I am a low income person who is receiving free internet access from this program. Internet access is ESSENTIAL for my job so if the program is not given renewed funding, I may not be employed.
Orly, commented on the Good Times web page
Sober Center Badly Needed
Santa Cruz county has a serious problem with inebriation and addiction. We need this new sobering center. We need to realize that people with these issues are NOT evil because of their condition, but are seriously ill. they need the opportunity to redirect their lives from addiction and find a new path for life that is not substance based.
As a counselor for LGBTQ seniors in Watsonville, pro bono, and with an MA in counseling from SJSU (1989), i will reiterate: alcohol and narcotics are NOT your friend, they never were, and never will be. If you have difficulty staying sober, get to the Janus sobering facility as soon as possible. Life is too important to spend it in a state of inability to remember what you did yesterday.
Steve Trujillo, commented on the Good Times web page
Affordable Housing Needed
We NEED more affordable housing. The city needs to crack down on Air bnbs like Palm Springs did. Even the “Affordable” units are still too expensive for the average person in santa cruz. I’m slowly being choked out of my current apartment since the landlord wants to be at “market value”. We need rent control. We need to house the homeless. A landlord supplies housing like a scalper supplies tickets to a show.
Nolan, commented on the Good Times website
Vision for the Future
Where is the vision of what Santa Cruz should be and look like for the future? I read about all the issues involved but no overall vision. This is the essential element which provides the foundation for all future building.
Santa Cruz can easily be turned into just another asphalt jungle without vision that considers its historic past, and geographic placement within the central valley.
Do you want it to look like Orange County and remove all the magic it has spun over the years? I think not! Yes, we need affordable housing but not slums of the future. Read the history of both public housing and affordable high rise developments throughout the country. You need to be creative and think outside the box. That is the essential element missing. That is what has always given Santa Cruz its magical edge.
Elisa Trujillo, commented on the Good Times website
Every time I perch at Abbott Square downtown, I silently thank Nina Simon for being so instrumental in creating something this town sorely lacked: a central gathering point, a place to share culture, drink coffee or something harder, a hang for people of all ages.
Every great town has one, but Santa Cruz didn’t.
I attended several meetings she chaired asking for local stakeholders to share what they would want to see in the space outside the Museum of Art and History. She used a formula of having people write suggestions down and posting them on the walls to narrow down the choices.
To see the vision come true years later has been one of this city’s greatest accomplishments. When visitors come, I usually take them first to Abbott Square, especially if there’s music playing or events around it, like the lights festivals that turn us into a sort of Burning Man refuge.
Santa Cruz has never been known for moving quickly on much, but Abbott Square and the Warriors arena were important exceptions. They popped up and changed the town for the better (while losing the Nickelodeon theaters was a move to the worse).
There’s music, comedy, art, food, drink and conversation in one perfect patch outside what Simon helped turn into an exciting community museum. They should have named something for her. Maybe they will.
But after that stunning achievement, her second act is almost as big. She’s written a best-selling novel inspired by her mother’s hospitalization for cancer. She wrote much of it lying in bed with her mother, helping her recover. This is the kind of stuff they make movies about, almost too good to be true.
Richard Stockton’s cover story shows how the book came to be and gives Nina’s background story. It’s a must-read.
Other important articles in this issue include Geoffrey Dunn’s tribute to Rowland Rebele, who will be honored Saturday at 1pm on the Cabrillo College campus. HIs loss is staggering to so many people in this county. There’s also a story by Steve Kettman about a local director who has teamed up with Rob Reiner for an important movie about the takeover of the Christian Right.
Much of the country will be talking about this one and we are proud to have a local tie.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava | Editor
Photo Contest
TERRAPIN STATION Golden tortuga swims in the sky near Black’s Beach. Photo: Ali Eppy
Good Idea
New Leaf Community Markets will now accept Electronic Benefits Transfer Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (EBT SNAP) for same-day delivery and pickup via
Instacart.
With this program, EBT SNAP participants will be able to use their benefits to access local and organic produce and groceries online for delivery or pickup from five locations throughout Santa Cruz County and Half Moon Bay.
Good Work
There will be 150 new electric bike docking stations in Live Oak, Twin Lakes, Pleasure Point and Capitola. Each docking station has between 4-6 bike parking spaces for a new fleet of 75 bikes, according to the County Department of Community Development & Infrastructure.
