The local economy is showing promising signs of recovery according to the 2023 State of the Workforce report released last week. Published by the Santa Cruz County Workforce Development Board, the report paints the picture of a strong rebound overall in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The local economy is experiencing a fairly robust recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Workforce Development Board Director Andy Stone. “However, the high cost of living and a severe housing crisis continue to make it difficult for local employers to attract and retain workers.”
From 2017 to 2022, the county experienced a 9% increase in jobs, adding 9,100 new positions. This is markedly higher than the state and national average, which come in at 4% and 3%.
The report emphasizes that the recent job additions are mainly concentrated in high-paying industries such as defense, aerospace, transportation and manufacturing (DATM) which grew by a dramatic 222% within this timeframe. This high-earning cluster has an annual average earning of about $142,000 per year.
Joby Aviation is highlighted in the recap as a business case study in the DATM industry. The company has contributed to the rise of high-earning jobs in the area.
However, gains in some areas like high-skill employment are countered by issues like the lack of affordable housing and a higher unemployment rate than the national average.
Breaking Down Numbers
Despite the promising outlook for high-earners, the overall job quality in Santa Cruz County is lower than the state average. Low-pay workers at jobs like in the retail and food service industries make up 57.5% of jobs in the county compared to 53.1% statewide.
Max Halterman has seen what these numbers mean in real life.
Halterman is one of the founders of Om Gallery, an eclectic home goods store in the heart of downtown Santa Cruz established in 2001. His business requires a mix of part-time retail workers and management positions. He’s been having a hard time retaining talent for management positions.
“The relatively low wage that we’re able to offer because we’re a small business is just kind of illustrating [that] we don’t have the business capabilities to pay Silicon Valley professional wages but the cost of living here requires it,” said Halterman.
The report notes that in the county, 45% of renters—around 17,000 residents—spend 35% or more of their income on housing.
Santa Cruz County residents with low-earning jobs are in a precarious situation in an area where the market rate for a two-bedroom apartment is $3,293 according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of Reach report. Residents here may need to look elsewhere for a place they can comfortably afford.
Unlike many small businesses, Om Gallery survived the COVID-19 pandemic, said Halterman. Despite current inflation fears affecting consumer spending, Halterman has also seen an upturn since the pandemic.
“The first 12 to 16 months after COVID there was a real strong recovery for us. Sales increased greatly even to pre-pandemic levels,” he said.
Remote Work
Between 2020 and 2021, a sharp decrease in population saw 4,800 residents leave the county, following a statewide trend. During the same period 277,000 Californians left the state citing housing costs as the main factor. Santa Cruz County residents point to housing costs and remote work as factors for them.
The number of remote workers in northern parts of the county nearly doubled to 91%, according to the report. The southern part of the county also saw an increase, with 44% of workers going remote since 2017.
If seen at a glance, the increase in high-earning jobs props up employment statistics. However, at 6.7%, the unemployment rate in Santa Cruz County is higher than the state average of 4.8% and the national average of 3.9%. Labor force participation also declined from 62% in 2019 to 59% in 2021, not having fully recovered from its pre-pandemic numbers.
Looking Ahead
Another source of potential job creation is a county infrastructure investment that allocated $119 million for the 2022-23 fiscal year budget. The substantial 223% increase for road repairs and improvements may add hundreds or thousands of jobs, says the report. An additional $7 million has also been set aside for housing projects.
The infrastructure workforce is aging, however, with 23% of overall transportation workers being 55 or older and close to retirement. The residential construction workforce is in similar shape, with 26% of workers there being over the age of 55.
County vocational training programs are crucial to bringing new blood into the workforce. Cabrillo College (42%) and local union chapters (39%) offer the most vocational training relevant to infrastructure and residential construction in Santa Cruz County, according to the report.
There is plenty of good news in the WDB breakdown, but the high cost of living is a key factor contributing to Santa Cruz County’s inability to retain workers of various skill levels.
“Business-owners continue to struggle to find qualified applicants for skilled and unskilled work due to the high costs of living and lower wages offered than in neighboring regions,” the report states.
The full State of the Workforce report can be found here.
A sea otter at Cowell’s Beach in Santa Cruz garnered headlines around the country for its unusual behavior.
The otter, identified as Otter 841, has recently taken to climbing aboard unsuspecting surfers’ boards, resisting pleas to move on and even aggressively staking a claim. Caught on video, the otter rolled from the top of the board to the bottom after the surfer, who had crawled into the water, flipped the board over in hopes of shaking the animal loose.
Wildlife officials say the 5-year-old female southern sea otter is exhibiting “concerning and unusual behaviors,” including repeatedly approaching surfers and kayakers.
Posters have been posted along West Cliff Drive and surroundings that warn of the “aggressive sea otter.” PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula
“Sea otters are naturally wary of people, but this individual has been aggressively approaching people and biting surfboards,” officials say.
“Due to the potential public safety risk, a team from CDFW and the Monterey Bay Aquarium trained in the capture and handling of sea otters, has attempted capture of the sea otter when conditions have been favorable since July 2,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife say.
On Monday a crew on paddleboards and in a boat gingerly approached the otter who dined on shellfish while keeping a distance from them.
The cover of a recent report on cannabis consumers, produced by New Frontier Data, features a set of nine close-up portrait shots of people, apparently in their 30s, who could easily comprise the staff of a graphic-design firm or a team of web developers.
