When U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on Sept. 10 announced that the Department of Education is ending discretionary funding to Hispanic-serving institutions (HSI), she pointed to a decision by the Office of the Solicitor General that such programs violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States,” McMahon wrote in a statement. “To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs, the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas.”
Under the HSI program, which Cabrillo has been enrolled in since 2006, colleges foster a sense of belonging and cultural validation for LatinX students.
But McMahon in her statement said the Trump administration is taking some $350 million in discretionary funding for programs nationwide that serve a wide variety of minority student groups such as Hispanic, native and Black.
Locally, the policy shift severs two key programs at Cabrillo College in the middle of a five-year grant cycle, said college President Matt Wetstein.
Camino al Exito, which provides assistance during the first year, and Abriendo el Camino, which offers dual enrollment to high school students, were part of an effort to retain students and grow its numbers, Wetstein said.
He pointed out that the HSI grant program was created by Congress and supported by U.S. presidents on both sides of the aisle.
McMahon in her letter also argues that the program calls for unconstitutional “quotas,” an assertion that Wetstein rejects.
“I don’t agree with that argument,” he said. “I don’t know of any ruling from any court, particularly from the Supreme Court, where that’s ever been articulated.”
Wetstein added that Cabrillo is an open-access college.
“We don’t discriminate in any manner in our admission process,” he said.
Wetstein said the college plans to apply for extensions to the existing grants, and braid that funding with other sources to keep staff doing the work through June 2026.
He is also considering legal challenges to McMahon’s decision.
“We’re going to take every opportunity we can through our legal channels to file for a reconsideration with this Department of Education,” he said.
If the programs end, Wetstein said it will mean that plans to grow the college’s dual enrollment program—allowing high school students to take classes at Cabrillo—will be harder.
“If the money goes away in the way this cancellation order suggests, our ability to scale out begins to disappear,” he said.
In addition, the college will be unable to pay student mentors to help first-year students, he added.
The announcement, he said, is part of a growing pattern with the Trump administration.
“I think this is part of a pattern,” he said. “It is another arm in the attack and assault on higher education institutions from this administration. It is an effort to undermine confidence in colleges and universities in trying to argue that they’re doing something illegal and unconstitutional.”
For years, young people experiencing a mental health crisis in Santa Cruz County were taken to overloaded emergency rooms, the county’s adult psychiatric facility or were shifted to out-of-county facilities, away from their families.
That problem will end in the winter, when the Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health department opens Hope Forward–Esperanza Adelante, a crisis center in Live Oak designed for young people.
It will be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
The center’s Crisis Stabilization Unit offers eight chairs and is designed for short-term stabilization and stays of less than 24 hours.
Upstairs, the 16-bed Crisis Residential Program will offer therapeutic support and treatment for young people and their families, with typical stays ranging from two to 10 days.
Such care is essential, as mental health professionals over the past decade have noticed a “concerning trend” of mental health issues cropping up among young people, said Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health director Marni Sandoval.
In the U.S., Sandoval said, an estimated 20% of youth suffer from a mental health concern, and 80% of those have not received treatment.
Worse, professionals have noted a 104% increase in inpatient visits for suicide and self-harm for children 1–17, Sandoval said.
“Mental health is the number-one reason our kids under 17 are hospitalized, and it is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10–24,” she said. “So this is a pretty serious issue.”
The center’s programs will provide short-term, intensive support for children and youth experiencing acute mental health crises
Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig called the new center “truly transformative.”
“This is a complete 180-degree turnaround in the care that our county is providing,” he said. “Until now, youth needing long-term care went out of county, separated from their families and support systems. That ends now.”
Santa Cruz County Supervisor Kim De Serpa, who has spent her career as a social worker with a focus on focusing on public health, child welfare and healthcare, said that it can take hours for mental health workers to find a place for a young person experiencing a mental health crisis.
“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “This facility is a huge benefit to our community and our hospitals.”
The $26.1 million project was funded from state grants and county sources. The project was completed after only three years of work.
Aspiranet, a California-based nonprofit, will operate the center. The Santa Cruz County Mobile Crisis Response Team will also support the center by providing referrals and transporting youth.
For information, visit santacruzhealth.org/YouthCrisis.
Ever feel daunted by the sheer volume of health and wellness treatments out there? You are not alone.
A growing frustration with conventional care is leading more people to explore alternative and Eastern medical practices. Yet it can be overwhelming when it comes to understanding all of the choices.
What if one had access to a restorative bodywork session, a mini-yoga workout, a healthy snack and a talk with a hypnotherapist or sleep expert, all under one roof? These are just a few of the resources attendees can access at the Santa Cruz Wellness Expo, a Sept. 20 event showcasing 40-plus local fitness, coaching, nutrition, and wellness professionals at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH).
Hosted by the MAH and local media outlets (including Good Times and Growing Up in Santa Cruz), the inaugural expo will showcase dozens of nutrition, holistic health, fitness and self-care advocates through free talks, demos, product samples and more than 40 giveaways, says expo organizer Elizabeth Borelli, founder of Mindful Mediterranean Workshops and Events. “There is a variety of different modalities to experience, including massage, Breema, Reiki and bio-tuning,” Borelli says. The event is expected to take over the entire first floor of the museum, lobby and garden room.
Helping People Thrive
Blue Zone Waters will be handing out samples of hydrogen-rich “structured living water,” a Kangen ionized and alkalized water. “Expos are great because they’re not there to buy, they are there to learn,” says Alayna Nathe, owner of Blue Zone Waters. Nathe invites attendees to learn more about the health benefits of molecular hydrogen water and the scientific principles behind water ionization systems. “I’ll be bringing lots of handouts and flyers to talk about the water specifically.”
