Rio Del Mar Beach homeowners are facing up to $4.7 million in fines for their continued refusal to allow public access to a 37-foot-wide, 786-foot-long beachside walkway that runs along the properties from 202-300 Beach Drive.
The California Coastal Commission (CCC) will meet Thursday to decide whether to levy fines against Rio del Mar Beach Island Homeowners’ Association, and property owners Gaurav Singh and Sonal Puri, who own the property at 200 Beach Drive.
Among the allegations by the CCC are that Sing and Puri worked with the homeowners association to impede public access to the walkway.
Most of the homes, owned by 27 homeowners, are in the upscale neighborhood and are used as vacation rentals.
During the meeting which will take place at the Dream Inn on Thursday, the commission will determine whether the property owners are willing to meet a long series of demands, including: removing walls, fences, signs, caution tape and plastic barricades put up to dissuade people from walking there. In some cases, this also includes removing additions such as patio extensions the homeowners build into the walkway.
This issue dates back to 1980, when the property owners applied for permits to build a revetment to protect the homes after storms damaged them. The commission granted the permit with the condition that public access to the walkway continue.
As the battle raged, property owners have said the walkway is their property, and claim that their privacy and safety is at risk with numerous people per day running, skateboarding and biking along the walkway.
But Santa Cruz County and state officials say the issue comes down to law which mandates public access to coastal areas. Officials say that, even if the walkway does belong to the property owners, that state law mandating coastal access supersedes that.
The situation came to a boil in 2018 when the County removed a fence that blocked public access on one end of the walkway and a brick wall that partially blocked the other. The property owners sued, and in October 2022, a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the homeowners, and the commission said they would appeal.
When the commission meets, they can impose a lesser penalty, or, if the homeowners contest the cease and desist order, a greater one, said Coastal Commission spokeswoman Sarah Christie
“The ultimate determinations are going to be made by the commissioners themselves at the conclusion of the public hearing,” she said. “All that’s out there right now is the staff recommendation.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19) In 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped from enslavement on a plantation in Maryland. She could have enjoyed her new freedom in peace, but instead resolved to liberate others. During 13 bold forays into enemy territory, she rescued 70 enslaved people and ushered them to safety. She testified that she relied on her dreams and visions to help her carry out her heroic acts. They revealed to her the best escape routes to take, the best times to proceed, and information about how to avoid the fiendish “slave catchers.” In alignment with astrological omens, I invite you to be like Tubman and seek practical guidance from your dreams in the coming weeks—to solve problems or seek bliss.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Jack Nicholson has often played mavericks and anti-heroes in his movies. His life away from the silver screen has also been less than steady and predictable. For example, he has fathered six children with five different women. His fellow actor, Carrie Fisher, said Jack was “fun because he doesn’t make sense.” A person with casual knowledge of astrology might be surprised that Nicholson is a Taurus. Your tribe isn’t typically renowned for high eccentricity. But in his natal chart, Nicholson has the brash planet Uranus near his sun in Taurus, indicating he’s quirky. Aside from that, I have known plenty of Tauruses whose commitment to being uniquely themselves makes them idiosyncratic. These themes will be in play for you during the coming weeks. (PS: Taurus musician David Byrne starred in the concert film, *Stop Making Sense*.)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) The platitude says that if life gives us lemons, we should make lemonade. I’ve got a variation on this theme. Consider the Neva River in northwestern Russia. It freezes every winter. During the frigid months of 1739-1740, Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered her workers to cut huge blocks of ice and use them to construct a magnificent palace on the riverbank. She filled the place with furniture and art, making it a hub of festivities celebrating Russia’s triumph over the Ottoman Empire. I bring these themes to your attention, Gemini, because I suspect that in the coming weeks, you will have substantial redemptive power. Whether you make lemonade from lemons or a palace from a frozen river is up to you.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) “If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy,” wrote Cancerian author E. B. White. “If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” According to my astrological analysis, your fate in recent weeks has been more challenging than seductive. You’ve been pressed to work on dilemmas and make adjustments more than you might like. But this rhythm is about to change. Up ahead, life is seductive, welcoming, and appealing. Are you prepared to drop any unconscious attachment you have to your interesting discomfort so you can smoothly make the transition to more ease?
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) I want to prepare you for the delights of the coming days. I want to make sure you are fully alert for them and primed to appreciate them. So I give you the thoughts of Leo psychologist Carl Jung. “It is important to have a secret, a premonition of things unknown,” he said. “We must sense that we live in a mysterious world—that things happen and can be experienced that remain inexplicable; that not everything can be anticipated; that the unexpected and incredible belong in this world. Only then is life whole.”
