starts at Neary Lagoon Park and takes about two hours. We suggest you use the public parking at the top of Neary Lagoon Park at 110 California Street (next to the intersection of California Street and Bay Street). The stops can be toured in any order, but we give walking directions in the order shown in the interactive table.

We thank Randall Morgan and Leslie Keedy for helping us extensively with this project.

Our Capitola. Acrylic on concrete. By John Ton, 2012. Mural is located on Wharf Road and is part of this tour. Photo © Andrew Pastor.

Capitola is a picturesque town on the sea. Know it a little more deeply by understanding its art and history.

On this tour you’ll learn why the wharf was left out of the city mural on Capitola City Hall Council Chambers, see historic photos of the No. 18 trolley car in front of the Grand Hotel Capitola, and hear about a late 19th experiments to generate electricity off the Capitola Wharf using ocean swells. This tour has over 32 stops and was developed for the Capitola Art and Cultural Commission by volunteers serving on the Commission. As of 2014, it represented a complete inventory of public art installations in Capitola. A few stops are highlighted below but all the stories can be read by downloading our mobile app, Mobile Ranger Guides.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The Venetian Court was finished being built in 1925. Photo courtesy of the Capitola Historical Museum.

The court still stands today amongst its neutral toned neighbors. Photo by Eugene Zelenko.

In the late 1800s the Capitola Wharf was the site of a novel wave motor designed to generate electricity. Find out how much electricity it generated.

The Capitola wharf, 1895. Photo courtesy of the Capitola Historical Museum.

Utility boxes like these are painted all over town. What is the story behind these gems?

Monterey Bay Sea Life. Photo © Andrew Pastor and from the collection of the City of Capitola.

Classic shore platforms and pocket beaches of the Santa Cruz Mudstone; Long Marne Lab.

Understand the natural and human history that shapes Santa Cruz’s north coast.

With each mile on this coastal driving tour, the road hugs along steep cliffs, passes breathtaking beach views and twists through rolling hills of coastal sage scrub. The eight stops span roughly 30 miles that will take you through times of railroad barons, introduce the “Cement King”, and explain how local rocks control the appearance of the coast.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

We highlight a few stops below but the main content can be found in the mobile app or read in blog form at the bottom of this page.

At Long Marine Lab you’ll see several whale skeletons, including Ms. Blue the world’s largest blue whale skeleton.

This is not Ms. Blue! It’s the gray whale at the Seymour Center surrounded by restored native plants: seaside daisy ( Erigeron glaucusseaside) and sea lettuce (Dudlea caespitosa). Picture courtesy of and © Jackie Pascoe.

Stop at Bonny Doon Beach and learn why you cannot see the ocean as much as you should along this stretch of highway.

An aerial view of Bonny Doon Beach. The black rectangle encompasses the embankment made by the filled railroad trestle. The arrow on the left points to the tunnel through which Lidell Creek drains to the sea. Picture © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project.

Be sure and hunt for opal and jasper treasures at Pebble Beach (Bean Hollow State Beach North) and find out why you will feel so “uplifted.”

The multi-color pebbles of Pebble Beach. Photo courtesy of John Kim. (June 2009)

The San Lorenzo River flows from the Santa Cruz Mountains and enters the Monterey Bay beside the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Photo courtesy of and © Chuck Perez, Slow Adventures.

Read the stories that will help you get to know the San Lorenzo River.
The San Lorenzo River will take you from the Pedestrian Bridge near Highway 1, along willow lined waterways, past cultural hotspots and end where the river meets the sea at the Boardwalk. This three mile walking tour has ten stops that will reveal hidden pockets of biodiversity, early settlor history and some of the river’s watershed secrets. This tour was made possible by the Coastal Watershed Council (CWC). It is one component of the CWCs vision to have the San Lorenzo River become a healthy watershed connected to a vibrant community. We highlight a few stops below but the main content can be found in the mobile app or read in blog form at the bottom of this page.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The main stage, gondolas, and floats for the Venetian Water Carnival.
Picture courtesy of and © Santa Cruz Public Library.

Look out for the many critters that make their homes in and around the San Lorenzo River.

Snowy egret. Photo courtesy and © Vivienne Orgel

Nearing the mouth of the river, discover the balancing act of the needs for public safety and flood control.

The San Lorenzo River lagoon was breached in 2014 as waters threatened the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Photo courtesy of and © Dan Coyro / Santa Cruz Sentinel.

There are many hidden staircases on Mission Hill with stories to tell.

Get to know Mission Hill as it is today and as it was over 100 years ago.
Get your exercise for the day with this sixteen stop walking tour uncovering hidden treasured stairways within the nooks of Mission Hill. With each step of this one-mile walking tour, you’ll be exploring Santa Cruz history and relics of the time. It’s all fairly easy terrain save the four (and a half) staircases you need to climb!