“Kangen water is a Japanese word that means specifically returned to origin,” Nathe explains. “Kangen water has a high mineral content, contains molecular hydrogen, is anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory.”
What’s the one thing she wishes more people knew about her business? “Not all water is created equal or treated equal,” Nathe says. “Nor does our body respond the same way to all water.” Celebrating its second anniversary (which fell on Labor Day), Blue Zone provides quarterly water classes and free water in exchange for education. Blue Zone Waters is located at 3617-B Portola Dr. in Pleasure Point.
Alisha Slaughter will be on hand to talk about Alchemy Holistic Mind Body Health, an online and in-person nutrition and movement resource providing a range of services, including yoga classes, health coaching and natural solutions to issues such as mental health, digestive problems and hormonal issues. “I’m really excited about helping people look at nutrition and movement that is going to be best for their bodies to feel vibrant and energetic,” she says. “My passion is 35 and older women.”
Health coaching can help people get to the root cause of their health issues, Slaughter explains. “I don’t think that people get a lot of support in the traditional medical system to get to the root,” she said. “I try to be as much as possible a one-stop shop to deal with chronic health issues and just uplevel their approach to life.”
In addition to tackling digestive issues, mood issues and hormonal health, she recently added nervous system support and somatic guidance to her practice. “Your nervous system can’t be activated all the time,” Slaughter said. “We need strategies to switch into that rest and digest mode.”
Slaughter says the “first 50 or so” guests will receive free hats from her “Self Love Club,” and visitors can try their luck in a drawing for a $275 credit for services.
Fitness facilities—including GOAT, Breath & Oneness Yoga and Santa Cruz CORE Fitness + Rehab—have demos in store for Expo guests. UCSC alum Jaimi Jansen started Santa Cruz CORE as a personal training facility 16 years ago, when she was 26, and now has locations in Santa Cruz and Watsonville. “It started as a personal training facility and grew into a medical clinic,” she says. The business recently added ketamine therapy, platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell therapy.
“We are going to have an acupuncturist there, a chiropractor and massage therapist,” Jansen says of her plans for the Expo. “They are going to offer chiropractic evaluations and a mini treatment. We could do a brief injury assessment.”
For those looking to try a more alternative treatment, Jansen will provide ear seeds, a treatment that triggers acupuncture points to work on different meridians of the body. “On the ear, there are a lot of different organs you can treat,” Jansen says. “I found that with strength training and functional movement, it really helped.”
“It’s all about nonsurgical ways to heal your body and live your best life,” Jansen says. “We pride ourselves on getting people better faster. We try to be on the cutting edge of ways to inspire longevity and keep people injury free so they can live an optimal life.”
Additional participants in the Santa Cruz Wellness Expo include Harbor Health Center, Rejuvenate Medispa & Wellness, Amanda Edward Alchemy BeWell IV, Breath & Oneness Yoga Studio, Carrie Asuncion of Keys to Empowerment, holistic gut health specialist Cordelia Sidijaya, Don Nathe of Intuitive Healing Touch, Dr. Alexandra Johnson of Breema Bodywork, Dr. Mayra Sanjuan of Florecer Wellness, Eat for the Earth, Elizabeth Borelli of Mindful Mediterranean Diet & Lifestyle, Empowering Hands Therapeutic Massage, mindset coach Ilana Ingber, spiritual wellness coach Jason Hottel, Maaliea Wilbur of Therapyworks, Dr. Marylou Romo, Neumi Skin, Merry Alanis Quantum Health, Buteyko educator Michelle Dixon, The Essential Canning Cookbook author Molly Bravo, Nurture Women’s Health and Fertility, Rabia Barkins of Unstuck Coaching, Rise Collective gym and studio, Rita Rivera Healing, breathwork teacher Sam Kabert, Reiki master Sam Renfroe, Santa Cruz Ayurveda, Sleep Sovereign, SoulCare Studios, Stacy Pan Hypnotherapy, The Healthy Way Weight and Lifestyle Solutions, Tierra Owen, The Hearth and Ledger, Wild Beauty Cosmetics, GOAT Santa Cruz, Loving Hands Infant Massage, Far West Fungi, Amelia Yeager of Looking Good Feeling Good.
Santa Cruz Wellness Expo happens 1–4pm on Sept. 20 at MAH, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. Free, but register in advance at elizabethborelli.com/scwellnessexpo.
Paula Poundstone, the delightfully intelligent and engagingly scruffy veteran comic, continues to be a leading voice of sanity in an increasingly nutty world.
Poundstone has been performing brilliantly unique stand-up comedy every week, around the world, since 1979. It’s oddly compelling that, in spite of her easy 10K times onstage, Poundstone might be best known for her current work on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! A radio show. Radio!
“When I was younger, I didn’t even like public radio,” says the always refreshingly honest Poundstone. “I eat those words now, because I do love public radio, and I think it provides a really important service. But, you know, I was young and stupid. They just always sounded too whispery to me. And that kind of voice drove me crazy.”
Every week, for almost 50 years, Poundstone has traveled nonstop, across the country, making strangers laugh. And if you condense her arc, Poundstone went from working her way up from legendary San Francisco dives like the Holy City Zoo and the Other Cafe to touring the world.
When questioned, Poundstone—who thinks like Jack Kerouac writes, and talks with a stream-of-consciousness set of memories that contain a View-Master look at our rich regional comedy history—the answers come fast, so you need to keep up.