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Have you taken a refreshing break lately? Maybe even a soothing sabbatical? Have you treated yourself to a respite from the gritty grind? If not, please do so soon. And while you are recharging your psychic batteries, I ask you to give your fantasy life ample room to wander wildly and freely. In my astrological opinion, your imagination needs to be fed and fed with gourmet food for thought. For the sake of your soul’s health, I hope you dream up fantastic, unruly, even outrageous possibilities.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) My Uncle Ned advised me, “The best gift you can compel your ego to accept is to make it your servant instead of your master.” An early Buddhist teacher sounded a related theme when she told me, “The best things in life are most likely to come your way if you periodically shed all hope and practice being completely empty.” The girlfriend I had when I was 23 confided, “You may get more enjoyment from the witty ways I confound you if you don’t try to understand them.” I offer these three ideas to you, Libra, because you’re in a phase when the moral of your story is that there is no apparent moral to your story—at least until you surrender your notions of what the moral of your story is.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) I believe you Scorpios are the zodiac sign mostly likely to benefit from being empathetic. By that I mean you have substantial power to thrive by reading other people’s moods and feelings. You are often able to figure out angles that enable you to gather what you want while helping others to gather what they want. You are potentially a genius at doing what’s best for everyone and getting paid and rewarded for it. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, this knack of yours will soon be operating at peak levels.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun died over 3,300 years ago. When his mournful entourage placed him in his tomb, the treasures they left included a pot of honey, which was meant to sweeten his travels in the afterlife. In the early 20th century, archaeologists excavated the ancient site. They dared to sample the honey, finding it as tasty and fresh as if it had just been made. Amazingly, this same longevity is a characteristic of most honey. I propose we use this as a metaphor for your life. What old resources or experiences from your past might be as pure and nurturing as they were originally? And now could they be of value now?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Screenwriter John Patrick Shanley writes, “Life holds its miracles, good erupting from darkness chief among them.” I predict a comparable miracle for you, Capricorn, though I suspect it will arise out of confusion or inertia rather than darkness. My advice: Don’t be so bogged down in the muddle that you miss the signs that a great awakening is nigh. Start rehearsing how you will feel when deliverance arrives.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Before he reached the height of fame as a novelist, Aquarian Charles Dickens experienced financial instability. When he was 31, the situation got desperate, and he resolved to take extreme measures. For six weeks, beginning in October 1843, he obsessively worked on writing the story *A Christmas Carol*. It was published on December 19 and sold out in a few days. Within a year, 13 editions were released. Dicken’s economic worries were over. Dear Aquarius, I think the near future will be a favorable time for you, too, to take dramatic, focused action to fix a problem you’re having.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Many religious people believe God can hear their prayers and intervene in worldly affairs. Other religious folks think God can hear their prayers but may not intervene. Then there are the non-religious folks who don’t believe in God and think praying is useless. Wherever you might be on the spectrum, Pisces, I’m pleased to reveal that you will have extra access to support and benefaction in the coming weeks—whether that’s from God, fate, nature, or other humans. So seek out blessings and assistance with alacrity. Be receptive to all potential helpers, even unlikely ones.
Homework: My new book has inspirations and prompts akin to what you read in my horoscopes: Astrology Real
Last week the governors of six states—Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Louisiana and Maryland—sent a letter to President Biden asking him to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III by the end of the year, meaning there would be fewer restrictions on pot and its medical benefits would be recognized.
As is the case with so many proposed reform measures, the letter sounds like an endorsement of outright legalization, but it isn’t.
Every time a new cannabis reform measure is proposed, the ludicrousness of the continued illegality of weed is brought into sharper relief. A bill that would allow banks to do business with pot companies in legal states without fear of liability? Great! But why not just legalize cannabis? A bill to allow health researchers to work directly with the plant without fear of losing federal funding? Great! But why not just legalize cannabis? A bill to allow legal pot merchants to write off expenses on their federal tax returns? Great! But why not …
And on and on and on.
In September, we learned that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had made a recommendation that cannabis be re-categorized. As I noted at the time, while such a move would ostensibly be a good thing, it wouldn’t even decriminalize pot, much less legalize it. Most of the problems associated with the bifurcation between federal laws and state laws would remain, even as states continue to legalize and the population overwhelmingly and increasingly favors legalization.
The six governors requesting the re-scheduling cite a poll indicating that nearly nine in 10 Americans favor legalization for recreational or medical use, and states that “[a]s governors, we might disagree about whether recreational cannabis legalization or even cannabis use is net positive, but we agree that the cannabis industry is here to stay, [that] the states have created strong regulations, and [that] supporting the state-regulated marketplace is essential for the safety of the American people.”
Great! But why not just legalize cannabis? The governors don’t even really address the question. The letter is essentially an argument in favor of legalization but in essence, it asks that weed be kept illegal, even if somewhat less so, even if the governors “disagree” with each other over whether to legalize. As such, it amounts to a perfect encapsulation of how cannabis reform is going at the federal level: It’s a self-contradicting mess.
Things got even messier later in the week when HHS released the actual proposal and supporting documents—it previously released only a heavily redacted version that didn’t even include the request for rescheduling, though that bit of news was leaked to the press. It’s 250 pages and goes on and on about all the benefits of cannabis, and all the drawbacks to maintaining its Schedule 1 status.
Every one of those benefits, and all of the ones cited by the governors, and many more, would be far more easily achieved by simply legalizing.
Toward that end, sort of, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced an update of a bill—the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act (STATES)—that failed in 2018 and again the next year. This one wouldn’t quite legalize weed, but it would recognize legal pot in states that have legalized it, would enable interstate commerce—including allowing regulated transport through non-legal states—and would order the Internal Revenue Service to allow legal cannabis companies to write off expenses. It would also retain the illegality nationwide of selling pot to anyone under 21, except for medical reasons. And it would create a framework for taxing and regulating pot. Dubbed “STATES 2.0,” it’s the more conservative alternative to the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, though both bills have signatories from both parties.
