When I came on board as the publisher of Good Times a year ago, the lease was up at the office where the paper had resided for nearly 20 years, and a move to new offices was imminent. The new Good Times office had a room that could be dedicated to housing the paper’s archives in...

Plus Letters To the Editor When we started planning this 40th anniversary issue, we quickly had more ideas than would fit in one cover story. So we made room for 10 cover stories, as you can see this week in what ultimately became GT’s most ambitious commemorative paper yet. The scope expanded from trying to trace...

Woodworker Cliff Friedlander on ‘art furniture,’ jazz, and prioritizing space in design From the Arts & Crafts-inspired front door to the satiny kitchen cabinets and vintage hardwood floors, many if not all of the spaces in the Friedlander home are hand-crafted. The customized rooms Cliff Friedlander has shared with his artist wife Sara for the past...

Lydia Loveless’ latest album is a mature approach to heartache, longing and romance In 2011, Lydia Loveless became an alt-country sensation with the release of her album Indestructible Machine. Riding the wave of attention she received, Loveless hit the road and toured for two years. While on the road, she didn’t write much, knowing she would...

East Coast meets West Coast in new meat lover’s paradise Surf Dog is gone, but fear not meat lovers—as of two months ago, Munch has taken its place. The new joint on Pacific Avenue specializes in Philly cheesesteaks, burgers and hot dogs. And while they do the basics, they also have insanely gluttonous versions of their...

Planners reimagine Lower Pacific Avenue with two projects A collaboration brewing between the City of Santa Cruz and a private development group could potentially transform a main corridor of the city, completely revamping a 4.1-acre segment of downtown Santa Cruz’s Lower Pacific Avenue. The two development projects, headed by the City of Santa Cruz and Santa...

Sarah’s Vineyard of Gilroy is known for crafting fine wines—and one of my all-time favorites is its Chardonnay. But this time, its Viognier has my vote. My husband and I went for dinner recently to the Pino Alto Restaurant in the historic Sesnon House in Aptos, where students in Cabrillo’s culinary program learn how to create...

How the LGBT community found its place in Santa Cruz When I arrived in Santa Cruz in the mid-1990s, the town had a well-established reputation for being an open, gay-friendly place. There were rainbow flags hanging from balconies, Pride was a city-wide celebration, and out-gay men and lesbians worked in every imaginable job, from coffee shops...

A look back at the fiercely competitive world of Santa Cruz weeklies Just out of UCSC, clutching a highly practical degree in medieval history, I went looking for work and found it at the long-lost and lamented Santa’s Village near Scotts Valley, where I toiled one summer at the puppet theater. I pulled strings to get...

In honor of the university’s 50th anniversary, five odd tidbits It’s official: Santa Cruz has been a university town for 50 years. And while the relationship between UCSC and the city of Santa Cruz is complicated, so are all great marriages. There have been highs and lows, but words of love and divorce threats aside, it’s...