That’s the image that the pot industry generally goes for, with exceptions, of course. Cannabis consumers are folks like anybody else, whose pot use is perfectly normal. They are educated and productive. And, of course, many pot consumers are just that, especially the ones who get their weed from licensed dispensaries in legal states.
But one look through the responses to just about any Twitter thread or Facebook post about weed will reveal that a lot of pot users are marginal types, obsessed with weed and given to engaging in internet trolling, spreading conspiracy theories—about cannabis and otherwise—and just being generally insufferable. A disturbingly high number of them seem to be MAGA. One might reasonably assume that among that cohort, the frequency of pot use is higher, and that they use weed less responsibly as compared to the people on the cover of the New Frontier report. One important caveat here: Many medical users consume large quantities of pot because they often have to.
A major question for the legal-weed industry is: Which group should pot companies market to? It’s not a zero-sum question; they can market to both if they’re smart about it. But in creating and maintaining a brand, they have to pick one over the other. One can tell from looking at the product names, marketing materials and label designs which group a given company has chosen to target. For example, one that emphasizes health and wellness is very different from one that hints at how wrecked consumers will get on their gummies, and that includes a lot of dumb ’70s iconography and hippie stuff.
New Frontier’s report, assuming it’s solid, seems to indicate that aiming cannabis marketing at everyday folks is probably the best bet in most cases.
A poorly hidden secret of the so-called vice industries, like liquor, gambling, junk food and tobacco, is that most of the dollars spent come from the heaviest users. That is, booze producers rely on alcoholics to hit their quarterly revenue targets—which puts their advertisements’ “Please Drink Responsibly” messages in an amusing light. Snack makers depend on overeaters. Las Vegas relies heavily on degenerate gamblers. Cigarette makers, by definition, serve a customer base of addicts.
But while lots of people use weed as sort of a “vice,” the cannabis industry isn’t really a “vice” business. Often, it’s the precise opposite. Tons of people really do use weed for medical purposes. Others use it to relax after a long day, or to heighten their enjoyment of a movie or concert. There are pitfalls and drawbacks to using pot, but they’re not anything like the outright dangers of drinking, sugar-binging, gambling or cigarette-smoking.
The New Frontier report—“Cannabis Consumers in America 2023 Part 2: Exploring the Archetypes”—has good news on that front, both for the industry and for society: Typical legal cannabis consumers are neither heavy users nor occasional, or “experimental,” users; they are those who use pot regularly, but not, if you will, chronically. The researchers created nine “archetypes” based on type and frequency of use. Heavier users are dubbed “savvy connoisseurs” and “lifestylers.” But, going by the report, and by anecdotal observation, we’re more likely to see consumers in the “modern medicinals” or the “engaged explorers” categories. Those would be the people on the front cover.
From the beginning, the legal-weed industry has faced a massive challenge to overcome all the stoner stereotypes: That people who use pot are all lazy, zoned-out dummies. That’s part of why pot remains illegal in many states and under federal law, but it’s also why it’s often hard to get local governments to approve licenses for pot merchants. It also keeps potential customers away out of fear that they’ll be branded as “potheads.” The more we learn about today’s pot consumers, the less of a problem that will be.
California goes after its unlicensed cannabis operators
States across the country, as well as the federal government under veteran drug-warrior President Joe Biden, are falling all over themselves to free from prison people convicted of cannabis crimes and to expunge those convictions from their records.
This is, of course, all to the good. Weed, obviously, should never have been illegal in the first place, and throwing people in prison for years or decades for possessing or even for selling pot amounts to cruel and unusual punishment for an act that should never have been punishable at all. Also cruel and unusual: forcing people to live their lives with felony convictions on their records, making it very difficult for them to land jobs or find a landlord willing to rent them a home, simply for possessing pot.
And so it’s very weird when the state of California—where pot has been legal for more than five years now—brags about busting pot dealers, as it does every three months and did again this week. Of course, not all pot is legal, and in fact the majority of weed sold in California is illicitly grown and illicitly sold. To be legal, it must be sold by licensed businesses that agree to a set of strict regulations and a severe testing regime. And of course, it must be taxed.
So it’s not bad, exactly, that state and local governments continue to go after illicit pot growers and merchants. It’s just weird. It likely felt weird to longtime moonshiners when alcohol prohibition was lifted in 1933, too. And it’s not like it’s all that unusual to bust people for selling legal substances in an illegal way, like when corner stores sell untaxed, and often stolen, cigarettes.
The central irony here is that the state government that is going after illicit dealers is the same state government that, via insanely high tax rates on legal pot along with other misguided policies, has enabled the illicit market to thrive in the first place. Some local governments—and particularly local sheriff’s offices—are as hopped-up on anti-weed sentiment as they ever were, sometimes to the point of targeting legal pot businesses.
Legal cannabis companies are generally in favor of the state’s crackdowns, for obvious reasons, though they also would, for equally obvious reasons, prefer that state and local governments lower taxes and remove other unnecessary impediments to doing business. The busts and seizures would also be better received in that case.
The pot business existed for decades before weed became partly legal. So, naturally, many of the people now in the legal business had been in the illicit market long before Prop. 64 was passed in 2016. That’s especially the case with growers, some of whom now actually serve both markets, legal and illegal.
