Poor Things lands with a thud. In a scenario lifted from countless vintage horror/sci-fi flicks, it’s the old story of a mad scientist, a young woman who falls under his control and an outlandish conception of interpersonal relations.
Strange things happen to Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) and Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Particularly to Bella. After she commits suicide by jumping off a bridge in the opening shot, “God” (that’s her name for the scientist) recovers and revives Bella’s corpse in his lab, transplanting the brain of her unborn baby into her cranium. The operation is a success.
And so we have the spectacle of an attractive, fully grown woman behaving like an infant: crying, wetting herself, throwing tantrums, gradually becoming physically coordinated, learning to talk, etc. All this to the tune of British composer Jerskin Fendrix’s (real name: Joscelin Dent-Pooley) remarkably evocative yet fully annoying 20th-century-modernist-style music track.
Poor Things is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), with a screenplay adapted by Tony McNamara (Cruella) from a novel by Alasdair Gray, with both Lanthimos and Stone among the producers. It’s less an extension of The Favourite’s satiric nastiness than it is a whacky genre update with a cleverly hidden subtext. The more Bella relearns about being a woman, the more disgusted she is with the status quo.
The director enjoys playing games with history. In The Favourite the 18th-century court of Queen Anne of England is home to randy shenanigans and power struggles in addition to mountains of bric-a-brac. That’s a similar case to Dr. Baxter’s Victorian London, but turned up a notch or two in the soft-core sex department.
“God” doesn’t exactly use Bella as a sex toy – to him she’s a scientific experiment in progress – but his acquaintances are not so scrupulous when it comes to a naïve beauty open to suggestions. The “furious jumping” is played for broad laughs, but that sexual cruelty ruins whatever sympathy a viewer may have had for the scar-faced doctor, and turns Lanthimos’ tilted riffing on Bride of Frankenstein and Edward Scissorhands into a painful ordeal instead of a simple shaggy-dog lampoon.
For instance, when Bella discovers masturbation it’s really nothing to rejoice about – at that stage she’s more of an artificial lust object than a woman with recognizable feelings. Her danse-mécanique body movements are similarly un-amusing. As depicted by Stone in a frantic performance, Bella might as well be an inflatable doll or a robot. The cheap chuckles continue in that vein for about half the film’s running time.
But then suddenly, after Bella is introduced to goofball sybarite Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) and they embark on a luxurious trip into the wondrous outside world, a major tonal shift occurs. In a welcome departure from the sophomoric look-at-the-freak antics of the film’s early scenes, Bella grows more complicated with age She’s still absurdly oversexed and naive, but from a slightly more experienced point of view, and is quite capable of thinking for herself.
In scenes aboard an ocean cruise ship and later in the demimonde of Paris, the innocently curious Bella learns useful things from a pair of libertines (Hanna Schygulla, Jerrod Carmichael); the saturnine madam of a Parisian bordello (actor Kathryn Hunter, in a thrillingly corrupt supporting-award-contending role); and a fellow prostitute (Suzy Bemba). There’s nothing remotely titillating about our heroine’s experiences, and yet the tale of Bella’s ironic “education” seems like another, better film entirely, compared to the marionette antics of the first half.
Stone’s career-best performance verges on brilliance. Classically inclined culture fans might be reminded of everything from Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion to Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Air Doll to Alfred Hitchcock’s Young and Strange. Stone rises to the occasion, and so does Ruffalo. As for Dafoe, he recycles much of his oeuvre – nothing especially offensive about that. The production designers and art directors put on their own dazzling show. After its iffy first half, Poor Things emerges as a revelation.
Poor Things is in limited release, playing in Palo Alto now. Wide release is set for Dec. 22.
If (Police Chief) Bernie Escalante is concerned about thugs who knock over pot shops, perhaps he should try asking the Superior Court for a proper search warrant to place cameras in pot shop parking lots, instead of asking the city to pay a contractor in perpetuity for photos of every vehicle entering town. If pot shop owners object that he’d be spying on their customers, let Escalante argue that point in court.
Monroy reports that SCPD has previously used grants to buy other war toys, but he doesn’t tell us whether any of these stocking stuffers has ever actually been used.
Instead of stockpiling toys against imagined crimes, perhaps Escalante should concentrate on the hundreds of true crimes that occur here daily, where some automation might help, namely all of the cars zipping down our streets way too fast, ignoring speed limits while endangering pedestrians and cyclists. I haven’t seen an SCPD officer or County Sheriff’s deputy write a speeding ticket in years.
Scott Marovich
Soquel
LICENSE PLATE READER COMPANY SUPPORTS PROGRAM
Hollister Police officers arrested a suspect accused of involvement in a shooting after using their newly-installed Flock Safety License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras to identify a suspect vehicle.
On Dec. 4, Hollister officers responded to reports of a shooting. The victims stated that a silver vehicle pulled up next to their car and fired several shots into the car. Officers queried nearby Flock Safety LPRs and identified a suspect vehicle that matched the description and was near the scene at the time of the crime. With assistance from Watsonville PD and Santa Cruz Probation, officers apprehended a juvenile, who was booked in the San Benito County Youth Services Center.