“You know, what I used to do at the Holy City Zoo,” Poundstone begins. “It’s a tiny, tiny place, if you’re familiar with it. And it had a chalkboard. Sort of not right directly behind the performer, but on the wall to the side of the performer. There was a chalkboard where they would have your name up in chalk. And so I used to delight in taking the chalk from that board and drawing. I can’t draw, not any way, but I would make stick figures of the audience. It was just a way in, and I liked it so much that I actually bought a chalkboard, and an easel, and used to take them on the road.
“I used it until, I believe, I was opening for Dave Mason. His roadies were putting their stuff away, and they just took it. And I never bothered replacing it,” Poundstone laughs.
The one thing you can’t manufacture, yet, is authenticity. It’s something people aspire to, or somehow fool themselves into thinking that their conformity is authenticity, but either you got it, or you don’t. And comedian Paula Poundstone has always had it. She was always there in her corner, always talking on and on and on, or napping with a blanket over her head—but mostly just waiting, patiently, to go onstage and create something new.
More than ever, people are talking about comedy. And there’s a lot of statistical analysis, AI-generated dialogues, and Bro Joes talking about the “best comics”—and their data is complete garbage. Because their sense of humor has been co-opted, monetized and sold back to them. It’s an ouroboros of ass-eating jokes for eternity.
On the other cheek, you have comics like Paula Poundstone. It isn’t about viral moments, or crowd clips, or what does AI think—it’s about the work.
“This is the greatest job in the world,” Poundstone starts. “You know, it really is. I mean there was, and I’m not proud of this, but there may have been a brief period, prior to the stay-at-home order, and maybe possibly where I complained about the travel. …
“I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know if we would ever be able to be in theaters again because of this virus. There was really that period where there was just such uncertainty. And boy, after that, you could put me in the overhead compartment and I’m fine, you know? I mean, I never needed fancy to begin with,” she concludes.
And that’s Paula Poundstone. She might phase back and forth between timelines, but she’s always in the moment, trying to find the heart of the matter—and make it funny.
Paula Poundstone appears at 8pm on Sept. 19 at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets: $30/$45. riotheatre.com
When Ruthie Foster opens her mouth, it’s hard to believe the little girl who started out playing guitar in church in Texas was more than content, as she said in a late-June interview “to be the person who backed up incredible singers because I was really, really shy.”
But 10 studio albums in, Foster has developed a rich voice that lives at the crossroads of gospel, blues, soul and country and has garnered her six Grammy nominations, with the most recent being a win for Best Contemporary Blues Album by way of 2024’s Mileage. For the Lone Star native, who grew up taping sermons and regularly attending services in the small town of Gause, she’s just as surprised to see where she’s wound up.
“I thought I wanted to be part of a group that could really move people,” she recalled. “I wanted to be support, because I didn’t want to be up front. Little did I know that I had a knack for being up front because I had studied so many incredible players and singers in the church. Great guitar players—rhythm guitar players and incredible soloists, including my mother putting on Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, young Aretha [Franklin] and Dorothy Norwood, who was a great gospel songwriter—all of these songwriters who wrote gospel. I was introduced to all of that first.”
While sacred sounds lit the fuse, Foster was quick to embrace secular music once she focused on studying music and audio engineering at Waco’s McLennan Community College. There she transitioned from playing in Black and white churches to widening her musical palette while getting a real-time education in the blues.
“I went to school for music so I was surrounded by blues, which didn’t move me as much,” she admitted. “Later on, when you have something to say you realize that the blues says it all. The first time really experiencing the blues was when Stevie [Ray] and Jimmie Vaughan were playing Waco. We got a chance to open for The Fabulous Thunderbirds when Jimmie was with them, so I got a chance to watch the band and make eyes at Jimmy down front. They would come through Waco at a time when my band, which was mostly Hispanic, was doing a lot of quinceañeras.”
Over time, Foster’s role as a musical sponge has found her working with a number of artists, ranging from the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gov’t Mule to late producer/musician Jim Dickinson, the Blind Boys of Alabama and storied soul singer William Bell. Along the way, the singer-songwriter, 61, has accrued a stellar string of albums, including 2007’s The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster, 2008’s The Truth According to Ruthie Foster and 2017’s Joy Comes Back, while dropping on an array of eclectic covers drawing from myriad corners of the music world, including The Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Adele and The Meters.
For the current album, Mileage, Foster worked with producer Tyler Bryant, who also enlisted wife Rebecca Lovell (one half of duo Larkin Poe) to help with the creative heavy lifting. That collaboration eventually found Foster shuttling between the duo’s Tennessee home and Texas.
“Mileage came about one song at a time,” Foster said. “I was introduced to Tyler Bryant during the lockdown. Everyone is on YouTube, and that’s where I saw him and loved his segment on Andrews Masters, his YouTube channel. He mentioned Paris, TX so now I know this guy is from Texas. That stuck in my mind—and the fact this twentysomething little white boy from East Texas was playing slide guitar like an old Black man and I needed to know where he learned that. Fast forward and it’s time to do another project. My management mentioned Rebecca, from Larkin Poe, who is also part of my management. Her husband was this guy named Tyler. I asked if he wouldn’t happen to be Tyler Bryant and that’s what brought us together.”
She added, “I started taking trips up to Nashville, sat on their couch, drank coffee and talked about my life. They are wonderful listeners. Me and Rebecca sat across from each other just coming up with lyrics for “Mileage” for that particular song while Tyler walked around with an acoustic guitar, coming up with chords. And then we just kind of did that off and on for about nine or 10 months. Maybe one or two songs per visit.”