But a lot of the busts carried out by law enforcement target straight-up career criminals. In the raids, guns are often seized along with piles of weed. In the second quarter of this year, the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCET) seized 19 guns—compared to four in the same period last year.
These actions aren’t meant only to protect the legal market. Many illicit pot dealers befoul the environment with pesticides and their products, which obviously aren’t tested, often contain contaminants. The mission is “to safeguard public health and the environment,” said Hansen Pang, chief investigator for the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. “Through our expertise in addressing environmental concerns, including contamination, hazardous waste and banned pesticides, we collaborate to eliminate the adverse impact of the illegal cannabis market.”
But UCET, created last year to unify enforcement efforts, makes no bones about the fact that it is, as it put it in a statement, “supporting the legal cannabis market by investigating and disrupting illegal grow sites as well as shutting down illegal manufacturing, distribution and retail operations.”
As necessary as such actions might be, some perspective is required. The second quarter’s raids resulted in seizures of $110 million worth of weed, more than doubling the haul of the same period last year. The size of the illicit pot market in California is estimated at somewhere between $8 billion and $9 billion. In 2022, the legal market generated about $5.3 billion in revenue. Welcome to the new drug war: legal vs. illegal.
SCS opens its season of legacy with a comic thriller
What would William Shakespeare think if he knew his theater works were being performed in a California seaside town 400 years after they were first printed? Except for the devotion and determination of two of his fellow actors these masterpieces might have been lost to future generations.
In Lauren Gunderson’s high-spirited caper The Book of Will, set seven years after Shakespeare’s death, two of the Bard’s King’s Men company—John Heminges (Mike Ryan) and Henry Condell (Charles Pasternak)—are so enraged over the boot-leg variations of Shakespeare’s greatest hits being performed all over London, that they vow to round up the genuine versions to print in a single volume.
Thanks to their finagling, cajoling and threatening, plus a lot of help from high and low characters such as mercenary printer William Jaggard (Rex Young) and England’s hard-drinking poet laureate Ben Jonson (David Kelly) we have the plays collected in what’s known today as the First Folio.
Most of the action is set in Heminges’ tavern, where his wife Rebecca (Amy Kim Waschke) and daughter Alice (Allie Pratt) keep the men in line and the beer on tap. In a brisk first half, The Book of Will unleashes a gorgeously orated love-letter to Shakespeare.
We meet Richard Burbage, the most popular actor of the day, the bombastic Ben Jonson (both parts played by an amazing David Kelly) and the savvy women behind all this effort, including the ever-astonishing Paige Lindsey White, playing both Condell’s wife Elizabeth, and Shakespeare’s alleged, wealthy mistress Emilia.
I couldn’t get enough of David Kelly, whose tortured Jonson pontificates his love/hate relationship with his deceased rival.
Also a revelation is Waschke, as Heminges’ passionately encouraging wife, who in Gunderson’s script is an equal partner in powering this effort to fruition. In fact, according to Gunderson’s subtext, the strong-willed wives and the tippling Ben Johnson were the real brains behind the saving of Shakespeare’s authentic writings. It’s a stretch, however charming.
The play quickly sucks us into the urgent task of locating the actual notes and lines written by Shakespeare. Many have been lost, or stashed away or destroyed and need to be recreated by the combined memory-power of his fellow actors and detractors alike. A veritable mission impossible.
Whether the women in the lives of the actors were actual collaborators, or simply figments of poetic license with a feminist spin, remains unknowable. But it makes for good theater and terrific on-stage chemistry.
Waschke’s dramatic vocal authority matched that of Ryan and then some. Kelly’s mercurial histrionics, and the camaraderie fleshed out with brilliant physical comedy by Ryan and Pasternak, all make The Book of Will a rousing evening.
Everyone in this smart cast is terrific, but some elements rose above the others in opening night’s performance. One was the pleasure of watching two highly gifted, brilliantly paired actors—the past and future Artistic Directors, Mike Ryan and Charles Pasternak—play with and off each other’s many moves. Sheer delight.
The other was the guilty pleasure of wallowing in a steady stream of immortal lines from Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Burbage orates a roster of classic moments from a dozen of the plays.
Consider it an absolute World Tour of Shakespearian verse and anyone who claims to enjoy these famous soliloquies and verses won’t want to miss the chance to hear them played, spoken and delivered by a troupe of spot-on players.
Ignited by piquant, often poignant storytelling, The Book of Willdelivers a juicy comic opera driven by a race against time to save the work of a genius. Playwright Gunderson makes a few curious choices toward the ending that might have been better rethought. But I quibble. Don’t miss this bravura lovefest about the man who invented the English language.
Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s The Book of Will, by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Laura Gordon, at the Audrey Stanley Grove through August 27. santacruzshakespeare.org
When is a race not just a race? When it’s the Wharf to Wharf in Santa Cruz, which has been around for 50 years. Now, I think about road running the way former baseball great Satchel Paige did: “Avoid running at all times,” he said. “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”
Whenever I see someone running by me on a trail, I always wonder what rough beast is after them.
But seriously, Steve Kettman’s cover story this week is not only a celebration of a running race, but a dive into the history of Santa Cruz through the lens of the race.
The Wharf to Wharf is a spectacle as much as a competition. It brings in people from all over who want to run in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. And this year it’s got a serious mission: helping to fix a damaged wharf in Capitola and recover from our major storm damage.