Capitola’s 20 bikes will be added in March, while the others open in February.
BCycle, launched last June, is designed to provide accessible, convenient, and sustainable transportation.
The system has more than 400 electric-assist bikes, found at 86 stations.
Quote of the week
“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” —William Shakespeare
Known for their authentically Mexican made-from-scratch baked goods and tamales, El Rosal Bakery on East Cliff Drive has been a local’s go-to market for over 20 years. Cashier Lisa González started there 10 years ago after being raised in Michoacan, Mexico, where she was a cook. She says the talented and hard-working bakers start at 3am every day, making everything fresh.
Tamales are available in five varieties: chicken with green or red salsa, pork with red salsa, jalapeño and cheese, and sweet corn. Baked goods include conchas, a sweet and fluffy bread topped with sweet masa in myriad colors, and the pansino, a firmer bread decorated in pink sweet masa and sugar. They also offer traditional cakes like the niño envuelto and tres leches, as well as classic flan and sweet empanadas.
Hours are 7am-8pm every day (Sunday close at 7pm).
How do you compare living and working in Mexico and Santa Cruz?
LISA GONZÁLEZ: Working here, the owners, my coworkers and I all work well together and are nice to each other. It’s almost like working with your neighbors, and that’s the same here and in Mexico. The difference is that I used to live in a big city in Mexico and there was a lot of noise and traffic, and my commute to work was difficult. But here, it’s more slow-paced and a little easier, and I’m able to live really close to where I work. It’s been a pleasure working here for so long, and I feel very welcome.
Let’s talk tamales?
LG: The recipe for our masa is the owner’s mother’s recipe and it’s been in the family for many generations. The salsa recipe is hers too, and we make it fresh every day. The red salsa is made from guajillo chili pods and is mild and a little bit smoky. The green salsa is made from tomatillos, jalapeños and a couple other secret ingredients, and is spicy. The chicken is shredded and the pork is pulled, and both are very good. And our sweet corn tamales are made with fresh young corn and are a very traditional Southern Mexican dish.
TRULY MAGICAL Tropa Magica, mixes psychedelia and rock. Photo: Alex Calvo
THURSDAY 2/15
ROCK
TROPA MAGICA
To call Tropa Magica rock ‘n’ roll only begins to describe this band’s kaleidoscopic sound. Spin calls them a combination of “alternative, grunge and psychedelic rock with cumbia.” Genre debates aside, Tropa Magica is an immensely lovable duo that evolved organically from brothers David and Rene Pacheco’s lifelong love of playing music together. Like their contemporaries Los Lobos and Chicano Batman, they’re boldly bringing traditional Latinx music into the mix. Their third studio album, aptly titled III, contains the lo-fi, lightning-in-a-bottle sound of songs they’d initially recorded as demos but soon realized were the thing itself. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
With roots in Southeast LA and Tucson, the ska punk band Warsaw Poland Bros logs over 300 shows a year. Their relentless touring is symptomatic of a decades-long commitment to DIY music-making. The ever-changing nature of their lineup keeps audiences on their toes, waiting to see which meld dub, rock, ska, punk, Celtic punk and freestyle will come out next. Another charming detail is that the songs change night to night because lead singer Aaron Poland doesn’t memorize lyrics. It’s not every day that this kind of glorious ska whirlwind comes to town—and supporting Curtis Meacham’s Monkey, no less! AM
INFO: 8pm, The Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $20. 429-6994.