“FLOCK Systems were integral to our solving this case so quickly,” said Hollister Police Chief Carlos Reynoso. “We used this system exactly as intended; to identify suspects in crimes and build a criminal case against them, and bring them to justice swiftly.
Flock Safety works with over 3,000 law enforcement agencies to solve hundreds of crimes every day.
Best,
Connor Metz | Flock Safety
PRAISE FOR GT
Two quickies:
1) In response to your editorial about the Israel-Hamas episode, threats, etc. I was saddened to learn of it, but not surprised — there’s a lot of free-floating hostility in this place…pops out in strange places. It’s troubling when they go after newspapers…Damn!
2) Geoffrey’s piece on Rebele — brilliant choice to have him do it, and a more than brilliant result! Best damned profile I’ve ever read — the bastard made me cry and I told him so.
Do you have kids and do you feel safe if they walk or bike to school? In Santa Cruz and in the country at large, the answer is too often no.
Some 211 bicyclists were injured between 2017 and 2021 in the city of Santa Cruz with one fatality. And 88 pedestrians were injured and 7 killed, according to a study released by Vision Zero, a local group analyzing traffic safety with a goal of lowering accidents.
At least 7,508 people who were out walking were struck and killed in the United States last year, the highest since 1981 and almost double the number from 2010, according to a report by the nonprofit Governors Highway Safety Association.
All this while internationally the rates of pedestrian deaths have gone down, according to a New York Times report.
Planners are coming up with theories for the rise: drivers distracted by cell phones and electronics; a lack of safe biking space and sidewalks; higher speed limits and bigger vehicles; automatic transmissions that need less concentration than manual ones; and less enforcement by police.
The greatest rise in accidents has occurred after dark and in particular when the clocks change for daylight saving time. The county has received millions to improve transportation, which is good news.
Every one of us is affected by traffic delays and we have yet to hear of a real solution. For me, the biggest help would be improving safety for students trying to get to and from schools.
It’s shocking that in so many neighborhoods there are no sidewalks or bike lanes. How can you expect anyone to get home safely when they have to walk in thin streets after dark designed only for cars? What were planners thinking?
It’s not too late to raise your voices and make sure local money is spent making non motorized travel more safe for those who need it most. We don’t need more studies of expensive solutions that won’t solve the problem. We need safe bike lanes and walkways NOW.
Brad Kava
Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
OWL’S WELL Great Horned Owls have made their return to Lighthouse Field after being ousted by the storm this winter. Photo:Ty Hammond
GOOD IDEA
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission approved $61.3 million for regional transit projects including:
• Traffic signal priority for buses
• Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail Project – for environmental analysis
• Bicycle Incentives Program
• Pavement including Murphy’s Crossing, Roggie Lane, Lee Road, West Beach Street, Corralitos Road, Amesti Road, Empire Grade Road, Bear Creek Road, Soquel San Jose Road, Rio Del Mar Boulevard, Bay Street, Scotts Valley Drive, Mt, Herman Road, 41st Avenue and Green Valley Road
• New and upgraded bicycle/pedestrian facilities projects.
• Improvement projects by the Felton-SLV Schools.
GOOD WORK
Registered nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital ratified a new three-year contract, the first collective bargaining agreement since WCH became a public-sector employer in 2021.
It includes: improved retention of experienced nurses, with a hospital guarantee that 20 percent of staff positions be reserved as part-time; more input from nurses about pandemic procedures; safeguards against mandatory overtime; and prioritizing jobs for union nurses.
“After a tumultuous few years, we’re thrilled to have a strong contract that reflects the priorities of nurses and the needs of our community,” said Shanandrea Castro, RN-Special Procedures.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.” —Mark Hyman
The holiday season is a good time for reggae: peaceful vibes, happy tones and dreams of sunnier days. Sammy Johnson (aka Sammy J) brings his unique take on the genre to Santa Cruz this week in celebration of the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Prelude. Drawing on his Australian and New Zealand roots, the singer embodies his Maori and Polynesian heritage to create jazz-infused music that evokes gentle island breezes, moonlight strolls and falling asleep to the sound of waves. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
Founded by New York producer Aaron Levinson and longtime bandleader and pianist Oscar Hernandez, the high-flying Spanish Harlem Orchestra has recorded seven deeply felt and precisely executed Latin jazz albums. With three Grammy awards to their credit, SHO’s “Salsa Navidad” holiday show includes Latino/Spanish classics and some classic American Christmas songs in a salsa style. The holiday performance also features the Puerto Rican Christmas style known as “Aguinaldo,” along with some of their non-holiday original compositions. DAN EMERSON
INFO: 7pm & 9pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St. $57.75/adv, $63/door. 427-2227
FRIDAY
AMERICANA
PATTERSON HOOD
Patterson Hood, the man behind the alt-country band Drive-By Truckers, is on a solo tour. He speaks with a southern twang and sings with a voice steeped in yearning. His music is Wilco-meets-Bob-Dylan-meets-Appalachia, showcasing a fluidity and earnestness that can only come from an artist who has spent years honing his craft. Hood’s voice is insistent; he is not afraid to howl in agony when the moment is right, and his howl is so laden with feeling that it could call down the moon. JESSICA IRISH
In the punk rock world, it’s blasphemy for bands to stray from the three-chord path—unless that band is X. Exene Cervenka, John Doe, DJ Bonebrake and Billy Zoom have long earned the credit they deserve, not only as cofounders of the Los Angeles punk scene but as world-class musicians, songwriters and artists. And their live shows continue to be just as energetic and fun as ever; it’s hard not to sing along to every single song. They’re playing at the Rio this round, so the kids can slam dance up front while mom and dad kick back with a drink. MAT WEIR
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $37. 423-8209.