With a brand-new batch of songs under her belt and a solid canon to draw from, being on the road is a constant state of being for Foster, who plans to keep fans guessing on her current string of dates.
“I’m mixing it up on this go-round,” she said. “I will be anywhere from solo to quartet, so they can expect anything from just having ‘An Evening With…’ to me and my fellas with me.” For this week’s show at Moe’s Alley, Foster will perform with Chris Jones, frontman of local band Wolf Jett. Foster promises to do material from the new album, but she’ll also look back at earlier work, including 2007’s The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster: “We’ll try to put it all in there and stuff it.”
Ruthie Foster appears with Chris Jones of Wolf Jett at 8pm on Sept. 18 at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. Tickets: $45. moesalley.com
Adam Bergeron and wife Jaimi Holker are back in the owners’ saddle at The Crepe Place, which bodes well for the Santa Cruz comedy scene. Previous shows with Neil Hamburger, Kyle Kinane and other quirky underground legends have made The Crepe Place a bit of a legendary spot for the yuk yuks.
Starting on Thursday, Sept. 18 is a new monthly (third Thursdays) comedy show at The Crepe Place, with longtime Santa Cruz comedian Richard Stockton.
Stockton is a fixture in the local comedy scene, pioneering the revered Planet Cruz Comedy shows that zeroed in on “what’s weird (and funny) about Santa Cruz.” The silver-coiffed curmudgeon was the only white comic on BET’s influential show Live from LA, playing the “out-of-touch” Caucasian, on set, with folks like Dr. Dre, Shaggy and L.V. (singer of “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which was the theme song for Dangerous Minds, which was filmed in Santa Cruz).
This new monthly show is born out of Stockton’s vision and Bergeron’s loyalty to the comic. “I’ve always felt a special kinship with Richard,” Bergeron says. “After his Planet Cruz Comedy shows, the whole cast would come in afterwards, and we’d put our big tables together in the back, and we’d all hang out ’til closing. It’s going to be nice to sort of officially put a stamp on it.”
It’s a new gambit for the Crepe Place to use the recently renovated, spacious backyard patio as a comedy venue—and it’s a super nice spot.
“We see the garden as a community multi-use space that is used for a broad spectrum of entertainment, but we’ve always wanted comedy in here, and Richard is the comedian I like. Our ethos aligns, and this seems like a perfect marriage. I want him to get us all riled up in a beautiful setting,” Bergeron says.
Both men are committed to a thought-provoking space, where freethinkers can congregate and express their art, and that sounds perfectly Santa Cruz.
Comedy in the Garden begins at 6pm on Sept. 18 at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. thecrepeplace.com
Not to disparage the 50 honorees in your list, but Celia Scott, always supported by her husband, UCSC Physics Professor Peter, surely deserves a place for her years-long leadership of the efforts to secure the magnificent greenbelt that surrounds Santa Cruz, from Pogonip and Lighthouse Field up the coast to the Moore Creek Preserve, Wilder/Gray Whale State Parks and Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument.
Starting in the 1970s, Celia led the campaigns to keep these cherished lands from development, and to insulate Santa Cruz from the urban sprawl that affects the Santa Clara Valley.
A city planner and an attorney, Celia helped win passage of the California Coastal Act in 1972. As a Santa Cruz City Council member, mayor and force behind the local Friends of the North Coast organization, as State Sen. John Laird wrote after her death last year at 89, “I cannot recall a major environmental issue in Santa Cruz that she was not involved in.”
Those issues included the ban on offshore oil drilling and the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
As you jog along West Cliff, whale watch on the Bay, ride the trails at Wilder/Gray Whale or hike at Cotoni-Coast Dairies, imagine what Santa Cruz would be like with Lighthouse Field the site of a convention center, a town of 30,000 on Wilder Ranch, and our new national monument cut up into several dozen parcels dominated by huge mansions. All real possibilities! That we and generations of our descendants are now and forever will be able to enjoy these precious lands preserved in their natural state is thanks to no one more than Celia Scott. She should not only have been on your list, but at the top.
Ted Benhari | Bonny Doon
WELCOME TO THE NEW HOTEL
La Bahia Hotel has finally opened, finally, despite the vitriolic opposition over the years from a cabal of obstructionists who used the issue to fuel their personal political agendas. The new structure fits in beautifully on Beach Street between the Wharf and Boardwalk. The original building with its bell tower has been meticulously restored. More importantly, the hotel provides jobs for many local people, even from the adjacent neighborhood, and brings in tax revenue to support municipal services. And, of course, visitors will spend money in locally owned small businesses. Standing on the Wharf, the forested mountains are clearly in view, contrary to the hyperbole from the opposition. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this project.
Robert deFreitas | Santa Cruz
BONDS ARE NOT A GIFT
The people who live in the Pajaro Valley School District have voted for bond measures for infrastructure improvements in our schools. These improvements are long overdue. Bonds are not gifts. They are essentially loans that need to be paid back by the taxpayers. I was shocked that in the Sept. 10 PVUSD board meeting my trustee, Joy Flynn, had to ask what a bond is. She is a voter in the district. Did she not know then what she was voting for? Now she gets to vote how the money is spent. How can the people of our district trust the board to make good decisions with such incompetent people sitting there?
Who says the government never does anything tasty?
In 2004, the California State Legislature designated September as California Wine Month.
So—yes, math majors—this is the year that the month turns old enough to drink. (And, BTW, the wine-stacked Golden State turns 175.)
Here appear three divergent—and character-rich—ways to mark the occasion, in order from mo$$$t to lea$t.