It’s got music, great people watching and truly great energy, even if nothing is chasing the runners except creeping age. They are running to push back and stay in shape, admirable pursuits.
I’ll be out there cheering you on from a comfortable perch, sharing your joy without the pain.
As a newbie editor here, I’m weighing changes to our coverage and would love some feedback. We will do a formal survey soon, but for now I’m seeking readers’ opinions on some questions.
1. Should we keep the crossword puzzle or use that space for local content?
2. What do you think about our Street Talk column? Do you have suggestions for questions?
3.We have a wine column and a cannabis column we are alternating. Should we keep both?
4. I’d like to add columns on what local businesses are moving in and out, and one on green businesses. Thoughts?
That’s just a start. I’d love your feedback and advice on what you’d like to see Good Times focus on.Sendemail to br**@we*****.com
Thanks for reading
Photo Contest
WATCH OUT: This otter, with an ID tag on its flipper, dines on a shellfish Monday at Cowell’s Beach in Santa Cruz. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a warning to water recreation folks about the animal’s “unusual behavior.” Photograph by. Tarmo Hannula
Good Idea
The deadline for filing assistance claims related to winter storms in February and March is fast approaching, with the final deadline this Thursday, July 20th. Any county residents [3] who have storm-related losses from between Feb. 1, 2023–July 10, 2023 should file claims immediately. Through July 21, a Disaster Recovery Center is available in the basement of
the County Governmental Center. Through July 20, a Disaster Recovery Center is also
Santa Cruz’s local dance studio Pacific Arts Complex (PAC) announced this week that its dancers won numerous awards at the KAR Nationals in Anaheim. Dancers from over 75 studios were in attendance at the week-long event. PAC team dancers kicked things off by winning three coveted titles. Ella L’Heureux was crowned Elite Miss Dance, beating over 100 other regional title winners from across the country. PAC offers recreational and pre-professional classes for all ages and levels. For more information visit: www.pacificartscomplex.com
Letters
KEEPIN’ IT GREEN
I am writing to express my appreciation for the recent article published in Good Times titled “Thinking Green” that highlighted the green businesses in Santa Cruz. It was encouraging to see such a vital topic receive attention and recognition within our community.
As a member of the Santa Cruz community, and coordinator of the Santa Cruz County Green Business Program, I was excited that Good Times not only covered green business—but that it was a cover story. Recognizing these businesses and their commitment to sustainability is crucial for raising awareness and inspiring others to take action.
However, I noticed that the article did not mention the local Green Business Program. There are 48 Green Business Programs throughout and the County of Santa Cruz and City of Santa Cruz programs. These programs are part of a statewide network called the California Green Business Network.
This program is provided free of charge to businesses throughout the Monterey Bay Area. Our services not only help businesses reduce their environmental impact but also provide free promotion, resources and rebates.
To learn more about the California Green Business Network and the local Santa Cruz County program and its certification process, check greenbusinessca.org/santacruzcounty.
Claudia Villalta-Mejia l Bilingual Sustainability Consultant
GOAT
Let’s rededicate Cabrillo College. To goats.
The Cabrillo College name originally commemorated an early explorer, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo. For hundreds of years, no one seemed to remember that his exploration included pillaging while he cruised up and down the west coast of the Americas in 1542-43. This part of his story was recently brought into focus by a local historian, which is why the Cabrillo name is now under fire. Nobody wants their school to be named for a creep.
Renaming a college is surprisingly expensive and takes years. Fortunately, though, the Santa Cruz region is known for its joyful, carefree lifestyle, so we allow ourselves to explore many options, no matter what issue comes up. What’s been overlooked in this particular fray is an obscure, yet obvious, solution: rededicate the college to a different Cabrillo–or cabrillo.
“Cabrillo” in Spanish is “kid,” as in a baby goat. Videos of baby goats (cabrillos or cabritos) show delightfully cute little goats who dance their way through barnyards, sometimes wearing colorful pajamas. (Search YouTube for “baby goats in pajamas” for adorable examples.)
Fortunately, the Cabrillo Seahawks don’t need to become the Cabrillo Goats or the Cabrillo Kids, even though many students are kids. They don’t even need new pajamas.
Somebody said it would be “insufficient” to redirect the dedication to a different Cabrillo. Baloney. Therapists help their clients reframe issues every day. Viewing a problem from a more helpful perspective makes it much easier to handle that problem. Seeing it differently can even heal the anxiety that accompanied that problem.
Can’t find a better Cabrillo? I still like the goat idea.
Susan McLean, M.S. l Thesis Editor and Proposal Writer
Dezarie, who plays Moe’s Alley Thursday is a Roots Rock Reggae artist who has dedicated her art to the everyday struggle of life, and the triumphant empowerment of the human spirit. Her music carries a melodic and spiritual message of divine elevation, with a powerful rumination of equal rights and justice.
Born on the island of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, Dezarie’s exposure to its cultural energy, empowered the development of her unique, gentle, yet compelling voice that has produced five albums.
Opening is a band of area locals, Militia of Love, who formerly backed blues singer Lara Price.
9pm Thursday, July 20, $25 in advance / $30 day of the show, Moe’s Alley, 1525 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz (21 and over).
