The Santa Cruz Wharf in 2016. Photo: Lauren Salazar/Mobile Ranger

When it was a bustling port city of the mid-18th century, Santa Cruz exported many goods: agricultural products, lumber, leather, and lime. Initially, goods and people were floated or ferried through the surf to waiting ships. But this too often resulted in wet and damaged goods, plus the ladies objected to the surf spray.

Wharves Are for Boosting the Economy

Between 1849 and 1875, three different wharves were built in Santa Cruz. Elihu Anthony built the first. It was an inclined wharf at the end of Bay Street. It went through several owners, the last of whom was Henry Cowell of the Henry Cowell Lime and Cement Company. After he bought it, it quickly became known as Cowell Wharf. His company used it to ship lime from his lime works, which were at the base of what is now the campus of UC Santa Cruz. That wharf collapsed in 1907 during a storm.

Map of the wharves of Santa Cruz. Image: Courtesy of the City of Santa Cruz and based on work by Frank Perry and colleagues

The promontory from which Cowell Wharf came down to the beach. It is just below the Sea and Sand Inn. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The Gharky Wharf was built by David Gharky at the base of Main Street in 1857. Gharky’s wharf was bought by California Powder Works in 1865, so it was also known as The Powder Mill Wharf. Apparently, California Powder Works had initially used Cowell Wharf for shipping, but a rift developed with Henry Cowell, who played hardball when it came to protecting his financial interests. So the Powder Works bought the Gharky Wharf rather than deal with Henry Cowell. This wharf was dismantled in 1882.

Cowell Wharf (background) and the Railroad Wharf (foreground) circa 1900. The current Municipal Wharf was built about 100 yards west of the Railroad Wharf. Photo: Courtesy of Frank Perry and the Museum of Natural History

The Railroad Wharf was built just west of Gharky’s Wharf in 1875 by the Santa Cruz and Felton Railroad, which ran a narrow-gauge rail line. It was built primarily to ship lumber, lime, and other products from the San Lorenzo Valley. Between 1877 and 1882, an S-shaped wharf connected the Railroad and Gharky (Powder Mill) wharves. In writings after 1940, it is often stated that the Gharky Wharf became the Railroad Wharf. However, recent work by Frank Perry and colleagues, shows this not to be the case. Railroad Wharf was an entirely separate one.

Wharves Are for Shipping

Although they shipped many things, much of the economic incentive to build the wharves came from the lime industry. Santa Cruz was an ideal place for lime production because of the presence of large marble formations, vast redwood forests with wood to stoke the kilns that turned the rock into lime, and a large and ready market in nearby San Francisco. In the mid-1880s, Santa Cruz supplied a third of the lime for the state and three-quarters of San Francisco’s lime needs.

By the turn of the century, goods could be sent out of Santa Cruz overland by rail. Thus, the need for wharves and shipping decreased significantly. Of the three original wharves, only the Railroad Wharf remained by 1910. It was economically viable and was surviving mostly because of commercial fishing.

Morning scene on Fisherman’s Wharf from a circa 1909 postcard. Fisherman’s Wharf was also known as the Railroad Wharf. This image predates the current Municipal Wharf, but the fishing scene is similar to what would have been for many years on the current wharf. Image: Courtesy of Frank Perry

Pleasure Pier was built in 1904 to carry sea water to a plunge pool at the boardwalk. Its construction was the harbinger of a shift to a new norm in the 20th century: Tourism was to become king, and the traditional industries of the 19th century were on their way out.

Aerial photo of Santa Cruz in 1930. You can see the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf (foreground) and Pleasure Pier (center). Photo: Gordon Woody from the collection of Gerald Weber

Wharves Are for Fishing and Fun

The story of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, which opened in 1914, embodies the not entirely desired transition to a tourist economy. At the turn of the 20th century, many city fathers really still wanted to be a major port city with lots of shipping of goods out of Santa Cruz. As a last-ditch effort to achieve this, they authorized the construction of a very long wharf in the slim hope that accommodating deep water shipping would somehow turn back the tide of railroads. It didn’t.

The Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, built in 1914, was much longer than any of the three previous wharves. In fact, it is the longest wooden-pile wharf on the West Coast. Photo: Archer Koch of MultiRotorCam

The Santa Cruz Wharf, as it’s called today, was the last wharf built. The dream of reviving Santa Cruz as a seaport did not come true. Instead, fisherman, many Italian-born, moved over from the Railroad Wharf and turned this wharf into the base for their fishing businesses. For 50 years, it was a hard-working, vibrant fishing hub with 75–100 boats unloading salmon, sea bass, rock cod, and sole every day. That changed in 1964, when a harbor was built and opened at Woods Lagoon. Many of the fishing businesses moved their bases of operations to the new harbor, and the Santa Cruz Wharf became a place mainly for recreational fishing from poles, shopping, and dining.

The Wharf Is a Gateway to the Ocean

In the 21st century, economic and business development has been tempered with an environmental imperative. Ecotourism is an important economic engine for Santa Cruz. Today, city mothers and fathers envision a new future for the wharf as a landmark destination that showcases the Monterey Bay’s natural riches. The Wharf Master Plan seeks to change the way people think about the 100-year-old structure. The planners see more than a place to get fish and chips or perhaps a gelato and to say hello to the sea lions. They see a gateway into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a special nexus of land and water resources, a platform for world-class marine research and education, along with a beautiful place to stroll, eat, and shop.

View of the entrance to the Santa Cruz Wharf as envisioned by a Master Plan Concept Graphic in 2013. Source: City of Santa Cruz

View of the south end of the Santa Cruz Wharf as envisioned by a Master Plan Concept Graphic in 2013. Source: City of Santa Cruz

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This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Modern day Lighthouse Point showing the Purisima Formation and the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, which was built in 1967. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz, California, is surrounded by world class surf spots and amazing views. It’s named for the lighthouse built to commemorate a local boy who went surfing and never came back. The lighthouse is a museum of local surf history, and the whole area has grown to be a special nexus of expression for the Santa Cruz surfing community. So it seems fitting, even though unfortunate, that this gateway to the ocean’s beauty and power is threatened by the power of the ocean.

Its Beach with Lighthouse Point in the background. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Lighthouse Point is composed of a particularly resistant part of the Purisima Formation. In general, the Purisima erodes fairly easily. For this reason, the ocean was able to cut landward and create the Monterey Bay. However, Lighthouse Point and a few other resistant headlands, including San Lorenzo Point and Pleasure Point, have withstood the ocean’s erosive force. Lighthouse Point actually protects Monterey Bay’s northern beaches from much of the wave energy they would otherwise get from the dominantly northwest waves. Even so, Lighthouse Point is not immune to wave erosion.

The lighthouse circa 1888. Photo: Courtesy of the Santa Cruz City-County Library System

Original Lighthouse Had to be Moved

The original lighthouse was built in 1869, close to the edge of the cliff. In 1878, less than 10 years later, a letter was sent to the Lighthouse Board noting that three large caves (all over 50 feet long and 50 feet wide) penetrated the point, and the largest extended to within 12 feet of the lighthouse.

To preemptively save the lighthouse from potential catastrophic cliff erosion, the Lighthouse Board ordered it to be picked up and moved 300 feet inward. Thus, from 1879 to 1948, the lighthouse was located on the north side of what is now West Cliff Drive.

Aerial view of Lighthouse Point circa 1941. You can see the beacon and the old lighthouse on the north side of West Cliff Drive. Photo: By Ed Webber, used courtesy of Frank Perry

A Long Run Comes to an End

In 1939, the Coast Guard assumed responsibility for all of the nation’s lighthouses. Shortly thereafter, the Coast Guard installed an automated beacon on top of a white wooden tower and decommissioned Santa Cruz’s lighthouse. The beacon was about 20 feet north of the current Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. The light from the beacon was less than half as bright as that from the lighthouse. Despite a vibrant shipping past, by 1930, due to roads and railroads, Santa Cruz no longer had much shipping traffic. Therefore, the beacon was bright enough to be seen only by local fishing boats.

The lighthouse facilities were used briefly during World War II to house 200 soldiers stationed there during the war. After WWII, however, the lighthouse was not serving a particular purpose for the Coast Guard, so it was demolished. From 1948 until 1967, Santa Cruz had no lighthouse. There was just a beacon with a light so weak that local fisherman complained it couldn’t be distinguished from the car headlights on West Cliff Drive.

Aerial view of Lighthouse Point in 1957. The beacon stands alone. The only traces of the original lighthouse are the cypress trees that outline where it stood from 1879 to 1948. Photo: Used courtesy of Frank Perry

The New Lighthouse

The beacon might still be the only light here today if not for the tragic death of a local boy named Mark Abbott. On a Sunday morning in February, 1965, Mark went to the beach with his friends, went body surfing, and never returned. Mark’s parents, Chuck and Esther Abbott, were able to turn their grief from losing a child into something positive for the community: a new lighthouse at Lighthouse Point. The Abbotts made sure that the lighthouse honored even more than their son. A bronze plaque inside the lighthouse reads:

“This lighthouse is further dedicated to all our youth whose lives, through fate or misadventure, are terminated before realizing their true potential. May their spirits find new dimension in the unknown horizons that await us all.”

Same Cave Problem

The brick remains of the original lighthouse built in 1869 lie just a few hundred feet toward the ocean from the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse.

Brick remnants of the original 1869 lighthouse (center left). The round brick shape (center right) was a cistern used for collecting rainwater from the lighthouse roof. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

In 1980, one of the caves that undermined the original lighthouse was plugged with concrete because it threatened to undermine the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. Unfortunately, the plug did more harm than good, because it deflected waves upward, increased erosion of the upper cliff, and exposed the brick foundation of the original lighthouse site. It eventually washed out in 2000.

Filling the caves under Lighthouse Point in 1980. Photo: By and courtesy of Frank Perry

During the El Niño storms of 1982–83, waves eroded the sea cliff to within 10 feet of the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. A new concrete retaining wall was built in the 1990s, and the walkways and fences in this area are constantly being moved landward. Two caves still remain: one just to left of lighthouse, facing south (the one that had the concrete plug) and another on the west side, facing southwest. That second one is quite deep and extends almost to the lighthouse.