Neither has much chance of passage in the near term, however, thanks mainly to Republican opposition led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and so we’re left for now with all these disconnected attempts at reform aimed at solving a myriad of problems that would all easily be solved with one relatively simple and overwhelmingly popular action: legalization.
Three years ago, Ela Crawford was able to open Sugar Bakery in the Capitola Mall after she applied her unrelenting work ethic to learning the art of baking. She immigrated from Ukraine in 2014 with the goal to buy a property here for her family back home, who had lost their house because of war.
She worked long hours at several restaurants, saved her money, and eventually was able to purchase an apartment for her family. Then her wedding ceremony got canceled by the venue at the last minute in 2020, so she and her husband decided to put on their own instead.
This snafu was a blessing in disguise, as it inspired her to learn to bake so that she could help to cater other people’s special events.
In addition to her signature macarons in flavors like pistachio raspberry and mango passion fruit, they also offer a traditional Eastern European honey cake, cupcakes, cheesecakes, cake pops and celebration cakes.
Hours are Tuesday-Sunday from 11am-5pm (until 6pm on Fri/Sat, closed Mondays).
Describe your immigration journey?
ELA CRAWFORD: At first it was very hard and simply scary to think of going to America, especially because it was just me and my twin sister at age 20. And we didn’t know English and left our entire family. Even though we were scared, we saw so many opportunities in America. It’s a great country to grow and we never said “no” to any job, and often worked 12-14 hours a day. Hard work will always lead to results, every job taught me something and now I have my own successful bakery.
Tell me more about the Sugar Bakery macarons?
EC: When I first was learning to bake, I Googled “hardest things to bake” and macarons were at the top of the list. So, I thought that if I could perfect them, I could bake anything. I baked a batch or two a day for three months and almost 90% didn’t turn out well. I would cry on the floor, but then wake up the next day and do it again. And one day, they just worked, and I knew that I had perfected my recipe. Now, macarons are the most popular item on our menu. They are perfect for large gatherings because they not only taste really good, but also display well, look expensive and are easy to grab and eat.
1855 41st Avenue Suite R10, Capitola, 831-222-0022; sugarbakeryco.com
Relatively new Santa Cruz nonprofit Eat for the Earth hasn’t been around all that long. But it’s hoping its efforts around meat-free eating means all of us will be.
Its mission reads clearly enough: “Making it easier for people to eat more plants and less animal products to sustain all life on Earth.”
That finds expression with things like virtual recipe tutorials, full moon ritual yoga retreats and an Eat for the Earth Holiday Celebration. The latter happens this Sunday, Dec. 17, at The 418 Project on River Street and is free with RSVP.
Eliot Kalman will lay down the smooth keyboard jazz. A silent auction and raffle arrive at a good time for gift givers, as does an arts and crafts market. Stan Grindstaff conducts a magic act. Jane Broccolo demos her gift for animal communication.
Meanwhile planet-friendly food like mini walnut-mushroom enchiladas and sourdough-potato baguettes with roasted garlic and eggplant will circulate, naturally, and guests can learn more about E4TE programming—which includes a “How Not to Age” talk on Feb. 3 at Rio Theatre with doctor and author Michael Greger.
Eat for the Earth Executive Director Beth Love likes to build her activities around a one-two punch: inspiration and tools.
“We give people compelling information why they should move toward a plant-based diet, and then give them practical tools on how, ” she says. “We’re passionate about helping people know eating healthy doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor—and that it’s good for them, good for the Earth, good for all life kinds, and you can really enjoy it.”
eatfortheearth.org
HOLEY ROLLING
Rock N Roll Donut Bar has soft opened in the former Starbucks at 1335 Pacific Ave. I’m acquainted with the original on Cannery Row because it’s a great spot to take the nieces and nephews after a Monterey Bay Aquarium adventure. The m.o. at RnR: aggressively creative and indulgent desserts like triple chocolate cookie dough doughnuts, Cookie Monster donuts and mermaid donuts with blueberry icing, “beach” sprinkles, blueberry frosting and a white chocolate mermaid tail. Coming to the S.C. spot within the month will be breakfast burritos, garlic donut bites and burgers. “Big, bold and beautiful donuts,” owner Scott Kirkpatrick says. “And it’s an entertainment experience, not just donuts.” rocknrolldonutbar.com
NEWS NUGGETS
Farmers market favorite Ashby Confections has a holiday pop-up rolling out the treats at 1306 Pacific Ave. noon-7pm Wednesday to Sunday…Pebble Beach Food & Wine has announced its lineup for the April 4-7 festival and put tickets on sale in one fell swoop. High-wattage names include Mario Castrellón, Graham Elliot, Elizabeth Falkner, Rogelio Garcia, Antonia Lofaso, Jeremiah Tower, Cedric Vongerichten, Roy Yamaguchi, Geoffrey Zakarian and Andrew Zimmern…San Juan Bautista’s Vertigo Coffee just debuted in Mountain View at Carte Blanche coffee shop inside the Shashi Hotel, where Jarad Gallagher is executive chef. Barbecue lovers will want to make a pilgrimage to his other project, The Smoke Point, also in SJB.
Poor Things lands with a thud. In a scenario lifted from countless vintage horror/sci-fi flicks, it’s the old story of a mad scientist, a young woman who falls under his control and an outlandish conception of interpersonal relations.