ROCK
HOT LAUNDRY
For the last six years, the high-fashioned, functioning outfit known as Hot Laundry has delivered hard garage rock via Detroit with a stop at Motown. Their live shows feature lead singer Janette Lopez with backup singers and dancers Ileath Bridges and Gena Serey shaking and swaying to the hard-driving, funky beat. Perfect for anyone who knows how to do “the Shake” and “the Watusi” or likes to pogo up and down like a mad lad. As an added warm-fuzzy feeling, this Friday’s show is also a charity toy drive, and attendees are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to make someone’s holiday extra special. MW
Ozomatli can do it all and often does. Their sound combines jazz, salsa, reggae, hip-hop, cumbia, and many other Latin influences with songs sung in English and/or Spanish. Fans of everyone from Jack Johnson to Buena Vista Social Club will have the time of their lives with Ozomatli. If Santana and Bob Marley performed in a supergroup with a rock ‘n’ roll drummer and a rapper, the sound would come close to what Ozo is dropping. JI
Come gather around the holiday hearth and enjoy the joyful spirit of the season. Christmas with the Chorale takes us on a musical journey through gorgeous music, from Ukrainian carols to renowned Renaissance compositions. “The Magnificat,” by 17th-century Austrian composer Heinrich Biber, highlights this swift-moving concert conducted by maestro Christian Grube, emeritus professor of choral conducting at the Berlin University of Arts. The musicians of the Monterey Bay Sinfonietta will join the Chorale. Celebrate the season with beloved music performed by one of the area’s top choral ensembles. CHRISTINA WATERS
INFO: Sat, 8pm, Sun, 4pm, Holy Cross Church, 123 High St, Santa Cruz, $30. 427-8023.
SUNDAY
SKA
WESTERN STANDARD TIME SKA ORCHESTRA
It’s not every day that a 20-piece ska band comes to town and brings a bunch of friends. The dynamic supergroup Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra blasts into Moe’s this Sunday with featured vocalists Jesse Wagner (the Aggrolites) and Karina Denike (Dance Hall Crashers). The crowd is in for a jubilant night of Jamaican jazz fusion with this ensemble of West Coast ska legends, which includes past members of Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello, Kingston 10 and Mobtown. The group will undoubtedly be performing some cuts off their recently released Christmas album, Bluebeat Holiday. Local soul virtuosos the Inciters will open. AM
Longtime beloved Santa Cruz vocalist Tammi Brown is facing the challenge of her life: a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. “Tonight For Tammi” will bring many of her talented friends together for this benefit to help deal with the costs of her treatment. Topping the marquee will be guitar and bass wizard Stanley Jordan, a past collaborator. Also playing will be gospel vocal groups Attune and Tanya Fitzgerald & the Broken People, singer James Durbin, bassist Polo Jones, the Lauren Monroe Band (featuring Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen) and Emmy Award-winning composer John Wineglass. DAN EMERSON
INFO: 4pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St. $75. 427-2227.
The Central Coast has run out of space. Housing is so tight; you know you’re from Santa Cruz if you’ve ever bent over in your bedroom and turned on your kitchen stove with your ass.
The University of California Santa Cruz’s 2021 No Place Like Home study concludes that Santa Cruz is one of the least affordable places to live on the planet, and housing is the main problem. We’ve exhausted our space for single family units and are turning to accessory dwelling units (ADUs), separate small dwellings next to single-family residences.
They have been called secondary units, granny flats, in-law units, man-caves, and teenager-out-of-your-face units. ADUs attempt to be a low-cost approach to infill housing, strive to be an alternative to the investment/developer’s answer to affordable housing in Santa Cruz: bigger, taller, more expensive buildings. I have yet to experience a new tall building as an improvement in lifestyle, going home by riding an elevator feels wrong on so many levels. But even building ADUs is out of reach for many Santa Cruzans. Santa Cruz Green Builders says a stand-alone ADU can cost from $300,000 to $700,000.
But I have experienced an affordable lifestyle that reveres light and vistas and freedom and a living space that is meant to be art. It was when I moved into my 1979 Airstream trailer.