1. Buy a barrel and do vinotherapy.
I had to include this for its uniqueness. But that applies to the other entries too. For the coastal climate cool price of $30,000, couples can do the Carmel Valley and Vine Escape at Bernardus Lodge & Spa, where Dream Inn Exec Chef Gus Trejo now runs the kitchen. That includes a vineyard tour and ceremony to place a personalized plaque on one’s own row of vines, private cellar tours and tastings, dinner in the vineyard under the stars curated by Trejo, vinotherapy spa treatments, an entire barrel of Bernardus wine (336 bottles, with one case labeled to the guest’s adopted vine and the rest featuring a custom special label). Go big/go for broke/go for it!
2. Go little then go home (happy).
This reps a spiritual and literal counterpoint to the Bernardus package: The Margins Wine Cubby is so modest in size that if you squint you can feel like you’re inside a wine barrel, in a comfortable way. The best part about this Westside treasure are the intriguing vinos curated by Megan Bell—on our visit, a fresh Paicines Verdejo, juicy Rosy Wake blend and memorable Grenache, among others—upped by energy from the blossoming tasting team of one and empanadas from next door Fonda Felix. When The New York Times’ Eric Asimov highlighted after our visit, writing, “I’ve never had a Margins wine that I haven’t liked a lot,” that provided FUNctional affirmation.
3. Get catty with your Cabernet.
I love Wine Enthusiast contributor Jeff Bogle for this story idea (“The Ultimate Guide to Pairing Wine with Cats—Yes, Cats”), and that admiration amplifies with the project that helped inspire it (Street Cats & Where to Find Them: The Most Feline-Friendly Cities and Attractions Around the World). Bogle checks in with wine experts on the way to highlighting how we can be better examples of our species by pairing cats with varietals rather than food—Maine coons with mourvédre, Siamese and sparkling, ragdolls with chardonnay, etc.—while dropping dimes like with the “Tortie: Petit Verdot” mini chapter “just as these bottlings boast a deep color (dark purple), these kitties are just as richly hued.”
My closing thought: Cats don’t belong to us any more than wines “belong” to the winemaker. Both feline and vine are the product of nature, gently guided to not eat us alive.
QUALITY CALORIES
About a cork’s throw from the Wine Cubby (see #2, above) sits the dynamic Izakaya West End space (328 Ingalls St., Santa Cruz)—long known as West End Tap & Kitchen—which closed mid-summer so its owner-operators could focus on Tortilla Shack and East End Gastropub in Capitola. Both the landlord and later the new tenant have been cagey about details, but I have learned who they are, and that’s promising in and of itself: Manresa Bread, the celebrated baking team with multiple outposts, including one right next door…Drop your line in the waters quick, as the latest Get Hooked! flavor-forward/local fisherfolk-supporting/fly-restaurant collaboration happens a day after this land on newsstands, with Pete’s in Capitola hosting to support Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust efforts to keep local seafood alive. petescapitola.com/events-1/event-one-smywg…Permaculture Santa Cruz is looking to fill two new full-time job openings, sales manager and crop production manager, and its Harvest Dinner approaches Oct. 12, santacruzpermaculture.com…Vampire Ball at Chaminade Resort—21+ costume party with cash bar, heavy bites buffet, bloodsucking DJ, fortune tellers, fire dancing, costume prizes and endless IG photo opps—happens Oct. 24, $50 pre-sale, chaminade.com/things-to-do-santa-cruz/vampire-ball/…
From “Showerthoughts” on Reddit: “Trying to get all the groceries into the house in a single load is both lazy and ambitious.”
Of all the things to celebrate about life in Santa Cruz—nature, culture, the beach—we haven’t given enough credit to our great dive bars. They are more than just drinking spots, but places where, you know, everyone is a friend you have or haven’t met yet and yeah, everyone knows your name. Cheers.
Richard Stockton set out to hit quite a few of them and not only drink in each, but check out the bathrooms. Not in a pervy way, of course, but let’s face it, if you are drinking in volume, you are releasing in volume also, and to do it in a clean, comfortable place means a lot. Back in the old days, cleanliness wasn’t that big a priority, but it is now.
Maybe you want to get an Uber or a DD and follow Richard’s trail and have a drink in each bar. I want to. Bring them this issue and hand it to the bartenders. Or leave it in the bathroom.
Richard, who is literally a comedian (there’s a story about him in this issue), has a way of meeting people and getting their stories in print. I love that and hope you will too.
In other fronts, there’s a new big health and wellness fair coming up at the MAH this weekend, the opposite of your dive bar journey. Here’s a chance to sample all the newest in the wellness world. Check Kristen McLaughlin’s story for your health trip.
Maybe you caught Ruthie Foster at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival years back. She’s a big name around the country and she’s returning here to play Moe’s Alley this week. As our article says: “10 studio albums in, Foster has developed a rich voice that lives at the crossroads of gospel, blues, soul and country and has garnered her six Grammy nominations, with the most recent being a win for Best Contemporary Blues Album by way of 2024’s Mileage.”
It doesn’t get much bigger than that.
So much news in the Cruz is about tradeoffs. We want housing, but are conflicted about big buildings; we want solar and wind power, but are conflicted about the lithium batteries needed to store the energy.
Our top news story this week has another conflict: we want to catch criminals, and roadside cameras are a tool that helps catch them, but we worry that the technology will be used for more devious purposes, like turning immigrants in to ICE or violating personal freedoms. Todd Guild has the story for you.
Have you ever wondered what wine pairs best with your cat? (No, not to eat.) You are going to have to check out Mark C. Anderson’s dining column for the answer to that one.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
WILD RIDE Shot of a pelican, taken on the wharf by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Photograph by Davis Banta
GOOD IDEA
The Promised Land Brewery in Gilroy developed a new craft beer called “The Wave,” after “Krazy” George Henderson, the man who invented the act that has been popular in stadiums across the country since 1981.