The cave filled in 1980, which is still eroding. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A cave in the Purisima Formation, which is undercutting modern day Lighthouse Point on the west side of Santa Cruz. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A crane placing rip rap rocks near Steamer Lane in 1981. Photo Courtesy of and by Frank Perry

Much of West Cliff Drive has been armored with rip rap (1– to 2–ton boulders placed in a group) and sea walls to try to prevent erosion from cutting back the coastline. Such protections at Lighthouse Point certainly conflict with its natural beauty and surf. But the caves are there and, at some point, hard decisions about additional armoring of Lighthouse Point versus saving the lighthouse will have to be made. Perhaps it could be moved back across West Cliff Drive?

A view from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the eroding coast along West Cliff Drive in 2010. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project www.Californiacoastline.org

Further Information

• Lighthouse Point: Illuminating Santa Cruz, by Frank Perry. Otter B Books, 2002. Available at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, and Natural Bridges State Beach Visitor Center.
• Santa Cruz historian Frank Perry’s website.
• Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. Located at Lighthouse Point, the museum is open Wednesday through Monday, 10 am to 5 pm, July 4 through Labor Day and Thursday through Monday, 12 noon to 4 pm, the rest of the year.
• Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Located at 1305 East Cliff Drive, the museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm, during summer (Memorial Day through Labor Day) and Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, the rest of the year. Call 831.420.6115 for more information.
• Lighthouse Friends website.
• The Huge Boulders Along the Santa Cruz Shoreline: A Common Coastal Story. Mobile Ranger blog.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Brandt’s cormorandts tending to their babies on a sea cliff ledge on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, May 2016. Photo: Lauren McEvoy/Mobile Ranger

Brandt’s cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) are back on the sea cliff just west of Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. They started using this ledge in large numbers in 2011 after the breeding habitat was improved by removing the non-native and invasive ice plant. The Brandt’s cormorants do not nest on top of ice plant and are sensitive to human disturbance. To breed, they need open ledges free of predators and safe from people walking, talking, or sitting to drink coffee.

The ledge before ice plant removal in April 2011. Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan Fellis

In the photo above, you can see one Brandt’s cormorant on a nest (the greenish mound) and one empty nest. In April 2011, as part of the West Cliff Restoration Project, local ecologists Bill Henry, Josh Adams, Ryan Carle, and Jessie Beck cleared encroaching ice plant from this ledge. By the next day, a large group of Brandt’s cormorants started building their nests.

The same ledge one day after ice plant removal, April 2011. Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan Fellis

The cormorants incubate their eggs for ~30 days, and the chicks leave the nest when they 40–50 days old. When the birds fly from the ledge for the first time, usually in late August, they are not yet strong enough to fly back, so they hang out on the beach below for up to several weeks while the parents still feed them.

The young Brandt’s cormorants on the beach below their breeding ledge. Photo: Courtesy of Alayne Meeks

In 2011, after the ice plant was cleared, 21 nests were counted and 44–45 chicks were documented as hatching (Alayne Meeks, Oikonos). In 2012, the numbers of nests and chicks hatched were practically the same. The ledge was not used again for breeding from 2013 through 2015, but it was used again in spring 2016, with 35 birds and 14 nest sites as of May 17.

The reasons for the three-year hiatus are unclear. Fluctuations in the numbers of mating birds might be related to changes in ocean conditions, disturbances, presence of predators, or simply better habitat conditions elsewhere. In many years, the Brandt’s cormorants nest on the remaining Natural Bridges arch, less than 100 yards away. The same population might even alternate between the two sites.

Native Plant Restoration Is for the Birds

Although Brandt’s cormorants are not a threatened or endangered species, they are vulnerable to the loss of breeding habitats, including the erosion of offshore rocks, such as the remaining arch at Natural Bridges State Beach. Potential mainland breeding sites are heavily impacted by coastal development, coastal armoring such as sea walls, rip-rap (1– to 2–ton boulders placed in a group), invasive vegetation, and predators. Clearing of ice plant on West Cliff Drive provides more places for the birds to breed along the shore.

An example of coastal “armoring” along West Cliff Drive. You can see that both a sea wall and rip-rap were used to protect the coast from wave erosion. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Bill Henry, a local scientist, has spearheaded removal of ice plant and restoration of native plants along West Cliff Drive since 2012. Henry’s goal is to restore plant biodiversity, increase habitat, and engage the public in stewardship of the coast. An example of this restoration work can be seen just a few hundred feet to the east of the Brandt’s ledge pictured above (just past Chico Avenue).

Native plant restoration between Natural Bridges State Beach and Chico Avenue in January 2013, several months after planting. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The plot was cleared of ice plant and replanted in spring of 2012. The native species planted include California sagebrush, coast buckwheat, dudleya, lizard tail, seaside daisy, sticky monkey flower, prunella, and yarrow, all grown from locally collected seed. These plants are typical of the northern coastal sage scrub habitat that was here before it was displaced by ice plant. The restoration sites are already supporting increased faunal diversity, including native bees and birds.

The same restored location in May 2016. Photo: Lauren McEvoy/Mobile Ranger

Native coastal sage scrub vegetation in its full glory at 3-Mile Beach (Wilder Ranch State Park, three miles north of Santa Cruz). Coast buckwheat is in the bottom left of this photo, dudleya are the yellow flowers in the center, and California sagebrush dominates the back, toward the right. Photo: Courtesy of Jackie Pascoe

Restored coastal sage scrub vegetation also surrounds the Seymour Center at the Long Marine Lab.

The work was initially the West Cliff Restoration Project of the nonprofit Oikonos. Since 2012, partners and volunteers worked along West Cliff Drive (at Lighthouse Field, for example) and at the entrance to Seabright Beach. The project has since become a separate organization, Groundswell Coastal Ecology. Groundswell enhances coastal resources in Santa Cruz by pairing education, community activities, and science with ecological restoration. Sites include Seabright Beach, Lighthouse Field (across from the surfer statue), and Natural Bridges. Their 2016–17 plans include planting of more than 10,000 native plants along the Natural Bridges headland.

Volunteer for Restoration

If you are interested in participating in the coastal restoration process or want to receive Groundswell updates, please send email to info@groundswellecology.org. Groundswell ecologists are seeking volunteers to assist with seed collection and plant propagation, which will support the 2016–17 restoration season.

Zora Thomas planting native plants at Natural Bridges, January 2016. Photo: Groundswell Coastal Ecology

Groundswell volunteers with California State Parks employee Juan Villarino at a Lighthouse Field Coastal Stewardship Day sponsored by Groundswell Coastal Ecology. Photo: Groundswell Coastal Ecology

The Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Native Plant Society also leads restoration projects at Natural Bridges State Park and various places around the county. If you would like to get involved with them, check the meeting schedules and contact information on the Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Native Plant Society website.

Further Information

• Groundswell Coastal Ecology website
• Oikonos ecosystem knowledge website
• Santa Cruz Chapter, California Native Plant Society website

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Part of Lighthouse Field State Beach, this beach just west of Lighthouse Point, is a favorite for locals. The west end of the beach contains a beautiful sea arch eroded into the Purisima Formation. If the tide is really low you might also see the base of the Old Shoe sea stack, the vertical remnants of a natural arch that has long since collapsed.

The natural bridge at the west end of Its Beach. Picture by Mobile Ranger.

Geology Tidbits

From the sidewalk above the beach you can also see a set of fairly regular evenly spaced joints in the sandstone of the Purisima Formation. These likely reflect large-scale stress on sediments of the Purisima from the San Andreas Fault system. Within the Purisima, this jointing is seen in places that are relatively more resistive to erosion. You can see them here, and westward to Almar Street, and three miles east of here, at Pleasure Point. If it was not so hard and erosion resistant, Lighthouse Point would not exist, and the surfing at Steamer Lane, created by refraction around the point, would not be so legendary.

Its Beach with Lighthouse Point in the background.

A Shipwreck

Its Beach was the site of a shipwreck in 1876. The schooner ‘Active’ left Santa Cruz with a load of 3,000 railroad ties. About a mile offshore the wind died and the crew eventually set anchor for the night. A large swell developed, ripped the anchor lines, and the ship was washed ashore. Several attempts were made to elevate it on a scaffold and re-launch it at high tide. They all failed and eventually the $19,000 ship, insured for only $3,000, was stripped for parts and left to decay on the beach.

The Off-Leash Controversy

Its Beach would not be what it is today if development plans had not been thwarted by locals who cared about open space preservation. True to these roots, Its Beach has also become a local flashpoint between people who want to enjoy open space in different ways; some with dogs and some without. In 2002 a group of citizens and dog lovers created Friends of Lighthouse Field (FOLF), to respond to growing concerns that the update of the General Plan at Lighthouse Field might include language specifically forbidding dogs off leash.

You might see this bumper sticker around town. It was put out by Friends of Lighthouse Field and stems from the struggle for dog owners to let their dogs off leash at Its Beach.

The group has been involved with two lawsuits and lots of local political activity that brought the plight of city dwelling dog lovers and their dogs to the fore. They feel very strongly that it is unfair that only 2% of parks in the county allow dogs off leash and even this is often with restricted hours. Their efforts to protect the right of people to let their dogs run free include events such as First Dog Night and Love the Dogs You’re With, as well as letter writing campaigns and a Paws in the Park rally. FOLF also works hard to foster community responsibility and stewardship of the beach.

The local ordinance for Lighthouse Field State Beach states dogs are not supposed to be off leash. But it is not enforced.

Situation: Unresolved

The City (more friendly to owners with dogs) had been trying to buy the beach from the State (less friendly to owners with dogs) but those plans are on hold due to the budget crunch.  For now, dogs technically are not allowed off leash, but the ordinance is not enforced. For more about FOLF, go to the FOLF website http://folf.org.

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A picturesque lone Monterey pine near the end of De la Costa and Almar Avenues. This tree was planted here.