“A lot of people like them polished, they love seeing themselves in thetrailer.” —Watsonville Airstream guru Skye Ogden
Space Age in any age French bike racer Alfred Letourneur towing a 22 foot Airstream
A Silver Bullet?
We’ve all seen the sleek, silver bullets rolling across the American landscape, a curious symbol of both our wanderlust and our love of home. The lifestyle is a return to the basic, stripped down to the essential, while in pursuit of something greater than us. When we pass Airstreams on the freeway we think, “Surely, this is a vessel of dreams.” Airstreams, and their vintage aluminum counterpart Spartan trailers, are space age Conestoga wagons that only retire to back yards as ADUs.
What people love about Airstreams starts with the materials. Airstreams have a steel frame riveted by a unique aluminum, seamless, hard shell. Strong but light, it is the same material used for making aircraft, the shell is held together by airplane rivets. They don’t rust, they don’t rot, and whether you purchase them old or new, you get a lot of bang for your buck. Granted, a lot of buck.
The new rounded and polished aluminum coachwork Airstreams start at $65,000 and go way up, fast. Tom Hanks’ Airstream that he used on movie sets sold for $200,000. If you’re well-healed, you can spend as much as you want; on a trip to Asia, Vice President Dick Cheney traveled in an Airstream trailer inside an airplane. But there is a path to owning an Airstream for those in the middle class (remember them?) and even in the lower class (those of us who are comfortable with getting our hands dirty.)
To follow this path, buy an old Airstream in as good shape as you can afford and put it up on blocks in your backyard. If you can follow You Tube instructions, you can rebuild even the old, bent ones, because they were quality built. If you get stuck, there is an underground cottage industry of Airstream restorers who will help you. Today, new Airstream Internationals like mine cost $109,000. Twenty years ago I paid $5,000 for my 1979 Airstream International and it was in great shape.
The tales in this story are of the back yard aluminum trailers, old Airstreams and Spartans retrofitted to serve as ADUs, and the people who live in them. The older the trailer, the more likely it is to quietly live in someone’s yard as an extra bedroom, bath and kitchen. To paraphrase General Douglas MacArthur, “Old Airstreams never die, they’re just out of sight.”
FRAMED If you want to customize your Airstream, Skye Ogden can help. Photo: Richard Stockton
What Planet Are These Spaceships From?
William Hawley Bowlus was the plant superintendent for the production of Charles Lindbergh’s plane, The Spirit of St. Louis. In 1934, Bowlus developed the first riveted aluminum trailer, named “Road Chief.” Wally Bynum sold these trailers and after Bowlus ended production in September 1936, Bynum created Airstream to imitate the Road Chief and in 1936 created The Clipper.
Airstream trailers are now manufactured in Jackson Center, Ohio, a division of Thor Industries. Airstream is the oldest trailer manufacturer in the business, and none approaches its quality.
A Look at My Airstream
The first vintage Airstream I noticed was the 1937 Airstream on the cover of guitar legend Ry Cooder’s 1970 debut album. Ry Cooder said, “I like an Airstream trailer. They’re real abstract to me, like bananas on wheels.”
Twenty years ago, I won the vintage Airstream lottery. I paid $5,000 for my 24-foot 1979 Airstream International, a smooth skinned beauty, garaged most of its life. It has no flat surfaces except for the floor and windows and even the front corner windows are curved. It has polished aluminum window frames, chrome window locks, stainless steel stovetop and sink, aluminum trim on all corners, stainless steel accent rivets, light gray woodwork, silver ash laminate flooring and barely off-white walls.
The Starship Enterprise control area above the wrap-around front windows matches the sweeping contours of the sink and shower in the rear. Mister Spock would feel at home in my Airstream.
Recycle,Retrofit, Reincarnate
In 2016, on Windsor Street in Seabright, my wife Julie and I were put out on the street by out-of-town investors. Fueled by anger and desperation, I gutted my Airstream down to the walls and floor to rebuild it from scratch.
I have two music buddies who are brilliant artists with wood and metal. Rhan Wilson, Rick Zeek and I talk for hours about how my old trailer can be retrofitted to fit my life.
I let them know that I’m not broke, I’m just having an out-of-money-experience. So, the first job is mine. I tear out the old flooring, pull all nails and screws embedded in the walls and ceiling, scrape the metal walls with knives, drill out the holes that have raised edges, pound the metal flat.
For weeks I fill over one thousand tiny holes that had been punched into the interior aluminum walls and ceiling. When I get the walls smooth and primed white, the beautiful curves and contours of the inside skin come alive. What’s cool about old Airstreams is that you can retrofit them to fit your life.
We double the closet space because Julie has clothes.
We double the size of the bathroom because Julie has makeup.
We line the closets with cedar because Julie has an incredible sense of smell.
The floor of the nose is left open because Julie has a yoga mat.
We design a couch that turns into a bed because Julie has me.