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, performed at Cabrillo College, is getting raves from local audiences for its colorful set and powerful songs. It plays Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Cabrillo’s Crocker Theater. Showtimes are 7-10pm Thursday and Friday, and 2-5pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $25-60 at CabrilloStage.com. The theater is at 6500 Soquel Dr., Aptos. Information: 831-479-6154.
Locals the Bad Light and Sweets Dendro perform Thursday in support of Museum Of Light on tour from Seattle. Featuring Rob Smith of longtime Oklahoma riff makers Traindodge on drums, Museum Of Light decisively balances the opposing worlds of heavy and ambient music. Big, crushing riffs give way to dreamy, Zen-like washes of ambience and found sound. The all ages show on Thursday at the Crepe Place starts at 9pm. $10 cover. 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.
Dobro master and 15-time GRAMMY winner Jerry Douglas is to the resonator guitar what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar, elevating, transforming, and reinventing the instrument in countless ways. Additionally, Douglas is a freewheeling, forward-thinking recording and touring artist whose output incorporates elements of country, bluegrass, rock, jazz, blues, and Celtic into his distinctive musical vision. He plays Friday at Felton Music Hall at 8pm for $55. 6275 Highway 9, Felton.
Head south of the border for a Latin DJ Showcase featuring DJ IRRE, DJ Willie, DJ Mundo and DJ Family Tub Friday night at Moe’s Alley. Showtime is 9pm. Tickets are $12. Over 21. 1525 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz.
How does the Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra fit 20 Jamaican musicians onto the stage at Moe’s Alley? This band, with a horn section larger than most full ska bands, breaks conventions and opens minds to new possibilities. They will definitely get you dancing, if there’s room on the floor. Special guests include MU300 and DJ Reggaedelic. Saturday at 9pm. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Moe’s Alley 1525 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz.
Community
Watsonville Community Hospital is hosting a town-hall-style event Thursday for area residents to hear what’s happening at the hospital and give their input about their hopes and wishes for the hospital, now that it is community-owned. The evening will begin with an update on several new initiatives underway, along with a chance for participants to ask questions. Then attendees will have the option of staying and breaking out into small groups for discussion and feedback. Community input will help guide plans being made for the next three to five years. The event will be held at Watsonville High School, 250 E. Beach St, Watsonville. Translation services will be available. Raffle prizes and light refreshments will be provided. 6-7:30pm at Watsonville High School, 250 E. Beach St. Watsonville.
Take the kids to see the Minions: The Rise of Gru Friday at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk at 8:30 pm. Bring a blanket/lawn chair and a light jacket. FREE
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your deep psyche will soon well up with extra creativity and fertility. I hope you will eagerly tap into these gifts. You should assume that you will be more imaginative and ingenious than usual. You will have an enhanced ability to solve problems with vigor and flair. In what areas of your life would you love to gently erupt with a burst of reinvention? Which of your habits might benefit from being cheerfully disrupted? Give yourself permission to change whatever bores you.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): My teacher Paul Foster Case said the color yellow is midway between warm, exciting red and cool, calming blue. “Yellow has an equilibrating influence,” he wrote. “It stimulates the finer functions of the brain, is of assistance in developing alertness and discrimination and helps to establish emotional balance.” According to my astrological analysis, Taurus, you should emphasize this hue in the coming days. If you call on yellow to help strengthen the qualities Case describes, you will place yourself in sweet alignment with cosmic rhythms.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Because I enjoy joking with you, I am slightly tempted right now to give you one of the following nicknames: Fidgety, Twitch, Jittery, Quivers or Shakes. But I will take a more serious tack. Let’s instead see if we can influence you to slow down, stabilize your rhythm, get really steady and secure and stand strong in your foundational power spot. Would you consider adopting any of the following nicknames? Anchor, Unshakeable, Sturdy, Rock Solid, Staunch, Steadfast, Resolute.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The sometimes overly clever author Oscar Wilde said, “When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.” I reject that warped view of reality and assure you it will have no bearing on your life in the coming weeks. If you formulate your prayers with care and discernment, they will lead you to rewards, not problems. Maybe not the exact rewards you imagined, but still close to your hopes and helpful in the next chapter of your life story. (PS: No sloppy, lazy, careless prayers, please. Be precise and clear.)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo theologian Bernard McGinn defines mysticism as “the consciousness of the immediate presence of God.” In other words, people having a mystic experience are filled with a visceral sensation of the divine intelligence. It’s not just an idea or concept; it’s a deeply felt communion infused with intimate tenderness. You Leos will be more likely than usual to have such contact in the coming weeks—if you want it. If you don’t want it, or don’t believe it’s real, or don’t think it’s possible, well, then, you can of course resist it. But why not give it a whirl? There’s nothing to lose, and it could be fun.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Here’s a parable for you. Once upon a time, there was a woman who could read the future in the night sky. She regarded the planets and stars as her divine informants. On one moonless evening, she took a walk down a dirt road near her home. It was so dark she could barely see two feet ahead of her. Oops! She should have brought a flashlight. Lost in wonder, she gazed up at the heavenly bodies, watching and listening for revelations they might have for her. Then one of the lights, the planet Saturn, whispered, “Stop and look down, friend.” The woman turned her eyes from the sky to the ground just in time to find she was two strides away from stepping into a deep, muddy hole. What’s the moral of the tale? Here are some possibilities. 