We highlight a few stops below but the rest can be read in blog form at the bottom of this page or in our free app, Mobile Ranger Guides.The tour was created by local history researcher Linda Rosewood.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

Walk in the steps of, Elihu Anthony, a lucky pioneer who created his own empire.

School Street stairs as they were circa 1860s. Elihu Anthony’s house is visible on the left. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.

See the artifacts and feel the echos of the Spanish mission. Find out what happened to Father Quintana.

The School Street Adobe is the last building still standing from the Santa Cruz Mission.

Learn about Loudon Nelson, a black man who in the 1860s left all he had to Santa Cruz’s school children. And what’s his real first name: Loudon or London?

The grave stone for London Nelson at Evergreen Cemetery, Santa Cruz, California.

The view from Skyline Ridge.

South Skyline Boulevard: A winding road with a rich past!

A drive along south Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35) will take the explorer through redwood forests, beside rolling hills, and always toward breathtaking views. This scenic driving tour has eight stops that will delight view seekers and history lovers. We worked closely with Janet Schwind of the Skyline Historical Society to create this tour. We highlight a few stops below but all eight can be read by downloading the mobile app, Mobile Ranger Guides, or blog-style, at the bottom of the page.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

Visit Alice’s Restaurant, a song worthy hideaway with a “no go” bench.

Alice’s Restaurant at Skylonda is a gathering place for tourists and locals alike, 2015.

Meet Andrew Hallidie, visionary turned father of the San Francisco cable car system.

Andrew Hallidie. Photo courtesy of Portola Valley archives.

Skyline Boulevard was not left out of California’s counter culture past. Originally home to the alternative Pacific High School, the same property is now home to the Jikoji Zen Center.

Teachers and students erect the Egg Dome at Pacific High School, circa 1969. Photo by and courtesy of Nanette Biers

Much of the information in this tour comes from a book called The South Skyline Story by Janet Schwind and the Skyline Historical Society, 2014. It is a well written, fun and informative read from the Native Americans, through the early loggers and ranchers, commune dwellers, wine makers, conservationists and homebuilders. You can get a copy at Alice’s Restaurant in Skylonda (the junction of Highways 35 and 84) or by contacting Skyline History President Chuck Schoppe, email: chuck_sch@hotmail.com or phone: 408-867-9229.

The Santa Cruz US Post Office was built in 1911 in the Renaissance Revival Style. Photo courtesy of and © Paul Babb.

Learn the stories behind Santa Cruz’s historic art.

This walking tour presents twelve stops that bring to light some of Santa Cruz’s most interesting historic buildings, sculptures and murals sprinkled throughout the city. We highlight a few stops below but all twelve can be read in our mobile app, Mobile Ranger Guides. The mobile version of this tour was made possible by Don Lauritson with the support of the Santa Cruz Historic Preservation Commission.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

Meet Tom Scribner and learn about his famous suspenders.

Tom Scribner Statue, 1978, Pacific Avenue at Locust Street. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Historical Commission.

Discover the history of Santa Cruz’s own Jazz Alley. The Kuumbwa Jazz Center is one of the most highly respected jazz venues in the country!

Jazz Alley Mural/Kuumbwa 2010. Pacific Avenue and Birch Lane. Artist: Marvin Plummer. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Historical Commission.

The Del-Mar Theater has some great architectural and design details.

Decorative interior lobby ceiling by noted theater designer William Chevalis. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Historical Commission.

The standard pot kiln. These are at the base of the UCSC campus. Each pot kiln had four doorways at the base. Originally, each doorway was fitted with a heavy iron door to control draft. Photo courtesy of the Friends of the Cowell Lime Works Historic District.

Lime production was an important player in the development of Santa Cruz. This is a 17 stop walking tour primarily around the buildings that were a part of the Cowell Lime works, and the Henry Cowell Ranch near the main entrance to the UCSC campus.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

During this walking tour created by Friends of the Cowell Limeworks Historic District, you will see that some of the historic buildings have been put to modern uses by the University. Others remain unused but are gradually being restored. We highlight a few of the stops below, but the complete stories for all the stops can be found in the mobile app, and many can be read in blog form at the bottom of this page. Please note that a valid UCSC permit is required to park in all non-meter, non-pay station parking spaces on campus during weekdays. Some parking areas are free on weekends, but read signs carefully. Detailed information on parking is available on the UCSC Transportation and Parking Services Visitor Parking website.

A wild ride in the ore cars. Learn of the 1860s tramway between the quarry and the kilns.

The Lower Quarry in the late 1950s. Photo courtesy of Harry Mayo.

The Cook House, today’s admissions office at UCSC has always been painted red. In contrast, almost all the other ranch buildings were whitewashed. Find out why.

The Cook House may be the coolest admissions office of all. Photo Courtesy Friends of the Cowell Limeworks Historic District.

