Films This Week
Check out the movies playing around town.
With reviews and trailers.

On The Rio Theatre’s 10th anniversary as a music venue, owner Laurence Bedford reflects on its dramatic transformation
At the beginning of the present millennium, Soquel Avenue’s Rio Theatre was about to be knocked down. Though the venue had been a local landmark since the late ’40s, resistance to its demolition was less than overwhelming: Locals had long bemoaned the venue’s sticky floors and crud-encrusted carpets, which were held together with duct tape.

But then Laurence Bedford, a San Francisco mortgage banker who did guerilla theater by night, made an unexpected move: He purchased the building from the soon-to-be-bankrupt United Artists. A day or so after getting the keys to the place, Bedford, who had recently relocated to Santa Cruz with his daughter, paid a visit to the local community fixture known as Chip. “I told him what I’d just done, and he laughed for a little bit, ’cause he thought I was kidding,” Bedford recalls.

A Good Wine and Dine Match
We all know that a good wine pairing for seafood is Chardonnay. When friends my husband and I hadn’t seen for a while suggested we meet up for dinner, Hawgs cropped up as the place to go for good seafood. With the dinner night picked out, we head over to Hawgs, and I take along a bottle of Zayante Vineyard Chardonnay to share.

At Hollins House Restaurant, a new chef and menu complement the original vision for Pasatiempo

Marion Hollins, the U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Champion in 1921, was also the only American woman with a handicap in men’s polo. In designing the championship golf course at Pasatiempo, her vision was to take advantage of the local topography, and indeed, golfers tee off across canyons, and the seemingly hundreds of bunkers hold more sand than Its Beach. Her home, now Hollins House Restaurant, looks out over the manicured first fairway and sports a new chef who also draws heavily from local and natural sources.

A new Middle Eastern restaurant has opened on Capitola’s Esplanade. Mr Kebab and Falafel is the half sister to House of Falafel over the hill, and skewered meats are their specialty.

Fatoosh, the House Salad ($3.99), topped with crunchy deep-fried squares of pita, was served on a large plate, and, as a starter, could feed three people. Strips of romaine were mixed with fresh parsley, cucumber, tomato, and a light lemon juice dressing. The mild mint tasted dried rather than powerfully fresh.

The Season’s New Looks Are Brought To Santa Cruz

Fashion Editor’s note: This year’s Fashion Issue takes a close look at the trends and personal interpretations of what fall fashion can do for you. Locals weigh in on the verdict of what’s in and out, and how to maintain a stylish wardrobe as the fall weather creeps in on us. Following this article is a photo spread by local designer-stylist-photographer Alexis Meschi. The multi-talented Meschi blew us away with her powerful images that capture fall fashion in all of its glory. Enjoy.  —Christa Martin

Fashion comes in all shapes and sizes, trends and classics, and oftentimes it’s here to stay, whether you like it or not—think skinny jeans. GT caught up with some of the local people involved in fashion to discover how the fall runway looks will (or won’t) translate to the fashionable residents here in Santa Cruz. What we’ve discovered is encouraging, and, most importantly, we found that the fashionistas amongst us are doing what Santa Cruzans always do—they push the envelope and make a statement that’s unique to them. Incorporating fall fashion into one’s own “look” only furthers the creative expression found by way of what you wear.

Local benefit held for artist Marc Gould
When a vacation in the Mt. Hamilton countryside ended tragically on Sunday, June 27 with a fire and three friends being airlifted to a trauma center for second- and third-degree burns, few people thought 57-year-old Aptos artist Marc Gould would never paint again, let alone survive.

Fortunately, after three skin grafting procedures for his arms and hands, and a great amount of pain medication, Marc left the hospital on July 13 and is undergoing physical therapy in Oakland.

Since the accident, the Santa Cruz art community has rallied behind him and organized a benefit art show in his honor to be held at The Mill Gallery on Aug. 6. At the exhibition, guests will hear live music, have the opportunity to purchase some of Marc’s art or other community artists’ works and participate in a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses. All proceeds will go to Marc’s recovery costs, hospital bills and living expenses.

Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s ‘Love’s Labors Lost’ shines
Rap music, dancing soccer players, dreadlocks, joint smoking, and a bicycle cop eating donuts would come as no shock to any Santa Cruzan. That is except, perhaps, as elements of a Shakespeare production. Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s 29th season includes all of these things and then some, and succeeds in carrying the markedly era-confined play over into the 21st century.

Under the clever direction of Scott Wentworth, Shakespeare Santa Cruz breaks “Love’s Labor’s Lost” from its traditionally unpopular role. On opening night, well-timed laughter spills from coat-clad audience members that sit in the UC Santa Cruz Festival Glen and trickles across the wooden set back through a backdrop of redwood trees.  “Love’s Labor’s Lost” is a highly intellectual work that uses the elaborate witticisms of Shakespeare in the 1590s to grapple with the victories and inadequacies of language in relationships. The droll plot tests the oaths of the king and his men, sending them on abrupt forays into matters of the heart when the Princess of France and her ladies come to stay. The play dabbles with everything from love, to loss, to sex, to death, learning, duty, and wisdom.

Meet Santa Cruz County’s first hybrid taxi driver
About eight weeks ago, Santa Cruz cabbie Michael Williams decided to follow the lead of major cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He purchased a used Ford Escape Hybrid for use as the first hybrid taxi in Santa Cruz County. The investment, he says, is a step towards saving the environment, making taxi driving more efficient, and setting a positive example for major cab companies  like his employer, Yellow Cab. An independent cab company, Green Cab, already provides the town with eco-friendly biodiesel taxis, but Williams’ cab is unique in that it’s a hybrid.

eighth blackbird’s rock ’n’ roll business plan
For audiophiles, it’s an immutable truth that there’s no experience quite like listening to music in a car, which is why driving I-5 between Los Angeles and the Bay is a favorite experience of mine: the 300-or-so Midwest-flat miles make the perfect environment for cochlea-rupturing audio levels. And indeed, I recently found myself on this (relatively) desolate stretch of road, when my copilot decided to co-opt my car stereo for his own purposes: experimental composer Steve Reich.