Work on your Airstream will continue as long as life keeps changing; I’m building a bed in the nose beneath the wraparound windows, so me, Julie and her beast can sleep under the stars.
HOME SUITE HOME Spartan or luxurious, there are infinite possibilities for your home on wheels. Photo: Richard Stockton
Tales of Lust and Aluminumat a Felton Rally
Whether you buy a new one for megabucks, or you get a worn-out vintage trailer to work on, you have purchased your way into a club. Airstream owners can’t stop talking about their trailers and they snap together like magnets.
There are hundreds of Airstream rallies every year in the U.S.
Airstream Club International has a rally every month and I attend the one at the Redwood RV Resort on Highway 9 in Felton. Forty Airstream trailers converge from all over the country to party for five days in the redwoods. It has people of an age you think of in assisted living centers, but these 60, 70, and 80-somethings are rocking.
It is like Woodstock if the headliner was Lawrence Welk. Upon revealing that I live in an Airstream trailer, I am handed food and alcohol and lured into the party. I’m in a cult.
I’m talking with Glen and Paul, two 60-somethings with Day-Glo sneakers.
“We are all different, politically right or left, straight or hip, poor or wealthy, it’s all across the board, we are all bonded for life. What bonds us is the trailer.”
I comment that this sounds serious and ask if an intervention is needed.
Paul says, “Too late. We all have terminal cases of aluminitis.”
Glen and his wife Marta own a new 27-foot Flying Cloud, their third Airstream. “I bought all of them new and sold the first two for more than I paid for them.”
I meet a formidable woman named Mary Ann who tells me that five years ago she wandered over to Michael’s Airstream at an Airstream rally and five weeks later was living in it as his wife.
“He had an 11-car garage, full of cars, and I used to own a wrecking yard with over 2,500 cars. I had never gotten over losing my wrecking yard in my divorce. This man with 11 cars and three Airstream trailers healed me.”
She makes a fist and punches Michael in the back. Michael grunts from the blow but does not turn around, he is talking to another man about his Airstream trailer.
Bob Frist says he heard Mike Tyson’s manager say, “To find your way to your greatness, you need to find another room in your house.” Bob went looking for another room and found the love of his life, Chris and her Bambi trailer, the smallest Airstream. Chris says, “I love the Airstream, it’s your kitchen and the bathroom in the middle of the night. All your hominess goes with you.”
Bob whispers to me that Airstreams “may be chick magnets.” Chris thrusts her head out of the trailer, “I heard that. Chick magnet? I’m the one who owns the trailer. Maybe it’s a dude magnet.”
Bob grins. “You nailed me, baby.”
He turns to me and shakes his head, “Lust and aluminum.”
A 60-something woman named Betty says, “I met a really cute dude with mine! I was living in a Santa Cruz trailer park in my ’64 Airstream and I saw this really cute guy staring at me and my trailer. He was the groundskeeper for the trailer park, and he walked up and introduced himself in Spanish; he doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish, not one word. No sharing life stories, no blah, blah, blah.
We were lovers for six years and then the trailer park fired him for having an affair with me, ’cause I was a park resident, and he disappeared.
I left Santa Cruz for a year, came back to a different trailer park and he was the groundskeeper of that one! It’s great to be in love. Yeah, my ‘64 Airstream is totally a dude magnet.”
Going all the way
Skye Ogden, my Watsonville brother-in-aluminum, retrofits Airstreams and Spartans, some for travel but mostly to be used as ADUs.
“I restore from the bottom up, wheels, bearings, tires, safety stuff, like a jack, a coupler, a hitch. We polish too if they want it, $3,000 to $6,000 depending on the size of the trailer.”
It started out as a hobby for Skye, a ravenous student of restoration, and he turned it into a family business, buying, restoring, selling, or transporting vintage campers.
“I just put new windows in two Spartans, a ‘46 and a ’48. I want to become an expert in making and installing polycarbonate, curved windows for Spartans. It’s an old-school glass glazier art, not many do it anymore. I go to vintage trailer rallies and am blown away by the restorations. Some are mid-century modern, some classic vintage, and others have ultra-modern finishes, polished metal accents, high end carpentry. One thing I’d like to try is to partner with someone with land to create a vintage glamp-ground. Nice view, the ocean, or a hill… and my trailers.”
“Who buys these from you?”
“Usually, it’s people who want to use them for an ADU, a guest house, office, or studio. They make them their own, fix them up, give them their own character. Some take a crane and lift them over their house to their backyard. It becomes an extension of their home.” Check out Skye’s work at SilverCaravanner.com.
Santa Cruzan Joe Shewmaker has been living in his Airstream for 40 years, “If your electrical system is original you will eventually want to upgrade that, but your foundation, walls, ceiling, roof and windows aren’t going anywhere. It’s all aluminum. It’s one of the few, if not the only living structure that will be just as solid 40 years from now.”
Is an Airstream for you?
Living in a retrofitted vintage Airstream is like having a hot rod car; you have the coolest ride on the block… and you never stop working on it. Maintenance is constant and parts can be challenging to get. But for most repairs, you can work on it yourself. There are guys like Skye Ogden you can hire.
