Christy Rodriguez needs to get her 10-year-old daughter’s glasses and school supplies, and more clothes for her family—she has three days’ worth of clothes she’s continuously laundering. Like many Pajaro residents, the Rodriguez family didn’t think they’d be unable to return home after more than 10 days following the mandatory evacuation.
The late-night/early-morning order to abandon their house understandably roused Christy into anxiety: “All we heard was sirens and a [loudspeaker] saying, ‘the levee had breached, and water was on its way,’” she recalls. “I was having a hard time just breathing—my kids were asleep, and getting woken up like that was horrible.”
There was no time to think about packing necessities, like shoes for her daughter and 4-year-old son. Since that sudden wake-up call, the family of four has been living out of a hotel room. Christy and her husband—a special education instructional assistant for the PVUSD and a sales rep, respectively—are thankful they have that option, though. They’re also grateful that their home wasn’t flooded. But the private security on their street still won’t allow them to enter their home for just a few minutes to collect some things. Christy and her husband are constantly inquiring, trying to find out when they’ll be able to get into their home. They’re told that the ground is “contaminated.”
Meanwhile, the cost of purchasing all the necessities they can’t access from their home plus the $140-per-night for the hotel room is adding up—Christy sighs, remembering rent is also due soon. But no one has answers.
“Everyone is clueless,” Christy says. “It’s still not even declared a natural disaster, so we’re not allowed to apply for FEMA yet. The shelters are full, and people are sleeping in their cars.”
Like the Rodriguez family, nearly 2,000 Pajaro residents who evacuated live in day-to-day limbo, feeling alone in this. Meanwhile, 94% of Pajaro is Hispanic; many don’t speak English and undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible for federal assistance when or if it becomes available.
“The government has done nothing to help Pajaro that I know of,” Christy says. “It’s been the community helping. At the hotel, Driscoll’s did tacos for us; Freedom Meat Locker did sandwiches.”
Christy doesn’t understand why President Biden hasn’t declared Pajaro a natural disaster as he did for Capitola; the frustration, the depression, that feeling of not knowing what’s next—an emotional exhaustion that Christy probably shares with all community members.
“It’s so hard when your kids are crying to go home, and you can’t take them home,” she says. “My son is always like, ‘I want spaghetti,’ and I’m stuck here with a microwave.”
Trees down in New Brighton State Beach in Capitola following the most recent atmospheric river. Photograph by Dianna Glidden.
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GOOD IDEA
On Monday, Representative Jimmy Panetta announced that his office is accepting artwork from local high school students for the annual Congressional Art Competition. The winners will have their entries displayed in the United States Capitol in Washington D.C., a tradition that began in 1982, with over 650,000 high school students involved in the nationwide competition. Paintings, drawings, collages, prints, mixed media, computer-generated art and photographs are all accepted. The deadline for submissions is April 21. panetta.house.gov/services/art-competition
GOOD WORK
Housing Matters, a local nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness, is leading the first-ever March to End Homelessness in Santa Cruz County. On Saturday, April 1, local nonprofit providers, businesses and community members will march and rally near downtown Santa Cruz. At the end of the march, there will be local speakers and a festival with live music, vendors and food trucks. housingmatterssc.org/march2023
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I don’t trust anyone who’s nice to me but rude to the waiter. Because they would treat me the same way if I were in that position.”
I began 2023 trying to help my wife write her bio for The Circle Family Center’s website. They hired her as a certified Zumbini instructor, and I couldn’t wait to help list how she was the perfect candidate for such a fun job. Zumbini is a music, dance, and educational class for toddlers and their parents to learn, move and bond. Her classes at The Circle had just begun, and saying she was using all her skills as a teacher and fitness instructor is an understatement.
Parents and their kids, ages 2-4 years old, poured in the doors to be met with the Zumbini “Kalino finds the music” song and begin dancing from the get-go. My wife, known to her 4th graders at Mar Vista Elementary as Ms. Dunham, wrangled these babies and toddlers together to shake bells, peek-a-boo with scarves, and bang on mini-congas like a pro. She is a pro in that she taught yoga, and kids’ yoga, professionally in New York before she moved to Santa Cruz to become a teacher in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. She is taking time off to be with her baby, Willow, and now teaching this class where she can be a teacher, new parent, fitness instructor, and emblem of inclusivity.
Almost every week, one new parent and child join our Wednesday afternoon, adding to the core group. Zumbini classes comprise eight-week sequences where the Zumbini character, Kalino, sings and dances to the same songs during that segment until the story changes. We’ve noticed that the songs like “Rueda, Rueda,” and “Vuvuzela” have become favorites and get played weekly because Ms. Dunham, the teacher, knows how consistency benefits a child’s learning and Spanish language acquisition.