The two tree types you mostly see along West Cliff Drive are the Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) and the Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). Both are often seen together and are native to the central Coast of California. They occur naturally only in a very few areas but you will see many in coastal California because they have been used widely in landscaping. All of the Monterey pines and Monterey cypress along West Cliff Drive have been planted.

The Monterey Pine

The Monterey pine is extremely well adapted to dry climates that occasionally have fires. Its cones stay for years on the branches, sealed with resin. During a fire the established tree usually dies, but the heat opens the cones which release many seeds that recolonize a new stand. Records of fossilized pollen show the Monterey pine used to be more widely distributed than it is currently. Its maximum distribution was during times of slightly cooler and wetter climates (i.e. between glacial and interglacial periods).

Monterey pines are currently threatened by a fungal disease known as pine pitch canker (Fusarium circinatum) which is native to the southeastern US. Once the trees become sick from the fungus, they attract the bark beetle which finally kills them. A very local example of the potential cascading effect of the disease happened at Natural Bridges State Beach.

In the 1990s, several Monterey pines became infected with the fungus and eventually were infested with the bark beetle and died. Those pines had sheltered a grove of eucalyptus trees, which provided monarch butterfly habitat. After the pines died, many of the eucalyptus trees blew over in a storm and the numbers of monarch butterflies overwintering at Natural Bridges have decreased significantly ever since.

Monterey cypress trees in Lighthouse Field State Park. These trees were likely planted when this property belonged to the Phelans in the early 1900s.

The Monterey Cypress

The gnarled Monterey cypress is a favorite for photographers. There are only two native stands, both in Monterey County. They are not considered endangered because planted and native trees are not distinguished for the federal endangered designation. As long as they grow in the coastal fog belt, the Monterey cypress is very hearty. Trees from the two native stands in Monterey County are up to 2,000 years old. However when planted in places with hot summers they tend to get a fungus called cypress canker and die within a few years.

Further Information

• Three Ways of Seeing Monterey Pines A post on the Town Mouse and Country Mouse native plants blog
• Coastal California’s Living Legacy: The Monterey Pine Forest. A Photo book by the Monterey Pine Forest Watch

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Postcard of Lighthouse Point, Santa Cruz, California circa 1920. Image by Mike Patnaude and part of his series of paired retrospective and modern day images in Santa Cruz County.

The lighthouse at Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz, is an icon to locals and visitors alike. It is rich with history of the lighthouse keepers who raised families there, soldiers stationed there, and a surfer who is memorialized there (Lighthouse Point, Santa Cruz, California). But to mariners, it’s all about the beam of light that provides a critical navigation aid. To them, the light is the vital and beloved part of any lighthouse. The type of lens, its brightness, its reach out to sea and manufacturer are all considered carefully. Adna Hecox, Santa Cruz’s first lighthouse keeper from 1868 until his death in 1883, cleaned the light daily with feather brushes and soft linen and kept it covered during the day to protect it from the sun.

The postcard pictured here shows the lighthouse circa 1920 with a steady beam of reddish light. That steady beam, with its unusual reddish hue, was the calling card of the lighthouse at Santa Cruz for decades. If it was a steady white light, the sailor knew it was Point Pinos, flashing white and you were off Pigeon Point.

In 1939, the coast guard became responsible for keeping a navigation aid at Lighthouse Point. This marked the beginning of many changes to the structure housing the light; for 19 years there was only a beacon, without any lighthouse! But through it all, the light was always a steady beam. So, in 2011, when after a prolonged outage, a flickering strobe light was installed, locals were not happy. In fact, Live Oak residents Jim Thoits and Bill Simpkins got motivated to try and change it back.

Lighthouse Point in 2013. Image by Mike Patnaude and part of his series of paired retrospective and modern day images in Santa Cruz County.

They contacted the Parks and Recreation Department and ultimately had to involve Congressman Sam Far to help get the ownership of the light changed from the U.S. Coast Guard to the City of Santa Cruz.  Their efforts bore fruit fairly quickly. In December 2013, a rotating light with a steady beam returned to Lighthouse Point. The historic fabric of lighthouse lore was restored!

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

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An example of the Purisima Formation at Mitchell Cove along West Cliff Drive. The top part of the cliffs where most of the ice plant is growing are composed of much younger Quaternary deposits. The bottom section is the Purisima Formation. The contact between them can be seen clearly in the middle of the photo.

The Purisima Formation is the rock type that shapes the landscape characteristics of the central and southern Santa Cruz coast. It is present from the intersection of Swift Street and West Cliff Drive all the way down the coast to Seacliff Beach in Aptos. Relative to the Santa Cruz Mudstone it is not very resistant to erosion. In fact, the change of rock type from the more resistant Santa Cruz Mudstone to the less resistant Purisima Formation near Lighthouse Point, allowed the landward erosion that caused the Monterey Bay to form where it did.

Creation of the Purisima

This formation consists of inter-layered yellow-gray siltstones and blue-gray sandstones and gets its name from Purisima Creek in San Mateo County. It was created during the Pliocene and the last gasp of the Miocene about 3-7 million years ago. The deposits were laid down in a shallow sea that was gradually shrinking. If you were to walk from West Cliff Drive and Merced Avenue all the way to Seacliff Beach, you would be getting younger in geologic time.

Over this 4 million year period of deposition, the rocks record a shift from deeper off-shore conditions (primarily yellow-gray silts with a lot of silica-rich organisms, known as diatoms, deposited in fairly quiet water) to shallower near-shore conditions (primarily blue-gray sandstone deposited from rivers dumping into estuaries and bays). There are a few mollusk fossils and whalebones in the cliffs of the Purisima Formation near West Cliff Drive but you will find the best exposures of them along the cliffs below Depot Hill in Capitola.

Capitola Overlook from Depot Hill, May 2011. Image adapted from photo by fogcat5 via Flickr.

Depot Hill Bluffs in Capitola, June 2012. Image adapted from photo by fogcat5 via Flickr.

The Purisima and Lighthouse Point

Lighthouse Point is composed of a particularly resistant part of the Purisima Formation. In general the Purisima erodes fairly easily. However, Lighthouse Point, and a few other resistant headlands like San Lorenzo Point and Pleasure Point, have withstood the ocean’s erosive powers. Lighthouse Point, in fact, protects Monterey Bay’s northern beaches from much of the wave energy they would otherwise get from the dominantly northwest waves. Even so, the Purisima at Lighthouse Point does erode. In fact it tends to form caves …

Modern day Lighthouse Point showing the Purisima Formation and the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse which was built in 1967.

Under cutting of Lighthouse Point by caves continues. This picture was taken on the westside of the point in 2014.

Caves Endanger Original Lighthouse

The original location of the Santa Cruz Lighthouse, built in 1869, was close to the cliffs. In 1878, less than ten years after it was built, a letter was sent to the Lighthouse Board noting that three large caves (all over 50 feet long and 50 feet wide) penetrated the point, and the largest extended to within 12 feet of the lighthouse.

To preemptively save the lighthouse from potential catastrophic cliff erosion, the Lighthouse Board ordered it to be picked up and moved 300 feet landward. Thus from 1879 to 1948 the lighthouse was located on the north side of what is now West Cliff Drive.

Aerial view of Lighthouse point circa 1941. Image is used courtesy of Frank Perry. Ed Webber was the photographer.

While the caves did not collapse catastrophically, they did erode about a foot per year and eventually created the cove that exists today in front of the modern day lighthouse. Check out our piece on Lighthouse Point for a more complete history and the interesting story of the lighthouses that lit the way for ships before the one that stands today.

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An aerial view of Swift Street Courtyard (upper left) and adjacent 334 Ingalls Street Building (lower right) in February 2015. Photo © 2014 www.MultiRotorCam.com.

Today, the Swift Street Courtyard area, in combination with the adjoining businesses off of Ingalls Street, has become a nexus for locals who like fresh local products, cool shops, and hand crafted wine and beer. But these buildings, hark back to a past when larger-scale agriculture was a mightier force on the north coast of Santa Cruz, and the Westside had a more industrial flavor in general.

402 Swift Street (Todays Swift Street Courtyard; upper left) and adjacent 334 Ingalls Street Building (lower right) circa 1951. Note the train car on the railroad spur that ran directly alongside both buildings. Photo courtesy of Mark and Kelly Sanchez.

A Vegetable Packing Hub

During the middle part of the last century this area was part of a busy center of vegetable processing and packing and and relied on rail to ship its goods. In 1948, the Artichoke and Sprout Growers Association built the building at 334 Ingalls Street – now home of the West End Tap and Kitchen. Birds Eye Frozen Food leased a portion of it but their space needs soon grew. In 1951, to accommodate Birds Eye, the building at 402 Ingalls Street was built. Under this roof, vegetables were packed, primarily by women, and sold with the labels: “Coast King”, “Coast Queen” and “Coast Prince.”

Coast Queen label used to sell vegetables circa 1950.

The external infrastructure needs of these packing plants were large.

• A new water main was brought in by the City to handle the huge water needs.
• A new railroad spur was added running along the back side of the buildings.
• During peak harvest, refrigerator cars were loaded around the clock via a dedicated steam-powered “switcher.”
• A permanent nursing station was on site to care for the workers (located where El Salchichero is now).
• A huge concrete vault or storage pond was located on the east side of the parking lot to temporarily hold the vegetable waste.
• There was a a huge open air truck scale where the dining area inside Kelly’s French Bakery is today.

Within 402 Swift Street, water entered the building and was fed into two concrete troughs or “flumes” that ran the length of the building in the concrete slab floor. All discarded vegetable waste was thrown into the flumes where it was then carried in the water stream to the buildings exit and then via a pipe to an open concrete vault/pond. The water was pumped back to the head of the flume and the vegetable waste was then scooped out and put in a flatbed truck for disposal.

Prior to shipping, a portable ice blower was used to top off the produce in each car with a layer of ice cubes. An ice crusher was needed to crush the block ice which came from the Union Ice Company on Laurel and Chestnut. A screw auger/trough system then brought the ice to the blower. Known as “top icing”, the ice generally lasted until the train got to Council Bluffs, Iowa or Saint Louis, Missouri before being replenished.

