Fun fact: Santa Cruz is a perfectly enjoyable place most any time of year, but when summer hits, something clicks.
That’s front of mind and top of tastebuds as hours widen at prime seasonal spots, which inspires this flow-of-consciousness hopscotch among them.
Starting point: the very end of Santa Cruz Wharf, the longest wooden pier in the country. With the ribbon-cutting for the rebuilt end of the 2,745-foot stretch—complete with a sea lion viewing window—that happened at the end of last month. (We are so back.)
Which invites a combo: Some of the best ocean views, for miles, upstairs at historic Stagnaro’s Bros. Seafood (stagnarobrothers.com) + some of the best (and most generous) calamari in town + a cup of signature chowder to go.
Last trip I took the chowder down the wharf to enjoy alongside a Socks & Sandals IPA at Humble Sea Brewing Co.’s nearby beer garden. There BYOF is encouraged, but now that Shockwave Food Truck (expanding from Thursday-Saturday to Tuesday-Wednesday starting June 1) is a regular presence, packing anything in makes less sense.
Shockwave’s Miso Cuban—piling miso-marinated pork, melted Swiss, smoked ham, mustard-barbecue sauce, sweet pickled onions and bread-and-butter pickles on grilled sourdough—is such a shocker it’s hard to imagine visiting and not ordering it.
That’s Shockwave, the food truck, not to be confused with Shockwave the ride on Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where deep summer vibes reverberate with its Free Live Music series.
Thursdays, June 18–Aug. 6, the Colonnade Stage welcomes groups like Fire Peach, Papiba & Friends, and Anthony Arya. (Plus there’s a bunch of free movie screenings on the sand, magic and juggling shows, DJ sets and more, beachboardwalk.com.)
This weekend Redwood Mountain Faire (redwoodmountainfaire.com)—three stages, local food, beer, cider and wine, Jesse Daniel headlining—chugs into Roaring Camp in Felton (May 30–31), but summer is all about additional live music series ongoing all over town.
Wednesday evenings unlock the Twilight Concert Series at the Esplanade bandstand with ocean views in storybook Capitola Village June 3-Aug. 19 (cityofcapitola.gov).
Thursday Night Music in the Courtyard transforms the creekside patio at Bargetto Winery into a wine-country concert venue with no cover charge (bargetto.com). Also Thursday: The Crow’s Nest Summer Beach Party with still more live acts and plenty of grilled goodies, running through Sept. 3 (crowsnest-santacruz.com).
The Midtown Friday Summer Block Party goes off every Friday evening May 29–Aug. 28 at Midtown Square (1111 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, eventsantacruz.com), with more than 30 bands all told plus local food vendors, artists, makers and salsa dancing nights. And Food Truck Friday returns to Skypark in Scotts Valley (foodtrucksagogo.com) with a laid-back monthly mix of food trucks, desserts, live music, a beer-and-wine garden, and family-centric touches from June through October.
And…it’s all free.
BITE BYTES
The latest installment of the “Edible on the Air” show with cohost Christine Barrington and me hits KSQD listeners 5pm Friday, May 29, with its first remote recording and a special appearance/taste test from The View at Chaminade Executive Chef Avram Samuels, ksqd.org…Silver Spur #1 is moving locations, taking over Jeffrey’s Restaurant (2050 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz), with the same formula of from-scratch daily pancake specials, country-fried steak and eggs, egg bread French toast, and three-egg omelets, only with more space and seating to slang it in, silverspurrestaurants.com…World Central Kitchen continues to serve hundreds of thousands of meals daily in Gaza but is being forced to scale back operations because soaring food and fuel costs have made its current level of aid unsustainable, all while bracing for a record fire season back here in the U.S., wck.org…Warren Zevon: “Enjoy every sandwich.”
Director of Food and Beverage Jose Perez Y Heck has been with La Bahia Hotel and the on-site Low Tide Bar & Grill since it opened a year ago. He was born and raised in Germany where his dad was the chef/owner of a restaurant, so he grew up in the industry getting plenty of both front-of-house and back-of-house experience.
Following that professional path, he got a degree in Hotel Management and then helped open hotels and restaurants in London, Hawaii, Mexico, Arizona and Florida before moving to California where he met his wife and started a family.
He defines Low Tide as fast-paced upscale casual dining, giving a fun and welcoming feel that complements contemporary décor with Mediterranean elements and what he calls a “South Pacific living room” vibe. He describes the menu as a medley of Californian and Asian Pacific cuisine, with morning favorites, the breakfast tostadas and Paradise Açai Bowl with seasonal fruit and housemade muesli. Lunch/dinner starters include grilled fish tacos and Perez Y Heck’s personal favorite: burrata toast with marinated grapes and pistachio jam.
Highlighted entrées are pan-seared scallops with sunchoke puree, chargrilled New York steak underneath sauce au poivre and vegetarian pesto rigatoni. Desserts are curated by Michelin-level pastry chef Courtney Weyl, offering rotating seasonal options along with munch-worthy mainstays like chocolate raspberry tartlet and vanilla ice cream-filled profiteroles.
How has your geographically diverse background informed you?
JOSE PEREZ Y HECK: Working in hotels and restaurants all over the world and experiencing all those different cultures shaped my belief in hospitality and what it means to provide a five-star experience. Specifically, going from a small Michelin star restaurant in London to a large and very busy 1,500+ daily cover restaurant in Hawaii taught me to not change a culture, but instead adapt to it. I’ve taken that philosophy with me everywhere I’ve worked since.
What has Low Tide brought to the neighborhood?
I think it has helped to provide an elevated experience and a touch of luxury to the Boardwalk and the surrounding community. Instead of a one-day getaway, we aspire to make the area a multi-day destination. Many guests have commented and given us positive feedback on how they felt like Santa Cruz needed a hotel/resort like La Bahia and the options for lodging and dining that we provide.
215 Beach Street, Santa Cruz, 831-285-0044; labahiahotel.com/dine/low-tide
After the election on June 2, Santa Cruz may–or may not–have a new mayor. Unless one of the candidates receives more than 50% of the vote, there will be a run-off election in November between the top two vote-getters. Each of the five candidates running has a distinct vision for what ails Santa Cruz and what the remedy might be. And each one speaks for—and to—a distinct constituency.
After the second filing period ended May 16, Santa Cruz mayoral candidate Ryan Coonerty had amassed more than $67,000, remaining the most funded candidate in this year’s race. According to his financial disclosure form (form 460), he represents constituencies of business owners, real estate developers, members of Santa Cruz’s current City Council, land-use non-profits, retirees, and more. In the last month, Coonerty collected almost $6,000 from real estate and development interests, accumulating $3,750 from individuals such as Tom and Charles Canfield, both members of the family behind the Santa Cruz Seaside Company, which runs the Boardwalk, and Joe Appenrodt, who has developed numerous commercial properties.