To live in an Airstream, there is a universe beyond downsizing. Nearly all of the stuff in your house or apartment is not moving into the trailer with you. Look, if you want a bigger house, get smaller furniture. Deflate your yoga ball and sit on a basketball. A love seat becomes a self-love seat. Your Welcome mat may just say “Wel”.
Your WiFi needs to be strong, your little house is made of aluminum. The upside is that Chinese satellites and balloons cannot steal your ideas.
Your aluminum trailer can change temperature rapidly. At night the walls transmit the cold temperatures to the inside and as soon as the sun hits the Airstream it turns into a solar oven. Last summer my Mexican neighbor called me Ricardo Asada, but then I got a whole house ceiling fan that cools it down in minutes.
Finally, do not expect your kids to approve of your move into an Airstream ADU. My children think I’m crazy and my Airstream is just further proof. My daughter does not want to hear about my unfulfilled dreams, she wants me to fill my prescription for lithium. Whoever I am turning out to be is not what she had in mind.
Freedom
The vintage aluminum trailer crowd is partial to second chances, “We’re not trailer trash, we’re recycled.” We dig it that these old aluminum trailers need to be repaired, repolished, re-wired, re-plumbed, re-screened, and reincarnated. Even given the limited living space, no one I know who owns an Airstream regrets buying it.
Whether you model the Silver Surfer, for whom freedom is everything, or just want to develop a place for people to crash, an Airstream ADU has the potential to find freedom from banks, freedom from scarcity fears, and freedom from needing a six-figure income to live in Santa Cruz.
Special thanks to Contributor Julie Flannery for her editing assistance during the development of this manuscript.
Want to try out an Airstream?
One way to sleep-test a vintage Airstream is to spend a night at the Waypoint Ventura Hotel, a vintage trailer hotel by the beach in Ventura, California. Go to waypointventura.com and check out the 50 vintage aluminum trailers they offer for rooms.
Scan this QR Code to watch a 2 minute video of Richard’s visit to the Waypoint Ventura Hotel.
Monterey officials question the delays in repairs to two breaches along the Pajaro River levee in a letter to federal representatives last Wednesday.
The letter, sent on behalf of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors and signed by Supervisor Luis Alejo, noted that the United States Army Corps of Engineers rebuilt the site of the initial levee break, which breached in March and flooded the town of Pajaro, earlier this year.
But the two other sites in need of emergency repairs have yet to be completed, the letter noted. These areas include erosion near the Highway 1 bridge and further downstream near the Pacific Ocean.
County officials said they were told by the USACE that delays by the contractor moved the estimated completion date from Dec. 31 to July 1. After urging the USACE to select another contractor, “we have received no response from the USACE regarding our plea,” the letter stated.
“Any storm system this winter that elevates river water levels to the elevation of the compromised levee system at either Site 2 or Site 3, ahead of permanent repairs, jeopardizes the protection of life and property adjacent to the Pajaro River in those locations,” the letter stated. “This could cause a greater impact to an already severely impacted Pajaro community through disruptions to services such as transportation, hygiene, education and employment.”
The letter was sent during a time when the Monterey County Board of Supervisors rewired changes to a proposal about where to spend $20 million in state funds to aid Pajaro as it regains its footing from the flooding.
Scores of people in Pajaro objected to the plan, which included money for a community sign, improvements to the local library and more, which caused the supervisors to reconvene the next day on Wednesday to unanimously approve a modified plan.
The greatest message was for more direct assistance to residents and businesses who feared that money would, instead, be directed to projects such as new crosswalks, sidewalks, library money and such—that have sat underfunded or not funded at all.
The discussions revolved around money that is part of a budget amendment act, Assembly Bill 102, which designated money for Pajaro and elsewhere.
Pajaro was completely evacuated on March 10 when the Pajaro River levee breached, leaving businesses shuttered and residents out of work for weeks.
The Pajaro Long Term Recovery Plan presented to the board Tuesday by Office of Emergency Management Director Kelsey Scanlon called for $6 million in direct relief for the community, including business owners, who were only given the option of low-interest loans from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Small Business Administration after the storm. Some undocumented residents were ineligible for direct FEMA relief.
Most speakers suggested setting aside at least $12 million for direct relief.
The plan outlined Tuesday included 12 broad project areas ranging from community grants to nonprofits for various projects related to developing community resources, to infrastructure and community development, natural and cultural resources, and emergency preparedness and response. The funding must be spent by the end of 2025 and cannot duplicate any relief from another emergency funding source, like FEMA.
Supervisors Luis Alejo and Glenn Church, whose district includes Pajaro, questioned the level of investment to dedicate to Pajaro Middle School for items such as an improved turf field and a digital sign that could display public community messages.
The proposal approved by the supervisors included $10 million in direct relief.
Thomas Hughes of Bay City News contributed to this article.
