Page 183 | Good Times

Free Will Astrology

Astrology

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February 21, 2024

ARIES March 21-April 19
In my astrological estimation, the coming weeks will be an ideal time for you to declare amnesty, negotiate truces, and shed long-simmering resentments. Other recommended activities: Find a way to joke about an embarrassing memory, break a bad habit just because it’s fun to do so, and throw away outdated stuff you no longer need. Just do the best you can as you carry out these challenging assignments, Aries. You don’t have to be perfect. For inspiration, read these wise words from poet David Whyte: “When you forgive others, they may not notice but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is a gift to ourselves.”

TAURUS April 20-May 20
“When a mountain doesn’t listen, say a prayer to the sea,” said Taurus painter Cy Twombly. “If God doesn’t respond, direct your entreaties to Goddess,” I tell my Taurus daughter Zoe. “If your mind doesn’t provide you with useful solutions, make an appeal to your heart instead,” my Taurus coach advises me. All these words of wisdom should be useful for you in the coming weeks, Taurus. It’s time to be diligent, relentless, ingenious, and indefatigable in going after what you want. Keep asking until you find a source that will provide it.

GEMINI May 21-June 20
Gemini philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson offered advice that’s perfect for you. He said, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” Here’s what I will add. First, you very much need to commune with extra doses of beauty in the coming weeks. Doing so will expedite your healing and further your education—two activities that are especially important right now. Second, one way to accomplish that is to put yourself in the presence of all the beautiful people, places, and things you can find. Third, be diligent as you cultivate beauty within yourself. How? That’s your homework. You can start by making a list of the three most beautiful acts you have ever performed.

CANCER June 21-July 22
I bet that sometime soon, you will dream of flying though the sky on a magic carpet. In fact, this may be a recurring dream for you in the coming months. By June, you may have soared along on a floating rug more than 10 times. Why? What’s this all about? I suspect it’s one aspect of a project that life is encouraging you to undertake. It’s an invitation to indulge in more flights of the imagination; to open your soul to mysterious potencies; to give your fantasy life permission to be wilder and freer. You know that old platitude “shit happens”? You’re ready to experiment with a variation on that: “magic transpires.”

LEO July 23-Aug. 22
On February 22, ancient Romans celebrated the holiday of Caristia. It was a time for reconciliation. People strove to heal estrangements and settle longstanding disagreements. Apologies were offered and truces were negotiated. In alignment with current astrological omens, I recommend you revive this tradition, Leo. Now is an excellent phase of your life to embark on a crusade to unify, harmonize, restore, mend, and assuage. I dare you to put a higher priority on love and connection than on ego!

VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
My poet friend Jafna likes to say that only two types of love are available to us all: too little and too much. We are either deprived of the precise amount and quality of the love we want, or else we have to deal with an excess of the stuff that doesn’t quite match what we want. But I predict that this will at most be a mild problem for you in the coming weeks—and perhaps not a problem at all. You will have a knack for both giving and receiving just the right amount of love, neither too little nor too much.

LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
If the devil card comes up for me in a divinatory Tarot reading, I don’t get worried or scared that something bad might happen. On the contrary, I interpret it favorably. It means that an interesting problem or riddle has arrived or will soon arrive in my life—and that this twist can potentially make me wiser, kinder, and wilder. The appearance of the devil card suggests that I need to be challenged so as to grow a new capacity or understanding. It’s a good omen, telling me that life is conspiring to give me what I need to outgrow my limitations and ignorance. Now apply these principles, Libra, as you respond to the devil card I just drew for you.

SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
A taproot is a thick, central, and primary root from which a plant’s many roots branch out laterally. Typically, a taproot is fairly straight and grows downward. It may extend to a depth that is greater than the part of the plant sprouting above ground. Now let’s imagine that we humans have metaphorical taproots. They connect us with our sources of inner nourishment. They are lifelines to secret or hidden treasures we may be only partly conscious of. Let’s further imagine that in the coming months, your own taproot will be flourishing, burgeoning, and even spreading deeper to draw in new nutrients. Got all that? Now I invite you to infuse this beautiful vision with an outpouring of love for yourself and for all the wondrous vitality you will be absorbing.

SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Behavioral ecologist Professor Dan Charbonneau has observed the habits of ants and bees and other social insects. He says that a lot of the time, many of them are just lolling around doing nothing. In fact, most animals do the same. The creatures of the natural world are just not that busy. Psychologist Dr. Sandi Mann urges us to learn from their lassitude. “We’ve created a society where we fear boredom and we’re afraid of doing nothing,” she says. But that addiction to frenzy may limit our inclination to daydream, which in turn inhibits our creativity. I bring these facts to your attention, Sagittarius, because I suspect you’re in a phase when lolling around doing nothing will be extra healthy for you. Liberate and nurture your daydreams please!

CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
“Education is an admirable thing,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “but it is well to remember that nothing worth knowing can be taught.” As I ponder your future in the coming weeks, I vociferously disagree with him. I am sure you can learn many things worth knowing from teachers of all kinds. It’s true that some of the lessons may be accidental or unofficial—and not delivered by traditional teachers—but that won’t diminish their value. I invite you to act as if you will in effect be enrolled in school 24/7 until the equinox.

AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
The planets Mars and Venus are both cruising through Aquarius. Will they generate synchronicities that weave magic into your destiny? Here are a few possibilities I foresee: 1. arguments assuaged by love-making; 2. smoldering flirtations that finally ignite; 3. mix-ups about the interplay between love and lust or else wonderful synergies between love and lust; 4. lots of labyrinthine love talk, romantic sparring, and intricate exchange about the nature of desire; 5. the freakiest sex ever; 6. adventures on the frontiers of intimacy.

PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
Unlike the Pope’s decrees, my proclamations are not infallible. As opposed to Nostradamus and many modern soothsayers, I never imagine I have the power to definitely and absolutely decipher what’s ahead. One of my main mottoes is “The future is undecided. Our destinies are always mutable.” Please keep these caveats in mind whenever you commune with my horoscopes. Furthermore, consider adopting my approach as you navigate through the world—especially in the coming weeks, when your course will be extra responsive to your creative acts of willpower. Decide right now what you want the next chapter of your life story to be about.

Homework: Make a guess about when you will finally understand your purpose here on Earth. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology .com

Cheeseburgers in Paradise

Cover Stories

Jeanette Prather

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February 21, 2024

2

Introduction

Want to start a hot conversation at your next party? Ask someone where they find the best burgers in Santa Cruz.

Nothing gets talk going quicker here in what is ironically one of the best places on Earth to find vegetarian food. People love their burgers and not the fast food kind.

Leave it to the Cruz to find ways to liven up what you put inside a bun, from fish to shellfish to bacon and eggs and serrano peppers. It shows that once again there’s nothing boring about our town and you can find so many unusual things to talk about and gobble.

We are like nowhere else, even in our takes on what was once the most basic meal imaginable.

As the commercial says, we think outside the bun.

PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS

This is gonna get personal.

It’s also going to get messy and massive, specific and saucy, creative and crave-making, euphoric and caloric.

But as much as anything, Santa Cruz Burger Week reveals how passionate its populace is about burgers, and how personally its citizens take them.

Chef Anthony Kresge has some ideas why. He’s the same flavor maker who built Belly Goat Burgers’ menu of Seoul Surfers, Drunken Onions and Foragers when it opened, and has now come to oversee operations in person after his Reef Dog Deli shuttered post-COVID.