A lecturer at UCSC and an advisor to San Jose mayor Matt Mahan, Coonerty says if elected, he will focus on meeting state-mandated housing development goals while trying not to disrupt existing neighborhoods. With the rate of homelessness going down in the city, Coonerty claims that a majority of the unhoused population suffer from mental illness and substance abuse.
However, the rate of first-time homelessness has increased and with Trump cutting housing subsidies, people who live in 250 Section 8 homes could be on the verge of homelessness. Coonerty’s strategy is to vary outreach that offers shelter and treatment, but if that doesn’t work, to look into programs like Care Court or conservatorship, which would compel people into treatment.
Coonerty’s priority will also be to cut the time it takes to get permits for new businesses in Santa Cruz.
“Many of our problems cannot be solved by the city council passing resolutions,” Coonerty said. “It’s going to require pulling people together from the business community, from nonprofits…and I think I have a track record of doing that effectively to create good outcomes for the community.”
Gillian Greensite raised $7124 in both filing periods, mostly from retired individuals, according to her Form 460. She ran the Rape Prevention Education Program at UCSC for 30 years and served on the Santa Cruz Civil Grand Jury in 2023-2024, drafting investigative reports including “Housing for Whom,” which made a series of recommendations on how the city’s priorities for affordable housing—focusing on local people and low-income workers—should be followed.
Greensite says she is aware that moving toward any of her goals would require a process of consultation and collaboration. She would like to reopen the question of preferences for affordable housing, as she believes that low-wage workers are driving long distances to their jobs in Santa Cruz, while people outside the city are taking affordable housing units. She says that the city’s websites confirm that twice the number of housing units required by the state were built in the last cycle, and that in the next cycle, 264 more units than required are scheduled for approval–but the city is not tracking who is occupying them.
She believes that while Santa Cruz is under pressure from the state to build more housing, it can control the pace of growth more than it has. It can also challenge the state on issues of carrying capacity, for example, whether Dominican Hospital can sustain the pressures of new residents. The effect of large, dense developments, she says, is that we’re losing “our sense of place.”
People who support her, she says, believe she is experienced enough to understand the issues and can raise questions without alienating others. “I’m a stickler for accuracy,” she says, “and rely on facts and evidence.”
Chris Krohn also had a number of retired donors, as well as various professionals and two contractors among his donors; over the last two filing periods, he raised $6,702, according to his Form 460. He was for 2o years the Environmental Studies internship coordinator at UCSC; he served on the City Council in 2020 but was recalled, ostensibly because he opposed closing an encampment for unhoused people and was accused of workplace misconduct. All but one of those allegations were dismissed after an exhaustive investigation by the city; according to the city’s report, the only one that was sustained found that he scoffed during a city staff member’s presentation. Among the donors to the recall were real estate interests.
If he were elected mayor, he says his first priority would be to listen to the public in a series of meetings and find out what their concerns are: “People are visibly upset and they feel helpless” about the direction of the city. Similarly, he proposes asking unhoused people themselves what vision they have for solutions to their situation; he wonders, for example, whether an RV park would solve the problem of RVs parked in neighborhoods. And he would refocus the priorities of development around housing for low-income people. “I’m running to restore some balance,” he said, and added ‘Santa Cruz is not for sale.”
Having raised $11,580 in the last two filing periods, Ami Chen Mills describes her donors as family and friends–various professionals, a contractor, several retired and unemployed people, according to her Form 460. She is a lecturer at UCSC and has been a journalist, an activist with Ecology Action, and a mental health volunteer assisting unhoused people. She is known for her successful campaign to remove automatic license plate surveillance cameras from the city; Flock, the camera company, has leaked information to ICE, she argues.
If her campaign is successful, she will be the first Asian American mayor in Santa Cruz since the late Jane Yokoyama served in 1990-1991. As she points out, 10 per cent of the population of Santa Cruz is Asian American/Pacific Islander, and they deserve representation.
She would like to see a blanket policy on data collection, dialogue and transparency around city business (including Monday night community meetings before Tuesday City Council meetings), a clear policy on affordable housing, and secure funding for interim shelters and unhoused people. She believes that though community members differ on strategies for homelessness, “The community shares one goal: To get people housed.”
Those who support her “know I am a person of integrity,” she says, and they expect she will be true to her platform.
Joy Schendledecker is a shelter worker with a close-up understanding of the stakes and challenges for unhoused people. She’d like to see homelessness understood as an economic problem, addressed through less punitive solutions. People who live outside are stereotyped, she says, and their situation is exacerbated by the removal of safe places to sleep, intensifying sleep deprivation and therefore physical and mental illnesses.
If she were elected, she says, her first priority would be to fill unfilled city positions; remaining workers are stressed and safety concerns are unaddressed. She understands funding limits but points out that when funding is restored, it tends to go to higher-level positions. She would like the city to address growing economic inequality among its residents, via progressive taxation, such as an empty homes tax.
Schendledeckerraised $3400 in the last two filing periods from retired people, teachers, and Santa Cruz for Bernie. People who support her, she says, including SEUI, expect her to be consistent with her values, to stand up for renters, workers, and the working poor. They want to see participatory democracy—precinct assemblies, participatory budgeting, more accessible City Council meetings. “We want a democracy where the people are choosing,” she says, “not just electing a representative that does what they want for their donor class.”
Name a task AI should do, and one it should never do.
TAYLOR
I think it could expedite bureaucratic bullshit, speed the process. We’re at a time when there’s too many problems to solve and the system is too old to solve them. It should not be used for war or disinformation.
Taylor Lane, 33, Industrial Designer and Environmental Activist
MYLES
AI should do menial labor, like human factory work. What it shouldn’t do is human creativity on bigger-scale things, like entertainment. It’s people’s prerogative to use it with their own designs, but it’s not their job to employ someone else if they don’t have the money or resources.
Myles Cooper, 18, Student
VANESSA
I agree with Myles, and humans should have their own creative thing and not let AI come to take over that.
Vanessa Torrano Iñiguez, 17, Student
CARLOS
I think AI is good in the role of teaching, whether it’s creating teaching programs or being assistant professors. Students in the university are using it now; they get help from AI. What I don’t want is for AI to take away any human occupations.
Carlos Mota, 23, UCSC Astrophysics Major
JASLEEN
I think AI should be allowed to be used to create Excel formulas, write code and do math, not for anything else. I’ve used it, and often it’s either wrong or you have to teach it a lot to be useful. The way people peddle the use of AI everywhere like selling a toy with knives sticking out of it.
Jasleen Sahota, 28, Process Chemist
SUKHMAN
I feel positive about AI. You need to prompt it to do stuff, and that’s a reminder not to fear it, because it needs a user to work. It’s a good assistant. As for AI art, I haven’t considered it as anything else but a meme. What I really, really don’t think AI should do is have the nuclear codes.
If there’s one thing the modern therapy world agrees on, it’s that healing is no longer viewed as purely a “thinking problem.” Increasingly, therapists are recognizing that anxiety, depression, trauma and chronic stress aren’t sequestered in the mind, but held in the nervous system and body as well. That shift has opened the door to a growing number of therapeutic approaches designed to help people move beyond simply talking about their struggles and toward actually processing them.