Owner and brewer Brian Schwab said a chance meeting with Krazy George in Los Gatos led to the idea. Later, Henderson came to the Gilroy brewery and loved the beer. Henderson said at Britannia Arms in Capitola, where they held a release party on Sept. 6, “I thought he was joking. Two days later he called me and already had the label designed. It’s amazing.”
GOOD WORK
You can support the Homeless Garden Project and have fun doing it.
The Sustain Supper on Oct. 18 is a farm-to-table fundraising event that supports trainees and programs. The supper celebrates and supports the work of trainees through a festive four-course farm dinner. Guests include acclaimed poet Jane Hirshfield as the keynote speaker and renowned chef Jozseph Schultz of India Joze. As always, the evening will feature live music, wines and beverages, a guided farm tour, and more.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘It is not the job of law enforcement or government agencies to police thought.’
—John Cohen, an intelligence official who worked in the Biden, Obama and Bush administrations
What is a dive bar? If you ask a Santa Cruzan to define the term, they won’t answer about dive bars in general—they will start talking about their personal dive bar. Therein lies the definition. All the bar owners, all the bar staff, all the bar regulars, they all talk about it being their family, their community and their dive bar.
For this story, I checked out six classic dive bars in Santa Cruz, restrooms included, and drank a beer in each of them. See what I do for you? As for the objectivity of my reporting, alcohol can make me hallucinate, so read at your own peril.
Six Deep Santa Cruz Dives
“It’s one of the cooler things we have. We still have dive bars.” —Brad Kava, Good Times
In other towns, dive bars may be dismissed as gritty watering holes, relics of a bygone era, even somehow unsafe. In Santa Cruz, they are the quiet heartbeats of local communities that preserve something authentic and rare. (Our neighbor to the south, Carmel, is scheduled to lose both of its only dive bars.) As Santa Cruz rattles through explosive high-rise change, dive bars become defiant testaments to the unique flavor of our neighborhoods: well-lubricated gatherings for social interaction, exchange of ideas, and for the exchange of fluids, mostly bottled but sometimes personal.
There are signs in Santa Cruz that say, “Nuclear-free zone”; others say, “Hate-free zone.” I think the dozens of dive bars in Santa Cruz County should have signs that say, “Pretense-free zone.” In the breakneck gentrification of Santa Cruz that rushes toward curated experience, Santa Cruz dive bars are places where people of all classes and backgrounds can gather without making any claim at all. A dive bar is where you are welcome, where you don’t need a reservation, where you can wear what you want, where bartenders pride themselves on remembering what you drink. They are radically accessible, often cash-only, neon-lit adult spaces that value conversation and connection over glittery consumerism.
Good Times writer and Blue Lagoon bartender Mat Weir says a dive bar is your home away from home. “It’s where everybody knows your name and you’re always glad you came.” There are dozens of cool dive bars in Santa Cruz County, from Joe’s Bar in Boulder Creek to the Wooden Nickel in Watsonville, but space for this story limits my review to six. I invite you to join me for a drink and a restroom stop at six of these stubborn Santa Cruz sanctuaries of local soul, and of course, we’ll start at Brady’s.
Overheard at Brady’s Yacht Club
I stand behind a man who looks houseless, and by his weathered skin, I suspect his stack of quarters and crumpled one-dollar bills on the bar are from a morning panhandling session. He carries a sign that says, “Will Stop Singing for Money.”
Down the bar stands a stunning woman, next to an equally handsome green-eyed man. They have yet to lubricate, and dialogue is sparse.
He holds up two fingers, “Two Budweisers.”
She holds up two fingers, “I’ll have two Budweisers too.”
He bursts out laughing.
She pulls her platinum blond hair back and says, “I’m afraid people will think I’m loud and brassy.”
He says, “You are loud and brassy.”
She yells, “Fuck you!”
They drink the four cans and start sharing life stories over shots. Love blooms at Brady’s.
Brady’s Yacht Club (established 1933)
413 Seabright Ave.
No one who owns a yacht goes to Brady’s Yacht Club.
Brady’s is the most revered and reviled dive bar in Santa Cruz, depending on where in someone’s drinking arc you question them. Brady’s once had a menu favorite called Ass Juice, which came with a warning not to drink it. It is famous for low prices and heavy pours. From the opening bell at 10am until closing at 2am, you will find a community of Seabright neighbors intent upon getting their brain cells down to a number they can manage.
Brady’s began as a speakeasy in the 1920s, serving drinks when Prohibition made alcohol illegal. It officially obtained a liquor license in 1933 and was a gathering place for the fishing fleet and contractors, a “man’s man” bar. It added bikers and beach goers in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s and today, college students and locals make it a chill place.
Karen Madura is the triple crown owner/operator of Brady’s Yacht Club, The Jury Room and The Rush Inn. Madura moved to Santa Cruz to go to UCSC, got her bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology, and her obsession with social connections goes deep.
“We’re people,” she says. “What makes the world go around is how we treat each other.” She tells me that over the last 20 years she has seen marriages, divorces, deaths, hook-ups, flings, new friendships, breakups and births: “The full gamut of the human condition. It’s beautiful.”
When she adds that the birth was not actually in her bar, I’m reminded of my uncle Joe, who had a dive bar in Arvin, California, the town Bakersfield makes fun of. He told me that a woman gave birth on his bar’s pool table. I only wish I could have been there to put a quarter in the jukebox to play “Mama Tried.”