“It’s America’s most loved combination,” he says. “It goes back centuries. People take burgers seriously because it’s one of the most consumed foods in America, and draws from vast intelligence from around the world, and can be adjusted on so many dimensions with so many ingredients, which makes it more interesting to the common consumer.”

Just the other day, Kresge got into a conversation with a patron on the importance of seasoning that bloomed into a full-blown dissertation.

“You have to season,” he says. “But if you overseason, nothing tastes right and salt overpowers. I like to season it on one side so it won’t dry out, and you really taste the meat.”

Speaking of meat, sourcing presents another priority for Kresge.

“People need to be aware of the impact a burger can create, not just as far as sustainable farming but choosing different places to buy burger meat other than mass producers,” he says. “That makes the chef want to elevate it further.”

There are other details to dial in from there. Kresge obsesses over everything from condiments (“Llke any great dish, whether a Michelin-starred plate or a taco, a lot comes down to sauce—very single thing on that burger has to compliment each bite”) to harmony (“A good burger is composed of all the flavors balancing out at once—the acid, the texture, the sweetness, the spiciness, the texture—not too mushy or too sloppy”).

When Good Times asked various participating restaurants what makes burgers borderline spiritual, the answers were appetizing.

Alisha Dodds, manager at under-the-radar burger destination The Crow’s Nest, says she knows when she has a burger connoisseur on her hands when they make multiple visits to try different featured burgers, regularly working through every burger on the menu.

“I feel like you either love burgers or you’re not a burger fan, without a lot of people in between,” she says. “If you love burgers, you probably have a go-to, but it’s also a platform for creativity. You can take it to elevated levels, which makes for a good conversation piece and inspires creativity in the kitchen.”

When discussing the higher art burgers can occupy, Kresge and Mad Yolks co-owner Peter Wong rank among artisans loyal to the power of a proper foundation.

“People often overlook the bun,” says Wong, who tinkered with Mad Yolk’s brioche recipe for months before they opened. “You have a quality half-pound Angus patty, and there’s a lot of juice in there. If your bun loses integrity, the burger loses integrity.”

Wong has his own way of diagnosing true burger believers.

“The first reveal is serious opinions, and they make at least one modification,” he says, reffing a common permutation on the Late Night Burger, a half-pound umami bomb with bacon, tomato, arugula, Mad Yolks sauce, cheddar and sautéed onions. “People remove the arugula. They are like, ‘I’m gonna go all out eating something super indulgent.’”

Which is a reminder Burger Week is not a long-term lifestyle.

It’s a short-lived celebration.

It’s not Carnaval, Christmas, Spring Break or Lunar New Year.

But for the real-deal burger lovers among us, Burger Week is the best time of the year.

Good Times turned to a fellow writer and local stage actor Sarah Kenoyer Thornton for a final thought because she’s so consistent in her burger consumption and comparisons she’s known among her friends as “The Burger Whisperer.”

“Bite into a good burger and all your problems fall away,” she says. “The juices connect soul and palate.”

Her final note: Don’t let their omnipresence distract you.

“Burgers are ubiquitous—you can order them almost anywhere—but to do it well is to achieve a beautiful feat,” she says. “A good burger is like the truth. You can’t deny it.”

•••

Do not pace yourself. Instead, get a plan, and get to it. Pronto.

Too many Animal Smashes, Da Bombs, Big Kahunas, Sopranos and Sicilians mean no time for dilly dallying.

Put differently, there are no fewer than 59 special burger creations on this list (!!), every single one of them crafted to maximize enjoyment in character-rich and flavor-forward ways.

And Santa Cruz Burger Week runs through Feb. 27, so pack in as much exercise as possible to help pack in all the indulgence on the menu.

Here appears the congregation of SCBW participants, with mini hymnals on their Burger Week specials, in alphabetical order:

Back 9 Grill & Bar

The casual ranch setting—overlooking the golf course—feels right for two rustic 1/2-pound ground chuck monsters like the Cheddar & Serrano Chili Pepper Burger and the Garlic, Feta & Black Olive Burger, both flame-grilled and $18 with a side.

Highway 17 at Pasatiempo, Santa Cruz, backninegrill.com

Belly Goat Burger

Two reminders Belly Goat doesn’t mess around with its messy from-scratch craft burger game: the Saigon Fusion with gochujang mayo, tamarind-citrus slaw, smoked cheddar and Korean barbecue sauce ($12) and the Sicilian with pepperoncini slaw, olive tapenade, truffled mushrooms, fontina, roasted red pepper, both with Angus patties on potato brioche buns.

Abbot Square Market, 725 Front St., Santa Cruz, bellygoatburgers.com

Betty’s Burgers

It’s not a contest, it’s a collaboration among the burger congregation. But here appear three BW reasons Good Times readers vote BB best: The Argentine with chimichurri, provolone and red pepper ($13) the Shoreline with hummus, arugula and spicy salsa verde and the Brie with jalapeño jam, fried onions, bacon and brie (both $15).

Four locations (Eastside, Midtown, downtown, Aptos), bettyburgers.com

Bruno’s Bar and Grill

The Soprano might off the unsuspecting with three prawns, onions grilled in red wine, bourbon bacon jam, pepper jack and Cajun aioli. #gangstergrade. SCBW special #2: the Goatbuster with pesto, garlic aioli, mushrooms, sautéed onions, goat cheese, arugula, both featuring 1/3-pound beef patties and brioche bun at $15.

230 Mount Hermon Road, Scotts Valley, brunosbarandgrill.com

Churchill & Beers

Sometimes the harder a burger is to eat, the more it deserves to be eaten. That applies with the Western Bacon with a stack of onion rings, melty cheddar, LTO, barbecue sauce atop Angus beef on Aldo’s house brioche, $18 with fries. Also appearing is a Jalapeño Jack with the titular items, LTO and fries for a tidy $15.

1110 Soquel Drive, Aptos, churchillandbeers.com

The Crow’s Nest

Uncommon creations help make SCBW beautiful, and two shine here, with the Rib-Eye with ground grass-fed steak, bacon-onion jam, Havarti cheese, horseradish and arugula, and the Pacific Rim marinade-seasoned Salmon Burger with sweet chili mustard, Asian slaw on a toasted francese bun. Either runs $18 with fries and beach views included.

2218 E Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, Crowsnest-santacruz.com

Empire Grille

On brand, the Empire deploys a realm of high-ranking tastes for a proletariat price. The Blue Cheese Burger, Breakfast Burger with bacon and egg, Guacamole Burger with Jack cheese and Mushroom Burger with bacon, Swiss and sautéed onions all rule benevolently for $15

6155 Highway 9, Felton, facebook.com/p/Empire-Grille-100063760202490/

Firefly Tavern

The relatively new Fly does a choose-your-own adventure with old-school instincts and contemporary care for the craft. Choices are a single patty with thick-cut bacon, Shropshire blue cheese and roasted radicchio; a double with Worcestershire onion jam, local mushrooms, manchego, LTO; and a double classic with beefsteak tomato, white onion and American cheese on a potato bun. Each $18 with French fries.

110 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, instagram.com/firefly_tavern

Heavenly Roadside Cafe

A half-pound Angus patty is an investment by the maker and muncher alike. Smart money here lands on Ruby’s Devilish Delight with grilled jalapeño, pepper Jack, cilantro, chipotle mayo, LTO and choice of mixed greens or fries ($12) or Bella’s Cali with avocado, applewood smoked bacon, American cheese, secret sauce, the fixings and choice of accompaniment ($15).