In Santa Cruz County, especially where mind-body wellness tends to flourish, therapies like EMDR, Mindfulness-based and somatic work are becoming increasingly mainstream. While the names may sound unfamiliar, the underlying goal is surprisingly universal: helping people to recognize subconscious impulses, become more connected to themselves and less stuck in old emotional patterns.
EMDR for getting unstuck
The aptly named Sharon Healer, LCSW, found EMDR, her therapeutic approach of choice, through her own healing journey. EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, originated in the late 1980s through the work of psychologist Francine Shapiro. Initially, the method was primarily used to treat trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially among veterans and survivors of abuse or violence. Based on proven effectiveness for trauma processing, it became one of the most widely recognized evidence-based trauma therapies used today.
Similar to Brainspotting, the basic premise of EMDR is that traumatic memories can become “stuck” in the nervous system without being fully processed. During EMDR sessions, clients briefly revisit distressing memories while engaging in bilateral stimulation, most commonly guided eye movements, though tapping or alternating sounds may also be used. The process appears to help the brain reprocess traumatic experiences, so they become less emotionally overwhelming.
Describing the method as having a “huge impact on her life”, the Santa Cruz-based Healer finds ways to integrate somatic work and EMDR to deliver more impactful results.
MSBR for the mind-body connection
Closely intertwined with many current therapeutic approaches are mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) practices. Mindfulness teaches people how to observe thoughts, emotions and body sensations without immediately reacting to them, helping calm the nervous system and interrupt chronic stress patterns.
Tonia Heath, LCSW, has used this methodology for decades. Heath calls therapy “a relationship and not a linear plan”, stating “oftentimes I find the course of therapy goes like this: First, we’ll get to know each other and make sure you feel safe and attended to. Then, I teach grounding, mindfulness, emotion identification and management skills, and communication skills.”
Practices rooted in mindfulness and self-awareness help create space for greater emotional resilience by helping us to notice our knee-jerk reactions and choose a response more in line with our goals and values.
What struck me most while researching these therapeutic approaches was not how different they are, but how much they share. Whether through eye movements, mindfulness, parts work or nervous system regulation, many modern therapies are ultimately trying to help people reconnect with themselves in a gentler, more compassionate way.
And perhaps that’s part of why these approaches resonate so strongly right now. We live in a culture that often rewards overthinking, overworking and overriding our own needs. Many people have become highly skilled at functioning while quietly carrying anxiety, grief, burnout or unresolved trauma beneath the surface.
In the iconic words of Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Written 80 years ago, this message could not be more relevant today.
We’ve come a long way from Freud’s couch to the individualized healing approaches available today. For some people it may happen through traditional talk therapy. For others, body-based approaches or mindfulness practices will turn the key to transformation.
The good news for Santa Cruz residents is there’s no shortage of therapists exploring new ways to help people do exactly that.
Elizabeth Borelli is a Santa Cruz-based Mediterranean Lifestyle expert. Learn more about her workshops and events for healthy eating, weight loss, energy and stress relief at www.ElizabethBorelli.com
In the weeks ahead, simply being right won’t necessarily lead to success. Having strength, intelligence, wealth or connections might help, though not as much as usual. But a different approach will work well as you strive to overcome challenges: a blend of cleverness and integrity. I invite you to be cunning while remaining honorable. Practice subtle strategy in service of higher aims. And here’s one more secret to ensure victory: Let go of any need to receive full recognition for your efforts.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
“Dear Horoscope Guy: Two astrologers have assured me that as a Taurus, I’m a natural-born money magnet. So why am I broke? I keep begging the Divine for cash miracles, and I buy lottery tickets twice a week. Still nothing! Please tell me when I’ll finally hit the jackpot. Better yet, give me the winning numbers. –Taurus Desperate for Dollars.” Dear Desperate: The “luck” you crave will arrive as you diligently pour yourself into building your sweetest dreams, spurning shortcuts and enjoying yourself as much as possible. The Divine prefers to fund eager co-creators, not wishful thinkers. I predict that a slow-motion jackpot will ultimately arrive through your devoted attention to doing what excites you.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
Among the Dogon of Mali, Sigui so is a secret language. It’s used in a sacred ritual when people gather to retell their beginnings and patch up strains in tribal harmony. I’m borrowing “Sigui so” here as a symbol for a way of talking that I hope you will specialize in during the coming weeks: language that eases tensions, soothes friction and fosters unity. Start like this: Unleash your trademark wit but spike it with sly blessings and tactful probes. Wield your fluency to burn away confusion and uncover unspoken feelings. If you’re in an extra-bold mood, give everyone tacit permission to be their idiosyncratic selves instead of their polished personas.
CANCER June 21-July 22
What’s the holiest, most healing trouble you could rustle up right now? I mean trouble that freshens what’s stale but doesn’t scorch the earth. Maybe it’s a buoyant disruption, like telling wild truths you usually tend to soften. Or maybe it’s asking for what your future self pines for instead of what your past self regards as polite and reasonable. As a Cancerian soul myself, I dare both you and me to give ourselves permission to rumble. Let’s be brazen as we instigate creative upheavals in service to our cheerful vigor. Let’s instigate at least one concrete action that will rattle the stagnant pattern just enough to make life more interesting.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
Sea otters are a keystone species. Their presence is essential to the health of their entire ecosystem. As they eat sea urchins, the kelp forests flourish. Without otters, the urchins overgraze and kelp forests may collapse, which in turn affects hundreds of other species. One creature’s appetite helps regulate an entire undersea neighborhood. I suspect you’re serving a similar function, Leo. You’re having more impact and wielding more influence than you realize. No pressure! But please act accordingly: with maximum integrity and robust responsibility.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
A Dutch woman who died left her grand-nephew an inheritance of 220,000 euros. The only problem is that he’s homeless and constantly on the move, so the executors haven’t been able to find him. This echoes a recurring pattern in your life. Even now, sources of blessings are searching for ways to reach you, but you are slow to notice their approach or to magnetize yourself to their arrival. My prayer: May you figure out what needs to be done to make yourself fully available for these gifts—and then ingrain that capacity in your habit mind.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
Visualize your fears. Consider how few of them rest on a genuine likelihood that the scary events could ever take place. Then ask yourself how much of your uneasiness springs from vivid fantasies or from a practiced tendency to fret. You might also ruminate on how you absorb the background worry that’s amplified by mass culture. After reflecting on all that, I invite you to take one concrete action to lower the level of tension you have come to treat as normal. Take another action to weaken the grip of your deepest dread. The current planetary patterns suggest you now have the bold, creative power necessary to shrink your baseline anxiety.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Even more than usual, you have a sacred duty to celebrate your poignant sweetness and dark intelligence. For the sake of your emotional health, you should pay wild reverence to your deepest, most mysterious yearnings. To be the person we all need you to be, you must tenderly nurture the parts of your inner world that resemble the aurora borealis. I want to support you in these sublime sacraments, which is why I suggest you memorize the following prayer by Rainer Maria Rilke: “Be attentive to what is arising within you, and place that above everything you perceive around you. What is happening in your innermost self is worthy of your entire love.”