Strange things happen to Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) and Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Particularly to Bella. After she commits suicide by jumping off a bridge in the opening shot, “God” (that’s her name for the scientist) recovers and revives Bella’s corpse in his lab, transplanting the brain of her unborn baby into her cranium. The operation is a success.
And so we have the spectacle of an attractive, fully grown woman behaving like an infant: crying, wetting herself, throwing tantrums, gradually becoming physically coordinated, learning to talk, etc. All this to the tune of British composer Jerskin Fendrix’s (real name: Joscelin Dent-Pooley) remarkably evocative yet fully annoying 20th-century-modernist-style music track.
Poor Things is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), with a screenplay adapted by Tony McNamara (Cruella) from a novel by Alasdair Gray, with both Lanthimos and Stone among the producers. It’s less an extension of The Favourite’s satiric nastiness than it is a whacky genre update with a cleverly hidden subtext. The more Bella relearns about being a woman, the more disgusted she is with the status quo.
The director enjoys playing games with history. In The Favourite the 18th-century court of Queen Anne of England is home to randy shenanigans and power struggles in addition to mountains of bric-a-brac. That’s a similar case to Dr. Baxter’s Victorian London, but turned up a notch or two in the soft-core sex department.
“God” doesn’t exactly use Bella as a sex toy – to him she’s a scientific experiment in progress – but his acquaintances are not so scrupulous when it comes to a naïve beauty open to suggestions. The “furious jumping” is played for broad laughs, but that sexual cruelty ruins whatever sympathy a viewer may have had for the scar-faced doctor, and turns Lanthimos’ tilted riffing on Bride of Frankenstein and Edward Scissorhands into a painful ordeal instead of a simple shaggy-dog lampoon.
For instance, when Bella discovers masturbation it’s really nothing to rejoice about – at that stage she’s more of an artificial lust object than a woman with recognizable feelings. Her danse-mécanique body movements are similarly un-amusing. As depicted by Stone in a frantic performance, Bella might as well be an inflatable doll or a robot. The cheap chuckles continue in that vein for about half the film’s running time.
But then suddenly, after Bella is introduced to goofball sybarite Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) and they embark on a luxurious trip into the wondrous outside world, a major tonal shift occurs. In a welcome departure from the sophomoric look-at-the-freak antics of the film’s early scenes, Bella grows more complicated with age She’s still absurdly oversexed and naive, but from a slightly more experienced point of view, and is quite capable of thinking for herself.
In scenes aboard an ocean cruise ship and later in the demimonde of Paris, the innocently curious Bella learns useful things from a pair of libertines (Hanna Schygulla, Jerrod Carmichael); the saturnine madam of a Parisian bordello (actor Kathryn Hunter, in a thrillingly corrupt supporting-award-contending role); and a fellow prostitute (Suzy Bemba). There’s nothing remotely titillating about our heroine’s experiences, and yet the tale of Bella’s ironic “education” seems like another, better film entirely, compared to the marionette antics of the first half.
Stone’s career-best performance verges on brilliance. Classically inclined culture fans might be reminded of everything from Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion to Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Air Doll to Alfred Hitchcock’s Young and Strange. Stone rises to the occasion, and so does Ruffalo. As for Dafoe, he recycles much of his oeuvre – nothing especially offensive about that. The production designers and art directors put on their own dazzling show. After its iffy first half, Poor Things emerges as a revelation.
Poor Things is in limited release, playing in Palo Alto now. Wide release is set for Dec. 22.
If (Police Chief) Bernie Escalante is concerned about thugs who knock over pot shops, perhaps he should try asking the Superior Court for a proper search warrant to place cameras in pot shop parking lots, instead of asking the city to pay a contractor in perpetuity for photos of every vehicle entering town. If pot shop owners object that he’d be spying on their customers, let Escalante argue that point in court.
Monroy reports that SCPD has previously used grants to buy other war toys, but he doesn’t tell us whether any of these stocking stuffers has ever actually been used.
Instead of stockpiling toys against imagined crimes, perhaps Escalante should concentrate on the hundreds of true crimes that occur here daily, where some automation might help, namely all of the cars zipping down our streets way too fast, ignoring speed limits while endangering pedestrians and cyclists. I haven’t seen an SCPD officer or County Sheriff’s deputy write a speeding ticket in years.
Scott Marovich
Soquel
LICENSE PLATE READER COMPANY SUPPORTS PROGRAM
Hollister Police officers arrested a suspect accused of involvement in a shooting after using their newly-installed Flock Safety License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras to identify a suspect vehicle.
On Dec. 4, Hollister officers responded to reports of a shooting. The victims stated that a silver vehicle pulled up next to their car and fired several shots into the car. Officers queried nearby Flock Safety LPRs and identified a suspect vehicle that matched the description and was near the scene at the time of the crime. With assistance from Watsonville PD and Santa Cruz Probation, officers apprehended a juvenile, who was booked in the San Benito County Youth Services Center.
“FLOCK Systems were integral to our solving this case so quickly,” said Hollister Police Chief Carlos Reynoso. “We used this system exactly as intended; to identify suspects in crimes and build a criminal case against them, and bring them to justice swiftly.
Flock Safety works with over 3,000 law enforcement agencies to solve hundreds of crimes every day.
Best,
Connor Metz | Flock Safety
PRAISE FOR GT
Two quickies:
1) In response to your editorial about the Israel-Hamas episode, threats, etc. I was saddened to learn of it, but not surprised — there’s a lot of free-floating hostility in this place…pops out in strange places. It’s troubling when they go after newspapers…Damn!