Madura says, “It’s really important to be able to go and sit down next to your neighbor and have face-to-face conversations in an adult space, where people get to go and be humans next to each other.” On a mission of community, Brady’s hosts events like the Aug. 10 Swampfest; they had six bands from noon until late, water balloon tosses, Swampball, and a raffle benefiting the Walnut Avenue Women & Family Center. They will partner with the Jury Room for their next charity target, the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter.
RESTROOM:
The Brady’s men’s restroom is sparkling clean. I shit you not. The sink, urinal and commode are absolutely spotless. I get a slight whiff of Clorox so I suspect it has just been cleaned. Nevertheless, it is cleaner than my bathroom at home.
Beer One for me at Brady’s is a white, and there’s nothing better than the first swallow. Each subsequent swallow may be chasing the feeling of the first one, but it is a worthy pursuit. No matter how my day had been going, it just got better.
BEHIND THE BLUE DOOR Brady’s Yacht Club began as a speakeasy in the 1920s. PHOTO: Richard Stockton
Blue Lagoon (established 1986)
923 Pacific Ave.
The Blue Lagoon is open from 4pm until 1:30am with a Happy Hour from 4 to 9. It originally gained fame as the region’s primary gay nightspot. Clientele has diversified but it maintains a celebrating gay presence.
The Blue has a well-worn, funky ambiance and, depending on the night, a selection of music that spans genres from hip-hop and goth/industrial to spun beats. It includes two dance floors, a free pool table and a fish tank. There is even an open mic/showcase comedy night on Tuesdays. Whether you’re there for the potent drinks, the often-excellent quality of music, or to meet or make friends, the place does tend to stick in your memory.
Keeping afloat in the Lagoon
Mat Weir jokes that the Blue Lagoon is a leaky pirate ship that the bar staff must constantly work on to keep afloat. “Equipment, the floors, whatever is broken we have to do it ourselves, tasks that are often out of our wheelhouse or above our pay grade. I just redid the speed walls in front of the serving stations where we keep like the well house liquor. We’re always fixing the PA system because of the volume of the music.”
For both Mat and Karen, serving their local communities comes first. One project she’s involved with are the coasters that can indicate if a drink has been spiked with a drug. “You put a drop of your drink on the coaster and it’s pretty accurate about detecting a drug.” Mat tells me there is a new California law where bars must provide some sort of cover for the drinks, and he tells his clients, “Never let your drink out of your sight. If you think someone may have tampered with your drink, tell the bartender and ask if you could please have another.”
These neighborhood bars are so popular, I was surprised when Mat said that with the uncertainty of the economy, with the tariffs, and with the bullshit going on with the government, people either aren’t spending as much, or if they are, they’re not tipping. He says a lot of Gen Z is sober.
“Which makes it tough for us. A lot of people are vaping or on edibles and they’re not drinking. With the decriminalization of mushrooms, a lot of people are microdosing who might come in but not drink. You might have a big room full of people with six people at the bar drinking.” Weir also sees change in clientele happening as a lot of people just can’t afford to live in Santa Cruz anymore. “It’s important that we all gather together to keep our community going,” he says.
Bella Bedford is a manager at Motiv (not a dive bar) and she tells me that people under 30 want a more active scene, they want to dance. “Dancing is kind of the main appeal, because honestly, I don’t know what else it would be, because drinks are cheaper at dive bars.”
I saw a lot of older folks in all six bars, and I think maybe younger people just want their own damn space. How much time does a Gen Z really want to spend giving a Boomer that long, intentional stare?
RESTROOM:
As for the Blue’s men’s restroom, I’ve seen a dirtier floor in the main room of a Starbucks. True, if you drop a French fry on the floor, nobody but a starving person would opt for the five-second rule. That said, the Blue Lagoon men’s restroom floor looks and smells OK, and the commode worked fine. I did a squat and sniffed. See what I do for you?
Beer Two elevates me to endless possibilities. If I had money, I could get a tattoo over these stitches. If I had a wheelchair with a motor, I could ride to LA and surprise my second ex-wife.
WATERING HOLE The Blue Lagoon offers well-worn, funky ambiance and genre-spanning music. PHOTO: Richard Stockton
Jury Room (established circa 1968)
712 Ocean St.
Open from 6am to 2am, The Jury Room has a free pool table and a storied history. It used to be a cop bar. Legendary owner and bartender Marv Easterby owned and operated The Jury Room for 23 years, and he continued tending after Karen Madura purchased it. Easterby said, “If I had 40 customers at once, I bet you 25 of them would’ve been off-duty law enforcement.”
The Jury Room logo is a skull pierced by two gavels, and there are strings of purple and green lights above the bar. A man wears a T-shirt that has a Santa Cruz Metro quote on it: “Some bars are labeled dives, the Jury Room is an expedition to the ocean floor.” I order a Blue Moon, which they don’t have, but I’m served a white beer that is even better. I’m beginning to love this place.
In addition to the loyal regulars, the bedrock of any dive bar, Madura offers unique hours; they open at 6am for the all-night shift getting off work. Mark, the bartender, tells me that they almost continuously put on charity fundraisers. For the next one they are going to partner with Brady’s, party like crazy people, sell merchandise, do raffles, put on shows from rock to burlesque, and from the money stuck to the ceiling to the tips on the bar, it will all go to the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter. All of it.
RESTROOM:
Yeah. The Jury Room men’s room isn’t the cleanest in town, but it works. If you are so anal-retentive that you don’t enjoy your trip to the relief station, the whole dive bar experience may not be for you anyway.