A cold room for storage was located in the southeast end of the building (today the home of Sawyer, Illuminee and Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing). The floor, ceiling and walls were all insulated with 2 layers of 2 inch thick cork, each coated with asphalt. Examples of the insulation can be seen in a cross sectional “cork donut” located inside Kelly’s French Bakery and exposed inside Sawyer.

Ice being blown onto the top of vegetable crates inside railroad cars circa 1950s.

Harbinger of a Changing Neighborhood

By the beginning of the 21st century, much of the light industry on the Westside was gone. Vegetable packing and heavy rail use were no longer and other large businesses had closed up or were leaving. The Wrigley gum factory stopped making gum in 1996, Texas Instruments closed in 2001, and Lipton Tea closed in 2002. This exodus left a hole in the local economy and some big industrial spaces.

In 2002, Kelly’s French Bakery owners Kelly and Mark Sanchez began revitalizing the old buildings at 402 Swift Street. Their project was one of the forerunners of big changes to the Westside in general. Their bakery and the small entrepreneurial shops in the courtyard thrived. Former City Council Member Lynn Robinson told the Good Times in 2012, “It was like the Westside was ready and waiting for this. They needed someone with the vision and the willingness to invest, and it’s been happening repeatedly now. It tells you that the market is there and people are supporting it.” The Sanchez’ business was probably helped by customers who came from the work/live complex of 22 units created by another visionary, the architect Marc Primac. His work/live complex opened at about the same time only a block away.

402 Ingalls Street in 2002. Photo courtesy of Mark and Kelly Sanchez.

The drains that ran in the concrete floor exposed during the 2002 remodel. Photo courtesy of Mark and Kelly Sanchez.

The open-air truck scale being demolished in 2002. Photo courtesy of Mark and Kelly Sanchez.

Today, the Westside continues to transform from large single purpose companies to art and lifestyle oriented small businesses. A great example is William Ow’s steady transformation, beginning in 2004, of the 385,000-square-foot Wrigley Building. From 1955-1996 that huge building cranked out one thing: gum. Today, Ow has subdivided the space into a bustling beehive of eclectic tenants who produce everything from paintings, clothing and energy drinks to bicycles and research for the USGS. It’s also becoming a hub to tone your body with gymnastics, aerial or martial arts! Mark Primac also continues to push the art lifestyle way of life with the new 20-acres of live/work space on Delaware Avenue known as the Delaware Addition.

Kelly’s French Bakery today.

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The Vue de L’eau streetcar station with Crown Arch, circa 1900. The Free Cliff Museum can be seen to the left of the station.
Image courtesy of Ronnie Trubek.

In the late 1800s you could take a street car to Santa Cruz’s West Cliff Drive and then gamble, dance and stay in a hotel—all right there! The station was built in 1891 by the Santa Cruz, Garfield Park and Capitola Electric Railway as the end of their streetcar line. The station was built in the Victorian style and had an octagonal observatory on the second floor. The use of French for “View of the Water” was likely to give the station an exciting exotic feel.

Woodrow Avenue and West Cliff Drive in 2015.
The same area as pictured in the 1900s photo above.

In 1894 the same company also built a casino with a ballroom and restaurant at Woodrow and Pelton Avenues. The idea was to promote the streetcar line and further develop the area for wealthy people to vacation here. Already, West Cliff Drive near the wharves, (then just Cliff Drive) was known as Millionaire’s Row. A close by oddity and marvel of engineering was the Wave Motor. It was one of several wave and tidal energy projects undertaken in California in the 1890s (including several in San Francisco near the Cliff House and one on the Capitola Wharf in 1895). While most tried to generate electricity and failed, this one, designed only to pump water, was one of the few successes. Another attraction located near the Vue de L’eau was a museum called the Free Cliff Museum.

The Vue de L’eau streetcar station and observatory, circa 1894. It’s hard to see but a street car is arriving at the station.
Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz City-County Library System.

A Santa Cruz Electric Railway streetcar approaching the Vue de L’eau station, circa 1894. The casino can be seen on the right.
Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz City-County Library System.

The Free Cliff Museum circa 1909. Photo courtesy of Frank Perry.

West Cliff Drive Development Fizzles

The plan to turn the Westside into a vacation resort area was never successful. The casino closed after about ten years, and the streetcar line became less popular. It folded in the mid-1920s as cars and buses flourished. The Vue de L’eau station burned down in 1925.

Sustained development of the Westside area of Santa Cruz did not really happen until after World War II. The tracks of the streetcar line have been gone for years, but you can enjoy looking at some old streetcar wheels and historic photographs on display at the corner of Woodrow and West Cliff Drive. Woodrow Avenue is so wide today because of the Garfield Park and Capitola Electric Railway that ran down it. Woodrow Avenue used to be called Garfield Avenue.

These street car wheels were found by the City Public Works Department in 2005. They were unearthed during construction on a Laurel Street water main.

Arches at the Vue de L’eau

Around the turn of the century there were many more natural arches and bridges along West Cliff Drive than there are today, several of them in the area of Vue de L’eau. The arch in the two photos below was just in front of the Vue de L’eau station. It was known as Arch Rock or Crown Arch because it had a “crown” of Quaternary-aged sediments on top of it. It succumbed to erosion sometime in the 1920s.

Arch Rock or Crown Arch circa 1911. Image from the collection of Julia Gaudinski.

Crown Arch after it lost its “crown” circa 1920s. Photo courtesy of Frank Perry.

A second, double arch was also located in the area, though the exact location is murky. You can see three rocks (sea stacks) sticking out in the water and these might be remnants of either Arch Rock or the double arch structures. Local geologist Gary Griggs has written about trying to find their exact locations in his bi-weekly newspaper column “Our Ocean Backyard.” See West Cliff is a local treasure, and Waves will eventually wear away the rocks. Local historian/naturalist Frank Perry thinks it was located a bit east of Vue de L’eau based on comparing the rock type in the photos with those of the cliffs.

Double arch in the Vue de L’eau area. Photo courtesy of Frank Perry.

Art at the Vue de L’eau

“Astronomy and Tides” by David Kimball Anderson.

The Vue de L’eau station is long gone. But interesting structures can still be found! Just back from the corner of Woodrow and West Cliff Drive, is a sculpture named “Astronomy and Tides.” This was a gift to the City from David Kimball Anderson, a local artist who lives near here. He created the piece in 2007 for the City because he felt it was time to give back to the community.

Mr Kimball designed the piece to be representative of our winter waves. The circular shapes cut into the wave forms represent the night sky. The geometric element is recognition of work done here in Santa Cruz to more accurately predict tides and swells. The sculpture sits on a table that is California Craftsman in style but made of steel.

Further Information

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A close-up view of the highway ice plant. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Most of the ice plant you see in California is all the same species: Highway ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis). As the common name indicates, it has been widely planted in California along highways for soil stabilization and landscaping. It is native to South Africa and was originally brought to California in the early 1900s to stabilize soil along railroad tracks. It has large solitary flowers (2.5 to 6 inches in diameter) that are yellow or light pink.

If you happen to see an ice plant with a deep magenta flower, it is probably sea fig (Carpobrotus chilensis). Also from South Africa, this ice plant variant does not propagate as aggressively as highway ice plant and is much less prevalent. However, these two species hybridize freely.

Benches on West Cliff Drive completely surrounded by ice plant. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Not a Good Neighbor

A walk along the ocean on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California shows a great case study of ice plant dominance. For about three miles, on the ocean side, you will see only one type of ground cover: Ice plant. It is surprising how homogeneous it is. Unless the land is part of The West Cliff Restoration Project or part of another replanting project by Gateway School across from Its Beach, you will not see anything else.

Ice plant is considered an invasive exotic species because it competes with and displaces native plants. Native plants provide far superior habitat for native animals and do a better job of slope stabilization. In fact, the main animal that highway ice plant typically shelters is the non-native black rat. In winter, water-heavy mats of ice plant slough off steep cliffs and into the ocean, taking precious topsoil with them.

An example of ice plant-covered steep slopes that can slough off into the ocean. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Pickled Ice Plant

So, you might be wondering: Is there even one good thing about ice plant?

Yes. You can eat it! Carpobrotus is derived from the Greek words karpos, meaning fruit, and brotos, meaning edible. The fruits resemble figs somewhat (it is sometimes called Hottentot fig) and can be eaten raw, dried, cooked, pickled, or made into chutneys and preserves. The succulent leaves can be used in salads or as a substitute for the pickled cucumber. I have never eaten it and do not plan to give it to my kids, so if you decide to eat it, do so at your own risk.

Native Plants

The native plants that probably lived on the sea cliffs before European settlement would be a mix of low- lying shrubs (generally under six feet high) and herbaceous perennials and annuals, including buckwheat, sagebrush, yarrow, lupine, and coyote bush.

Native coastal sage scrub vegetation at Three Mile Beach (three miles north of Santa Cruz). Coast buckwheat can be seen at the bottom left. Dudleya are the yellow flowers in the center, and California sagebrush dominates the back right. Photo: Courtesy of and © Jackie Pascoe

A postcard showing West Cliff Drive circa 1920s. These plants probably are not native to California either, but it shows the vegetation before it became dominated by ice plants. Image: Courtesy of Frank Perry

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A view from the mountains to the eroding coast along West Cliff Drive in 2010. Picture © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman,
California Coastal Records Project www.Californiacoastline.org.

If you live along or visit the west coast of California you have likely seen various types of structures designed to stop the coastline from eroding. Two common ways to decrease erosion are to place rip-rap (1– to 2–ton boulders boulders) along the cliff edges and to construct concrete sea walls. In recent decades, these methods of protecting or “armoring” the coast are so pervasive that people might not even notice them. I live near West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, and I am often amazed that people strolling along this beautiful section of the coast don’t even realize that rip-rap is not a natural feature.

The Cliff House along West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, California on a 1950s era postcard. Image courtesy of Frank Perry.