2) Geoffrey’s piece on Rebele — brilliant choice to have him do it, and a more than brilliant result! Best damned profile I’ve ever read — the bastard made me cry and I told him so.
Do you have kids and do you feel safe if they walk or bike to school? In Santa Cruz and in the country at large, the answer is too often no.
Some 211 bicyclists were injured between 2017 and 2021 in the city of Santa Cruz with one fatality. And 88 pedestrians were injured and 7 killed, according to a study released by Vision Zero, a local group analyzing traffic safety with a goal of lowering accidents.
At least 7,508 people who were out walking were struck and killed in the United States last year, the highest since 1981 and almost double the number from 2010, according to a report by the nonprofit Governors Highway Safety Association.
All this while internationally the rates of pedestrian deaths have gone down, according to a New York Times report.
Planners are coming up with theories for the rise: drivers distracted by cell phones and electronics; a lack of safe biking space and sidewalks; higher speed limits and bigger vehicles; automatic transmissions that need less concentration than manual ones; and less enforcement by police.
The greatest rise in accidents has occurred after dark and in particular when the clocks change for daylight saving time. The county has received millions to improve transportation, which is good news.
Every one of us is affected by traffic delays and we have yet to hear of a real solution. For me, the biggest help would be improving safety for students trying to get to and from schools.
It’s shocking that in so many neighborhoods there are no sidewalks or bike lanes. How can you expect anyone to get home safely when they have to walk in thin streets after dark designed only for cars? What were planners thinking?
It’s not too late to raise your voices and make sure local money is spent making non motorized travel more safe for those who need it most. We don’t need more studies of expensive solutions that won’t solve the problem. We need safe bike lanes and walkways NOW.
Brad Kava
Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
OWL’S WELL Great Horned Owls have made their return to Lighthouse Field after being ousted by the storm this winter. Photo:Ty Hammond
GOOD IDEA
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission approved $61.3 million for regional transit projects including:
• Traffic signal priority for buses
• Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail Project – for environmental analysis
• Bicycle Incentives Program
• Pavement including Murphy’s Crossing, Roggie Lane, Lee Road, West Beach Street, Corralitos Road, Amesti Road, Empire Grade Road, Bear Creek Road, Soquel San Jose Road, Rio Del Mar Boulevard, Bay Street, Scotts Valley Drive, Mt, Herman Road, 41st Avenue and Green Valley Road
• New and upgraded bicycle/pedestrian facilities projects.
• Improvement projects by the Felton-SLV Schools.
GOOD WORK
Registered nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital ratified a new three-year contract, the first collective bargaining agreement since WCH became a public-sector employer in 2021.
It includes: improved retention of experienced nurses, with a hospital guarantee that 20 percent of staff positions be reserved as part-time; more input from nurses about pandemic procedures; safeguards against mandatory overtime; and prioritizing jobs for union nurses.
“After a tumultuous few years, we’re thrilled to have a strong contract that reflects the priorities of nurses and the needs of our community,” said Shanandrea Castro, RN-Special Procedures.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.” —Mark Hyman
The holiday season is a good time for reggae: peaceful vibes, happy tones and dreams of sunnier days. Sammy Johnson (aka Sammy J) brings his unique take on the genre to Santa Cruz this week in celebration of the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Prelude. Drawing on his Australian and New Zealand roots, the singer embodies his Maori and Polynesian heritage to create jazz-infused music that evokes gentle island breezes, moonlight strolls and falling asleep to the sound of waves. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
Founded by New York producer Aaron Levinson and longtime bandleader and pianist Oscar Hernandez, the high-flying Spanish Harlem Orchestra has recorded seven deeply felt and precisely executed Latin jazz albums. With three Grammy awards to their credit, SHO’s “Salsa Navidad” holiday show includes Latino/Spanish classics and some classic American Christmas songs in a salsa style. The holiday performance also features the Puerto Rican Christmas style known as “Aguinaldo,” along with some of their non-holiday original compositions. DAN EMERSON
INFO: 7pm & 9pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St. $57.75/adv, $63/door. 427-2227
FRIDAY
AMERICANA
PATTERSON HOOD
Patterson Hood, the man behind the alt-country band Drive-By Truckers, is on a solo tour. He speaks with a southern twang and sings with a voice steeped in yearning. His music is Wilco-meets-Bob-Dylan-meets-Appalachia, showcasing a fluidity and earnestness that can only come from an artist who has spent years honing his craft. Hood’s voice is insistent; he is not afraid to howl in agony when the moment is right, and his howl is so laden with feeling that it could call down the moon. JESSICA IRISH
In the punk rock world, it’s blasphemy for bands to stray from the three-chord path—unless that band is X. Exene Cervenka, John Doe, DJ Bonebrake and Billy Zoom have long earned the credit they deserve, not only as cofounders of the Los Angeles punk scene but as world-class musicians, songwriters and artists. And their live shows continue to be just as energetic and fun as ever; it’s hard not to sing along to every single song. They’re playing at the Rio this round, so the kids can slam dance up front while mom and dad kick back with a drink. MAT WEIR
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $37. 423-8209.