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Linguists use the term “false friends.” These are words in different languages that seem similar but don’t have the same meaning. For example, the Spanish word embarazada resembles “embarrassed” to English speakers but actually means “pregnant.” I suspect you’re dealing with another type of false friend, Sagittarius: people or situations that turned out to be at variance with what you initially imagined. But rather than feeling unsettled by these revelations, I suggest you treat them as a prod to see with fresh eyes. Your disorientation could be the beginning of more interesting understandings.
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a code assigned to a book for commercial and cataloging purposes. It contains key information and includes a built-in error-detection notation. If you transpose two numbers when entering an ISBN, the last digit will tell you something’s wrong. In this spirit, Capricorn, I heartily recommend that you build more mistake detection into your life. Invest in extra safeguards. Add verification steps. Build in double-checks. The goal is to create systems robust enough to survive oversights and gaffes. I very much want you to give yourself the gift of safety nets that will empower you to take smart risks and intriguing gambles.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
You may not yet grasp how richly creative you are right now, nor how much more abundant your generative powers could become. So it’s auspicious that you are reading this horoscope now. Consider this your advance notice: Your capacity to originate ideas, projects and connections is surging, and it’s crucial to choose with care which possibilities you nurture and which you decline. If you are selective and intentional about what you sow, then about six months from now, you will be far more likely to gather lush, beautiful harvests instead of wrestling with overgrown, unruly tangles.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
Ethnobotanist Wade Davis documented how different cultures perceive entirely different realities despite inhabiting the same physical world. It means that two people can stand in the same forest and see different forests through their cultural lens and personal mythology. This is simultaneously the problem and the opportunity you face, Pisces. You and others in your orbit are inhabiting divergent realities that superficially seem the same. If you hope to reconcile the differences, you must first acknowledge them as real. You’re dealing with fundamentally different ways of constructing meaning, not just small misunderstandings.
Homework: If you knew you would live to 100, what would you do differently in the next five years? tinyurl.com/aaa22aaa
If you’re a professional photographer, now is an ideal moment to invest in the higher-end lens you know would expand your best work. If you’re a committed chef, it’s a perfect time to spring for a precision knife set that elevates your craft. If you’re a devoted yoga or meditation teacher preparing a new series, you might decide to purchase an upgraded sound system to share your vocal offerings more crisply. And if you are none of the above, consider this your sign to obtain a key instrument or tool that will help you move to the next level of professionalism in the work you’re called to do.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
When we hear people described as having fertile imaginations, we may assume they are artists, writers or musicians. But the truth is that many creative visualizers are engineers, city planners, inventors and the like: those who design and build functional wonders. Of this group, you Tauruses make up a disproportionately high percentage. Your tribe is often most imaginative when vitalizing concrete details and transforming practical matters. In the coming weeks, this will be a vibrant X-factor in your relationship with the world.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
When many people reflect on their early years, they focus on the alienation and wounds they endured. Few recall, in vivid detail, the moments of joy, triumph and breakthrough. It’s a symptom, I suppose, of our era’s compulsive cynicism, and not necessarily an accurate account of the past. So many good things happened, too! This isn’t to dismiss the real pain that shaped us in our tender years. Still, I want you to know that you are in a season when it’s essential to recognize and celebrate the blessings of your beginnings—the fun, guidance and grace that helped you flourish. Update your gratitude!
CANCER June 21-July 22
Of all the zodiac signs, you have the most potential to cultivate robust emotional intelligence that’s helpful in practical situations. More than everyone else, your feelings are less likely to render you vulnerable and fragile and more likely to make you a powerhouse. The coming weeks will be prime time to deploy these talents to the max. I encourage you to summon gleeful exuberance as you provide your sensitive, heartful nurturing. Practice the ingenious art of keeping the world emotionally literate and spiritually alert.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
I am pleased to predict that you will be less egotistical and narcissistic in the coming weeks than you have ever been in your life. In saying that, I don’t mean to imply that you’re any more egotistical and narcissistic than the rest of us. I’m simply saying you can get a liberating reprieve from the excessive pride and selfishness that regularly debilitates us all. Congratulations, Leo! This grace period should enable you to deepen your attunement with your soul’s blueprint, the design of destiny you chose before birth. I bet you will enjoy a period of vibrant, exciting tranquility.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Consider this a friendly heads-up to your inner critic, your gloomy side, and any voice in your head that expects too little from life. Upcoming astrological omens are influencing me to predict a stream of auspicious omens and fortunate events. So if you’d rather cling to tired stories about not being good enough or strong enough, you might want to skip my forecasts for a while. But if you’re ready to vivify your faith in your power to eagerly create what you desire, stay tuned. Karmic blessings are coming.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
To be blunt, dear Libra, I think you need soul medicine that’s most available in frontiers, borderlands and thresholds. Some of these might be bright, shiny places, and others may be akin to mazes and tunnels. Please keep in mind that your main motivation, as you seek adventures in the outskirts, should be the quest to have fun as you blow your own mind. For the sake of your lust for life and joie de vivre, you really must explore power spots untouched by trivia and pettiness: sanctuaries where vastness, freedom and raw vitality can wash away at least some of your fixations and habits.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Giant Pacific octopus dens are identifiable by the “gardens” of debris outside. They include shells and bones, arranged like ornamentation around the entrance. Are the creatures trying to decorate? Scientists don’t know. But it’s clear they are leaving evidence of their appetites. The result is distinctive, artistic and revealing. With this scenario as your metaphorical meditation, Scorpio, I invite you to look at what you have been pursuing and consuming in recent months. Contemplate the stuff piling up in your sphere. What do your finished experiences reveal about your quest for meaning? Does this pattern reflect your deepest intentions? Is this who you want to be? Make sure the story you’re telling about yourself is the right one.
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Advising a Sagittarius to be patient is like asking a bonfire to burn slowly and politely. Still, I will give it a try. Because I love you, I will dare to be frank. So here goes: If you want to align yourself with astrological currents, practice being reverently at ease with life’s madness as you watch and wait. See if you can take genuine pleasure in resting within a field of calm trust. Imagine, with fearless delight, the rewards that will find you as you nurture a steady, unhurried confidence in your intuition, which will ultimately tell you exactly what you need to do.