LECTURE
DIRTY LOOKS:NO CREDIT, CASH ONLY: COOKIE MUELLER IN FILM AND VIDEO
Fans of John Waters and the deliciously distasteful world of trash culture will know the name Cookie Mueller. Growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore, she always felt destined for something more. Then she met the King of Trash in 1969 at a premiere of his film, Mondo Trasho, and her life changed forever. She acted in multiple fan favorites like Pink Flamingos, Polyester and Female Trouble—a title conceived after the director paid Cookie a visit in the hospital. Bradford Nordeen leads an in-depth visual lecture examining Mueller’s life through her films and the New York underground art movement she was a part of later in her life. MAT WEIR
INFO: 7pm, Indexical, 1050 River St., #119, Santa Cruz. Free. indexical.org
METAL
DURBIN
Heshers and metalheads! Raise your horns high and get ready for a free show! James Durbin is releasing his second full-length, Screaming Steel, and this Friday, he’s giving his hometown the first taste! Put on by Streetlight Records, Durbin will be performing new songs like the title track and “Hallow,” followed by an exclusive album signing just for locals. It’s no secret that the American Idol finalist is a huge metalhead, originally singing for local hair metal act the Hollywood Scars and later, Quiet Riot. His new album features a cadre of who’s who in Santa Cruz metal, from bands like Archers and Zombie Ritual to A Band of Orcs and more. All hail the Screaming Steel! MW
The Wailing Souls are reggae legends, having come up with the greatest ever to do it: Bob Marley. Considered the “elder statesmen” of reggae music, Wailing Souls began their musical journey in the ’60s. Members have come and gone, but Winston “Pipe” Matthews and Lloyd “Bread” McDonald have been there from the start, coming up in Trench Town at the same time as Marley and recording with him on several tracks. Their lyrics stick to the classic reggae message of love and liberation, peace and justice. They claim the light is present but “far away”; their music makes it feel closer. JESSICA IRISH
Okay, maybe calling the Mexican Slum Rats “indie rock” is a bit of a cop-out. This group rides the wave between punk rock and experimental before bailing out in a white cap of sound. The five-piece from LA dropped their latest album, See You Around, last April, keeping their sound fresh with a fusion of metal added to a garage vibe. This Saturday, they return to Santa Cruz (a city they apparently love, considering their website features a giant photo of West Cliff Drive) with a stacked lineup that’s sure to sell out: Grad Nite, Knumears and the badass ladies in Sluttony. MW
INFO: 7:30pm, The Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $15/adv, $18/door. 713-5492.
AMERICANA
DYLAN LEBLANC
Dylan LeBlanc’s voice is halfway between My Morning Jacket front man Jim James and Tracy Chapman: plaintive, honey-sweet, and deeply emotive. His music is classic Americana, with songs about angelic lovers and desert landscapes that feel made for long road trips or dancing on the side of a dirt track. Fans of Dave Rawlings Machine and Ray LaMontagne will surely enjoy his sound, which balances somewhere between the twang of the former and the smooth romanticism of the latter. Opener Laura T Lewis kicks things off with her gorgeous, deep voice and unique lyrics. JI
Roots rocker Anthony Arya gained the national spotlight in 2018 as a 15-year-old contestant on NBC’s The Voice. Soon after, he released his debut album, Going to California, with a music video that took a semifinalist award in the International Songwriting Competition. In ’22, his third album won several honors, including the Bluebird Golden Pick Contest, a finalist spot in the ISC’s songwriting competition, and the Telluride Blues Challenge. His tune “Lovers of Valdaro” was a finalist in the International Acoustic Music Awards. This year, a live album recorded at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco is slated for release. DAN EMERSON
APQ founder and leader Clay Ross has several Grammy awards on his shelf and is also the founder of the influential Gullah group Ranky Tanky. The foursome uses several musical ingredients to update American traditional folk songs, including jazz, country, West African hypnotics and East Asian sounds. APQ’s members comprise a fascinating patchwork: Hindustani vocalist Falu, Issei jazz bassist Yasushi Nakamura and sought-after jazz drummer Clarence Penn, a former protege of the late Ellis Marsalis. DE
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $31.50/adv, $36.75/door. 427-2227.
ARIESMarch 21-April 19 Some stories don’t have a distinct and orderly beginning, middle, and end. At any one point, it may be hard to know where you are. Other tales have a clear beginning, middle, and end, but the parts occur out of order; maybe the middle happens first, then the end, followed by the beginning. Every other variation is possible, too. And then there’s the fact that the beginning of a new story is implied at the end of many stories, even stories with fuzzy plots and ambiguous endings. Keep these ruminations in mind during the coming weeks, Aries. You will be in a phase when it’s essential to know what story you are living in and where you are located in the plot’s unfoldment.
TAURUSApril 20-May 20 As I meditate on your destiny in the near future, I sense you will summon extra courage, perhaps even fearless and heroic energy. I wonder if you will save a drowning person, or rescue a child from a burning building, or administer successful CPR to a stranger who has collapsed on the street. Although I suspect your adventures will be less dramatic than those, they may still be epic. Maybe you will audaciously expose corruption and deceit, or persuade a friend to not commit self-harm, or speak bold thoughts you haven’t had the daring to utter before.