1210 Mt. Hermon Road, Scotts Valley, heavenlyroadsidecafe.com

Hula’s Island Grill

The Hula’s homies are not the types to miss out on a flavor-forward fiesta. So bring on The Cajun with bayou spices, Jack cheese and Hula sauce, and a welcome meat-free alternative in The Big Sur Veggie with an inventive-intuitive plantain-rice-panko patty made in house, crowned with portobello mushroom, avocado and pesto aioli. $15 each, dine in please.

221 Cathcart St., Santa Cruz, hulastiki.com

Laili

A pair of the more North African offerings across the whole beef scape share the room here. Behold the Beef Koobideh crafted with turmeric, cumin, coriander, fresh mint, garlic powder and jalapeño, topped with mint aioli, caramelized onions, arugula and gorgonzola cheese, and the Lamb Burger with Swiss. Both come with roasted paprika potatoes and mixed green salads for $18.

101 Cooper St., Santa Cruz, lailirestaurant.com

Laughing Monk Brewing

The most aggressive religious experience here is also the most affordable. The Smoked Gouda unlocks a double smash burger with red wine-grilled onions, barbecue sauce and LTO ($12). It comes flanked by a Fiesta (smash burger, sautéed bell peppers, guacamole, grilled onions and Sriracha mayo ($15) and an All American featuring crispy onion straws, bacon, cheddar cheese and beer cheese on a pretzel bun, ample napkins vigorously advised ($18).

262 Mt. Hermon Road, Scotts Valley, scottsvalley.laughingmonkbrewing.com

Mad Yolks

The Yolked Bacon Angus Burger comes hard—in an over-easy way—with the mandatory egg dripping over a half-pound ground chuck, bacon, extra sharp cheddar, baby arugula, caramelized onions and house spicy aioli. Bonus offer to chase it: jasmine lemonade for $3. In some parts of the world, a fried egg is automatic on burgers. Here it’s a rare luxury.

1411 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, madyolks.com

Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery

The Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger—with high-grade cheddar and an onion ring on brioche, $18 with fries—is new special for SCBW, and hopefully a keeper. The Hawaiian Mochiko Fried Chicken Sandwich, meanwhile, takes a house hit and turns it into a crave-creating wonder marinated in gojuchang and topped with tangy gojuchang aioli and sweet miso sauce, also $18. Dang.

49A Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, makaisantacruz.com

Mozaic Mediterranean Restaurant & Bar

For Burger Week, Mozaic goes the opposite of prosaic, with study, straightforward and saliva-drawing attractions on three wavelengths. The Mozaic Burger delivers a charbroiled Angus patty with caramelized onions, the Wild Salmon comes grilled with house honey Dijon sauce and caramelized onions, and the Lamb Burger also arrives grilled with fresh mint aioli, tomato and onions. Beyond patties also available, each $15 with fries.

110 Church St., Santa Cruz, mozaicsantacruz.com

Paradise Beach Grille

Tasty simplicity is an art form that finds expression with the Paradis Classic Burger, with a choice of turkey patty, garden patty or Star Ranch Angus beef, complete with LTO, fries and one of the better views in the SCBW lineup.

215 Esplanade, Capitola, paradisebeachgrille.com

Parish Publick House

PPH isn’t shy with its burger show. Exhibit A (like each, served with house barbecue chips and available with an Impossible or veggie patty): The Jack Bite with deep fried pepper jack bites, pickled jalapeños and creamy “honey stung mayo.” Exhibit B: Dave-O fried chicken with crispy bacon, shredded Parmesan,and pesto sauce. Exhibit C: The Gabagool with an antipasti mix of olives, pepperoncini, and shredded lettuce, crispy Italian cured meat and balsamic reduction drizzle. I rest my case.

841 Almar Ave., Santa Cruz, 8017 Soquel Drive, Aptos, theparishpublick.com

Riva Fish House

The uncommon SCBW crab entry sounds incredible with the Crabby Patty Stack piling a broiled house crab cake with pickled red onions, arugula, tomato and the Riva’s five-star remoulade sauce. The other play is the Black & Bleu with a 1/3-pound patty loaded with bacon, arugula, tomato, homemade bleu cheese spread and a harmonizing balsamic drizzle. Both on ciabatta, both $18.

31 Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, rivafishhouse.com

Rosie McCann’s Irish Pub & Restaurant

The Pacific Street institution plays to its strengths with the messy spectacle that is The Guinness Burger ($15),

1220 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, rosiemccanns.com/santa-cruz/

Roux Dat Cajun Creole

The Capitola gem hiding in plain sight amid the Brown Ranch strip mall goes high value and high flavor with three rich po’ boys ($15 “served dressed” along with Cajun fries, coleslaw or stew): the Black Angus Po’ Boy with caramelized onions and peppers; the Blackened Salmon Po’ Boy also with onions and peppers; and the Vegan Burger Po’ Boy with spicy black bean patty, onions and peppers and dairy-free Cajun aioli.

3555 Clares St., Suite G, Capitola, rouxdatcajuncreole.com

Santa Cruz Diner

The flame-broiled options at the textbook definition of diner all go for $15 and come with fries. Da Bomb Burger employs an egg of any style, bacon and cheese. The Mushroom Burger comes draped in sautéed mushrooms and melted Swiss. The California Burger rocks avocado, Monterey Jack and crisp bacon.

909 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, santacruzdiner.com

Seabright Social Brewpub

False advertising is real. Not here. The Big Kahuna Burger proves precisely almost unbelievably big, and may be the tallest SCBW entry in town. Aboard the substantial Social Burger land pulled Kalua-style pork shoulder, grilled pineapple, fermented chili, tomato garlic aioli and a cilantro-ginger slaw. In a word, wowie.

519 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz, seabrightsocial.com

Sevy’s Bar + Kitchen

Two takes on ambitious indulgence materialize this week at Sevy’s. The Ultimate Brunch Burger layers a big burger, fried egg and bacon on waffle squares. The Double Pizza Burger does all the mozzarella, marinara and pie game fame. It’s a lot for $18; $3 tags in tots or fries.

7500 Old Dominion Court, Aptos, sevysbarandkitchen.com

Solaire at Hotel Paradox

The freshly reborn Solaria Restaurant + Bar reveals its flair for zesty details with mozzarella sticks (and bacon, LTO and spicy barbecue sauce) on the Hitch Hiker, double pressed Angus patties (plus American cheese, caramelized onions and fancy sauce) on the Smashed Animal, and turmeric pickles (combine with green onions, pickled onions, little gem lettuce and spicy aioli on a Wagyu sesame patty) on the Paradox Burger. $18 a pop, with a selection of sides $5.

611 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, hotelparadox.com

The Point Kitchen & Bar

Atop a brioche bun and an 8-ounce grass-fed beef patty gather bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and bourbon barbecue sauce. In other words, BBB. Beef. Bourbon. Bacon. Everything you need, nothing you don’t.