One of the few known portraits of Henry Cowell. Photo courtesy of the Friends of the Cowell Lime Works Historic District.

RaboBank-Office Building; 301 South Main Street (at Alisal); Circa 1930; Zig-Zag Moderne Style; Architects: Ryland & Schwartz.

Art Deco and Art Moderne were popular architectural styles from 1920 to 1940. Salinas has one of the largest collection of Art Deco to Moderne buildings for a city of its size between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Why is this? Because it was one of the few cities to prosper during the depression. In 1924, Salinas had the highest per capita income of any city in the United States. During the produce seasons of the Great Depression, the volume of telephone and telegraph business origination in Salinas was greater than that of San Francisco. This tour was excerpted from a tour published by the Salinas Historical Resources Board.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The Monterey County Courthouse is often described as a perfect example of the Depression Moderne style—a sub-style of the Moderne architectural movement.

Monterey County Courthouse Building, 240 Church Street (at Alisal Street); 1937; Works Progress Administration (WPA) Moderne Style; Architects: Robert A. Stanton & Thomas B. Molvin.

One of two remaining theaters along Main Street, Cinema 1 is a simple Moderne design that concentrates on a skyward reaching facade.

Cinema 1 (formerly El Rey Theater), 363 South Main Street; 1935; Moderne Style; Architect: Mark T. Jorgenson.

The Art Deco Robobank Building is not only the tallest commercial structure in town, but also the jazziest with its chevron shaped terracotta surface tiles.

Rabobank-Office Building; 301 South Main Street (at Alisal); Circa 1930; Zig-Zag Moderne Style; Architects: Ryland & Schwartz.

Aerial view of mima mounds, i.e. the circles, dotting the ridge of the lower UCSC campus, 2010. Image courtesy of and © William Hyder.

UCSC has countless hidden treasures and unique features that span across campus land. This tour will take you from forests, to meadows with repeating circles above the surface, to karst caves below the surface. This five stop UCSC campus walking/driving tour will uncover many hidden secrets that will point out features you almost certainly didn’t know about. We highlight a few stops below but all five can be read by downloading the mobile app, Mobile Ranger Guides, or blog-style, at the bottom of the page.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

How the heck did koi ever get to the redwood forest of Pogonip?

The beautiful koi pond at Pogonip is a favorite destination. Photo courtesy of Alex Darocy.

Cave Gulch: Not just a party cave. Why are there so many caves in Cave Gulch?

Empire Cave (or Porter Cave). Photo © Lauren McEvoy.

Below the buildings: The interconnectedness between caves, karst and the plight of UCSC’s building engineers and contractors.

Sinkhole near East Remote Parking Lot. Photo courtesy of UCSC Environmental Studies Department.

Map of the ten EcoTour stops: From The Seymour Center to the Santa Cruz Harbor.

Discover the Santa Cruz Wharf: a century-old structure with vibrant fishing history, thriving marine life and modern-day scientific research facilities. The Wharf is the only structure in the US that stretches over a half mile into a national marine sanctuary. Discover greater Santa Cruz: several natural history museums sprinkled throughout Santa Cruz help you understand the area’s natural history and beauty.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The EcoTour takes you to five stops on the Wharf as well as five spots off the Wharf! This tour was created in collaboration with the City of Santa Cruz, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center and the University of California Santa Cruz as part of the Green Wharf Project. We highlight a few stops below but all of them can be read by downloading the mobile app, Mobile Ranger Guides.

The current Santa Cruz Wharf was built in 1914 and was a good design as it has lasted over 100 years!

The Santa Cruz Wharf in 2014. Photo © Archer Koch of MultiRotorCam.

The Santa Cruz Wharf generates some of its own electricity thanks to the Green Wharf Project.

The Coastal Energy Research Facility wind turbine from the water. Picture © Tiffany Wise-West/UCSC.

The wharf is also an oceanographic sampling site. The UCSC Kudela Lab of Biological Oceanography takes water samples from the wharf every week. They samples for phytoplankton and records the water color.

Pictures of water taken from the wharf (left and middle) and out in the bay during a red tide (right) caused by a phytoplankton called Akashiwo. Images courtesy of the Raphael Kudela Lab/UCSC.

Big Harbor Dreams: In Santa Cruz from the mid-1850s to 1940 the general vision was to be a “Great Seaport.” It never happened, though a small craft harbor was built in and opened in 1964.

The Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor—this is it’s official name. Photo courtesy of and © Paul Babb.

Pilkington Creek may be small but it is an important part of the Monterey Bay watershed system. Photo courtesy of Vivienne Orgel.