Beer Three appears to cure neurodegenerative disease. Put another way, it gives me a strong spine. I stare back at cops. The notion that I may be bulletproof starts to take hold.
PHOTO: Facebook / The Jury Room
1007 Club (established 1989)
1007 Soquel Ave.
I had intended to walk to all six bars but I’m three beers in and I am concerned that I’ll be arrested for drunk walking (WUI). I can hear Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” from the parking lot. A sign at the door says “shirt and shoes are required.” No pants?
The 1007 Club was the last bar in Santa Cruz to allow smoking but now doesn’t. New ownership has cut the haze to stay in line with city restrictions; no more smoking indoors, and that has freshened the vibe and drawn in a wider mix of people. It opens at the crack of noon and keeps pouring until 2 the next morning.
They have every kind of great drinking game: pinball machines, three pool tables, three real dartboards, three soft dartboards, a Monday night open dart tournament, five TV screens behind the bar with sports television, video games at the bar, foosball, scratchers, a snack machine, and a really long, free shuffleboard. There is a stage for live performances, anda dance room where the DJs spin beats. The drinks are strong, bouncers cool, and ’80s Night is Thursday, ’90s Night is Friday and Goth Night is every Sunday.
“Come here often enough and everyone will know your name, which may not be a good thing,” says a woman named Margie. One table of 20-somethings is drinking Red Bull and doing shots of whiskey.A couple verbally spars at the bar.
“You should leave your liver to science.”
“You should leave your brain to science-fiction.”
RESTROOM:
The men’s restroom is just fine. By this point I am so grateful it is there, I really cannot report anything objectionable. Of the six bars I’m reviewing, the 1007 Club men’s room might be in the middle.
Beer Four makes me fall in love with everyone and everything. I’m not sure how I’m going to make it to the next bar but have alcohol-fueled faith that it will all work out.
DRINK UP The 1007 Club offers group downhill skiing. PHOTO: 1007 Club
Rush Inn (established 1963, to be destroyed 2025)
113 Knight St.
The Rush Inn is within a stoned throw of the Clocktower at the top of Pacific Avenue, open from 10am to 2am. Since 1963, faithful clientele have treated it like extended family; bartender camaraderie is legend, the pinball wizards and video golfers all seem to know one another’s names. To make the family aspect of this 62-year-old neighborhood bar even more poignant, it’s going away.
The Santa Cruz Planning Commission has approved an eight-story housing project for the Workbench developing group of 178 new residential units that will demolish the current building and turn The Rush Inn into a memory. Owner Karen Madura said, “This will shutter out the small business that’s there, and it will put people out of work.” Workbench even gets to cut down the two giant redwoods when they take down the Rush. Humorist Sven Davis says: “Notice to squirrels: Rush Out.”
But it ain’t down yet. Formerly Bei’s Bar, the Rush has been a bedrock dive bar serving generation after generation. The Rush Inn is known for its queer-friendly Saturday afternoon space and locals are loyal to it from their hearts. A Will Ferrell movie is playing with the sound off and Bonnie Raitt sings “Slow Ride.” A party of four at the right end of the bar is playing a risqué multiple-choice quiz game on the TV.
The question: If you meet someone in bar, you should make love for the first time only after you’ve both shared:
A. what you expect from an intimate relationship
B. your blood-test results
C. five tequila slammers
The players laugh and beer comes out of their noses.
RESTROOM:
The men’s restroom is functional. I could rate it middle of the pack, but again, how high of a rating am I looking for at the point? I try to do my part by not missing the urinal.
Beer Five makes me plan journeys to faraway lands with destinations I don’t remember. My speech devolves into grunting and Nine Inch Nails fills my head.
RUSH INN WHILE YOU CAN Santa Cruz will lose this classic watering hole when work begins on the Clocktower Center. Photo: Richard Stockton
The Asti (established 1937)
715 Pacific Ave.
Like Brady’s, The Asti started in the 1920s as a speakeasy. It got its liquor license after Prohibition in 1937. The Asti was born out of the Depression; it had sawdust floors, pinball machines, and was a two-fisted drinking, boilermaker scene. As lower Pacific turns into a canyon of shiny, ugly high rises, the Asti is a respite from them. May it live on and on. It has three pool tables, a juke box and weekend drink specials. It’s been voted best dive bar in Santa Cruz many times. Most drinks are $5. There is no velvet rope.
Everyone at the Asti is older. By a lot. It’s late in the afternoon and there are 30 people at the bar, and the laughs keep rolling. They commit to joy in their camaraderie. They’re fragile, dancing sailors on a sinking ship.
Elaine, at the end of the bar, tells me that women in particular love dives for a chance to stop being good girls and have fun. “They know they’re safe because even the funkiest dive in Santa Cruz is not going to tolerate men hassling women. Women can flirt a little, shoot pool, drink a little more than usual, and go home after seeing how those of us from across the tracks live.”
RESTROOM:
For the record, there is absolutely nothing nasty about the Asti. Check out the spotless sink, urinal and toilet in the men’s room. The Asti men’s room rivals, maybe surpasses, Brady’s in cleanliness. My bathroom at home has not been this clean since it was built.
Beer Six. It is probably good that I’m not on West Cliff for I have developed the ability to fly. Someone calls me a cab, and now I must deal with the conundrum of being able to go anywhere on earth. I groove to a symphony of white noise. I love every one of you.
In other towns, dive bars may be dismissed as gritty watering holes, relics of a bygone era. In Santa Cruz, they are the quiet heartbeats of local communities.
TIME STANDS STILL The Asti provides respite in a changing downtown. PHOTO: Richard Stockton
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