3326 Portola Drive, Santa Cruz, thepointkitchenandbar.com

The View at Chaminade Resort

This sneaky scenic hilltop spot provides landscapes in 3D and burgers in four dimensions ($18 each): 1) the Quesabirria Burger with house birria, queso and consommé to dip in, 2) the Angus Chuck Smashburger with melted onions and secret sauce, 3) the Prime Dip with ground short rib Angus chuck, Grazin’ Girl blue cheese, horseradish aioli and jus, and 4) the Plant-Based Burger with a black bean patty, vegan cheddar and tahini mustard on a gluten-free potato bun.

1 Chaminade Lane, Santa Cruz, chaminade.com

Zachary’s

One of the most bangin’ bargains in the SCBW sphere is also the lone melt. Zach’s Pesto Melt combines a 1/3-pound patty with house pesto, mushrooms, grilled onions and mozzarella on grilled sourdough, just $15 with home fries, fresh fruit or potato salad.

819 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, zacharyssantacruz.com

More at santacruzrestaurantweek.com.

SIDEBAR

Back Nine Grill & Bar

555 Hwy 17, Santa Cruz, 831-226-2350, Backninegrill.com,

Belly Goat Burger

725 Front St., Santa Cruz, 831-225-0355, bellygoatburgers.com

Betty Burgers

505 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz, 831-423-8190

1000 41st Avenue, Capitola, 831-475-5901

1200 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, 831-600-7056

bettyburgers.com

Bruno’s Bar and Grill

230 Mt Hermon Rd., Scotts Valley, 831-438-2227, brunosbarandgrill.com

Churchill & Beers

10110 Soquel Dr., Aptos, 831-612-6558, beeraptos.com

Crows Nest

2218 E Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz, 831-476-4560, crowsnest-santacruz.com

Empire Grill

6155 Hwy 9, Felton, 831-704-2130

Firefly Tavern

110 Walnut Ave, Santa Cruz, 831-291-5880

Heavenly Cafe

1210 Mt Hermon Rd., Scotts Valley, 831-335-1210, heavenlyroadsidecafe.com

Hula’s Island Grill

221 Cathcart St., Santa Cruz, 831-426-4852, hulastiki.com

Laili Restaurant

101 Cooper St., Santa Cruz, 831-423-4545, lailirestaurant.com

Laughing Monk Brewing

262 Mt Hermon Rd. Unit 103, Scotts Valley, 831-226-2868, scottsvalley.laughingmonkbrewing.com

Mad Yolks

1411 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, 831-291-3686, madyolks.com

Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery

49A Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, 831-466-9766, makaisantacruz.com

Mozaic

110 Church St., Santa Cruz, 831-454-8663, mozaicsantacruz.com

Paradise Beach Grill

215 Esplanade, Capitola, 831-476-4900, paradisebeachgrille.com

Parish Publick House

841 Almar Ave., Santa Cruz, 831-421-0507

8017 Soquel Dr., Aptos, 831-708-2036

theparishpublick.com

Solaire at Hotel Paradox

611 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, 831-600-4525, hotelparadox.com/solaire-restaurant

The Point Kitchen and Bar

3326 Portola Dr, Santa Cruz, 831-476-2733, thepointkitchenandbar.com

The View at Chaminade

One Chaminade Lane, Santa Cruz
831-475-5600
chaminade.com/santa-cruz-restaurants

Riva Fish House

31 Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz
831-429-1223, rivafishhouse.com

Rosie McCann’s Irish Pub

1220 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, 831-426-9930, rosiemccanns.com

Roux Dat

3555 Clares St. Suite G, Capitola, 831-295-6372, rouxdatcajuncreole.com

Santa Cruz Diner

909 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, 831-426-7151. santacruzdiner.com

Seabright Social

519 Seabright Ave UNIT 107, Santa Cruz, 831-426-2739, seabrightsocial.com

Sevy’s at Seacliff Inn

7500 Old Dominion Ct, Aptos, 831-688-8987, seacliffinn.com/santa-cruz-restaurants

Zachary’s Restaurant

819 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, 831-427-0646, zacharyssantacruz.com

Street Talk

Street Talk

Jeanette Prather

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February 21, 2024

0

It’s Burger Week! How’d you describe YOUR perfect burger?

“My dream hamburger has to be made with all-natural, hormone-free beef on a nice, soft bun, with lots of gooey cheese, any kind—sliced raw jalapenos all over it—and instead of mustard and ketchup, I like Ranch dressing on my burger.”

Patrick Williams, 51, Recovering Ex-Pro-Triathlete

“You got a medium size, medium cooked hamburger, cheddar cheese melted into the patty, avocado, bacon, lettuce, pickles and onions and definitely In-N-Out sauce on a little-bit toasted bun.”

Emily Thompson, 17, student

“Just a regular bacon cheeseburger is good with me, to tell you the truth. With thick cut applewood smoked bacon. American cheese or sharp cheddar. Some raw red onions on there—I’m not a sauteed onion guy. I like mustard. Pickles too.”

Austin Wilson, 46, State Employee

“Probably TWO patties, with melted swiss or cheddar, bacon—like extra bacon—lettuce, ketchup, mustard—on a toasted sesame.bun.”

Sarah Drees, 17, Student

“A bison burger, medium, on a toasted bun with melted, slightly burnt asiago. Heirloom tomatoes. Thick cut pickles right on the burger. More melted asiago. Two slices of slightly crispy bacon.”

Michael Osterbur 34 Physical Therapist

“It would be a medium-well beef burger with barbeque sauce and onion rings—like a rodeo burger, but gourmet. And crunchy lettuce. Some sauteed mushrooms. And Bubbies bread and butter pickles.”

Elise Baker, 36, Nanny—with daughter Aster

Santa Cruz District 2 City Council Candidate: Hector Marin

GT Staff

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February 16, 2024

1

Santa Cruz District 2 City Council Candidate: Hector Marin

Santa Cruz’s District 2 city council seat is being contested in the upcoming March 5 election between political newcomer Hector Marin and incumbent councilmember Sonja Brunner.

Marin previously ran for city council as a candidate for District 4 in 2022, but lost to current councilmember Scott Newsome. Marin is focused on addressing the housing crisis; supporting organized labor; protecting small businesses from corporate competition and bringing more Latinx voices into the political process.

GT sent questions to the candidates to get their takes on some of the city’s most pressing issues. Read Marin’s responses below.

(At the time of publication Sonja Brunner had not submitted her responses).

Why are you running for City Council?

Living in Seabright, I am running for City Council in District 2 to bring positive change to our East-side Santa Cruz, Seabright, Midtown and Lower Ocean neighborhoods. As a teacher’s aide, tenant and essential worker, I aim to amplify the voices of the most vulnerable, ensuring community involvement at all levels. I’ll work hard to preserve our city’s unique character and provide much-needed Latino representation in a town that is 30% Hispanic. Together, let’s put community first.

What do you think will be the most pressing needs for Santa Cruz over the next four years, and how would you address these needs as a council member?

Housing, homelessness and community safety are the most important issues to District 2. Our platform wants to create neighborhood councils which customizes the needs of affordable housing to every neighborhood’s needs and preference of density. Homelessness is also another huge problem, and our candidacy wants to ensure that we have a more transparent budgeting process in the City’s 3-Year Homelessness Emergency Plan so we can reallocate resources efficiently. Our candidacy will also advocate for community cleanups to beautify our public spaces and make them safe for our families.

What are your thoughts on how the city should address the increasing demand for affordable housing? Any ideas on how to keep public services adequate to accommodate potential new growth?