The Cliff House in 2012 from the same vantage point as the postcard. Rip-rap now fills both beach coves.

Development and Storms

Much of the development along the California Coast, including Santa Cruz, took place between the mid-1940s and the mid-1970s—a three decades-long period of below-average rainfall and storm frequency. In the late 1970s the stable weather period began to change with large storms in 1977–78 and 1982–83. These storms led to increased studies of trends in ocean and atmospheric circulation.

ENSO Cycles

These studies found that changes in atmospheric pressure, wind patterns, and ocean circulation in the equatorial Pacific create cycles known as the El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation (ENSO). El Niño conditions create more severe weather with above average rainfall and more frequent coastal storms. In contrast, La Niña conditions create mild weather with below normal rainfall and storm frequency. Seventy five percent of the storms that have been particularly damaging between 1910 and 1995 occurred during El Niño events.

A crane placing rip-rap near Steamer Lane in 1981. Photo courtesy of and © Frank Perry.

The El Niño of 1982–83

The El Niño storms of 1982–83 did more damage than any winter since. That winter, eight major storms hit the California coast and were particularly damaging for several reasons. First, sea levels were already elevated by the warmer El Niño conditions; second, many of the storms hit at the peak in spring high tides (thus they scoured away more sand and reached higher and further onshore); and third, the swells came not from the northwest as is typical but from the west (where the waves struck the coast dead on with no energy loss from refraction) and southwest (directing energy to areas that are typically more sheltered). Thirty three ocean-front homes were destroyed and over 3,000 homes and businesses were damaged.

The Armoring of West Cliff

The first rip-rap on West Cliff Drive was installed in the mid-1960s. However, most of the armoring there today was installed in the 1980s and early 1990s, which was a period with several strong El Niño events.

Armoring also impacts coastal ecology by covering beach habitat used by birds and fish, algae, and invertebrates. For example, birds need protected rocks along the coast to roost and breed. Because armoring prevents the formation of new peninsulas, arches, and sea stacks in favor of a smooth armored coast, this habitat will get even more scarce.

This cliff is part of the peninsula that forms Lighthouse Point. It provides great resting places for these Brandt’s cormorants.

The Coastal Commission

The California Coastal Commission was created by the voters of California in 1976 and regulates development along the coast. Under their regulations new armor is only allowed to protect existing structures that are threatened. New development must be set back far enough to avoid being threatened by erosion for its projected lifespan. However, these regulations are sometimes evaded due to ambiguous language and politics.

Adding sand to beaches, which can increase beach width and decrease erosion has been tried and considered as a long-term mitigation strategy. But the financial costs are huge and the effectiveness variable and often only short-term, especially in California where sand moves southward along the coast at high rates (a process known as littoral drift).

The Future of the Coast

Eighty six percent of California’s coast is eroding. A rising sea level and more severe and perhaps more frequent storms from human-induced climate change will only exacerbate coastal erosion. From the perspective of a homeowner on West Cliff Drive, or on any part of the California Coast, protection from wave erosion is important. However, it comes at a high cost. Millions of dollars of federal, state, and private money are spent every year on coastal armoring.

A sea wall and rip-rap along West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, California, 2011.

What do you think about the varying trade-offs to homeowners, the public, animals, and the environment? Should new development along the coast be allowed? Should existing structures be allowed to protect themselves indefinitely—and at whose cost? In some cases structures have been torn down or moved. The coastline is retreating landward, and this trend will continue and probably accelerate.

Rip-rap filling the beach between San Jose and Stockton Avenues along West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, California. Photo: Archer Koch of MultiRotorCam.

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The Development Imperative (1850-1965)

From the 1850s to the mid-1960s, Santa Cruz citizens generally wanted their town to be a center of industry and economic activity. Promotion of business and development was paramount. In Santa Cruz the vision was to be a hub for transportation of lumber, lime, and agricultural products produced within Santa Cruz, and also for goods that came from the Central Valley. There was hope that Santa Cruz would be the railroad terminus for a transcontinental railroad line and that oil produced in the San Joaquin Valley would be shipped out here.

“On the wharves, San Francisco, 1900”. This was the vision for Santa Cruz from the 1850s to the mid-1900s; a seaport to rival San Francisco. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Seaport Dreams

To be a great seaport hub, Santa Cruz needed a great harbor. The problem was, although Santa Cruz’s natural harbor was a fine anchorage in the summer, in the winter gales from the south made it treacherous and often damaged the wharves.

Several plans were drafted between 1850 and 1900 to create a giant breakwater and turn Santa Cruz’s natural harbor (and many of its now famous surf spots) into perpetually calm water. Several of these plans involved breakwaters starting at or near Lighthouse Point and extending eastward into the harbor for a quarter mile or longer. Lack of money was the only reason this was not done.

Locations and dates of proposed breakwaters in Santa Cruz Harbor. Dashed lines indicate location is approximate. Figure adapted with permission from “The Great Seaport Dream” by Frank Perry.

By the early 1900s, the railroads had severely decreased the shipping of goods from Santa Cruz and it looked like the great seaport would never materialize.

Hope in a Cement Plant

In 1903 William Dingee, The Cement King, almost built a cement plant on the Westside of Santa Cruz between High Street and Mission Street. Proponents were thrilled because a cement plant that would transport its lime by ship, might finally provide incentive and money to build a giant safe harbor. Once built, the harbor would then generate more business — if you build it they will come!

A cement plant in Santa Cruz was eventually thwarted by locals who feared the dust, noise, and ruination of their beautiful town. The Cement King instead built his plant 10 miles north in Davenport in 1905.

Dust covering cars in Davenport circa 1950. Image courtesy of Alverda Orlando.

A Small Craft Harbor Will Do

Due to its proximity to San Francisco and the huge expense of creating a large harbor, Santa Cruz never became a great port city. Although dreams lived on through the 1930s, largely by trying to bring the US Navy here.

After World War II, rail and truck transportation were dominant. Shipping out of Santa Cruz was nonexistent, there was no money for large breakwaters, and State legislators were favoring small craft harbors that included recreation. Thus Santa Cruz shifted its focus to building a small craft harbor.

While it was not the “Great Seaport” envisioned by the forefathers it was to be a boon to commercial fisheries and the recreation and tourist industries. On May 7, 1962, Governor Edmund G. Brown attended the ground breaking for the publicly funded construction of a small craft harbor at Woods Lagoon.

The Santa Cruz Harbor. Photo by Niki Rothwell. Harbor Collection. Courtesy of the Santa Cruz Port District.

Other Imperatives Take Hold (Post 1965)

The small craft harbor project was completed just prior to a big change in attitudes about development and the environment. The era when development and business interests were paramount was coming to an end; in Santa Cruz and across the country people were beginning to give environmental and social issues newfound importance.

The creation of The Environmental Protection Agency at the federal level (1970), and the formation of The California Coastal Commission (1972) via voter initiative proposition 20, are examples of this broader movement. An example of the local movement was the successful and epic battle to save Lighthouse Field from becoming a very large conference center (1972-1974).

The coming of the University of California to Santa Cruz, coincidentally dedicated the day before the small craft harbor in April 1964, also played a part in the shifting of local politics. It brought a large new population of voters whose primary interests were not tied to the local economy.

Beginning in July, 1971 all the college students could also vote in local elections, thanks to the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the US constitution, which set 18 as the legal minimum voting age for elections in the US. Most states, including California, had previously had 21 as the minimum age.

Looking Forward

The trajectory of development in any community is set in large part by local planning boards and planning commissions. Check out your local planning authorities and be aware of what they are doing and the priorities they set. Maybe you can get involved and help steer them. If you live in Santa Cruz, listen to or read Gary Patton’s weekday Land Use Report on KUSP 88.9 FM.

Further Information

Cover photo by Broken Inaglory via Wikimedia Commons.

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In the 1880’s, each block on Millionaire’s Row was its own estate. There was no road on the bluff top. Homes were accessed via Lighthouse Avenue. Many of the homes from this period survive today, though the large parcels of land have been subdivided considerably.

The Millionaire’s Row area in 1928. The large block-size estates can be seen although by 1928 Cliff Drive (currently West Cliff Drive) has been constructed. Also the tree-lined rectangle that is the Hearst Grove is clearly visible. Picture: Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project. www. Californiacoastline.org

The cliffs and bluffs just east of Lighthouse Point circa 1900. Parts of the James Phelan Estate can be seen behind the white picket fence. Note there is no road on top of the bluffs. Photo: Courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History

 Davis House

This mansion is a mix of Mission Revival and Prairie styles. It was built in 1912 by Francis Davis and the architect was Chester Miller. Before Davis built it he moved the existing mansion, an 1887 J. A. Mc Guire Victorian style home, to the corner of Lighthouse and Gharkey Streets — it is probably the house at 135 Gharkey Street.

Rutherglen Terrace

This 1893 mansion was designed by Edward Van Cleek for Mr. and Mrs. James McNeil. Most of the mansions of the day were Queen Anne in style but this one is classified by The Santa Cruz Historic Building Survey as Colonial Revival with vestiges of Queen Anne. James was a wealthy businessman and trolley car magnate from Pennsylvania who moved to California in 1891. He eventually owned the Santa Cruz Electric Light and Power Works. Rutherglen is the name of a town in Scotland. The name means red valley in Gaelic (an ruadh-ghleann). Scottish motifs are incorporated throughout the mansion.

In 1892 James married his second wife Louise. Unfortunately, he had been married previously, to a woman named Margaret. When James died in 1906, Margaret, believe it or not, tried to have their 14-year old divorce annulled so she could claim the estate. After a lengthy and scandalous court case in the Santa Cruz judiciary system, she lost. The McNeil gardens were said to be spectacular, exemplifying all the glory that could be achieved in the Santa Cruz climate. His second wife Louise probably needed their solace during the court case!

The Davis House: 560 West Cliff Drive. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Rutherglen Terrace: 544 West Cliff Drive. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A Mission revival style house: 106 Manor Avenue. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Dingee Park

William Dingee, “The Cement King”, made himself very rich in the early 1900s by building cement plants. He built one in Pennsylvania and two in California, one in Napa and one in Davenport (though his first choice location for the latter was the Westside of Santa Cruz).