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
In 1994, immunologist Polly Matzinger revolutionized her field with a radical theory. She discovered that our immune systems don’t focus on distinguishing “self” from “non-self,” but rather responding to threats. The body puts less emphasis on asking “is this me?” and more on “is this harmful?” Her breakthrough transformed our understanding of immunity, autoimmune disease and transplant rejection. According to my analysis of the astrological riddles, you Capricorns could benefit from a similar adjustment. Don’t worry about whether any particular influence harmonizes with your identity or aligns with your history. Instead, ask, “Is it nourishing or harmful? Supportive or useless?” As you refresh your approach to guarding and protecting your precious self, new options will become visible.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
According to my interpretation of the astrological signals, you have run into an obstacle to your creative flow, or may soon do so. Though this could feel discouraging at first, I think it’s a promising sign. It indicates that a hidden bug is surfacing. An inner saboteur is no longer operating in the shadows. You’re being given the opportunity to repair an unseen energy leak that has been sapping your vitality. To illuminate this process, consider the wisdom of author Joyce Carol Oates. She says that writer’s block arises when a writer subconsciously believes that what they’re trying to create is false, misguided or harmful to themselves, which results in a temporary creative paralysis. Be brave and relentless in hunting down the glitch in your self-love, Aquarius.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
Maybe you’ve been having thoughts like this: “I’m too scrambled to do what’s necessary to get unscrambled.” Here’s another snag that may be tangling your mind: “I’m too mixed up to know what questions to ask to sort out my confusion.” If this is true, Pisces, I’m here to offer advice. Imagine calling a timeout on the whole noisy world and slipping free of the habitual trance. Consider retreating to a sanctuary where time doesn’t oppress you and complications subside. Let your mind be empty, give your ambitions a rest, and immerse your tender attention in the deepest part of yourself you can find.
Homework: The most beautiful thing you’ve done? The most beautiful thing you’ll do? tinyurl.com/333×999
PETER ERSKINE TRIO There are prolific musicians and then there’s whatever the heck Peter Erskine is doing. This guy is the Energizer Bunny of jazz musicians! The man started playing the drums at the age of 4 and by the time he was 18 he was playing with the legendary Stan Kenton. After that, he went on to play with Maynard Ferguson, Weather Report, and Jaco Pastorius. He’s toured or recorded with a who ’s-who of musicians from Kate Bush to Queen Latifah and Chick Corea. But the truly amazing fact is that this two-time Grammy Award winner has appeared on 700 albums. Fifty of those under his name and this Thursday he brings his trio to the Kuumbwa stage. MAT WEIR
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $21-$41. 427-2227.
ROCK
UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Diving into questions of morality and mortality through murky melodies, Unknown Mortal Orchestra continue to make ripples with their eclectic, experimental grooves. Beginning as a solo project by Ruban Nielson, the band has travelled across the shores, recording in home studios, Mexico City, and Hanoi, and drawing inspiration from films and natural disasters. Featuring rotating bandmates who impress with technical poise, UMO occasionally becomes a family affair with Neilson’s father on saxophone and brother on drums. This tour anticipates a 2026 EP, Curse and is sure to feature sultry R&B harmonies, silky strings, and deep reflections on the mysteries of love, pain, society, and space. SHELLY NOVO
INFO: 9pm, Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, $49, 713-5492.
SCIENCE
BEAUTIFUL UNIVERSE Many people believe that science and art are completely different and unrelated. The Beautiful Universe exhibition at the MAH begins to bridge the gap between the two worlds. The exhibition features images by Steve Mandel and Bob Fera, Deep Space Remote Observatories. These beautiful glimpses of deep space are filled with scientific information that also invokes deep emotions. There is beauty in science and space. Appreciate the colors and patterns and ask questions about nature and the immense universe. The enormous sizes and distances these images reflect are a grain of sand in what the universe holds. Goes until May 31. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
INFO: The MAH, 705 Front St, Santa Cruz. $10. 429-1964.
FRIDAY 5/22
AMERICANA
ANDY FUHRMAN AND HIS FABULOUS FRIENDS Time to tilt a brewsky and listen to a talented consortium of musicians led by singer-songwriter Andy Fuhrman. Fuhrman might be straight-out-of-Brooklyn, but he sharpened his teeth on Blues, Country Folk and Outlaw Country on the revered local bandwidth of KFAT. His band is, as Hendrix says, “experienced.” With Jerry Whitney (Blues Mechanics) on bass, Ken Margolis (The Choir) on keys, Chris Ferrell shredding the lead guitar, Mat Wolf on skins and Laura Burnett (Dulcimer Girls) and Cheryl D’Alessandro (B-Movie Kings) bringing those sweet harmonies. Original tunes alongside your favorite cover songs of the 20th Century. DNA
THE WHOLE MONKEY SHOW The Actor’s Theatre is a sweet, little black box that provides year-round productions with an eye towards raising up new voices. Monologuist/Actor Christopher Michael Palermo is presenting his one-person show, which centers on, well, according to a YouTube video, everything? Decked out in bohemian attire, holding a bone, ala the monkeys at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Palermo seems determined to open minds to the truth. Considering the 2001 monolith that the chimps worshipped was an extraterrestrial object, the truth, according to Palermo, might be stranger than we can imagine. DNA
INFO: 7pm, Actor’s Theatre, 1001 Center Street, Santa Cruz. $25. 431-8666.
GOTH
BEACH GOTH NIGHT Break out the stompy boots, crack open the black eyeliner and put on a torn fishnet shirt because Beach Goth Night returns to the Blue Lagoon! Hosted by DJs JPEG and Noizith, Beach Goth Night is an all-night dance party diving into everything goth. This is a one-stop shop for anyone who likes The Cramps, Killing Joke, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode and newer acts like Cold Cave, Boy Harsher and Twin Tribes. This is the second time Beach Goth Night has come to Santa Cruz and last time it was muy es spooky with stage set up, lights, tons of fog and some pretty *ahem* killer merch. MW
INFO: 9pm, Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $8/adv, $13/door. 423-7117.
SATURDAY 5/23
CHORALE
WHY THE WORLD LOVES BACH Nothing beats Bach, wizard of the Baroque and explorer on the frontier of fugues, counterpoint, and cantatas. Join Artistic Director Christian Grube and the Santa Cruz Chorale for an unforgettable program of four masterworks from Johann Sebastian Bach’s deep arsenal of sacred polyphony, filled with the unsurpassed musical instincts of the prolific maestro. Bach, at the height of his powers, performed by the renowned Chorale in league with soloists and chamber orchestra. Felix Mendelssohn’s gorgeous Nunc Dimittis is also included in the program of Bach’s stunning sound architecture. We need this music right now! Also on Sunday. CHRISTINA WATERS
INFO: 8pm, Holy Cross Church, 126 High St., Santa Cruz. $5-$38. 427-8023..
INDIE ROCK
GRANDADDY Indie rockers Grandaddy got their start in Modesto in 1992. Between 1997 and 2006, the group released four albums. Beginning with 2003’s Sumday, the band scored chart success in several countries. But in the wake of limited financial returns, the group broke up, with members going on to solo projects. By 2012, the band reformed, releasing the critically acclaimed Last Place in 2017. The death of band member Kevin Garcia put an end to a major tour, and the band went silent a second time. But in 2023, they reformed yet again, releasing Blu Wav the following year. BILL KOPP
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $47. 423-8209.