GEMINIMay 21-June 20 Lately, you have been learning more than you thought possible. You have surpassed and transcended previous limits in your understanding of how the world works. Congratulations! I believe the numerous awakenings stem from your willingness to wander freely into the edgy frontier—and then stay there to gather in all the surprising discoveries and revelations flowing your way. I will love it if you continue your pilgrimage out there beyond the borders for a while longer.
CANCERJune 21-July 22 As I study the astrological omens for the coming weeks, I suspect you will feel more at home in a situation that has previously felt unnerving or alien. Or you will expedite the arrival of the future by connecting more deeply with your roots. Or you will cultivate more peace and serenity by exploring exotic places. To be honest, though, the planetary configurations are half-mystifying me; I’m offering my best guesses. You may assemble a strong foundation for an experimental fantasy. Or perhaps you will engage in imaginary travel, enabling you to wander widely without leaving your sanctuary. Or all of the above.
LEOJuly 23-Aug. 22 Of your hundreds of wishes and yearnings, Leo, which is the highest on your priority list? And which are the next two? What are the sweet, rich, inspiring experiences you want more than anything else in life? I invite you to compile a tally of your top three longings. Write them on a piece of paper. Draw or paste an evocative symbol next to each one. Then place this holy document in a prominent spot that you will see regularly. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you are in a phase when focusing and intensifying your intentions will bring big rewards.
VIRGOAug. 23-Sept. 22 Actor and travel writer Andrew McCarthy hiked across Spain along the famous pilgrimage route, Camino de Santiago. On the way, he felt so brave and strong that at one point he paradoxically had a sobbing breakdown. He realized how fear had always dominated his life. With this chronic agitation absent for the first time ever, he felt free to be his genuine self. “I started to feel more comfortable in the world and consequently in my own skin,” he testified, concluding, “I think travel obliterates fear.” I recommend applying his prescription to yourself in the coming months, Virgo—in whatever ways your intuition tells you are right. Cosmic forces will be aligned with you.
LIBRASept. 23-Oct. 22 In the natural world, there are four partnership styles. In the parasitic variety, one living thing damages another while exploiting it. In the commensal mode, there is exploitation by one partner, but no harm occurs. In the epizoic model, one creature serves as a vehicle for the other but gets nothing in return. The fourth kind of partnership is symbiotic. It’s beneficial to both parties. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Libra, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to take an inventory of your alliances and affiliations—and begin to de-emphasize, even phase out, all but the symbiotic ones.
SCORPIOOct. 23-Nov. 21 Scorpio author Dan Savage says, “I wish I could let myself eat and eat and eat.” He imagines what it would be like if he didn’t “have to monitor the foods I put in my mouth or go to the gym anymore.” He feels envious of those who have no inhibitions about being gluttonous. In alignment with astrological aspects, I authorize Savage and all Scorpios to temporarily set aside such inhibitions. Take a brief break. Experiment with what it feels like to free yourself to ingest big helpings of food and drink—as well as metaphorical kinds of nourishment like love and sex and sensations and entertainment. Just for now, allow yourself to play around with voraciousness. You may be surprised at the deeper liberations it triggers.
SAGITTARIUSNov. 22-Dec. 21 Dear Wise Gambler: You rank high in your spacious intelligence, intuitive logic, and robust fantasy life. There’s only one factor that may diminish your ability to discern the difference between wise and unwise gambles. That’s your tendency to get so excited by big, expansive ideas that you neglect to account for messy, inconvenient details. And it’s especially important not to dismiss or underplay those details in the coming weeks. If you include them in your assessments, you will indeed be the shrewdest of wise gamblers.
CAPRICORNDec. 22-Jan. 19 Capricorn golfer Tiger Woods is one of the all-time greats. He holds numerous records and has won scores of tournaments. On 20 occasions, he has accomplished the most difficult feat: hitting a hole-in-one. But the weird fact is that there were two decades (1998–2018) between his 19th and 20th holes-in-one. I suspect your own fallow time came in 2023, Capricorn. By now, you should be back in the hole-in-one groove, metaphorically speaking. And the coming months may bring a series of such crowning strokes.