1. Sometimes the heights provide useful information about the depths. 2. Soaring visions may help you tune in to practical details. 3. To become aware of important facts you’ve overlooked in your daily rhythm, consult your higher mind.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A Libran writer I know received many rejection notices when he launched his career. I was amazed at how undaunted he was. In fact, he was the opposite of undaunted. He taped copies of his rejection notices to his bedroom wall. Seeing the evidence of his failures motivated him. It drove him to improve his writing and churn out even more articles. It fueled his search for a wider array of publications that might host his work. During the fourth year of this approach, luck and fate turned in his favor. Within the next eight months, 12 of his pieces appeared in print. My muses tell me, Libra, that you need to hear this story right now.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The cartoon character Bart Simpson is one of the stars of The Simpsons animated TV show. According to him, “Life is a paradox. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” While that principle may sometimes be true, I believe you will be exempt from it in the coming weeks. In fact, I suspect you will be as free as it’s possible for a human to be of grueling contradictions, frustrating oppositions, clashing truths and paralyzing contraries. There’s a good chance you will also outwit and avoid annoying incongruities and silly arguments. Congratulations in advance, Scorpio! Take full advantage of this phase of simple clarity.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The dragon has appeared in the myths and legends of many cultures. Europe, China and Mesoamerica are just a few places where the fire-breathing flying reptiles have fascinated the human imagination. In some traditions, they are dangerous and predatory. In China, though, they have been harbingers of good fortune and symbols of great power. Emperors claimed the dragon as their special emblem. In assigning the dragon to be your soul creature, Sagittarius, I am drawing from Chinese lore. What would you like to accomplish that would benefit from you having access to fierce, dynamic, indomitable energy? Call on the dragon for help and power.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “There is a world of people who will love you for who you are,” writes author Cheryl Strayed. “A whole, vibrant, fucked-up, happy, conflicted, joyous and depressed mass of people.” In the coming months, one of your prime tasks is to specialize in communing with these folks. Make it your intention to surround yourself more and more with interesting, imperfect, ever-changing life-lovers who appreciate you for exactly who you are—and who inspire you to grow more and more into the full idiosyncratic glory of your authentic self.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): What psychic or prophet is most popular with a-list celebrities? I can assure you it’s not me. Few of my millions of readers are world-famous. What about the planet’s most scientifically accurate astrologer? Who might that be? It ain’t me. I don’t regard astrology as a science, and I mistrust those who say it is. In my view, astrology is a mythopoetic language and psychospiritual system that nurtures our souls and helps liberate us from our conditioning. We shouldn’t try to get “scientifically accurate” information from it. Now I encourage you to do what I just did, Aquarius. Have fun telling people who you are not, what you don’t believe in and which goals you aren’t interested in pursuing.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): To come up with your astrological reports, I study the positions of the sun, moon and planets in relation to your sign. That’s the technical part of the work, the framework within which I unleash my intuition and imagination. To augment this work, I meditate and pray, asking higher powers to guide me in providing useful information for you. I often consult books written by my favorite astrology writers. (Currently reading Steven Forrest’s The Elements Series.) I also ask my deep mind to slip me info that might not be accounted for by traditional factors. How about you, Pisces? How do you do the work that you love and care about? Now is a good time to take inventory and make necessary adjustments.
With its rich history Wharf to Wharf is back for year 50
For runners, our right to take in our city by foot for miles at a time feels sacred. When the statewide “stay at home” mandate came on March 19, 2020, early in the pandemic, I did the natural thing: I laced up my shoes and ran four miles from where we live in Soquel down to the Capitola Wharf, and along the way encountered people united in being alienated from each other by the challenge of adapting to the new reality. Already that day the thought hit me: They can’t take “Wharf to Wharf” from us.
Actually, they could—in April 2020 came the announcement that because of the pandemic, the 2020 Wharf to Wharf race was being canceled. Ditto, eventually, for the 2021 race. Last year, Wharf to Wharf was back—but I think for many, like me, who missed it for one reason or another, it didn’t feel back. This year, with plenty of time to prepare, when Wharf to Wharf gets underway this Sunday, it will feel like Santa Cruz spirit and Santa Cruz vitality are alive in a way they haven’t been in years.
“One of the things that makes Wharf to Wharf so special, from that original group of 270-something who ran the race, a lot of that humility is still displayed, kind of your backyard BBQ, family fun run where people come far and wide to meet up and run this race,” longtime race director Scott McConville told Good Times.
“You have all walks of life. A lot of races around the country that grew to this size, they turned it into an enterprise and business, and inevitably things just change. Who you are changes. For us, we continue to do the good work in the community, and this is our single North Star that we continue to move towards. I think it’s important to keep the fun and the humility. Despite the size of the event, we want to make sure we don’t lose that.”
For those of us who have run the race often over the years, it feels like a lifeline to the spirit of our community. Let’s face it, day to day life too often funnels down to a few regular stops: Trader Joe’s, Discretion Brewing, Abbott Square, Natural Bridges, whatever your own list might include. We lose sight—literally—of all that lies between. We lose sight of the unique charm of our little stretch of the Central Coast, so beguiling to so many visitors over the years.