I think that we should consult with the community to provide housing needs for our district. We can build affordable housing and meet the state requirements with our current General Plan, maintaining the current height limits and zoning laws. We also want to make the new development projects more affordable at the very-low income and extremely very low income level. A public service that I would propose would be free legal consultation services that are City-funded for tenants who have been displaced or are facing eviction, enhancing tenant protections in the process.

Do you think raising the city’s sales tax to help fund assistance programs for the unhoused is a good idea? What else do you think could be done to address the issue?

Our candidacy believes in consulting with the community first when considering increasing sales taxes at a local level. I think that we can make the current City’s Homelessness Emergency Plan more transparent, and reallocate resources by better funding mental health services, shelter programs and job-training programs.

Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Susie O’Hara

GT Staff

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February 15, 2024

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Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Susie O’Hara

Santa Cruz’s District 5 city council seat is being contested in the upcoming March 5 election between two political newcomers, Susie O’Hara and Joe Thompson.

Over the last 15 years, O’Hara worked for the City of Santa Cruz as water commissioner and as program manager for the city manager’s office. She has served on local nonprofit boards, county commissions and has ties to UC Santa Cruz. O’Hara hopes to improve the effectiveness of local government.

GT sent questions to the candidates to get their takes on some of the city’s most pressing issues. Read O’Hara’s responses below.

Why are you running for City Council?

I’ve been a Santa Cruz resident for almost 18 years. I’ve raised my children here. I have worked along many invested and talented community members to bring about positive change. I have seen our community experience hardships and victories. I’m running for City Council to utilize my extensive experience, passion for change and problem-solving skills to ensure each community member has the very best quality of life, a consistent opportunity to engage, and a city government they can be proud of.

What do you think will be the most pressing needs for Santa Cruz over the next four years, and how would you address these needs as a council member?

Santa Cruz faces many pressing issues but none more important than our lack of affordable housing, the uncertain funding options to continue improving homeless response, and infrastructure resiliency, especially in light of climate change. To make progress on each of these issues, our City Council must follow through on our Housing Element plan, develop government and private coalitions to build affordable workforce and student housing, maintain a balanced budget and proactively invest in infrastructure resiliency.

What are your thoughts on how the city should address the increasing demand for affordable housing? Any ideas on how to keep public services adequate to accommodate potential new growth?

The City’s development standards take into consideration not only the building size, density and physical cohesiveness with the neighborhood, but how those new residents will integrate into our public service demands. Adequate water supply and pressure, adequate transportation access, fire safety and other services are integrated into our approval process. While that process happens project by project, the City’s General Plan considers growth within a holistic context, ensuring our community’s water supply portfolio, traffic patterns, revenue sources and public safety response are adequate today and well into the future.

Do you think raising the city’s sales tax to help fund assistance programs for the unhoused is a good idea? What else do you think could be done to address the issue?

Yes, I support the City’s sales tax increase. We’ve made a significant amount of progress on homelessness response and much of the City’s new programs are funded by one-time State funds. To continue to see success and impact, we must have a sustainable source of funding for not only homelessness response, but to ensure the City’s essential workers are fairly compensated, our streets, neighborhoods and open spaces are safe and inviting, and our good work on housing development can continue.

Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Joe Thompson

GT Staff

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February 15, 2024

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Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Joe Thompson

Santa Cruz’s District 5 city council seat is being contested in the upcoming March 5 election between two political newcomers, Susie O’Hara and Joe Thompson.

Joe Thompson previously ran for California’s 28th congressional district in 2022, but lost to former Santa Cruz County clerk Gail Pellerin. In 2021, Thompson helped unionize a Santa Cruz Starbucks, the first store to do so in California. They are hoping to give a voice to UC Santa Cruz students, local seniors and working-class families.

GT sent questions to the candidates to get their takes on some of the city’s most pressing issues. Read Thompson’s responses below.

Why are you running for City Council?

I’m running for Santa Cruz City Council because this district needs someone who will stand up for working people, students and seniors. I’m a practical progressive who can work to make Santa Cruz a better, brighter community for all of us and get things done at the local, county and state level. I’m running to move Santa Cruz forward.

What do you think will be the most pressing needs for Santa Cruz over the next four years, and how would you address these needs as a council member?

The biggest need in our community now is affordable housing. We lack truly affordable housing at nearly all levels. I’m cautiously optimistic about the outlook on housing with our Housing Element being certified and being designated a pro-housing city that we can continue building the much needed housing our community desperately needs. At the same time, I want to make sure we are addressing and tackling the issue of homelessness by providing services and getting people the much needed mental healthcare that they need as well.

What are your thoughts on how the city should address the increasing demand for affordable housing? Any ideas on how to keep public services adequate to accommodate potential new growth?

The city needs to build more housing at all levels of affordability in spaces that make the most sense for keeping our community safe for pedestrians and cyclists. This includes allowing the university to build more student housing on campus to meet the need for housing for students while balancing growing water and other infrastructure.

Do you think raising the city’s sales tax to help fund assistance programs for the unhoused is a good idea? What else do you think could be done to address the issue?

Yes. I support measures K and L. I believe both of the measures are critical in order to maintain and expand our city services in regards to homelessness and hope that the voters will support both K and L to make Santa Cruz a safer, cleaner and greener city and county for all of us to enjoy.

40 Unit Housing Project Near UCSC Passes

Josué Monroy

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February 14, 2024

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40 Unit Housing Project Near UCSC Passes

The Santa Cruz City Council voted to allow a large apartment building on the Peace United Church land on the upper West Side, near the UCSC campus, denying an appeal to shut it down. The 40-unit apartment building has nine affordable units and two co-living units. The vote was 6-0 with council member Scott Newsome recusing himself because he owns property nearby.

The housing complex built on a slope below UCSC was appealed after approval by the Planning Commission. The appellant Norman Tardiff of the Springtree HOA and Westlake Neighbors Association was satisfied by conditions added to the approval of the project, according to Senior Planner Brittany Whitehill.

These conditions are arborist inspections of heritage trees on the property, doubling the number of mitigation trees planted if more heritage trees are removed, and a geo-technical engineer to sign-off on the building permits.

The project has been a longtime coming for the parish of Peace United Church. Planning on the housing started 10 years ago by members of the parish who view it as essential to continuing the church’s mission.

“It’s most exciting as a vision of our future, a place to live, and learn and play, with the church at the heart of it all,” said Pastor David Pattee.

The approval comes after the 59-unit Food Bin project was approved by the planning commission last month from the same developer, Workbench. However, the Food Bin project has been appealed and will head to the city council in March.

The building is built into a slope so while it has six levels it is only four stories, according to Workbench founder Sibley Simon. All of the units will have views according to Simon.

Both the Food Bin and the Peace United Church projects are examples of transit oriented development that Workbench wants to build, according to Simon. Only twenty spaces in the Peace United Church parking lot will be reserved for residents of the complex, which will be charged for. There will also be “one or more shared vehicles” at the property.

The housing complex will be co-owned by the Peace United Church and Workbench under a new 501(c)(3). While it is a church affiliated project, “it is not restricted to anyone associated with the Peace United Church,” said Diana Alfaro of Workbench.

Saying Goodbye to “Reb”

Geoffrey Dunn

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February 14, 2024

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A memorial service for Rowland “Reb” Rebele (1930-2023) will be held this Saturday (Feb 17th) at Cabrillo College, beginning at 1 p.m.

We die with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.