Pilkington Creek is a tiny watershed with a lot to offer. The Pilkington Creek walking tour has 7 historically rich stops highlighting the tiny creek’s past. The tour was made by and begins behind the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History building marked by an enormous gray whale sculpture. The tour continues roughly ⅛ mile (500 feet) down river ending in the sands of Seabright Beach. We highlight a few stops below, but the complete stories can be found in blog form or in our mobile app, Mobile Ranger Guides.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

Beginning upstream, meet the native people that once called Santa Cruz their home.

The modern-day descendants of the Santa Cruz Awaswas are members of the Amah-Mutsun Tribal Band. Pictured here are women from the nearby Rumsien Ohlone tribe. Photo courtesy of Vivienne Orgel.

Discover the ancient uses of native trees and how one non-native tree has became a migrating butterfly’s haven.

Oak trees produce abundant, tannin-rich nuts in the fall. Photo courtesy of Deborah Small.

On the sands of Seabright Beach, see how land management practices affect the way the beach looks today.

A wide and sandy Seabright Beach. It was not always this way. Photo courtesy of Molly Lautamo.

A very close encounter with a blue whale! Photo taken in Monterey Bay, July 2014 by Matt Walker, NRB Photography.

Seasons in the Sanctuary Poster. Available at at Bookshop Santa Cruz, The Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center, the Seymour Center and on-line at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Image courtesy and © Doug Ross.

Whales, dolphins and porpoises all migrate through the Monterey Bay.

Breaching humpback in Monterey Bay, July 2014. Photo by Matt Walker, NRB Photography.

Kelp forests are home to the California sea otter who generally have their babies when you would least expect it.

A California sea otter. Picture courtesy of and © Paul Babb 2013.

Sooty shearwaters arrive by the thousands between April and October. They have an amazing migration story that is only recently being understood.

Sooty shearwaters in Sunny Cove, July, 2014. Photo © V. Vaughn Visnius.

This phytoplankton is called Pseudo-nitzschia. It causes harmful algal blooms that are colorless. Image courtesy of the Raphael Kudela Lab UCSC.

This offering is more of a guide than a specific tour. Ever wonder why the ocean isn’t always blue? This phytoplankton guide explains just how many phytoplankton live in the ocean and their influences on ocean water color and other properties. Working with the Kudela Laboratory at the University of California Santa Cruz, we have created this guide which has both general background on phytoplankton, and a detailed phytoplankton identification guide.

Some of the information is highlighted below but the complete scoop on why phytoplankton are cool and important, and the identification guide, can be had by downloading our mobile app, Mobile Ranger Guides.

Phytoplankton unmasked: what makes for greenish brown water characteristic of the Monterey Bay.

Pictures of water taken from the wharf (left and middle) and out in the bay during a red tide (right) caused by a phytoplankton called Akashiwo. Images courtesy of the Raphael Kudela Lab/UCSC.

What is a red tide? Are they always harmful to people?

A red tide off La Jolla, California. This red tide is a harmful algal bloom caused by a phytoplankton named Lingulodinium. Image courtesy of the Raphael Kudela Lab UCSC.

What color is the water today? Compare it to the chart. Any guesses as to the current major influences on water color today?

Water Color Exhibit.

To get the phytoplankton guide simply download our mobile app. You will also get several self-guided mobile tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Installed along the riverbank, the River Ghost boats appear to be floating down the San Lorenzo River. Photo 2015, © Ron Holman.

Ebb & Flow logo by Doug Ross.

Several organizations have been working hard to change how people think about and can use the San Lorenzo River. Among them are the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County. They created The “Ebb & Flow River ArtWalk,” a month long display of art at eleven sites along the San Lorenzo River, in June of 2015. Some of the art installations are still there, some are not. But this tour keeps the art alive indefinitely in digital form.

The ArtWalk is a half mile walking tour from the Tannery Arts Center to the Kaiser Permanente Arena. The goal of Ebb & Flow is to harness the power of the arts to educate folks about Santa Cruz’s most important water source, highlight the walkway along the river, inspire new relationships between artists and river stewards, and build artworks that tell stories about our river’s past, present, and future. We highlight a few stops below but the main content can be found in the mobile app.

Visit the ghostly steel-and-concrete silhouettes of people enjoying the river in times gone by.

Installed along the riverbank, the River Ghost boats appear to be floating down the San Lorenzo River. Photo 2015, © Ron Holman.

The San Lorenzo River used to team with fish and fisher-people. This past is highlighted with oversized fishing rods and buoys.

‘Fishing Rods’ created by Nielsen Design Studios hangs off of the Water St. Bridge. This is one of eleven installations created for the Ebb & Flow River Arts Project in June 2015. Photo courtesy of and © of Nick Ibarra.

“The Guardians” were perched on the Pedestrian Bridge and watched over the San Lorenzo for only one night before being vandalized. The statues were salvaged and artist Geoffrey Nelson may bring them to life again.

Guarding the river for the evening. Photo 2015, © Ron Holman.