Best Community Life Best Nonprofit Group SAVE OUR SHORES 1. For 30 years, Save Our Shores has been a crucial part of major local environmental victories such as preventing oil drilling in central coast waters and establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. 2. Save Our...

Best Shopping & Services                     Best Kid’s Clothing JELLI BEANZ 1. Owner Stephanie Hendersen thinks the most unique thing about her store is their mini-library. There are books for customers of all ages, including young adult novels and parenting books. 2. Eight years ago, Jelli Beanz opened...

Best Health & Recreation                   Best Acupuncture Clinic FIVE BRANCHES UNIVERSITY 1. Five Branches has been providing traditional Chinese medicine and integrative healthcare to the Santa Cruz community since 1984. 2. There are two campuses, nine programs, 14 classrooms, 38 treatment rooms, 200 teachers, 450 students, and 1500...

Best Music & Nightlife                     Best Local Musician MARTY O’REILLY 1. Leader of Marty O’Reilly and the Old Soul Orchestra, which also includes Chris Lynch on fiddle, Jeff Kissell on upright bass and Matt Goff on drums. 2. Two of the band’s musical influences are Tom...

Best Food & Drink                     Best Late-Night Eatery SATURN CAFÉ 1. Saturn Café is a certified green business, and uses biodegradable products for to-go orders. 2. The longtime local fave opened on Mission Street in 1979. It then moved to a bigger location across the street, which...

Best Arts & Culture                 Best Artist/Photographer JOHN F. HUNTER  1. John F. Hunter was the first photographer to capture the 2013 arrival of humpback whales.  2. Born in Iowa, he took a job in Colorado maintaining ski slopes with a snow cat when he was 19. He took...

LADY LIGHT There may soon be a new face at the Homeless Garden Project. A crowdfunding campaign aims to raise $100 to buy the farm a three-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty found online. The man behind the campaign, Matthew McCabe, lived in Santa Cruz for 10 years and plans to move back soon. McCabe...

BEST NIGHT CAP WARSAW MULE AT SHADOWBROOK There’s something about visiting the Shadowbrook that feels like going back in time. It’s more than just taking the historic cable car down the hill, or winding down through the garden walkway teeming with plants that overlooks Capitola. Along with the high-end service and infusion of class, the rambling...

Muscat 2012 Spring is here, with even warmer weather on the horizon, so what better time than now to enjoy a fruity floral Muscat? Martin Ranch makes a good one. With its musky, dripping-with-honey flavors, sexy sweetness, and the heady orangey perfume it exudes, Muscat is all too easy to quaff. Personally, I think it’s perfect...

Films This WeekCheck out the movies playing around town.With: Reviews Movie Times click here.Santa Cruz area movie theaters > ....... New This Week   THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT Shailene Woodley and Theo James return as Tris and Four in this second installment of the dystopian future trilogy based on the popular book series by Veronica Roth....