With his cement money, he bought land all over the country. He planned to build a huge landscaped park between Rutherglen Terrace and Manor Avenue with a moorish manor at its center. The park was to contain rare plants housed and propagated in glass green houses. He apparently built the greenhouses and gardener’s quarters along Lighthouse Avenue. He also had huge full-size palm trees delivered to the park by railroad car.

A recession hit the cement business in 1908. The Cement King was already over-extended with his land purchases and fled to Paris to avoid his debtors. He was dragged back by William H. Crocker, a banker, and was forced to divest himself of his properties. By 1921 he was bankrupt and worth less than $120.

Mission Revival

This is a typical house of the well-to-do of the late 1920s. Like the Davis House, it is in the Mission Revival style but also has a Mediterranean feel. It was built circa 1928.

Hearst Grove

The block between Monterey and Santa Cruz Streets was purchased in 1891 by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of the famous newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. She was a well-known patron of the arts, a founder of the Parent Teachers Association, and a benefactor of the University of California. The plan was to build a villa, but the only thing that ever came of it was the “Hearst Grove” of Monterey Pines. She died in 1919 and other plans to turn the property into a Spanish-Style luxury hotel never materialized.

Epworth-by-the-Sea: 320 West Cliff Drive. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The Darling House: 314 West Cliff Drive; formerly known as Rockcrest. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The Goodfellow House: 240 West Cliff Drive. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Epworth-by-the-Sea

This mansion was built in 1887 by railroad executive C.C. Wheeler. A year later it was sold and bought as a vacation home by Mrs. Elizabeth Iliff Warren, who initially married a Colorado Cattle baron. After his death, she managed the inheritance so well that by the time she married Henry Warren (a Methodist bishop), she was one of the wealthiest women west of the Mississippi.

The Warrens bought the property to be a summer home that could also host church conferences, retreats, and youth camps. They remodeled the original home in the style of Hotel Del Monte, and, like the Phelans, hired Rudolph Ulrich to design the landscaping. They named the estate after the birthplace of John Wesley, who founded the Methodist church and was born in Epworth, England. Apparently the family also came to call it The Breakers.

The Darling House

This concrete mission revival house was built in 1911 by Mrs. Warren’s stepson. It sits on a corner of the original Epworth-by-the-Sea estate. It was designed by William Henry Weeks, who designed many California homes and public buildings of the time. In 1984 it became a bed and breakfast inn and the name was changed from Rockcrest to the Darling House. For reservations call (831) 458-1958.

Goodfellow House

This period revival bungalow was built circa 1907 as a summer home for William S. Goodfellow, a successful attorney whose practice and main home were in Oakland. Mr. Goodfellow died in 1913. Sometimes incorrectly listed as 240 Gharkey Street, the correct address according to the assessors records is 240 West Cliff Drive.

The house at 135 Gharkey Street. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The West Cliff Inn. 170 West Cliff Drive. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

135 Gharkey Street

You have to walk inland a short block on Gharkey Street to see this house, built circa 1880. It may be the 1887 J. A. Mc Guire Victorian originally built at 560 West Cliff Drive (the site of the current Davis House). We know for sure this house was located on West Cliff Drive at some point — as the current owner has a picture showing it there. Unfortunately, the exact location cannot be determined from the photo. Additionally, newspapers stuffed in the walls for insulation are dated 1907, indicating the house may have been moved around that time — which fits with the Davis House being built in 1912.

The house is in the Eastlake style, which was very common in the late 19th century. The historical placard says it was built for David Gharky. David Gharky built the Gharky Wharf at the foot of Main street in 1857. Recent work by Frank Perry and colleagues, going back to primary sources, has found that “Gharky” is the correct spelling. Apparently, at least six different spellings can be found; Gharky, Gharkey, Ghearkey, Ghirky, Gherky, or Yerkey. The definitive document seems to be his last will and testament, which he signed as “David Gharky” in 1863. Note that the street the house is on is spelled “Gharkey”.

West Cliff Inn

This large Italianate mansion was built in 1877 for Sedgewick Lynch, a well-to-do contractor. The architect was John Morrow. It is now a bed and breakfast. For reservations call (800) 979-0910.

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A view of the western part of Lighthouse Field, Santa Cruz, California, 2012.

There are a lot of parks and open space in our lives that we often take for granted. Many times that gorgeous place where you can enjoy nature, and maybe stare out into the view and contemplate life, is there only by the grace of a lot of work and struggle.

Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, California, is one such place. In fact, Lighthouse Field and Lighthouse Point exist as a park today but were almost developed several times. The story behind why they weren’t illustrates how people’s attitudes toward land use have changed dramatically over time.

The cliffs and bluffs just east of Lighthouse Point circa 1900. Parts of the James and Alice Phelan Estate can be seen behind the white picket fence. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

Late 1800s: A Park-Like Estate

Modern-day Lighthouse Field was part of the James and Alice Phelan Estate in the late 1800s. The area was known as Phelan Park and had beautiful gardens and landscaping designed by famed architect Rudolph Ulrich. It included paths lined with marble statuary, a gazebo with views of the bay, and cottages scattered throughout the grounds.

James Phelans’s son, James Duval Phelan, was an astute visionary. He believed that the true wealth of Santa Cruz lay in its beauty and that it could never compete commercially with San Francisco as a port or industrial city. In 1891 at an event commemorating 100 years since the birth of Mission Santa Cruz, he pushed the city establishment to practice preservation of its resources and develop tourism over industry. The message seems to have been heard, as shortly thereafter hotels and beach amusements were built in greater abundance.

Lighthouse Field and Lighthouse Point area in 1928. Note that Lighthouse Point was just a grassy knoll and the lighthouse was on the north side of West Cliff Dive. Picture © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project www.Californiacoastline.org

In the 1930’s, thanks to the catholic leanings of James Duval Phelan’s niece and her family, the Phelan property was divided between the Jesuits, the Poor Claires (a cloister of nuns who never lived there) and the Oblates of Saint Joseph.

Development Attempts

In 1948 a developer from Rochester NY (William P. Randall) proposed a giant U-shaped two story hotel for the area. During a re-zoning hearing he had 114 signatures of neighbors in support of the project and only two people not in support. The project died, however, from lack of financing.

The Court of the Seven Seas

In 1958 a developer from Santa Clara (Peter Pesetta) planned to turn the Lighthouse Field area into a hotel and international shopping center complex called “The Court of the Seven Seas.” He purchased the needed land and hired the chief architect of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (William Wesley Peters).

The scale of the project was enormous and the vision futuristic. There was to be a 500-guest motor hotel, a domed auditorium, a large shopping complex with import stores staffed by natives of their respective countries, and a hotel for 700 guests. The crowning feature of the design was a translucent glass pyramid, 172 feet high that enclosed the hotel and courtyard. When lit at night, the pyramid would be visible from 50 miles at sea.

Artists concept drawing for the “Court of the Seven Seas” at Light House Point in the 1960s. Drawing: Courtesy of Frank Perry and the Museum of Art and History

The architect felt the project would show the world the positive aspects of life in the United States. Mrs. Frank Lloyd Wright said in 1962, “I believe that the design of the Court of the Seven Seas is creative, imaginative, eminently practical, and related naturally to the beautiful region of Santa Cruz.” Again, the project died from lack of financing, and not from any significant objection from the citizenry.

A Convention Center

In 1968 the City of Santa Cruz put forward a plan to build a convention center that would be a collaboration between the city, the county, and a developer. All buildings were to be from one to three stories tall.

Funding and traffic were both considered as problems this time around. Opposition was beginning to mount to plans that would bring major traffic arteries close to site of the proposed convention center at Lighthouse Field. On the west side of town, Highway 1 was to be routed, not down Mission Street, but through residential neighborhoods, possibly via an elevated freeway. On the east side, the Highway 1 corridor was to go down Ocean Street, across the San Lorenzo River, across Beach Hill and up Bay Street. This plan languished also, but again, due primarily to lack of funding.

The Epic Battle

In 1970, the plan saw new life. Two investment groups, with the help of a $900,000 Federal Economic Development Administration grant, were intent on building a complex consisting of a hotel, a shopping center, condominiums, and a publicly-funded convention center and theater. In order to create enough space for some park areas and parking, the city also changed the site’s zoning to allow buildings 13 stories high.

Local attitudes toward development, however, were also changing. Prominent citizens began to question if the downtown area might not be a better location for such a huge development. People began to think that the open space offered by Lighthouse Field and its views of the ocean were in themselves special and valuable. The opening of the University of California, Santa Cruz (in 1965) also brought conservation-minded students and professors to the area. They rallied around the movement and became active in local politics.

The Opposition Gets Serious

In April 1972, the federal grant was approved, a hotel contract signed, and the stage appeared set for the project to move forward. The opposition, which had been steadily growing, decided to get organized.

On May 1, the Save Lighthouse Point Association was formed. Their message was that Lighthouse Field was the wrong place for large development and that it should be made into a park instead. They printed bumper stickers, packed city council meetings, circulated petitions, and collected donations for legal fees. They even won three seats on the city council in 1973, though that was still a minority of seats. Despite these efforts the city council approved the project in September 1973.

Enter the Coastal Commission

Luckily for the Save Lighthouse Point Association, and reflective of a larger collective change of thought towards environmental stewardship, Californians had just established the California Coastal Commission (CCC) via a voter proposition (Proposition 20, which passed in 1972). The CCC was tasked with protecting coastal resources and this included public access and recreation; terrestrial and marine habitat protection; and visual resource, landform, and water quality protection.

In April 1974, the CCC rejected the project, and in the interim a local ballot initiative had qualified for the June ballot, allowing Santa Cruz voters to make it illegal for the city to own, lease, maintain or operate a convention center on Lighthouse Point or Lighthouse Field. The initiative won by a 2-1 margin.

A Cypress tree and benches in Lighthouse Field, 2012.