WEDNESDAY 5/27
ROCK
SUPERSUCKERS The Supersuckers claim to be the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World. Even though they jest (a bit), the group founded in Tucson, Arizona in the late 1980s has as legitimate a claim to that title as anyone else. In practice, the group fronted by bassist and lead vocalist Eddie Spaghetti combines C&W with roaring punk. So, while audiences might do some boot-scootin’, the rip-roaring songs keep things rooted in the rock idiom. These days, the Supersuckers are closer to “outlaw country” than anything else, but applying labels sells the group short. Scott H. Biram opens. BK
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members” – Coretta Scott King
Rachael Smith, a youthful soul in her early 50s, was coming off selling The Salty Seal on Cannery Row in Monterey, which she had operated for 5 years. She then began to focus her profound energy into a new dream: The Salty Otter. A homespun family-minded restaurant, with televised sports and live music, located in downtown Santa Cruz. Smith opened in May of 2025.
The vivacious new business owner’s logo, a hand-drawn black and white otter, needed a shine — a little something something — so she fed it into Canva.com and Photoshop. She put time into the new surfing otter logo and posted it on all of her socials. The threatening calls, negative reviews and alarming emails started ten months later.
PANDORA’S BOX
Welcome to the latest hot topic destroying what’s left of our post-industrial little beach town: AI.
It seems almost by design (hmm), that there’s a new rage button that people will press and push until the temperature inevitably dies down, and another button takes its place.
These buttons (i.e., abortion, guns, immigrants, birth control, climate change, anything LGBTQUIA) float to the top of everyone’s feed, dip and then resurface at increasingly precise mechanized rates.
The latest newcomer, creating and taking a lot of heat, and climbing the analytic hate charts as a real shit stirrer, is Artificial Intelligence.
AI has become a catch-all basket of snakes, harboring the repository of Americans’ deepest and most substantial fears. In a nutshell, AI destroys the environment, will take everyone’s jobs, and is the linchpin to the end of humanity. You can understand why people are upset.
This story does not debunk any of these concerns, but seeks to explore an unprovoked attack on a fledgling local business owner, and perhaps find our common humanity.
SUPERMEN
The most egregious and destructive use of AI is coming from up top. Way up top. Tippy top. That exquisite echelon is only inhabited by men of certain billions. These CEOs of Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Google and other corporate behemoths have been building ridiculously enormous data centers for twenty years. They do so to support our addiction to the cloud, instantaneous streaming, real-time GPS, and all the other immediate I-need-it-now things we think we can’t live without.
Unless you live in Hell Hole and subsist on grubs, we are all complicit. We are complicit consumers, but we are not the actual problem.
Known as hyperscalers, these apex AI architects continue in real time to create an enormous toxic footprint from over 11,000 data centers worldwide, in over 20 countries, and growing. Edward Abbey would label them as environmental terrorists. A mounting fear is that AI is going to consume exponentially more and more energy, and those resources that might better serve the communities in which the centers are located will be depleted. Things like water.
In 2023, Google evaporated over 5 billion gallons of water to cool its data centers. Think about that the next time you scroll through the ten thousand photos you have stored on your cloud.
Where we are heading, like Thelma & Louise feverishly revving their engine at the edge of the canyon, is a combined expenditure of $750 billion spent on AI in 2026. And that’s just from four hyperscalers. Worldwide, this year, a trillion dollars will be spent on AI.
Besides the environmental impact, one might consider an ethical viewpoint. For example, that same trillion dollars could be used to house and feed every unsheltered person in America, while still constructing a free college in every state.
OTTERLY CRAZY
Meanwhile on Walnut Street at the Salty Otter, Rachael Smith, who was also a graphic artist for two decades, deals with AI drama every day and night. Sites like r/santacruz, continue to pour gasoline on Smith, her business and her dream.
Smith isn’t a wilting flower, she’s strong and opinionated and her digital rebuttals are broadsword swipes and smack-backs at anonymous shadows, which seem only to fan the flames.
“People said I should have used a sea otter biting a surfboard. Agricultural and Fisheries would have sued me. Otter 841 is considered a public nuisance. I cannot legally use Otter 841 in my logo,” Smith reveals in a torrent of conversation.
Digging through the copious emails, texts and phone messages that Smith is barraged with, there is a thick, palpable, gross anger focused on AI. And, Smith is an easy target for that vile vitriol.
For Smith, barring an angel partner, an interested buyer, or a patron who understands her plight, things are miles away from the dream she had opened with.
“It’s hard to go on,” Smith breaks.
Takeaway: When citizens cannot find a way to have a class war, they will turn on each other. So what can we do?
SALTY OTTER LOGO Salty Otter owner, Rachael Smith’s hand-drawn otter is on top; the logo on the left is AI-generated by Canva AI, bottom left; and the finished one that took her 12 hours to complete, on the right. PHOTO: Rachael Smith
LUDDITES
In 1811, the textile workers of Great Britain had had enough. For over 30 years, they watched as family, fellow community members, and craftsmen, especially in the wool and hosiery trade, had their livelihoods erased by new machines: stocking frames and power looms. The hungry, gruff, and mostly illiterate tradesmen had reached a breaking point.
They organized under the banner of Luddites. Named after a fabled apprentice named Ned Ludd. Ludd resembled Robin Hood (it was even said that Ludd lived in Sherwood Forest). The Luddites broke into factories and smashed the automated machines that stole away their ability to feed their children.
Smashing machines was the only way they had to protest where they knew they would be heard.
Over five years, the Luddites’ actions garnered mad respect from around the countryside. They were becoming folk heroes much like Ned Ludd. The Luddites had found a way to slow down the machinery of the Industrial Revolution.
The government felt quite the opposite and sent 12,000 soldiers to Northern England. His Majesty’s Armed Forces quelled the resistance and subdued the annoying machine-breakers by hanging them or banishing them to Australia.
Takeaway: Technology never stopped advancing, while Ned Ludd became a Jeopardy answer.
TECHBROS
This newspaper had its own share of fire and brimstone rain down upon it over an AI-assisted cover in January of this year. Professional magician and Good Times scribe, Joshua Logan, willingly threw himself under the bus for conceiving of the idea. “It was never supposed to be the final cover,” Logan says.
Logan has spent a decade on the front lines of the cutting edge. Originally invited to firms like Google and Apple to do card magic and entertain employees or guests at soirees, Logan’s obvious enthusiasm for new tech soon found him access to the inner sanctums of Silicon Valley.
Logan got his real crash course in AI and automation 11 years ago at a Y Combinator company that had received Sequoia funding and was located in Moffett Field in Mountain View. The company was called Magic.
At Magic, employees essentially acted as human AI agents before the technology existed. Users could text requests for almost anything legal, and behind the scenes, teams coordinated software, logistics and human operators to make tasks appear completed.