ROCK
HOT LAUNDRY
For the last six years, the high-fashioned, functioning outfit known as Hot Laundry has delivered hard garage rock via Detroit with a stop at Motown. Their live shows feature lead singer Janette Lopez with backup singers and dancers Ileath Bridges and Gena Serey shaking and swaying to the hard-driving, funky beat. Perfect for anyone who knows how to do “the Shake” and “the Watusi” or likes to pogo up and down like a mad lad. As an added warm-fuzzy feeling, this Friday’s show is also a charity toy drive, and attendees are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to make someone’s holiday extra special. MW
Ozomatli can do it all and often does. Their sound combines jazz, salsa, reggae, hip-hop, cumbia, and many other Latin influences with songs sung in English and/or Spanish. Fans of everyone from Jack Johnson to Buena Vista Social Club will have the time of their lives with Ozomatli. If Santana and Bob Marley performed in a supergroup with a rock ‘n’ roll drummer and a rapper, the sound would come close to what Ozo is dropping. JI
Come gather around the holiday hearth and enjoy the joyful spirit of the season. Christmas with the Chorale takes us on a musical journey through gorgeous music, from Ukrainian carols to renowned Renaissance compositions. “The Magnificat,” by 17th-century Austrian composer Heinrich Biber, highlights this swift-moving concert conducted by maestro Christian Grube, emeritus professor of choral conducting at the Berlin University of Arts. The musicians of the Monterey Bay Sinfonietta will join the Chorale. Celebrate the season with beloved music performed by one of the area’s top choral ensembles. CHRISTINA WATERS
INFO: Sat, 8pm, Sun, 4pm, Holy Cross Church, 123 High St, Santa Cruz, $30. 427-8023.
SUNDAY
SKA
WESTERN STANDARD TIME SKA ORCHESTRA
It’s not every day that a 20-piece ska band comes to town and brings a bunch of friends. The dynamic supergroup Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra blasts into Moe’s this Sunday with featured vocalists Jesse Wagner (the Aggrolites) and Karina Denike (Dance Hall Crashers). The crowd is in for a jubilant night of Jamaican jazz fusion with this ensemble of West Coast ska legends, which includes past members of Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello, Kingston 10 and Mobtown. The group will undoubtedly be performing some cuts off their recently released Christmas album, Bluebeat Holiday. Local soul virtuosos the Inciters will open. AM
Longtime beloved Santa Cruz vocalist Tammi Brown is facing the challenge of her life: a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. “Tonight For Tammi” will bring many of her talented friends together for this benefit to help deal with the costs of her treatment. Topping the marquee will be guitar and bass wizard Stanley Jordan, a past collaborator. Also playing will be gospel vocal groups Attune and Tanya Fitzgerald & the Broken People, singer James Durbin, bassist Polo Jones, the Lauren Monroe Band (featuring Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen) and Emmy Award-winning composer John Wineglass. DAN EMERSON
INFO: 4pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St. $75. 427-2227.
The Central Coast has run out of space. Housing is so tight; you know you’re from Santa Cruz if you’ve ever bent over in your bedroom and turned on your kitchen stove with your ass.
The University of California Santa Cruz’s 2021 No Place Like Home study concludes that Santa Cruz is one of the least affordable places to live on the planet, and housing is the main problem. We’ve exhausted our space for single family units and are turning to accessory dwelling units (ADUs), separate small dwellings next to single-family residences.
They have been called secondary units, granny flats, in-law units, man-caves, and teenager-out-of-your-face units. ADUs attempt to be a low-cost approach to infill housing, strive to be an alternative to the investment/developer’s answer to affordable housing in Santa Cruz: bigger, taller, more expensive buildings. I have yet to experience a new tall building as an improvement in lifestyle, going home by riding an elevator feels wrong on so many levels. But even building ADUs is out of reach for many Santa Cruzans. Santa Cruz Green Builders says a stand-alone ADU can cost from $300,000 to $700,000.
But I have experienced an affordable lifestyle that reveres light and vistas and freedom and a living space that is meant to be art. It was when I moved into my 1979 Airstream trailer.
“A lot of people like them polished, they love seeing themselves in thetrailer.” —Watsonville Airstream guru Skye Ogden
Space Age in any age French bike racer Alfred Letourneur towing a 22 foot Airstream
A Silver Bullet?
We’ve all seen the sleek, silver bullets rolling across the American landscape, a curious symbol of both our wanderlust and our love of home. The lifestyle is a return to the basic, stripped down to the essential, while in pursuit of something greater than us. When we pass Airstreams on the freeway we think, “Surely, this is a vessel of dreams.” Airstreams, and their vintage aluminum counterpart Spartan trailers, are space age Conestoga wagons that only retire to back yards as ADUs.
What people love about Airstreams starts with the materials. Airstreams have a steel frame riveted by a unique aluminum, seamless, hard shell. Strong but light, it is the same material used for making aircraft, the shell is held together by airplane rivets. They don’t rust, they don’t rot, and whether you purchase them old or new, you get a lot of bang for your buck. Granted, a lot of buck.
The new rounded and polished aluminum coachwork Airstreams start at $65,000 and go way up, fast. Tom Hanks’ Airstream that he used on movie sets sold for $200,000. If you’re well-healed, you can spend as much as you want; on a trip to Asia, Vice President Dick Cheney traveled in an Airstream trailer inside an airplane. But there is a path to owning an Airstream for those in the middle class (remember them?) and even in the lower class (those of us who are comfortable with getting our hands dirty.)