Six local students won a competitive national scholarship that will help pay for their degrees after graduating from Pajaro Valley Unified Schools.
As high school seniors across the nation plan their adult lives, many are considering colleges and universities. Invariably, these questions are guided by a single factor: how to pay for it.
While scholarships are an option, these are often competitive and come with a host of application requirements.
The Questbridge scholarship is perhaps one of the most onerous of these, coming with myriad essays and detailed descriptions of school and extracurricular activities.
Out of 20,800 students who applied this year, just 2,242 nationwide received “full-ride” scholarships that include tuition, housing and food, books and supplies, as well as travel expenses.
And five of these winners are from Pajaro Valley Unified Schools.
Pajaro Valley High students Andrea Roman-Fernandez, Ruby Romero-Maya and Marcos Gonzalez-Florez will be going to Stanford University, Brown University and Colby College in Maine, respectively.
All have weighted GPAs hovering above 4.0.
Brisa Becerra-Cornejo from Aptos High will attend Yale, and Watsonville High students Eli Romero Ortiguza and America Lopez will attend Stanford and Boston College, respectively.
Palo Alto-based Questbridge is a nonprofit that connects high-performing students from low-income backgrounds with colleges and universities.
Gonzalez said he plans to study either engineering or computer science, which he says he chose for the guaranteed employment opportunities.
He said he’ll miss his 3-year-old sister when he makes the 3,600-mile trip to Waterville, Maine, and says the scholarship, which was announced Dec. 1, still comes as a shock.
“It definitely feels surreal,” he said. “Sometimes I log back into the portal to check, because I can’t believe I won it.”
He said his academic success comes from the dedication he put into his studies.
“It just comes down to, find a passion and really dedicate your time to it,” Gonzalez said.
Romero-Maya said her desire to study environmental science began when she was part of the Green Team at Calabasas Elementary School.
“With that I started getting into what it means to help out my community,” she said.
She says her educational philosophy includes being organized, which she noted is evidenced by a packed, color-coded planner.
But that should be coupled with a willingness to take a chance.
“Go for it, and take a risk,” Romero-Maya said, when asked her advice for younger students.
Also, one should be willing to seek assistance when needed.
“Always, always ask for help, because there will be people there to support you no matter what,” she said. “It’s just about reaching out.”
Roman-Fernandez was inspired to become a pediatrician after seeing doctors and other medical professionas in action after her mother was in a car crash.
She credits her older sister—who was the first in her family to go to college—for her inspiration to succeed.
Before that, she wasn’t sure if Stanford—where she has wanted to attend for years—was a realistic goal.
“Never let doubt make anything impossible,” Roman-Fernandez said of the personal philosophy she hopes to impart to younger students. “Leave those fears behind.”
Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital ratified a three-year contract after five months of negotiations. Nurses say the contract will help to improve patient safety and increase nurse retention.
The California Nurses Association, which represents 250 nurses at the hospital, made the announcement on Dec. 9. It was a positive bit of news in a story that began in 2021, when hospital officials said the hospital was facing bankruptcy and closure unless a buyer came forward.
The Pajaro Valley Health Care District Project subsequently purchased the hospital, which is now publicly owned and overseen by the five-member Health Care District.
“After a tumultuous few years, we’re thrilled to have a strong contract that reflects the priorities of nurses and the needs of our community,” said nurse Shanandrea Castro, who was part of the bargaining team. “We fought hard to win critical measures to retain experienced nurses and secured health and safety provisions to improve the hospital’s infectious disease prevention efforts.”
The board is expected to ratify the new contract at an upcoming meeting.
“I’m delighted that it’s complete,” said Board President John Friel. “I’m delighted that we were able to do it without any work stoppages and any interference with patient care. Nurses are an integral part of our health care delivery team, and we need them desperately to make sure that we can continue on the path that we’re on to bring this hospital back to life and sustainability.”
Included in the contract are safeguards against mandatory overtime and protections against outsourcing nursing work. The contract also includes a guarantee that 20 percent of the nursing positions will be part-time, which were eliminated in July as a cost-saving measure.
Nurses say part-time positions allow greater flexibility in their schedules.
The contract also guarantees nurses will be able to have input in the Infectious Disease Task Force, which will be utilized in the event of a novel virus, outbreak, epidemic or pandemic.
The new contract term will end December 2026 and full ratification by the Pajaro Valley Health Care District Board of Directors will be announced and scheduled for next week.
The boat made famous by John Steinbeck, who used the Western Flyer 77-foot wooden purse seiner for multiple expeditions with his biologist friend Ed Ricketts, has found a new home in the Monterey Bay.
Built in Tacoma, Wash., in 1937 as a purse seiner to fish for sardines in the Monterey Bay, the boat went astray in a tangled history that included disappearing for a long spell and sinking twice over the last eight-plus decades. It now lives in Moss Landing as part of the newly formed Western Flyer Foundation.
“It’s inspirational, emotional and an exciting challenge,” said Paul Tate, the captain of the Western Flyer.