AQUARIUSJan. 20-Feb. 18 Poet Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) lived till age 76, but her destiny was a rough ride. Her native country, the authoritarian Soviet Union, censored her work and imprisoned her friends and family. In one of her poems, she wrote, “If I can’t have love, if I can’t find peace, give me a bitter glory.” She got the latter wish. She came close to winning a Nobel Prize and is now renowned as a great poet and heroic symbol of principled resistance to tyranny. Dear Aquarius, I predict that your life in the coming months will be very different from Akhmatova’s. I expect you will enjoy more peace and love than you’ve had in a long time. Glory will stream your way, too, but it will be graceful, never bitter. The effects will be heightened if you express principled resistance to tyranny.
PISCESFeb. 19-March 20 Piscean perfumer Sophia Grojsman says, “Our lives are quiet. We like to be disturbed by delight.” To that end, she has created over 30 best-selling fragrances, including Eternity Purple Orchid, Désir Coulant (Flowing Desire), Spellbound, Volupté (Pleasure), and Jelisaveta (“God is abundance”). I bring this up, Pisces, because I believe it’s now essential for you to be disturbed by delight—as well as to disturb others with delight. Please do what’s necessary to become a potent magnet for marvelous interruptions, sublime interventions, and blissful intrusions. And make yourself into a provider of those healing subversions, too. Homework: I dare you to forgive yourself for a past event you’ve never forgiven yourself for before. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
Ghosts of Adelanto & the Rise of Abolish ICE is a powerful new film on U.S. detention and deportation of migrant families and the young feminist and queer activists who are fighting to change that system. Cinthya Martinez is co-writer of Ghosts of Adelanto and her personal journey is one of those highlighted. Martinez earned a PhD at UC Riverside and will begin teaching in the UC Santa Cruz Latin American and Latino Studies Department.
Ghosts of Adelanto and the Rise of Abolish ICE will have a preview screening at the Del Mar Theater Feb. 20 at 7pm. Reservations are required at ias.ucsc.edu. The film was produced by Setsu Shigematsu and Mayon Denton as a sequel to Visions of Abolition (2011).
JM:Ghosts of Adelanto begins with a warning; “This film contains images and stories of state violence.” Tell me about your experiences that drew you into activism to abolish ICE.
Cinthya Martinez: I grew up as the only U.S. citizen in my family. When I was a little girl my mom would whisper, “We don’t have papers. We’re undocumented.” At the same time, she would reaffirm that I didn’t have to worry. It’s a hard way to grow up, knowing that your family – your whole world – could just crumble at any moment. This feeling always follows you that family separation could happen the next time you go to the front door, when you least expect it.
JM: The film focuses on Adelanto, the largest of five immigration prisons in California, and run privately for-profit by GEO. Would you describe this prison?
Cinthya Martinez: Adelanto is a town in the high desert two hours from Los Angeles. The Adelanto ICE Detention Center is surrounded by six other prisons. Adelanto has a bed capacity of almost 2000 and they added a new annex with 700 beds. Those two combined makes it the biggest migrant detention facility in the U.S. The United States incarcerates the most migrants worldwide.
When I started visiting detained people at Adelanto, I visited mostly women and queer people who had faced another layer of isolation because of their identities. They began talking about the recurring trauma they’ve faced. Not only as people who have crossed many borders, if we’re talking about Central Americans. But more profoundly, a haunting of not just whatever happened in their country of origin and during their migration route but, “This continuum of violence did not stop when we got to the U.S.”
JM: An attorney with Freedom for Immigrants, Leyla Razavi, poses this question, “Is it okay to put people in prison for crossing a border?” She answers, “No.”
Cinthya Martinez: There is the myth of “the melting pot” and “we accept everyone” and it’s the land of the free. But at the beginning of this nation, one of the founding core values was that citizenship was reserved only for white men. And immigration was reserved for European white people. This nation has a dark history of being exclusionary.
JM: Tell me about feminist abolition.
Cinthya Martinez: We were really intentional about making this film from a feminist abolition perspective. About 80% of women who are incarcerated are survivors of domestic violence. And a big number of them were defending themselves from abusers. There’s a myth that prisons make us safe. It’s been feminist organizers who say, “We care about the safety of survivors of violence. And policing and incarceration only serve to re-victimize survivors.”