— T.S. Eliot

Late autumn—when the light changes and the frigidity of northern winds sweep down along the coast — is a time of darkness and death, and so it was for Rowland “Reb” Rebele, the beloved philanthropist and, truly, a community saint who passed away at the age of 93 on November 25 of last year.

It was a sudden and unexpected departure.

It certainly came as a shock to me. I had just spent several afternoons with him in recent months, interviewing him at Pacific Coast Manor in Capitola for a lengthy profile for Good Times.

My family and I were preparing to leave for Cuba, and I went to visit him one last time before our departure. He had been at the rehabilitation facility recovering from a back injury (aggravated by osteoporosis), and he assured me that he would soon return to his home at Dominican Oaks, where he would reunite with his beloved wife of nearly 70 years, Pat, whom he had described to me in our conversations as “the love of my life” and “my everything.”

When I learned upon my arrival that he was no longer a patient there, I assumed he had recovered to the point where he had made his way home. Reb was nothing if not a salesman, a man whose will was forceful and indomitable, and I had every reason to believe that his recovery had been accomplished and that he was back with Pat. I was so convinced that he must be better and on his feet that I smiled at his guts and invincible fortitude. Any alternate explanation never even occurred to me.

A few hours later, as I was packing my bags to leave, I learned that he had died.

I was heartbroken and a bit numb. I fell into a dark, contemplative mood.

Here is a secret about writing that Reb (an avid writer himself) would want me to share: Whenever you read a longer profile of someone, the person who has written it literally has lived inside their subject for a considerable amount of time. I had spent weeks researching his life in the back pages of newspapers and magazines, dating all the way back to the 1940s, had listened to interviews, and spoken to many of his friends and colleagues.

It was largely a joyful process because everyone who I spoke with about Reb truly loved him (and Pat) and admired his work in the community — his tireless advocacy for those experiencing homelessness; his generous commitment to the arts, education, journalism and newspaper publishing; his relentless protection of First Amendment rights; his delight in political campaigns (win or lose); ad infinitum. Reb was seemingly everywhere at all times. Just tracking down the major threads of his life here (he moved to Santa Cruz County in 1980) was a remarkable journey. His passions were broad and his energies both enthusiastic and unyielding.

As I gazed out over the waters of the Florida Straights revising the profile, I thought of Reb and our nearly 40 years of friendship (he was a strong supporter of the old Santa Cruz Sun, for which I wrote in the 1980s) and how much I admired him throughout the years, even when we disagreed about local or national politics. He was a happy warrior; he delighted in the jousting. And he was always gracious afterwards, in both victory and defeat.

I chuckled when I thought about his colorful language — he was a retired Navy man– and “bullshit” was a particular term he liked to invoke as a noun and transitive verb.

When I returned to Santa Cruz, I learned that a miracle had happened, that the story had indeed been received by my editor, and though I hadn’t seen the story, virtually everyone I encountered wanted to talk to me about Reb’s life. I mean dozens and dozens of people brought him up. Everywhere. It was an absolutely inspiring community conversation. From all walks. Slowly, my darkness over his death lifted and his inimitable spirit came back to life.

I also received a perceptive email about Reb from Second District Supervisor Zach Friend. “I always [found] our conversations enlightening and always guided toward how a need can be solved by partnership,” Friend wrote me. “Whether it was helping build skate parks for local youth or ensuring that the least fortunate are elevated in local government, Reb always quietly and effectively finds a way to make our community better for future generations.”

It was a perfect summation. Past and present tense alike.

A memorial service will be held for Rowland K. “Reb” Rebele this Saturday (Feb. 17), at 1 p.m., at Cabrillo College’s Crocker Theater, 6500 Lower Perimeter Road, Aptos. Seating begins at 12:30.

Rowland is survived by his wife Pat, their three children, Marianne, Andy and Chris, his daughter-in-law Jeanne, and five grandchildren: Lily, Jessica, Chantou, Pidor and Elodie.

Donations may be made in Rebele’s honor to Housing Matters; Cabrillo College Journalism Department; or the Santa Cruz Symphony.

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

Steve Kettmann

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February 14, 2024

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Santa Cruz filmmaker Dan Partland, an Emmy-Award winner and unflinching voice of sanity in insane times, still remembers what book he was reading over the December 2020 holiday break: Katherine Stewart’s The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.

And he still remembers how much the book, recommended to him by his friend actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner, was freaking him out. Partland (director) and Reiner (producer) were considering doing a film on the subject, and Partland remembers prepping for a pitch meeting sometime later in the week starting Jan. 6, 2020. Watching the attempted insurrection in Washington DC that day, Partland was even more freaked out.

“I had this experience of watching the insurrection in real time, having just done a deep dive of research into the state of this movement,” he says. “And I think had I not been so sensitized to the content, I would not have seen the myriad signs and symbols, all of the evidence that January 6th was at its core, a Christian nationalist uprising. And it was stunning to me because I was watching television news coverage on multiple channels, and no one was speaking about it. It was there plain as day for anybody to see. Anybody who was at all steeped in the political movement that is Christian nationalism would’ve seen.”

Given the very real possibility that either a Donald Trump victory–or a Trump defeat–in the upcoming November presidential election could unleash his private army of religious-extremist followers to further violence and anti-democratic agitation, Partland’s powerful new film God & Country: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, could hardly be more timely. It opens Thursday at Santa Cruz Cinema with a Q & A discussion with Dan Partland moderated by former Good Times staffer Wallace Baine, at 7 pm.

From the time President Trump had tweeted in late 2020, about the upcoming January 6 fracas, “will be wild,” gears were turning, a network of self-described evangelical Christians was mobilizing to the cause of supporting a man many claimed to believe was a Messiah.

“People didn’t just show up at the Capitol that day,” Partland says. “There had been weeks-long campaigns in churches and in church groups, and email lists driving the faithful to the capitol for Jericho marches on January 5th, and with the plan to stay over for the big demonstration on January 6^th.”

The Christian nationalist flavor of the January 6 attempt at overturning democracy was unmistakable, and yet powerful people in a position to bring the point home to the general public colluded in keeping it quiet.

Consider that the January 6 Committee investigating what happened never even mentioned the name “Virginia Thomas” in its voluminous report, even though, as the Washington Post reported, “Buried in the explosive news that Virginia Thomas aggressively advocated for Donald Trump’s coup attempt is a choice revelation: The spouse of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas texted with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about Jesus Christ’s otherworldly role in delivering the election to Trump. Meadows texted to Ginni Thomas that the ‘King of Kings’ would ultimately ‘triumph’ in the quest to overturn the election, which Meadows characterized as ‘a fight of good versus evil.’ Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, replied: ‘Thank you!! Needed that!’”

Partland recalls his shock at seeing a video the January 6 committee put together to provide an overview of what happened that day. “I was very familiar with the footage for January 6th by this point,” he says. “And I watched their reel, and there are no Christian images, no references, no bible verses, no ‘Jesus Saves’ signs, no images of Jesus, no images of Mary, no crosses. Completely all of the Christian imagery was omitted in their reel. … There was so much of it there, you would have to very carefully cut around it. And that told me that the January 6th committee was fully aware that this was a Christian nationalist uprising and they wanted to be very careful that they didn’t want to pick that fight.”

Partland’s wish isn’t that people see his film and come away thinking just like he does–he wants people of all viewpoints, and religious faiths, to come take a look, and soak up the viewpoints of those included in the film, including many people of faith.