COOL DOWN TIME — David King hoses down runners in the Wharf to Wharf race from the Boardwalk to Capitola as he does annually. Photo: imging
Running along East Cliff Drive for Wharf to Wharf, surrounded by others but still somehow alone with your thoughts, it’s easy to feel pulled back to the 1840s when visitors like controversial John C. Fremont were first arriving in these parts, which were then Mexico—and in the case of Fremont, recklessly risking war by veering back to Santa Cruz, with his band of armed men, apparently to scout for a good spot of land for Fremont to build a house for his own family. History does not record the details, but I’m pretty confident Fremont would have grabbed a spot along the Wharf to Wharf route if he’d had a little more time before having the good sense to skedaddle.
Wharf to Wharf from the beginning was a kind of love song to our community as a place where natural beauty brings people together.
As the Santa Cruz Sentinel explained the origins in an article in 1973, the first year the six-mile run was held, “Capitola resident Jim Reding along with Ken Napier, one of the better distance runners in the over-40 age class in California, got the ball rolling for such a race because they ‘wanted something that all ages could compete in.’ Why not a road race?”
Reding, a World War II Navy veteran and Campbell high-school teacher, was inspired by the colorful example of Bay to Breakers, the San Francisco running event first organized in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, which evolved into a veritable carnival of costumed revelry. Like Bay to Breakers, Wharf to Wharf’s charm arises from the musicians along the route, lifting spirits, and the mix of serious runners and fun-runners just out to shake a leg.
“Pete Sorenson, a captain in the San Francisco Fire Department and long-time vacationer in Capitola over the years, invited us up to the Bay to Breakers several times to watch,” Reding told the Sentinel in July 1973, “and it was at that time we thought it would be nice to have such a race in Santa Cruz County.”
That first Wharf to Wharf, run by “some 276” participants, according to the Sentinel, was a broader celebration of Capitola, which had recently been granted state historical landmark status as California’s first seaside community founded as a resort.
“Among the contestants were a 5-year-old boy and a 74-year-old San Luis Obispo man,” the Sentinel reported. “Guerin Myall, 55, of Santa Cruz, completed the six-mile journey without problem, as did Paul Spangler, Myall’s senior by 69 years.”
Myall, all these years later, remains very much a local fixture, now publisher of a startup “surf, skate and music” magazine, Totally Tubular, featuring top-level photography. https://totallytubularmag.com
Does he remember that first Wharf to Wharf? He does.
“I remember getting interviewed by one of the news stations and them asking what I did to prepare for the race,” Myall says now. “I clearly remember saying, ‘I had my Cheerios.’”
TRAFFIC JAM — The six-mile race is a plain old fun run for some. Photo: imging
At the first Wharf to Wharf, the race was so new, the culmination had its comical aspects. “The first nineteen runners had a bit of trouble at the finish when they ran onto the wharf instead of finishing on the beach in front of it, so no official times were taken,”the Sentinel reported at the time.
Longtime Soquel High track and cross-country coach Mark McConnell, a top finisher that year and a winner one year later, can confirm that. He still laughs thinking about running close behind Jack Bellah, his running teammate at Stanford.
“I knew where the course was supposed to go, I’d helped drag it with a wheel to measure it,” McConnell recalls. “I was close enough to Jack to see him make a turn onto the wharf and my thought was, ‘What’s going on? Did they decide at the last minute it would be cool to finish on the wharf?’ I followed Jack onto the wharf and so did about 20 people. That was a little embarrassing, but a fun story for the last 50 years.”
Runners this year will not have that problem, especially since the Capitola Wharf remains closed because of storm damage. Wharf to Wharf organizers have united behind the community effort to bring back the wharf—and to do so with style and local flair.
Anyone visiting the Wharf to Wharf homepage (wharftowharf.com) has noticed a bright orange tab reading: BEGIN FUNDRAISING NOW-CLICK HERE. And in orange letters, the admonition: “Help Rebuild the Capitola Wharf” and the explanation, “In partnership with the City of Capitola and the Capitola Wharf Enhancement Project, the Wharf to Wharf Race is fundraising to build back the Capitola Wharf better than ever!”
Scott McConville, taking a break from his hectic pre-race preparations, emphasized in a phone interview how important the cause was to everyone associated with Wharf to Wharf. “We’ve done a good job in the community for the 50 years we’ve existed, and operated under the mission of giving back and pouring money into the community to give youth equipment and facilities and opportunities to enjoy the sport of running,” he said.
“I think sometimes the landscape and the size of our event overshadow the work that we do. As we turn to the page to the next 50 years, we’re trying to focus on keeping up that work and letting the community know what we’re doing. We want to make sure that we keep getting the word out so we can keep those opportunities happening in the future.”
Last January, when epic storms knocked out the wharf, which was suddenly missing a section, and President Joe Biden and Governor Gavin Newsom were visiting, the Wharf to Wharf team felt called upon.
“This year when the storm happened early in the year, and our registration opening was a few months away, we thought right away, ‘How can we get involved in the rebuild of the community where our race finishes?’” McConville said. “At the time it felt so catastrophic and it felt so damaging, it took us a while to realize this isn’t just something we can do for the community, this is actually our name, this is our finish line. This is not just a feel-good thing. This is impactful for who we are.”
The result of that thinking was a close partnership. As an established 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Wharf to Wharf could legally serve as a conduit for donations, jumpstarting the fundraising effort, all without taking a cut. As the Biden visit highlighted, FEMA money was on its way, but much more was needed if the opportunity was going to be taken advantage of to create a vibrant new wharf environment.