We reject prison reform and say “community not cages.” One feminist, anti-carceral organization I work with is Survived and Punished. We see so many cases of ICE and prison guards abusing people to implement dominance. But these borders and prisons haven’t always been here. This is not the way humans have always related to each other. I really believe this won’t always be the way that we live.
Listen to this interview with Cinthya Martinez on Thursday at noon on Transformation Highway with John Malkin on KZSC 88.1 FM / kzsc.org
When Big Business–the sludge metal duo of Jared Warren (bass, lead vocals and synthesizer) and Coady Willis (drums, backing vocals)–started in 2004, they weren’t necessarily planning for the future. Both musicians had played in pretty prominent bands from Washington that already made their marks in the national underground music scene but were looking for something fresh (Willis with The Murder City Devils and Warren with KARP, The Whip and Tight Bros From Way Back When) .
Twenty years later, the two are still pushing Big Business forward with heavy riffs and sonic builds and thunderous drops. This Wednesday, Feb 21 they return to Santa Cruz with power trio, Terry Gross, to blow out Moe’s Alley for one of their eight tour dates in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast.
So, is Big Business doing anything special to celebrate two decades of sludginess?
“Yeah,” exclaims Willis. “We’re doing an eight day, West Coast tour in our 20th anniversary as a band!”
He laughs before adding,
“We’re going to try for a new record. But as far as definite windows to make that happen, it will probably be later in the second half of this year.”
Believe it or not, it’s this type of humor that Big Business is known for.
Sure, they’re a massively heavy band with seriously precise musicianship that Buzz “King Buzzo” Osborne–of sludge godfathers The Melvins–asked them to join his band between 2006 and 2016. But they also have a sense of humor with song titles like “Diagnostic Front” [a pun on the punk band, Agnostic Front],” “Another Fourth of July. . .Ruined” and “The Moor You Know” the last of which is off their last full-length, 2019’s The Beast You Are.
Besides, what other metal group would do promo photos of getting haircuts?
After forming in 2004 Big Business released their debut full-length, Head For The Shallow the following year. In 2006 they moved to Los Angeles to work with the Melvins. Between 2007 and 2019 they cut five albums and eight additional EPs or singles as Big Business while still working on their other projects.
While it’s not an expansive body of work, what they lack in quantity they definitely make up for in quality. Some–like 2016’s Command Your Weather–are much darker than others with chest rattling beats and greasy chords underlying vocals that flow from solo screams to clean harmonies.
Yet that raises the question: if Big Business is only just now starting on a new record, what were they doing during the 2020 lockdowns?
“Uuuuuh, crying,” Willis says.
“I set up my own recording studio. I already had some of the stuff, so I built it out. I also did a bunch of remote sessions playing drums on other people’s music.”
He says when things reopened in the later part of 2021 he toured as much as possible with bands like the Murder City Devils (who reformed in 2006) and the Melvins once again (Willis filled in on drums for them on last year’s tour with Japan’s Boris because the Melvins’ regular drummer, Dale Crover, underwent emergency spinal surgery).
Willis has also been busy with his other, other band–the esteemed High On Fire–with stoner metal high priest, Matt Pike. Willis joined the illustrious doom trio in 2021 after their founding drummer decided it was time to step down.
Then there’s the matter of life’s obligations and distance. Willis stayed in Los Angeles but Warren eventually moved back to Olympia to raise his family.
So what does it all mean? Go see Big Business this Wednesday at Moe’s Alley because not even they know when the band will have the next chance.
Author Laurie R. King began her ingenious literary take on the world of Sherlock Holmes in 1994, centering on the retired crime-solver, now a country beekeeper, who accidentally joins forces with the bright young Mary Russell. Three decades later fans of King’s award-winning Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series will gather on Feb. 17 at MAH for a celebration of 30 years of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. The weekend also launches the publication of The Lantern’s Dance, the latest Russell & Sherlock adventure exploring the 100-year-old puzzle of Sherlock Holmes’ ancestry. The Bookshop Santa Cruz launch of The Lantern’s Dance on Friday 7pm, Feb. 16, and book talk with author Laurie R. King is FREE but requires advance registration.)
________________________
We caught up with the author, busy planning her whirlwind national tour for the 30th anniversary of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, and over a cup of tea we revisited her literary odyssey.