“It isn’t really important what I think,” he says. “We have the very best voices from a wide spectrum of vantage points. We have a lot of prominent Christians. And that’s really important because this idea that Christian nationalism is a threat to democracy, that’s why I started on the film. But what I learned along the way is some of the people who are most concerned about this are American Christians because they see it as a real threat to the church. And I think that’s not surprising because at this point, this particular politically-charged American right-wing religiosity is becoming the dominant expression of Christianity in America. And it is so far field of what centuries of Christian teaching has said that Christianity is really about.”

Partland’s film is far from the only important contribution on this difficult but pressing subject, but it remains notable that a local filmmaker has checked in with a high-profile documentary that Hollywood Reporter hailed as a major event, quoting angry-Cajun political pundit (and one time Bill Clinton strategist) James Carville: “This is a bigger threat than al-Qaeda to this country. Let me tell you something, they got the Speaker of the House, they got probably at least two Supreme Court justices, maybe more. Don’t kid yourself … this is a fundamental threat to the United States.”

Partland, whose other work includes #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump, released in 2020, tries hard in discussing the content of his new film to steer away from undue alarmism. His tone is measured, calm and thoughtful, even when he spells out the deeper threat: “There is an overwhelming opinion among a lot of American Christians that the United States itself has a kind of messianic role in human history,” he says, choosing his words carefully. “That God has chosen the United States to play a certain role that only the United States can play in human history, where it is central to God’s plan to spread Christianity around the globe,” he continues. “If you believe this and you feel like democracy is getting in the way of achieving God’s plan, then you can convince yourself that democracy is what has to go.”

Let that sink in.

“That’s the central scary idea to it,” Partland says. “We are at a point where this idea of the role of the United States in human history as ordained by God is so central that a lot of American Christians really feel–have convinced themselves–that it is their duty as Christians to undermine democracy where they have not been successful in persuading their fellow citizens about the way forward. So they’re going to force it, either by democratic means or if necessary by undemocratic means. And at this particular point in time, they have decided that violence is an acceptable option.”

Murder for a Smile

Cover Stories

Jeanette Prather

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February 14, 2024

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Sarina Simon, Nina’s mother, is sitting in the treatment center, receiving a chemotherapy infusion for her Stage 4 lung cancer. She has an inspiration and calls her daughter. “Nina, I figured out a great way to kill this guy, a poisonous frog in Elkhorn Slough.”

Sarina’s voice stops and Nina hears commotion.

“Mom? Are you still there?”

“Still here honey. The nurses got a little concerned by what I was saying.”

If you’re planning to read the New York Times bestseller, Mother-Daughter Murder Night, the murder weapon is not a poison frog. Nina says, “There probably aren’t poison frogs in Elkhorn Slough, but that’s the great thing about writing a novel, you create the world you want.”

In 2020, Nina Simon, former director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History and founder of a global non-profit, stopped working to care for her mother after the cancer diagnosis. Nina’s self-described “type-A personality” had to shift from her juggernaut non-profit career to sleeping in the same bed with her mother, trying to get her to drink a milkshake. They both loved murder mysteries, Sarina had started Nina out on Nancy Drew Mystery Stories in junior-high school. They started re-reading their favorite murder mysteries together to make their lives about more than arguments over protein shakes.

Nina wrote her first draft lying in bed beside her mom and says her mother reviewed every page. The bonding experience would have been enough, but then Nina decided she wanted the book published. It rocketed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List, became the Reese Witherspoon Book of the Month and is read around the world, translated into Spanish, German, Hebrew, Polish and Japanese. It was recently named Best Mystery of 2023 by the California Independent Booksellers Association.

The Two Arc Tale

Mother-Daughter Murder Night tells the tale of Lana Rubicon, a Los Angeles real-estate mogul who discovers she has cancer and must move to Elkhorn Slough to live with her daughter Beth and 15-year-old granddaughter Jack. Jack discovers the body of a dead man in the slough. When she is accused of the murder, her force-of-nature grandmother, cancer treatments and all, goes on the hunt for the real killer.

Nina says her book is “two stories smushed together.” It is both a murder mystery and a book about the relationships between three women. The heart of the novel is founded in mother-daughter-granddaughter-hood, porous connections for the author’s dive into generational bonding. It’s the heart of the story and we get from the outset that this tale of three generations searching for each other comes from the author’s heart.

Nina gives Lana and Beth plenty of chasm to fill; in the beginning, after the powerful Lana falls and can’t get up, she decides against calling her nurse-daughter Beth, and before dialing 911, she calls her secretary to reschedule a meeting.

The battle between Beth and her mother engulfs all three women. The 15-year-old Jack strains towards her freedom and on a day when her mother’s “familiar warmth of concern felt too hot, too smothering, Jack knew what she had to do.”

Beth muses to Jack about her grandmother, “She uses people, you know, your Prima. When I was little, she would pinch me so I would cry, and we could skip the line at the airport. Everyone is just an employee to her, in service to her goals.”

Jack knows what freedom smells like, saltwater spray and motor oil. As she rides her bike, she dreams of having a boat that she will sail away on.

“It would be magic. Freedom! Her sweatshirt billowed in the wind, and she allowed herself to imagine for a moment that the fabric was a sail.”

**NOT SISTERS** Her mom Serina Simon has recovered and Nina Simon is a best-selling author. The murder mystery takes place at the Elkhorn Slough. **Photo: Bill Skinner**

Nina’s Audience

Nina Simon, wearing jeans and a black tee shirt, voice slightly hoarse and looking every bit like she had spent the weekend in the sun playing volleyball, looks over the Santa Cruz High School library filled with her adoring, female fans.

“Like I told my mom, ‘I want to write a story where women are all the good guys and men are all the bad guys and dead people.’”

The all-ages crowd of women erupts into cheers.

I asked the event’s producer, librarian/English-teacher Veronica Zaleha, “Why do you like Mother-Daughter Murder Night?”

“I like this book because it’s got three strong female characters. I really identified with them because at each stage of life they have their own flaws and foibles, you could see their vulnerabilities in the way they interact with one another. It’s a fun, who-dunnit mystery read, but it also deals with land-use issues and… well, with feminism.”

“What feminist issues?”

“The grandmother, Lana, felt she needed to direct her daughter Beth to use her womanly wiles to get information. When Lana heard Jack quote, ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick,’ Lana pointed out to her granddaughter that no one gives women a big stick.”

“So, what’s the answer?”

Veronica laughs and throws her head back, “Be loud!” She looks down at her copy of the novel, “These three women, since I finished reading the book, I’ve missed them.”

In the Santa Cruz High School library, Nina starts with why she wrote the book.

“I never expected to write this novel. In high school I cared about playing water polo and math and science, because that is the only way I could become an engineer for NASA. And after I got my degree, I did get that dream job at NASA. Six months into my job, I hated it. On the weekends I was cleaning exhibits at a museum and making masks for three-year-olds, and I loved it. So, I made the phone call that no Jewish mother from LA wants to hear, ‘Yes mom, I’m going to quit my engineering job and make puppet masks for 3-year-olds.’

I worked in museums for a long time designing exhibits, first in Washington, D.C. and then I moved here to Santa Cruz in 2007, and a few years later, took over running the MAH. I started writing about how we can make museums more interactive, more relevant. I wrote two non-fiction books about museums and cultural classes, self-published.