He steered the boat into the Monterey Harbor last month as part of a colorful homecoming celebration for the boat where a day of festivities unfolded.
“This is a dream I have alway had: to see this boat come again to life, from the pages of the books to arriving at Fisherman’s Wharf,” he said. “It’s really unbelievable.”
In March 1940, Steinbeck and Ricketts teamed up on a marine specimen-collecting expedition to the Gulf of California in Mexico aboard the Western Flyer. Their six-week voyage inspired the book, “Journals From the Sea of Cortez,” which was published in 1951.
Scores of Steinbeck points of interest dot the map in this region, including a house in Salinas where his family lived when he was born. The National Steinbeck Center opened in Salinas in 1998. The home of his sister, Esther, that once stood on East Lake Avenue in Watsonville, now serves as the centerpiece to the entrance to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
The all-day welcome party for the Western Flyer on Nov. 5 in Monterey included free admission to the Pacific Biological Laboratories, or Rickett’s lab, in Cannery Row, an historic walking tour, a boat parade and free tours of the Western Flyer.
“The boat will be based in Moss Landing and Moterey and eventually be used for students and scientists,” said Sherry Flumerfelt, CEO of the Western Flyer Foundation. “We’re excited to see the boat return to the purpose of its original journey by Steinbeck and Ricketts who both loved art, science and mythology.”
She described the project, which has been years in the making, as a mission to build connections.
A major restoration of the boat included new garnishes, such as three coins set in the base of the mast, two quarters from 1937 and 2023 and a Mexican peso from 1940. The deckhouse is the original one as are the fir floorboards.
Tate said the boat will split time between the Moss Landing and Monterey harbors. While ocean-going trips aboard the Western Flyer for the public are not on the menu, dockside tours will eventually open up.
The Western Flyer went through several owners and tasks over the years including fishing for perch, sole and cod in the waters off the Oregon coast and north to British Columbia. It was also used to catch king crab in the Aleutians, Alaska. Restoration costs stacked up to around $6 million.
“We’re still refining and doing final touches,” Flumerfelt said. “And we’re still fundraising; we are a nonprofit and we’re part of Monterey County Gives.”
Flumerfelt added that the public can see the Western Flyer in the Moss Landing Harbor from the deck of Woodwork Marine Market, 10932 Clam Way.
“It’s a great spot to enjoy a coffee or a beer and check out the boat,” Flumerfelt said.
The boat returned to fishing for decades, sank and was in severe disrepair when marine geologist John Gregg purchased it in 2015.
Inspired by childhood memories of the book, Gregg launched the Western Flyer Foundation to restore the iconic boat and continue Steinbeck and Ricketts’s legacy of research and education.
He can often be seen dancing atop his giant white trailer, his smile beaming and music blaring as he collects food and supplies for poverty-stricken people.
He says his efforts began after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 wreaked havoc in his home state of Louisiana, displacing more than a million people in the Gulf Coast region.
He loaded his trailer with supplies and began the drive, making a stop in the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. It was there he saw impoverished conditions that astonished him.
He has, over the intervening years, made numerous annual trips to the reservation to deliver donated items to the people there.
But his efforts took a dark turn two weeks ago when someone broke into his truck and trailer, stealing generators and other tools and supplies.
Instead of dwelling on the theft, Reliford says he is choosing to focus on the positive part of the story.
A GoFundMe account set up by a friend had gathered more than $14,000 of a $20,000 goal as of Thursday.
“I really want to thank the community for jumping on board, supporting me and getting my stuff back,” he says.
Reliford, who says it’s bad luck to give his age, says he found his calling when he stayed for two weeks in the shack of a 95-year-old Hopi grandmother, who was raising her four orphaned grandchildren. The roof leaked, and mold grew on the walls.
He gave all he had to the village as he made repairs and did other work that was needed.
Later, he says he saw a traditional Hopi ceremony held atop a mesa.
“I saw the beauty of the land,” he says. “I was in tears of joy, tears of finding myself and tears of inner peace just observing this.”
Back in Santa Cruz, it took him another year and a half to refill the trailer, and he set off again.
“I drove 45 miles per hour all the way over there, happy as I could be,” he says.
Reliford says that none of what happened since he made his first trip was planned. Instead, he says “It was a calling.”
“I’m at the end of my life, and this is the way I want to go out, serving others,” he says. “Nobody can help everybody, but we all can help somebody.”
For information, visit followyourheartactionnetwork.org.
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Six local students won a competitive national scholarship that will help pay for their degrees after graduating from Pajaro Valley Unified Schools.
As high school seniors across the nation plan their adult lives, many are considering colleges and universities. Invariably, these questions are guided by a single factor: how to pay for it.
While scholarships are an option, these are...
Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital ratified a three-year contract after five months of negotiations. Nurses say the contract will help to improve patient safety and increase nurse retention.
The California Nurses Association, which represents 250 nurses at the hospital, made the announcement on Dec. 9. It was a positive bit of news in a story that began in 2021, when...