GT: How did the Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes stories come about?
LK: It seemed that he was a character who was given a huge amount of credit for doing stuff that in a woman would be just counted as female intuition. And I thought it would be interesting to play with the idea of what would that mind look like in a different setting? So instead of having the brilliant mind in this middle aged Victorian male, what would it look like if it were in a young female? And that’s where Mary Russell came from.
GT: At what point did you realize that you had something that clicked?
LK: When I wrote that first line, I found that her voice was there. My kids were at school and I sat down and wrote, “I was 15 when I first met Sherlock Holmes.” And that voice really just stepped forward in a way that writers always hope that characters do. And they don’t always. But I was very lucky with Mary Russell. I could hear her from the beginning.
GT: There are 18 books so far. Why is this series so popular?
LK: For one thing I think that a lot of women, especially young women, love the idea that Russell gets the better of Holmes. Holmes is this masculine icon of superior cleverness, and to have her outsmart him from their very first meeting, is deeply satisfying. It’s a way of thinking about what women can do. I didn’t have a young audience in mind necessarily, but from the beginning it had feet in both worlds YA and adult readers.
GT:Did you find it surprising that suddenly she goes from being the teenage apprentice to becoming Mrs. Holmes?
LK: Looking back I’m not sure I would have planned it. If it were set in modern times, it would be more difficult. With Mary and Holmes, they too have their differences, but age is not really part of that.
It had to be a partnership, and it just felt odd to me to have a partnership that was not a full partnership. And at the time, I think without realizing it, I was headed for reshaping Holmes.
Because, you know, he gets sort of the short end of the stick out of Conan Doyle, because he doesn’t really have any relationships. His main friendship is with a man who really is not his intellectual equal. Dr. Watson has many strengths but cleverness is not one of them.
GT: You currently work on other mysteries, for example the Kate Martinelli books. Why jump from one series to another?
LK: I love telling stories, but I do find it difficult to live with the same characters year in and year out. If I were to do a Sue Grafton and write the same characters all the time it would make me crazy. I like to trade off. I’m very fortunate that my publisher is willing to let me do different things.
GT: And the next Mary Russell book?
LK: Eventually they have to go to England. The last several books have had a kind of subtext of her difficulties with his brother, who is something big in the British government—a spymaster. And his power and his ability to manipulate things is creating problems in a number of ways. At some point there’s a confrontation that’s going to happen and I wasn’t ready for that. So I had to play around with other things, so I came up with a more likable character to work with.
GT: Have you ever thought of having them divorce?
LK: No, but I could see her murdering him! [laughter]
The Santa Cruz City Council will vote on Feb. 13 on an appeal challenging a proposed 40-unit housing project at 900 High Street, behind the Peace United Church on the way to UCSC. The Santa Cruz Planning Commission approved the project unanimously in December, but the apartment complex has drawn criticism from neighbors.
The project includes nine affordable units, which comes out to 22.5% affordable. Under state housing law, the project qualifies for increased density of up to 44 units because of its affordability.
A local developer, Workbench, which is also developing the 59-unit Food Bin project, is developing the property on behalf of the Peace United Church.
The plans for the hillside development call for the splitting of the Peace United Church parcel into lower and upper lots.
Norman Tardif of Springtree HOA and Westlake Neighbors Association appealed the commission’s decision. In a letter to the city council, Tardif asked that the city stipulate further geological review of the building site and questioned the legality of the upper lot’s housing density since it was calculated from the original parcel. The Springtree HOA also seeks an agreement that the heritage trees along the quarry will not be cut down in the future.
The city recommends denying the appeal. According to the city’s report, the developer picked the building’s location with the hillside’s unique geology in mind.
In response to the appellant’s lot-splitting claim, the city says it doesn’t matter that the lots are split for the sake of development if they are “a contiguous group of lots” and share ownership. Also the General Plan allows for the clustering of units in a parcel if there are topographical concerns or “environmental constraints.”
The developer has voluntarily agreed to “more stringent tree protection,” according to the city. This includes periodic inspections from an arborist and work-stoppage if any trees are damaged in the construction.
If you go: The city council begins at 12:30 pm, Tuesday, Feb. 13.