A New Park Results

With development of Lighthouse Field no longer an option, local activists and legislators began to work to create a park. Various land purchases and agreements between many parties were completed. Lighthouse Field State Beach, consisting of Lighthouse Field, Lighthouse Point and Its Beach, was officially created in 1981. The city maintains it with financial support from the county.

In 1991, efforts began to slowly restore the field to the vegetation that would have been there prior to European settlement, using plants in the coastal prairie and coastal scrub communities. A small cluster of blue gum eucalyptus, Eucalyptus globulus, have been allowed to remain in the northeast corner, even though they are native to Australia, to accommodate the monarch butterflies that overwinter there.

The Future of Lighthouse Field

Of late there has been some criticism that Lighthouse Field, though protected as a State Park, could be more than a largely open field with a few trees. Local writer Stephen Kessler says it resembles a vacant lot that feels abandoned and seedy. He asks “Can the local public summon the nerve and the forward-looking vision to progress beyond the purely reactive forces of environmental protection, or are we so stuck in the 1970s as to reject any notion of improvement on “natural” conditions?”

This is an interesting question. The idea of open space and how to manage it is evolving in the era of shrinking budgets and increased recreation demand. In some cases like the Cemex property around Davenport, California, a new formula is being tried. Conservation will be achieved only by integration of preservation, restoration, and sustainable timber harvesting. Management will include will research, education, and recreation.

Kessler envisions a few choice infrastructure improvements to increase the human allure of the 38-acre Lighthouse Field State Beach: Basketball courts, a softball field, a skate park, and a fenced dog run. What are your thoughts on the best future for Lighthouse Field? Please comment.

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For Further Information

• Friends of Lighthouse Field.
• Lighthouse Point: Illuminating Santa Cruz, by Frank Perry. Otter B Books, 2002
• Local Historian Frank Perry’s website
• Santa Cruz Surfing Museum
• Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

1. Sources Used

   • California Coastal Commission. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Coastal_Commission.
   • Lighthouse Point: Illuminating Santa Cruz. Frank A. Perry. Santa Cruz, California: Otter B Books; 2002.
   • The Leftmost City: Power and Progressive Politics in Santa Cruz, by R. Gendron and W.G. Domhoff. Westview Press, 2009.
   • "Stephen Kessler: Turn Lighthouse Field into a True Park," by Stephen Kessler. Opinion section, Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 6, 2014.

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]]> /santacruz/lighthouse-field-why-its-not-a-shopping-mall/feed/ 8 /santacruz/the-wave-motor-still-pumping/ /santacruz/the-wave-motor-still-pumping/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2014 15:05:31 +0000 /?p=1161 Thanks to Archer Koch of MultiRotorCam.com, we are updating this story with his great aerial video of the wave motor pumping it out in February, 2015.

Along West Cliff Drive, just east of Natural Bridges State Beach, is a strange concrete cork feature on the edge of the sea cliff. Locals know it as the blowhole. If the waves and tide are just right, you’ll see and hear water being forced up and out of its three holes with a huge “THWUMP.” It’s pretty impressive. The concrete cap covers a shaft that is the last remaining evidence of a wave motor built in 1898 by local brothers, William and John Armstrong.

Old postcard showing the wave motor circa 1906. Image courtesy of Frank Perry.

The motor dates from an era around 1890-1900 when several wave and tidal energy projects were undertaken in California (including several in San Francisco near the Cliff House and one on the Capitola Wharf in 1895). While most tried to generate electricity and failed, this one, designed only to pump water, was one of the few successes.
Its purpose was to pump ocean water into a large storage tank on a high platform. The water was later used to fill a smaller tank on a horse drawn carriage and sprinkle what was then Cliff Drive to keep the dust down for the tourists. The wave motor was commissioned by the City of Santa Cruz in 1897 after the Armstrong brothers created a successful prototype at Black Point (about 5 miles east of here). The venture was a great success. Cliff Drive’s dirt streets were dust free and sparkled with salt from the sprinkled ocean water for about 12 years until the coming of pavement made the need for sprinkling sea water…evaporate.

How Did it Work?

The installation consisted of two shafts drilled 30 feet into the cliff, one eight feet in diameter and the other five feet. In one shaft was a huge 600-pound float that drove a piston within a pump in the neighboring shaft. As the wave surge entered, the heavy float in the ocean-ward shaft and the pump in the landward shaft both rose. The float and piston were attached via a cable to a rigid bar, which acted as a lever. The rising float caused the lever to pull upward on the one-way piston-pump and squeeze water up into the discharge pipe. As the wave surge went out, the heavy float dropped and check valves in the piston and piping prevented backward flow of water. On the next wave, the cycle was repeated.

Conceptual diagram of how the wave motor likely worked (not to scale).
Diagram by Masami Kiyono.

Some accounts of the wave motor report that there was a check valve in the tunnel that went out to the ocean. If this is true, when the wave surge ebbed, water would have been prevented from leaving, and (despite the piston moving downward) water could still have been forced upward through the pump cylinder, creating continuous pumping of water. To stop pumping, they simply removed the water from the barrel counter weight. The heavy float still bobbed up and down but the force was not transmitted to the rigid bar.

An Idea Ahead of Its Time

The technology available to harness wave energy in the late 1800s was a bit short of the task. Over a century later, harnessing tidal energy is again an idea being tried. In fact, France’s La Rance station has successfully generated about 250 megawatts since 1966 and there are 7 other projects around the globe in operation today generating from 1 to 254 megawatts. Several other plants are currently being planned or built, including one in New York City on the East River that is supposed to open in 2014 and generate 2.4GWh of electricity annually.

The view in 2012 towards where the wave motor stood from 1898 to the early 1900s.

The Site Over Time

The local sea cliffs are made of the fairly erosion resistant Santa Cruz Mudstone and the small peninsula on which the wave motor stood has not eroded much since the 1890s. Both wave motor shafts were intact until at least 1979. By 2004 the oceanward shaft was breached but you could still see the curved surface of the bore. The landward shaft was filled with a concrete plug in 2005.

The shafts in 1979. Picture © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project. www.Californiacoastline.org

While the cliffs have not changed too noticeably over time, the houses across the street at 2244 West Cliff Drive have. In 1979 there was a small house with few windows, surrounded by many open lots. By 2004 it had been replaced with a house that had many windows, occupied the whole lot, and was wedged in with similarly large lot-filling homes. The current house was built in 2008/9, also fills the lot, and has fewer but extra large windows. The changes follow the post 1960’s trend of increasing use and cost of oceanfront property and the desire to maximize home size and ocean view.

The shafts in 2004. Picture © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project www.Californiacoastline.org

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

1. Sources Used

   • Lighthouse Point: Illuminating Santa Cruz, by Frank A. Perry. Topics in Monterey Bay History series. Santa Cruz, California: Otter B Books, 2002.
   • Best Surf Towns. No. 1: Santa Cruz, CA. Surfer. Surfer Magazine online, April 5, 2009.
   • "Save the Waves: Santa Cruz honored as one of four surfing reserves worldwide," Shanna McCord. Santa Cruz Sentinel, April 28, 2012.
   • Steamer Lane. Wikipedia, February 2016.
   • Steamer Lane History, by Ben Marcus. Surfline.com website.

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Further Information

• About tidal energy
• Local Historian Frank Perry’s Website
• Sandy Lydon’s web page on the wave motor

]]> /santacruz/the-wave-motor-still-pumping/feed/ 4 /santacruz/get-ready-to-welcome-the-monarchs/ /santacruz/get-ready-to-welcome-the-monarchs/#comments Sun, 28 Sep 2014 23:39:07 +0000 /?p=693 Cover photo © Elise Wormuth.

Natural Bridges State Beach is almost as famous for its monarch butterflies as it is for its natural rock arch. For decades tens of thousands of the west-coast monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have overwintered here. They start arriving in October and generally are gone by March. In the shelter of a protected grove of eucalyptus trees they cluster by the thousands to keep warm. They actually intertwine their legs to avoid being blown off the branches.

Monarch butterfly. Photo: Crystal Birns Photography

If the temperature gets above 55°F they can leave their clusters and search for flower nectar and water. Adult monarchs feed on the nectar of many flowers, but they breed only where there is milkweed (Genus Asclepias), which is eaten by the larvae. Near the end of winter they mate and fly inland to look for milkweed plants where the females lay their eggs. The round-trip migration journey consists of 4-5 generations of monarchs. It takes only one generation to make the trip south to the overwintering site, but 3-4 to make the journey back north.

Monarch butterfly. Photo: Crystal Birns Photography

The Monarch Walk

At Natural Bridges State Beach, there is a wooden walkway across from the visitor center that takes you to Monarch Grove. There are docent-led tours of the grove from mid-October through January at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. on Saturdays and Sundays. Meet at the visitor center. Monarch migration is variable. To find out the current population or other information, call (831) 423-4609.

The monarchs are so beloved, the park has an annual Welcome Back Monarchs Day on the second Sunday in October and a Migration Festival on the second Saturday in February.

A monarch cluster on a eucalyptus branch at Natural Bridges November, 2010. Photo courtesy of and © Elise Wormuth.

More on Monarch Migration

Monarchs are the only butterfly species that, like birds, migrate to escape the cold. Other butterfly species can overwinter as larvae, pupae or even as adults, but monarchs cannot survive the northern winters. Environmental cues in the fall tell them to head south on air currents and thermals. They can travel 50-100 miles a day and take up to two months to go as far as 3,000 miles. Monarchs from eastern North America go to the Sierra Madre of Mexico. Monarchs in western North America overwinter along the California coast.

Numbers in Decline

In recent years, monarch numbers have been generally on the decline in North America. Because they overwinter in only a few spots, the populations are vulnerable to harsh winter conditions or human impacts on their habitat. Thus their numbers can be greatly impacted if one or more sites are disturbed. Also, breeding populations are vulnerable to harsh weather and destruction of milkweed habitat. Natural Bridges State Beach has, in particular, experienced a decline in monarch numbers. In the 1970s and 80s it was the largest overwintering site in Santa Cruz and one of the largest in California with numbers ranging from a low of 40,000 to a high of 150,000.