Come to think of it, listening to McConville talk about his vision, maybe when the work on the wharf is completed, race organizers will have to go back to the original (unintended route) and finish on the wharf.
“Here’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to make this actually something that people want to be visiting when they come to town, an extension of the restaurants in the Village,” McConville said, and gushed about possibilities like public viewing of art and sculpture unique to the area, interactive children’s exhibitions, widening of at least some of the wharf and on and on.
It’s an appealing vision, one that amounts to stripping away the ravages of time to make the wharf and the area around it feel as fresh and magical as it did for earlier generations. The wharf was originally constructed in 1857 as “Soquel Landing.”
“Santa Cruz County is still moving; and the propelling forces of the subject may drive us into enthusiasm, not only on the many resources which surround us, but also the varied beauties connected with them,” the Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel wrote in 1867, and added this detail: “Soquel Landing is about one mile below the town and has a wharf, where the freight is shipped and the steamer Salinas formerly received a supply of fresh water. The town and vicinity has two stores, three sawmills, two grist mills, two tanneries, three blacksmith and wagon maker’s shops, saddler shop, etc.”
The first published reference to “Capitola wharf” comes in an odd anecdote in the Sentinel in September 1885, when a boat was chartered for a wedding, “the party made its appearance on Camp Capitola wharf,” and the “blushing bride was assisted into the boat by the trembling hand of the bashful groom.”
In October 1887, Santa Cruz Surf reported, “James Buero, a Soquel fisherman, while out fishing with his nets near Capitola … discovered that he had caught a sea monster of some kind. … The monster was, after much laborious work, towed to the beach near Capitola wharf, and proved to be an immense sea turtle, the largest of its species that has ever been caught on the coast. On being measured, it was found to be eight feet in length from its nose to the tip of his tail.”
And in August 1890, commenting on the fishing industry, Santa Cruz Surf reported, “Capitola wharf is a great seat for this industry, and seats are taken by both old and young all round it. ‘Keep in the middle of the wharf,’ is good advice, or your dress or coat may get hooked, and someone will say, ‘I really beg your pardon.’”
Wharf to Wharf somehow taps into all of that history, stretching from near the Santa Cruz Wharf to the Capitola Wharf. Any real local feels or senses the deeper truth of the history of the Capitola Wharf, a sign of the energy that brought new arrivals to these shores, a physical manifestation of the profound connection between our settlements and the thriving life of the ocean that nourishes us—and that, as any of us who have run Wharf to Wharf knows for ourselves, gives this race a special power to inspire.
POSTCARD PERFECT — The beauty of this race course attracts tourists from all over. PHOTO: wharf to wharf
Given all that has hit us in recent years, two years without Wharf to Wharf, the epic storms that caused so much damage in Capitola Village and through the region, this year’s running of Wharf to Wharf feels more than ever like a celebration of life itself—and that’s how Mark McConnell feels about it. He hasn’t run the race in decades, but he’ll be out there this Sunday.
“I’m actually going to run it this year, largely because I turned 70,” he said. “One of the things that helped Wharf to Wharf grow was simply the beauty of the course. People like to come to Santa Cruz and the race is a good excuse. Not too many races can compete with Santa Cruz.”
Another participant in the first Wharf to Wharf will also be out there on Sunday: Guerin Myall, 5 years old for the first one. He’s run it close to 30 times, he reckons, but this year he’ll be walking the course—“my ankles, my knee, I’m just kind of broken down right now”—along with his dad, Jed, 84, and mom, Helen, 83.
“I can’t get out of it,” he jokes. “I have to do it—then I take off to Hawaii a couple days later. Wharf to Wharf is a celebration of everything in Capitola, all the businesses. It is very special. You get Santa Cruz, it’s a total little utopia, we don’t have trends like Southern California. We’re this little bubble, and to have this race grow from a few hundred, it’s been awesome to watch it grow throughout the decades.”
When Zach Davis got his MBA, he did so with the ambition of one day owning his own business. That goal manifested when he and his friend/business partner Kendra Baker were offered a commercial space near the Boardwalk in 2011.
The Picnic Basket was born. Zach’s business acumen and Kendra’s culinary talents are a peanut butter and jelly pairing; the café has now been running strong for over 12 years.
A humble yet elevated turkey sandwich is one menu highlight, served on locally sourced bread with avocado, greens, whole grain mustard, white cheddar cheese and pickled onions with turmeric. Zach calls it “truly the best sandwich” he’s ever had, calling the flavors and textures “a magical combo.”
Other sandwiches include a Reuben and a beet veggie combo with chickpea spread.
Open every day from 7am, they close at 4pm Mon-Wed and 8pm Thurs-Sun.
What inspired you and Kendra?
ZACH DAVIS: We looked around at other local businesses that were making delicious food, and we wanted to combine these products under one roof and showcase the bounty of Santa Cruz to locals and visitors alike. It was also an opportunity to deeply connect with a community that we both love. Not much brings you closer to people than preparing and serving food.
What is your paramount focus?
Sourcing is really important to us and it’s very rewarding to work with the local agricultural community to bring in seasonal ingredients and turn them into menu items. I think sometimes people aren’t aware of how important the agriculture industry is to our county and community. Those farmers and farm workers are the ones who actually feed us.
125 Beach Street, Santa Cruz, 831-427-9946; thepicnicbasketsc.com
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