The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District’s (METRO) Pacific Station will close this week for a long-planned demolition and redevelopment. The METRO’s operations will move to a temporary transit hub a block away near the downtown CVS pharmacy.
The River Front Transit Center, as the new bus hub is called, will use the curbs on Soquel Ave., Front St, River St. and River St. South. Three new bus stops, deemed Areas 1, 2 and 3, will be added to serve as layover spots for buses.
The transition to the center will begin on Thursday, when METRO’s customer service/ticket sales booth at the Pacific Station will close. The lobby and restrooms will remain open until Feb. 11.
The new station will open Feb 12, including the customer service/ticket booth across the street at 603 Front St. To cushion the transition, METRO is offering free rides from Feb. 8 -25.
The METRO’s Pacific Station is slated to be revamped into Pacific Station North, a mixed-use complex with 126 units of affordable housing that will also include commercial and office space in addition to transit services. It should be finished in February 2026.
METRO chairperson Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson said in a statement that the new setup will be a big change for bus riders and motorists.
“We understand that the temporary closure and relocation of transit operations from Pacific Center to River Front Transit Center is a major adjustment for both METRO customers and motorists in downtown Santa Cruz,” said Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson. “We are working closely with our riders and the City of Santa Cruz to make this transition as smooth as possible.”
The River Front Transit Center will be organized like this:
Area 1: Located at the River St. South/Soquel Ave. intersection. Routes Served: 18, 19, 20, 40, 41, 42
Area 2 : Located at the existing stop on Soquel Ave. between River Street South and Front StreetRoutes Served: 17, 35
Area 3: Located at the existing Front Street stop alongside CVS Pharmacy. Routes Served: 1, 2, 3, 4, 90X
The layout for the new River Front Transit Center. Photo: Santa Cruz METRO
The new METRO location is already modifying the traffic flow. Within the last week, River Street South was made into a one-way going south to accommodate new bus lanes. Some confused drivers still turned north onto River Street South, continuing along as they would before the change, as this reporter noted. Additionally, on-street parking for Front Street and River Street South will be significantly reduced.
“Not only will the redevelopment of Pacific Station provide much-needed affordable housing, but it will help revitalize downtown Santa Cruz and reduce our region’s carbon emissions,” said METRO vice chair Kristen Brown.
Some local businesses are hopeful for the increased foot traffic the transit hub will bring.
“I’m excited for more business,” said Vanessa Brooks, a manager at the downtown CVS location.
River Street South is now a one-way and has designated bus lanes. Photo: Josué Monroy
More Changes
The uprooting of the METRO transit hub is the latest change in the recent shake-up in services. Last December, bus routes were overhauled as part of the Reimagine METRO initiative.
Routes 71, 69 (with its A, W and N variations), 68 and 66 were scrapped. In their place, routes 1, 2 and 3 (A and B) were created.
Routes 1 and 2 primarily link North and South County, and the route connects UC Santa Cruz to downtown and the Capitola Mall. Before the change, UCSC students would have to take two buses to get to the Capitola/Live Oak area.
METRO touted the new system as providing more frequent service between Watsonville and Santa Cruz, with a bus going in either direction leaving transit hubs every 15 minutes. But some bus riders found the new routes hard to navigate.
Brenda Garcia uses METRO as her main source of transportation to travel from her home in Capitola to all parts of the county. She said that the new system has actually reduced service.
“‘Reimagining‘ implies that you’re doing something radical and that you’re, you know, improving the lives of people. But in reality, they just cut lines. And so they cut lines and they’ve made it much more difficult to get around,” Garcia said.
Beatriz Hernandez lives near Pasatiempo Golf Course and takes the route 35 bus most days to get to work and back. She said that the route changes did not affect her and that her service remained the same. Hernandez was aware of the December route overhaul, and said she encountered METRO staff at bus stops informing riders of the new routes. She doesn’t think the recent shifts are all bad.
“One has to get used to and adapt to what they’re [METRO] doing. I guess they know what they’re doing,” Hernandez said.
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The Santa Cruz City Council will vote on Feb. 13 on an appeal challenging a proposed 40-unit housing project at 900 High Street, behind the Peace United Church on the way to UCSC. The Santa Cruz Planning Commission approved the project unanimously in December, but the apartment complex has drawn criticism from neighbors.
The project includes nine affordable units, which...