I decided to leave the MAH a year after Abbott Square opened, to start a global nonprofit to work with organizations around the world, museums, libraries, parks, theaters, that wanted to embrace the community we had created at the MAH. At 39 years old I found what I wanted to do, and it was this non-profit activist work. And then, two years later, in the fall of 2020, I got a phone call that changed everything.”

The call no Jewish daughter wants to hear.

A neurologist told Nina, “Your mother has a brain tumor, and she needs someone to help her. She has lung cancer, and tumors throughout her body.”

Nina says, “This was the fall of 2020. It was the first time in my life that I felt like it was not my choice what I was going to do next in my life, and instead of me driving the future I wanted, I was pulled to leave the thing I thought I wanted to build. I moved in with my mom in Los Angeles, and every day I was afraid my mom was going to die. Every day, my mom and I fought about whether she would eat. All we could talk about was, ‘could she drink more of the milkshake and what time do we have to go to the doctor?’ We were lucky to be together, but we were not doing great. We needed something else to talk about.”

**HAPPY ENDING** Nina and Sarina Simon celebrate good health and good fortune. **Photo: Bill Skinner**

Making mom the hero

“We needed a project. My mom and I have always loved murder mysteries. When she got sick, I thought, ‘OK, let’s reread those old books.’ And then one day I turned to her and said, ‘What if I tried writing a murder mystery? What if I made the hero, the lead detective, someone like you?’ And that’s where Mother-Daughter Murder Night was born. All I was thinking was how could I write a scene that would make my mom smile.”

Nina says that her mom is always afraid that people are going to think that she’s a bitch because of how Lana is. “No, no, no. Lana is the super-hero version. While my mom was stuck in bed, Lana was leaping out of bed. While my mom was getting pushed around by the doctors, Lana was pushing the doctors around. I was writing this character as a fantasy of what I wanted to happen. I wanted my mom to be well, I wanted us to be together.”

“Why a murder mystery?”

“I felt I knew murder mysteries, I knew the structural elements, there has got to be a dead body in the first 50 pages, and you gotta resolve it at the end, and then you can figure it out in between. My mom introduced me to the Elkhorn Slough. She came up to visit one time and went for a hike there. I went down there, during the pandemic and got into paddleboarding in Elkhorn Slough. I needed ways to get out in nature. It was natural and industrial; the conflict was great for a murder.”

“When did it become a commercial project?”

“The whole first draft I wrote in six months, sitting by my mom. Writing it for her. Writing it for us. It would have been enough for this to be an intimate project for just her and I. It took us away from the stress and fear. I loved the writing and after the first draft, I said, ‘I’m going to commit to trying to get this published.’ I went to all my favorite books to try to figure it out. I had wonderful friends read it and tell me what worked and what didn’t. Cleaned it up as good as I could. And then I knew I had to get an agent.”

The literary agent pitch

Nina says, “The way you get an agent is to write a 300-word email describing your book. You say, this is like X meets Y. In my case it was the Gilmore Girls meets Only Murders in The Building. I submitted the manuscript to 40 agents. I think about 12 of them made me offers of representation, and I went with Stefanie Lieberman. She said, ‘I love this book, but we need to make it better so we can sell it.’ She put me through three more edits, and eight months later said, ‘It’s done. Now, you need to forget about the book and start writing another one.’”

Publishing houses divided

“I was getting on a plane to go to the woods with my husband when Stefanie called and said publishers want to buy the book. They all wanted to buy it, but they all had a different vision for it.
‘Love the mystery, I feel mixed about the family part. Let’s cut down on the family part to speed it up.’

The next publisher I would talk to would say, ‘Love the family. Not so crazy about the mystery, let’s backseat the mystery and let’s really make this a family drama.’

We went with Liz Stein who said, ‘I have a vision that we can do both, the family side and the mystery side.’ We locked in July. The publisher had to test market the book, send it out to the Reese Witherspoons of the world. I just waited. They needed to get a buzz around the book. Will Good Morning America want it? Will the Book of the Month Club want it? For the first few months of that, no. No, no, pass, pass, pass. We started thinking, ‘Maybe this will be a quiet book. Maybe they paid too much for it. Maybe we’ll be lucky to sell ten thousand copies and then we’ll be done.’

Two months before the book was to come out, I got a call from my editor. I was nervous that they were going to pull the book, that they decided I’m a fraud, that this is no good. My editor said, ‘I just got the call that this has been chosen for the Reese Witherspoon Book Club’s Book of the Month for September.’ Then I knew the book was going to be big.”

**PADDLE ON** From museum director to author, Nina Simon has reached astonishing success. **Photo: Carson Nicodemus**

Advice to young writers

“You have to find a question that fires you up. The core arc around my story’s family side is the question, ‘When do you need other people? And when do you do things for yourself?’ The second thing is you have to find a scaffold that you can work with. I chose murder mysteries because I like them, but also, because the outline is laid out for you; dead body in the beginning, solve it in the end.”

“What makes this book so commercially interesting?”

“I got lucky. There is this current micro trend around warm hearted and humorous mysteries. Books were coming out that hit this very unusual, sweet spot that is in this crossover between warmth and coziness and humor and murder. Mother-Daughter Murder Night came at the right time when publishers were looking for more books like that. I think if it was 10 years ago, when everything was about Gone Girl and unreliable narrator twisty thrillers, I do not think a sweet, comforting murder mystery like this would have gotten the same kind of interest that it gets now.”

“How does all this make you feel?”

“The predominant feeling I experienced in the first few weeks after launch was not delight. It was overwhelming. But I feel lucky that it happened, a total gift. This whole story came out of the terror and crisis of my mom getting sick. My mom’s doing terrific now, and so I feel like we have had a dream path with this book. It started out as a nightmare; I’m so, so grateful about it.”

Next

In the final moments of the Q & A at the Santa Cruz High School library, woman after woman would tell Nina how close they felt to the three protagonists and expressed wistful longings for a sequel. But Nina said she is tussling with a new question for her next book.

“Now I’m working on a book about the question of ‘Can you have extraordinary impact in a field of science and be a mom? Or to be a clinical, career person, do you need to strip everything else out of your life?’ These questions are very potent for me, on a scary, deeper level, that fire me up. So, I know I’m not going to get tired of these questions. A new novel is a three-year process, I need to follow my passionate, personal question.”

Nina Simon will be giving a free talk at the Belmont Branch of the San Mateo County Public Library on Sunday, February 25^th at 2 pm. Details at ninaksimon.com.

Good TimesGood Times

Good TimesGood Times

Pesticide Reality Tour

Framing the Band

High Art

Playing Live

The Editor’s Desk

Letters

Brew Chew

Baby Food

Free Will Astrology

Cheeseburgers in Paradise

Introduction

PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS

SIDEBAR

Street Talk

Santa Cruz District 2 City Council Candidate: Hector Marin

Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Susie O’Hara

Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Joe Thompson

40 Unit Housing Project Near UCSC Passes

Saying Goodbye to “Reb”

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

Murder for a Smile

Free Will Astrology

Cheeseburgers in Paradise

Street Talk

Santa Cruz District 2 City Council Candidate: Hector Marin

Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Susie O’Hara

Santa Cruz District 5 City Council Candidate: Joe Thompson

40 Unit Housing Project Near UCSC Passes

Saying Goodbye to “Reb”

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

Murder for a Smile