Since the 1990s, numbers at Natural Bridges have been severely declining with overwintering numbers ranging only in the few thousands. The winter of 2013 had a slight uptick with about 6,000. Additionally, those that do come in October are not staying to over-winter but fly away around Christmas time.

A monarch cluster at Lighthouse Field, December 16, 2005. While they are next to a Eucayptus tree, the monarchs are on a branch of Monterey cypress. Photo courtesy of and © Vicki and Chuck Rogers.

Natural Bridges in particular has lost some of its overwintering habitat. Several of the large eucalyptus trees within the Monarch Grove have fallen over. The eucalyptus trees began to fall after the Monterey pines, which sheltered the grove, weakened and died after being infected with pitch canker in the 1990s. The good news is that other locations such as Lighthouse Field have had large increases in overwintering numbers. However, the overall numbers are still not close to what they were two decades ago.

Further Information

• General Natural Bridges Information
• Natural Bridges State Beach Pamphlet

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

1. Sources Used

   • California State Parks Website. Natural Bridges State Beach Pamphlet. 2012.
   • Flight of the butterfly: Winged visitors suddenly scarce in Santa Cruz. Lily Dayton. Santa Cruz Sentinel. November 24, 2009.
   • Monarch Butterfly Migration and Overwintering. US Forest Service Website.
   • Monarch Butterfly Migration Update: Monarch Butterfly Journey North Website

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]]> /santacruz/get-ready-to-welcome-the-monarchs/feed/ 2 /santacruz/arch/ /santacruz/arch/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2014 22:23:57 +0000 /?p=690

The lone remaining arch at Natural Bridges State Beach in April 2012. Photo © Mobile Ranger.

Natural Bridges State Beach derives its name from three beautiful natural bridges that were present in the early 1900s. Today, only the middle one remains and technically it’s now an arch, not a bridge, since it stands alone and no longer goes anywhere.

Formation of the Bridges

Natural bridges typically form in narrow peninsulas that stick out from shore. Waves are refracted or bent around the headland and focus energy on both flanks. Sometimes caves will form on both sides that eventually meet, other times a small hole forms and is then the focus of wave energy which makes it grow bigger.

Here along the north coast of Santa Cruz, the bridges form in a rock formation known as the Santa Cruz Mudstone, which is fairly resistant to erosion. Once a natural bridge is created, it will last for decades. Eventually though, erosion takes its toll. The bridge may become an arch for a time, but as enough of the base erodes it finally collapses.

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

The Collapses

The outer-most bridge was intact in fall, 1905. Some say it collapsed during shaking from the famous 1906 earthquake but there is no proof of this.

The three bridges at Natural Bridges State Beach circa 1950. Photo courtesy Frank Perry.

The innermost bridge in winter 1979 just months before it collapsed. Photo courtesy of Frank Perry.

The Future

In future decades the name of this park, Natural Bridges State Beach, will refer only to bridges/arches of the past. New arches and bridges are forming at Wilder Ranch and other locations along the north coast, but none are forming here.

Ode to an Arch

Ode to the Natural Bridges Arch
By Alexander Weiss January 13, 1980

Once three arches stood in this park
As if windows to the sea,
But wind-blown sand and storms like sharks
Attacked them constantly

This force made one disappear
Sometime ’round 1900;
The other two, like some stone brassiere
Would not be split asunder

But time and storms, they do not care,
And the near arch slowly shed
Bits and pieces here and there
Til it looked quite underfed

In February ’79
That shed quite a chunk,
And again in October, into the brine
Went some more kerplunk! kerplink!

The arch now was thin and weak,
But gave not up and stayed;
As if it had some goal to seek,
It saw the new decade!

But as the seventies passed on
And the eighties had begun,
It knew it could not last for long
For it was erosion’s son:

For through erosion it was born
And through erosion it would die
And such a death one does not mourn
One merely says goodbye.

The night of January 10th
It gave up the ghost,
And we are here not to lament,
But to offer it a toast:

Here’s to arches that are gone
And to new ones on the way,
For just as sure as there’s a dawn
There’ll be some more some day!

And to our last remaining arch
That now stands like some island fort,
We pledge that we will always march
To give our arch support

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Further Information

• General Natural Bridges Information
• Natural Bridges State Beach Pamphlet
• The Natural Arch and Bridge Society

The hallmark rock tower (sea stack) at Mitchell Cove. It’s composed of the Purisima Formation; a Miocene aged sandstone. The hallmark rock tower (sea stack) at Mitchell Cove. It’s composed of the Purisima Formation; a Miocene aged sandstone.

Welcome to what locals call the “stinky beach.” Located near the end of Almar Avenue, the smell varies depending on the day.

Coincidentally, the City of Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment Facility’s outfall pipeline also begins here. However, the City’s Superintendent of Wastewater Collections and Treatment promises that the smell is TOTALLY independent of the pipeline and comes from natural decomposition of the kelp or seaweed.

The outfall pipeline is 12,250 feet long but because it makes a 90 degree bend after leaving the beach area, and then angles along the shore, it discharges the treated wastewater about one mile off shore where the water depth is 110 ft. It was completed in 1987 and given drought conditions currently handles 7.5 to 8 million gallons per day but was designed to handle in excess of 81 million gallons daily.

Wastewater includes all water generated indoors from sinks, toilets, showers, etc. The outfall handles any storm water that seeps into the system and approximately 1 million gallons per day from Neary Lagoon runoff. All water is treated at the plant to meet secondary standards before transport to the ocean. Storm water in many cases goes from storm water drains directly into the ocean (outflows at Auburn, Almar, and Woodrow are examples along West Cliff Drive).

The outfall pipeline leaves the beach from the rectangular cement structure on the right (west) side of the beach.

The outfall pipe handles wastewater from within the City of Santa Cruz, Live Oak, Capitola, Soquel, parts of Aptos, and Scotts Valley (which treats it itself to at least a secondary level).  The City is not permitted to open the old 2000 foot disposal pipe, which runs next to the new 1987 pipe. This was done, however, during the El Niño year of 1991, for a few hours, to protect the infrastructure and prevent back flooding of wastewater.

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Steamer Lane in January 2013. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

In 2009, Surfer Magazine named Santa Cruz, California as the best surfing town and extolled Steamer Lane as a “world class right-hand reef-point.” But do not call it “Steamer’s Lane,” because locals will get all huffy (although “Steamer’s” is acceptable).

The name apparently originates from early surfers who watched for huge waves in the lane that steamships used to come in to the wharf. These days, unless it is extremely stormy, you’ll probably see at least a few surfers in the water at Steamer’s, but the ships are long gone.

Good surf at Steamer’s, January 2013. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Surf Zones

Steamer Lane is divided into four zones: Indicators, Middle Peak, The Slot, and The Point. Total beginners should not surf here at all. They should go to Cowell Beach, instead. Difficulty increases from Indicators out to The Point, where you’d better be pretty good. Only experts surf out past the lane at Third Reef.

The surf zones at Steamer Lane. Image: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger with thanks to inspiration from map at shorelinesurf.com

Local Surfing Legend

It was here in the 1950s and ’60s that Jack O’Neill developed the modern surfing wetsuit, which helped make surfing in cold-water locations possible around the world. In those days, his surf shop was at Cowell Beach where the Dream Inn now stands. Jack’s son Pat has followed in his father’s footsteps. In the 1970s, frustrated with having his board trashed on the rocks, he experimented with surfboard straps that led to the modern-day “leashes.”

In 2011, the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, a huge event held here annually in some form since the 1980s, was upgraded to an Association of Surfing Professionals World Title event. It is usually held in early November.

A surfer jumping into the waves from “The Point.” Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A fraction of a second later. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A World Surfing Reserve

In February 2011, the nonprofit Save the Waves Coalition named Santa Cruz, from Natural Bridges to Opal Cliffs east of Pleasure Point, as one of only four surfing reserves worldwide. This designation is not only to help the community understand the value of the area as a great surf spot but also to recognize it as an important coastal ecosystem that merits protection. The other three spots are Ericeira (Portugal), Manly Beach (Australia), and Malibu (California).

Dead Surfer Memorial

The Dead Surfer Memorial at Steamer Lane. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Honoring those who have died while enjoying the ocean surf is a theme in the Lighthouse Point area. At the top of the staircase that goes down to Steamer Lane is the Dead Surfer’s Memorial. You will see hand-carved wooden tributes, flowers, and other trinkets placed there to commemorate loved ones lost.

The Arch at Steamer Lane

In the late 1800s, there was a large natural bridge here. It was made of sandstone from the Purisima Formation and was often used by tourists of the day for photographs. It collapsed during a storm in 1888, leaving behind a sea stack (the vertical remnants of a bridge or arch). A small chunk of it remains today. Can you find it in the previous photos?

The arch at Steamer Lane circa 1887. Photo: Courtesy of Frank Perry

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This cliff face can be found along West Cliff Drive at John Street. The Quaternary deposits show many different layers which vary greatly in color and grain size; from fine sands to coarse channel deposits.

The sediments at the top of this cliff face along West Cliff Drive are generally referred to as recent from a geological perspective. They are from the Quaternary Period, which is made up of the Holocene (the last 12,000 years) and the Pleistocene (12,000 to 2.6 million years ago). The change between the Pleistocene and the Holocene is marked by the end of the last glaciation and the beginning of the warm period of the last twelve thousand years.

Along West Cliff Drive near John Street, very carefully walk down to the right of the garbage cans where there is a steep path through the ice plant and you will see the above profile.

Interestingly, a whole new geologic period, the Anthropocene, may soon be officially added to the geologic time scale. The Anthropocene is a recent term that recognizes the extent and impact of human activities on the earth; like our ability to outline the planet in lights. The Anthropocene will likely start at the beginning of the industrial revolution.

The Earth at night, a composited night-time image of the world during the anthropocene. Data courtesy Marc Imhoff of NASA GSFC and Christopher Elvidge of NOAA NGDC. Image by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC.

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