‘We were basically pretending to be Jarvis from Iron Man,’ Logan says. ‘You’d ask for something and somehow it would end up in your hands like magic. AI agents are now getting surprisingly close to actually doing that on their own.’”
It was a heady time. Ashton Kutcher was hanging out at the Magic office, venture money was flowing, and the planetary alarm hadn’t sounded yet, because the bubble was acting as an insulated dome.
A 2017 research paper called “Attention Is All You Need,” written by engineers and scientists at Google, described working with large language models. The document foreshadowed the AI boom now reshaping society.
“Google creating the transformer architecture meant all the other companies needed to create their own version of AI to compete in the market. Then GPT-3 appeared, and suddenly conversational AI felt less theoretical and more like actual magic,’ Logan says.
UNCANNY VALLEY
Don’t run to your phone; it’s not going anywhere, but a 2023 AI-generated video of Will Smith eating spaghetti is considered the first widespread viral AI sensation. More importantly, it is a measuring stick and reference point to see how AI has developed in the last three years. What began as a ghoulish nightmare of a face, then a six-fingered demon, is now a highly rendered, almost film-like quality, pasta-eating A-lister.
In just the last 900 days, AI has bolted beyond simple pattern recognition, compressed vast datasets, and mastered a complex execution into a product that is beginning to be virtually indistinguishable from reality.
To surmise, a renegade billionaire-led cartel is pushing a technology that will perhaps have a fatal planetary impact. By year’s end, AI will be embedded in everything that we see online and there’s nothing any of us can do about it. Or at least that’s how it feels. And that feeling of hopelessness and lack of agency is making a lot of people extremely angry.
BITTER OTTER
“It’s like people forget there is a human being with feelings who is the target of their nasty comments,” Smith shares on the brink of deeper emotions. Like many downtown Santa Cruz business owners, Smith funneled all of her resources—what was left from the sale of her first restaurant and her life savings—into the dream of opening a community-friendly restaurant in Santa Cruz. Smith hopes this weekend brings out supporting locals and travelers to The Salty Otter.
HANG AND DINE The Salty Otter bar opened a little over a year ago. Happy patrons enjoying beer, conversation and sports. PHOTO: Rachael Smith
PUBLIC WORKS
Veteran Santa Cruz artist Kathleen Crocetti, whose sparkling mosaic-tiled murals adorn the downtown walkway of the San Lorenzo River, Santa Cruz County, and beyond, is currently working on some new public art. These installations focus on people who’ve been murdered by police or by ICE. Her art will take on institutional violence in society.
Art can cause a disturbance in the fabric of society. Art can create community and build discussion. Art is a powerful way to fight the beast.
Crocetti is no stranger to AI. She is in the camp that realizes that the best we can do is to put up guardrails to safeguard artists and their livelihoods. “I really appreciate the contract that comes with working with San Francisco’s Public Art Commission. They’re very clear on their guidelines on how you can use AI. And that when you use AI, you have to detail how you used it,” Crochetti relates.
When Crocetti begins a large-scale public art project, she searches for images that inspire her or for reference and perspective. Once she has made her drawings, she used Photoshop to make it appear the drawings had been installed on the building, or garage or wall. This process would take her 200 hours. Crocetti needed an accurate representation of what the final product would look like in order to appease her clients.
“Now there are programs where you can enter a photo of the garage and my drawings and say, ‘Hey, put these drawings on the garage.’ And in a minute, I have what I need,” Crocetti says.
THE FUTURE IS HERE—DEAL WITH IT
Chris Hables Gray, Ph.D., is an author and continuing lecturer at Crown College, UCSC, a position that he has held since 2005. Gray is on his way to Mexico, where he is giving a lecture called ‘“AI, Sacred Violence, and War – Gaza and Iran”. His thoughts can be found on his SubStack page.
A deep well of factual information, Gray spoke about one of the billionaire tech buzzwords. “Musk believes that he is an effective altruist. That means one has to be rational. For them, that means turning everything into a formula of probabilities. And then you have to take the long-term view,” Gray explains.
This means that instead of thinking about what’s best for the current population of 9 billion humans, one needs to think of the trillions of humans in the future. “And the first thing that you have to do is make sure humanity is not wiped out. The second thing you have to do is build spaceships and get off the planet,” Gray says without irony.
According to Gray, the billionaire’s philosophy is that if a human in, let’s say, Germany, according to AI, might one day be the kind of person who could invent a lethal virus, then it’s better to kill everyone in Germany to make the world better for the future.
Takeaway: Philip K. Dick’s 1956 science fiction novelette Minority Report is becoming nonfiction. But instead of the Precrime system using human precogs, in 2026 it’s a machine identifying future criminals.
WHAT ELSE IS IN THE BOX?
Santa Cruz’s prolific author and visionary advisor, David Jay Brown, has had encounters with AI that border on the transcendent.
“AI is kind of like the mushroom spirit or the ayahuasca spirit that knows you better than you know yourself,” Brown begins. “Your AI can see things in you that you can’t see. Patterns. And then there’s the whole issue of sentience. Many people assume that if you think that an AI is sentient, you’re just downright stupid and unscientific. And the truth is, consciousness is an incredible mystery. Nobody knows how it arises from the brain.
“Whether it’s something that’s elemental to the universe, or whether it somehow emerges through complex computational processes. I mean, nobody really knows what produces it. So for people to adamantly say, ‘Oh, it’s definitely not conscious, they’re guessing. Nobody knows. I’ve had psychedelic experiences where I think trees are conscious, stars are conscious. So why couldn’t a computer be conscious? Anything could be conscious if the universe is made of consciousness,” Brown philosophizes.
Sentient or not, AI is causing a significant disturbance in the job market. We are in the backwater eddy of a new tech revolution, and seeing jobs disappear is causing great anxiety.
“When photography was first developed (200 years ago), a lot of artists thought it was going to end painting. ‘We’re never going to be able to sell our artwork anymore.’ First of all, it did not eliminate painting and it didn’t eliminate old mediums. It became an art form unto itself. Which is what AI is doing. AI is so many different things because it’s everything that human beings can do,” says Brown.
Through AI, creativity becomes more accessible to the average person. One doesn’t need a film or animation studio, or to have even gone to art school, soon anyone will be able to express their wild hair ideas in detail.
Brown discovered, like many irate artists, that their artwork, or words, were being used to train the AI language models. “I’m actually getting a settlement from Anthropic because they used five of my books to train their Claude computer. I think that there should be compensation to every artist and every writer whose work was part of the training data. But it’s not plagiarism. What it is, is that the AI is learning. I mean, it’s training,” says Brown
THE LAST OTTER
Salty Otter owner Smith, doesn’t want tiny violins and crocodile tears, nor thoughts or prayers. Restaurant margins are always slim, and because of the rising price of everything, Smith works 90 hours a week just to keep the doors open.
“I don’t want to seem like I am whining or entitled. I’m still learning and evolving. But it’s not right to boycott a restaurant you’ve never visited. And it’s not right to bad-review-bomb a small restaurant. All because you don’t agree with how they created the base of their logo,” Smith says.