To follow this path, buy an old Airstream in as good shape as you can afford and put it up on blocks in your backyard. If you can follow You Tube instructions, you can rebuild even the old, bent ones, because they were quality built. If you get stuck, there is an underground cottage industry of Airstream restorers who will help you. Today, new Airstream Internationals like mine cost $109,000. Twenty years ago I paid $5,000 for my 1979 Airstream International and it was in great shape.
The tales in this story are of the back yard aluminum trailers, old Airstreams and Spartans retrofitted to serve as ADUs, and the people who live in them. The older the trailer, the more likely it is to quietly live in someone’s yard as an extra bedroom, bath and kitchen. To paraphrase General Douglas MacArthur, “Old Airstreams never die, they’re just out of sight.”
FRAMED If you want to customize your Airstream, Skye Ogden can help. Photo: Richard Stockton
What Planet Are These Spaceships From?
William Hawley Bowlus was the plant superintendent for the production of Charles Lindbergh’s plane, The Spirit of St. Louis. In 1934, Bowlus developed the first riveted aluminum trailer, named “Road Chief.” Wally Bynum sold these trailers and after Bowlus ended production in September 1936, Bynum created Airstream to imitate the Road Chief and in 1936 created The Clipper.
Airstream trailers are now manufactured in Jackson Center, Ohio, a division of Thor Industries. Airstream is the oldest trailer manufacturer in the business, and none approaches its quality.
A Look at My Airstream
The first vintage Airstream I noticed was the 1937 Airstream on the cover of guitar legend Ry Cooder’s 1970 debut album. Ry Cooder said, “I like an Airstream trailer. They’re real abstract to me, like bananas on wheels.”
Twenty years ago, I won the vintage Airstream lottery. I paid $5,000 for my 24-foot 1979 Airstream International, a smooth skinned beauty, garaged most of its life. It has no flat surfaces except for the floor and windows and even the front corner windows are curved. It has polished aluminum window frames, chrome window locks, stainless steel stovetop and sink, aluminum trim on all corners, stainless steel accent rivets, light gray woodwork, silver ash laminate flooring and barely off-white walls.
The Starship Enterprise control area above the wrap-around front windows matches the sweeping contours of the sink and shower in the rear. Mister Spock would feel at home in my Airstream.
Recycle,Retrofit, Reincarnate
In 2016, on Windsor Street in Seabright, my wife Julie and I were put out on the street by out-of-town investors. Fueled by anger and desperation, I gutted my Airstream down to the walls and floor to rebuild it from scratch.
I have two music buddies who are brilliant artists with wood and metal. Rhan Wilson, Rick Zeek and I talk for hours about how my old trailer can be retrofitted to fit my life.
I let them know that I’m not broke, I’m just having an out-of-money-experience. So, the first job is mine. I tear out the old flooring, pull all nails and screws embedded in the walls and ceiling, scrape the metal walls with knives, drill out the holes that have raised edges, pound the metal flat.
For weeks I fill over one thousand tiny holes that had been punched into the interior aluminum walls and ceiling. When I get the walls smooth and primed white, the beautiful curves and contours of the inside skin come alive. What’s cool about old Airstreams is that you can retrofit them to fit your life.
We double the closet space because Julie has clothes.
We double the size of the bathroom because Julie has makeup.
We line the closets with cedar because Julie has an incredible sense of smell.
The floor of the nose is left open because Julie has a yoga mat.
We design a couch that turns into a bed because Julie has me.
Work on your Airstream will continue as long as life keeps changing; I’m building a bed in the nose beneath the wraparound windows, so me, Julie and her beast can sleep under the stars.
HOME SUITE HOME Spartan or luxurious, there are infinite possibilities for your home on wheels. Photo: Richard Stockton
Tales of Lust and Aluminumat a Felton Rally
Whether you buy a new one for megabucks, or you get a worn-out vintage trailer to work on, you have purchased your way into a club. Airstream owners can’t stop talking about their trailers and they snap together like magnets.
There are hundreds of Airstream rallies every year in the U.S.
Airstream Club International has a rally every month and I attend the one at the Redwood RV Resort on Highway 9 in Felton. Forty Airstream trailers converge from all over the country to party for five days in the redwoods. It has people of an age you think of in assisted living centers, but these 60, 70, and 80-somethings are rocking.
It is like Woodstock if the headliner was Lawrence Welk. Upon revealing that I live in an Airstream trailer, I am handed food and alcohol and lured into the party. I’m in a cult.
I’m talking with Glen and Paul, two 60-somethings with Day-Glo sneakers.
“We are all different, politically right or left, straight or hip, poor or wealthy, it’s all across the board, we are all bonded for life. What bonds us is the trailer.”
I comment that this sounds serious and ask if an intervention is needed.
Paul says, “Too late. We all have terminal cases of aluminitis.”
Glen and his wife Marta own a new 27-foot Flying Cloud, their third Airstream. “I bought all of them new and sold the first two for more than I paid for them.”
I meet a formidable woman named Mary Ann who tells me that five years ago she wandered over to Michael’s Airstream at an Airstream rally and five weeks later was living in it as his wife.
“He had an 11-car garage, full of cars, and I used to own a wrecking yard with over 2,500 cars. I had never gotten over losing my wrecking yard in my divorce. This man with 11 cars and three Airstream trailers healed me.”
She makes a fist and punches Michael in the back. Michael grunts from the blow but does not turn around, he is talking to another man about his Airstream trailer.
Bob Frist says he heard Mike Tyson’s manager say, “To find your way to your greatness, you need to find another room in your house.” Bob went looking for another room and found the love of his life, Chris and her Bambi trailer, the smallest Airstream. Chris says, “I love the Airstream, it’s your kitchen and the bathroom in the middle of the night. All your hominess goes with you.”
Bob whispers to me that Airstreams “may be chick magnets.” Chris thrusts her head out of the trailer, “I heard that. Chick magnet? I’m the one who owns the trailer. Maybe it’s a dude magnet.”
Bob grins. “You nailed me, baby.”
He turns to me and shakes his head, “Lust and aluminum.”
A 60-something woman named Betty says, “I met a really cute dude with mine! I was living in a Santa Cruz trailer park in my ’64 Airstream and I saw this really cute guy staring at me and my trailer. He was the groundskeeper for the trailer park, and he walked up and introduced himself in Spanish; he doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish, not one word. No sharing life stories, no blah, blah, blah.
We were lovers for six years and then the trailer park fired him for having an affair with me, ’cause I was a park resident, and he disappeared.
I left Santa Cruz for a year, came back to a different trailer park and he was the groundskeeper of that one! It’s great to be in love. Yeah, my ‘64 Airstream is totally a dude magnet.”
Going all the way
Skye Ogden, my Watsonville brother-in-aluminum, retrofits Airstreams and Spartans, some for travel but mostly to be used as ADUs.
“I restore from the bottom up, wheels, bearings, tires, safety stuff, like a jack, a coupler, a hitch. We polish too if they want it, $3,000 to $6,000 depending on the size of the trailer.”
It started out as a hobby for Skye, a ravenous student of restoration, and he turned it into a family business, buying, restoring, selling, or transporting vintage campers.
“I just put new windows in two Spartans, a ‘46 and a ’48. I want to become an expert in making and installing polycarbonate, curved windows for Spartans. It’s an old-school glass glazier art, not many do it anymore. I go to vintage trailer rallies and am blown away by the restorations. Some are mid-century modern, some classic vintage, and others have ultra-modern finishes, polished metal accents, high end carpentry. One thing I’d like to try is to partner with someone with land to create a vintage glamp-ground. Nice view, the ocean, or a hill… and my trailers.”
“Who buys these from you?”
“Usually, it’s people who want to use them for an ADU, a guest house, office, or studio. They make them their own, fix them up, give them their own character. Some take a crane and lift them over their house to their backyard. It becomes an extension of their home.” Check out Skye’s work at SilverCaravanner.com.
Santa Cruzan Joe Shewmaker has been living in his Airstream for 40 years, “If your electrical system is original you will eventually want to upgrade that, but your foundation, walls, ceiling, roof and windows aren’t going anywhere. It’s all aluminum. It’s one of the few, if not the only living structure that will be just as solid 40 years from now.”
Is an Airstream for you?
Living in a retrofitted vintage Airstream is like having a hot rod car; you have the coolest ride on the block… and you never stop working on it. Maintenance is constant and parts can be challenging to get. But for most repairs, you can work on it yourself. There are guys like Skye Ogden you can hire.
To live in an Airstream, there is a universe beyond downsizing. Nearly all of the stuff in your house or apartment is not moving into the trailer with you. Look, if you want a bigger house, get smaller furniture. Deflate your yoga ball and sit on a basketball. A love seat becomes a self-love seat. Your Welcome mat may just say “Wel”.
Your WiFi needs to be strong, your little house is made of aluminum. The upside is that Chinese satellites and balloons cannot steal your ideas.
Your aluminum trailer can change temperature rapidly. At night the walls transmit the cold temperatures to the inside and as soon as the sun hits the Airstream it turns into a solar oven. Last summer my Mexican neighbor called me Ricardo Asada, but then I got a whole house ceiling fan that cools it down in minutes.
Finally, do not expect your kids to approve of your move into an Airstream ADU. My children think I’m crazy and my Airstream is just further proof. My daughter does not want to hear about my unfulfilled dreams, she wants me to fill my prescription for lithium. Whoever I am turning out to be is not what she had in mind.
Freedom
The vintage aluminum trailer crowd is partial to second chances, “We’re not trailer trash, we’re recycled.” We dig it that these old aluminum trailers need to be repaired, repolished, re-wired, re-plumbed, re-screened, and reincarnated. Even given the limited living space, no one I know who owns an Airstream regrets buying it.
Whether you model the Silver Surfer, for whom freedom is everything, or just want to develop a place for people to crash, an Airstream ADU has the potential to find freedom from banks, freedom from scarcity fears, and freedom from needing a six-figure income to live in Santa Cruz.
Special thanks to Contributor Julie Flannery for her editing assistance during the development of this manuscript.
Want to try out an Airstream?
One way to sleep-test a vintage Airstream is to spend a night at the Waypoint Ventura Hotel, a vintage trailer hotel by the beach in Ventura, California. Go to waypointventura.com and check out the 50 vintage aluminum trailers they offer for rooms.
Scan this QR Code to watch a 2 minute video of Richard’s visit to the Waypoint Ventura Hotel.
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We’ve exhausted our space for single family units and are turning to accessory dwelling units (ADUs), separate small dwellings next to single-family residences.