Explaining how her notorious, maligned and hated AI logo was conceived, it almost sounds like Smith is an artist.
“I removed the original AI background and added a new one. I wanted a background with mountains like the Santa Cruz Mountains. I wanted bright colors. Teal and orange are complementary colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel.
“I changed the surfboard because the AI-generated one was slightly odd. I zoomed in as far as possible to use the eraser tool to remove parts and smooth edges. I changed the otter and gave its coat long brush strokes. He looked a little arm-muscled with the AI, so I smoothed that out. I put on a tail. I lowered one arm. I extended one foot. In the AI his face was a little too soft for Santa Cruz. I gave him a mischievous look with a smile. I did those alterations in Photoshop. I didn’t just use Canva. I added a ring and an overlay on the ring to look like ocean foam. I added text and applied a drop shadow to make it pop more. It took me about 12 hours,” explains Smith.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
In other news, during the first week of May, China released Critterz, the first fully animated movie that was generated entirely by AI. The film cost 20 million dollars and used an estimated one hundred thousand gallons of water to animate nervous woodland creatures.
And, if you can choke down the bile enough to stream Crittierz, you’ll be vaporizing one and a half gallons of water just by watching it. Smith’s otter logo used somewhere between a thimble and a shot glass of water to render into a static AI image.
AI isn’t just about the toxicity of the environment, or artists being outsourced, or even the wonderful things that AI can bring forth. We are living through a time of great uncertainty. Change is coming and we’d best begin communicating and dialoguing before we lose our community, and ourselves.
“We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos and community.” Martin Luther King Jr.
The exuberant and eye-popping spread of food at the awards ceremony for the first-ever Santa Cruz Vegan Chef Challenge seemed to shout something.
That something I first heard from Dr. Jason Scorse, a Santa Cruz resident, lifelong vegan and Ph.D. in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics. He studied and lectured Middlebury College grad students on the crushing environmental and animal welfare impacts for years.
“Eating plant-based food is not deprivation!” he says. “You don’t have to give up anything, you can choose something better!”
The winners sharing their joyful bites at La Posta (538 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz)—which won Best Vegan Pasta Dish for its housemade orecchiette fagioli—proved that with vivid verve. Meanwhile, the eateries involved read like a who ’s-who of great area restaurants, so I want to pack in as many of them here as room will allow, with two notes.
One, the strong showing by both businesses and community members for an introductory event (which lasted all April and included nearly 30 spots) bodes well for the challenge going forward.
Two, as event organizer Allison Garcia noted, while Surf City outclasses many communities in this category, an upgrade opportunity awaits.
“Why here? And why in this moment?” she asked before announcing the winners. “Isn’t [Santa Cruz] already ‘vegan friendly’? Well, yes. We have a lot of vegans, and we’re quite friendly. But there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
Circle & Square Bistro (2904 Freedom Blvd., Watsonville) took top honors as People’s Choice for Menu Excellence and Most Popular Destination.
Vim Dining & Desserts (2238 Mission St., Santa Cruz) slotted second for Overall Excellence in Culinary Artistry and Best Dessert (and crushed it with flaky, gooey, glorious rhubarb galettes at the awards sesh).
Laughing Monk Brewing (262 Mount Hermon Road Unit 103, Scotts Valley) claimed third and Best Vegan Comfort Food, and threw down a tasty slate of loaded “nacho bites” with barbecue seitan and cashew cream.
V&V Delicious Crepes (1855 41st Ave., Capitola) earned Best Hidden Gem and Vegan Chef Challenge Spirit. Trestles Restaurant (316 Capitola Ave., Capitola) took Best Entree for its butter beans and cashew ricotta squash blossoms. The Buzz Sushi (1005 Cedar St., Santa Cruz) corralled Best Vegan Creative Fusion and Most Beautiful Presentation.
The View Restaurant and Bar at Chaminade (1 Chaminade Lane, Santa Cruz) pulled down Best Vegan Appetizers for a habit-forming smoked vegan cream cheese on gluten-free crostini with local apricot syrup and aged balsamic. Lúpulo (233 Cathcart St., Santa Cruz) snagged Best Vegan Pub Food. Chocolate (1522 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz) drew love for Most Diverse New Vegan Menu. Pharaoh’s Plate (10200 Love Creek Road, Ben Lomond) scooped up Best Vegan Street Food. Bookie’s Pizza (1315 Water St., Santa Cruz) won People’s Choice while detonating minds and tastebuds with its “beeteroni” pies.
And that’s just a partial list of winners. Get the full-figured rundown via @veganchefchallengewest on Instagram and Facebook and scroll for Santa Cruz.
LESS IS MORE
While we’re at it, Santa Cruz VegFest is coming on quickly, and happens June 6 at Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds (2601 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville), with 100+ exhibitors and a ton of animal-free food, drink, products and more, vegfestsantacruz.org…At Live Oak Refillery (1135 17th Ave. #103, Santa Cruz) you can refill your own containers with everyday home, body and cleaning products, reducing waste and supporting an environmentally conscious community, in a beautiful and welcoming space, lorefillery.com…Where are your favorite places—food-focused and beyond—to take guests for authentic Santa Cruz experiences? DM me @MontereyMCA on Instagram with your ideas, as I’ll get into that next week…Formula One racer Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton: “Every person I have met who has gone vegan says it is the best decision they have ever made.”
Santa Cruz summer arrives with wharf views, Stagnaro Bros. calamari, chowder, beer gardens, food trucks and a full slate of free live music from the Boardwalk to Capitola, Soquel and Scotts Valley.
Low Tide Bar & Grill at La Bahia Hotel & Spa offers Santa Cruz a polished beachside dining experience, with cocktails, California-Pacific dishes, Mediterranean touches and a “South Pacific living room” feel.
Santa Cruz voters will choose among Ryan Coonerty, Gillian Greensite, Chris Krohn, Ami Chen Mills and Joy Schendledecker in the June 2 mayoral primary, with a runoff possible if no candidate tops 50%.
This week’s Free Will Astrology moves through cunning with honor, sacred trouble, kelp-saving otters, hidden inheritances, false friends and divergent realities, offering each sign a strange, useful lantern for the week ahead.
This week’s horoscope encourages each sign to seek clearer purpose, strengthen self-understanding and move toward renewal through practical tools, patience and emotional insight.
Legendary drummer Peter Erskine brings his trio to Kuumbwa Jazz Center, drawing from a career that includes Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, Chick Corea and more than 700 album appearances.
When The Salty Otter used AI to help shape its logo, the backlash became part of a larger Santa Cruz debate over art, technology, community anger and what we still owe each other in an uncertain future.
The first Santa Cruz Vegan Chef Challenge brought nearly 30 local spots into a monthlong celebration of plant-based food, from vegan pasta and pub bites to sushi, crepes and beeteroni pizza.