The class deserves some attention because there is no Zumbini locally, and parents don’t yet know how amazing it is.
Zumbini teachers get paid well to come to birthday parties and get kiddies dancing!
At the end of each class, to calm down, Ms. Dunham, the yoga instructor, has each child pull a card with a pose they all try with their parents. After that, everyone leaves with a huge smile—and some sweat. A new class and great family center that parents with toddlers should all check out! @zumbini_aptos
—William Prusinowski
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It took squishy, delectable, sweet, itty-bitty black balls for Sam Kurita to open Santa Cruz County’s first boba shop in 2004. Kurita traded in his suit, tie and cushy gig at a profitable semiconductor operation for an apron, longer hours and a risky bet on a trend that was beginning to make waves amongst foodies throughout Silicon Valley.
“I saw an untapped market here,” the ponytailed Kurita says. “There was no boba [in Santa Cruz County]. We started doing crepes and boba tea at a place we called Ambrosia. There was no other shop like it in Santa Cruz.”
Kurita is known around town as the man who officially brought the Asian drink to Santa Cruz County—a true OG in the boba biz. In 2005, he converted his popular crepe-boba spot into a Thai restaurant downtown, now Pacific Thai.
“We kept the boba tea but slimmed the menu down,” Kurita explains. “We have to keep our boba menu simple compared to other places. Back in the day, we had more variety.”
Kurita’s risk and his approach have paid off. His Thai eatery is now considered a downtown Santa Cruz staple.
Wearing a black UCSC Grateful Dead hat and thick sunglasses—indoors—Kurita says his bubbly boba drinks boost his food sales, and his highly lauded Thai food keeps customers returning for his teas.
“We’ve sold boba for a long time, but more and more people—especially young people—are discovering boba these days,” he says. “It’s big.”
The market size of boba is predicted to increase from $2.4 billion (2019) to $4.3 billion by 2027. And boba culture—aka “Boba Life”—continues to pick up steam. Large, multi-tentacled corporations like Peet’s Coffee, Jamba Juice, Dunkin’ Donuts and even Del Taco have been jumping on the boba bandwagon—experimenting with various boba concoctions.
But how big can boba get in the United States? Also, is it a fad, or is boba here, domestically, for the long run? Longtime industry players agree, for now, that boba and the culture surrounding it is here to stay. Even “boba” is an ironic cultural reference to the 1980s Hong Kong movie star Amy Yip. Her generously sized “assets” resulted in the nickname “Boba” (loosely translated Chinese slang for “champion of breasts.”)
Taiwan has roughly 21,000 boba shops, including international chains such as Sharetea, Gong Cha and CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice.
You probably don’t envision Amy Yip when a buddy invites you to get boba. In the United States, at least, it’s far more likely that a colorful shaken drink over ice—consisting of milk, black tea and chewy tapioca pearls (in its most basic form)—pops up in your noggin. However, the term “boba” and the perpetually evolving world encompassing it can get confusing. Sometimes, it’s called “bubble tea” or “pearl milk tea,” other times, it’s called “boba tea,” “tapioca milk tea” or just plain old “boba.” The ubiquitous tapioca pearls are also called “boba,” which doesn’t help simplify things.
INTRO TO BOBA
Boba pearls are made by adding boiling water to tapioca starch, which is then kneaded until it reaches a doughy consistency. The tapioca is then shaped into balls and added to a vat of boiling water with brown sugar for about 30 minutes—for flavored boba pearls, fruit puree, or syrup is added to the tapioca starch before the kneading process. It seems simple, but high-quality boba can take years to perfect and is considered an art form similar to mastering scratch-made ramen noodles.
The “boba movement” was born in Taiwan, where tea shops are on nearly every corner. Boba shops are reviewed, chastised and criticized based on the quality of their pearls. The best boba has a “Q” or a “QQ,” which means it has an incredibly chewy consistency. It’s a good thing.
Back in the day, in its earliest form, bubble tea was a mixture of piping hot Taiwanese black tea, syrup, condensed milk and tapioca pearls. Like many regions worldwide, tea is big in Asia—Asian tourists go to tea tasting on plantations and experiment with Oolong, Darjeeling, Longjing and jasmine varieties, similar to Americans going wine tasting.
Boba is not tapioca pudding. The pearls in many delightful slurpable boba mixtures are made from tapioca starch, an extract of the South American cassava root. Also known as “yuca,” cassava root is cultivated by over eight million farmers, mainly in tropical regions. It has become big business; the driving force behind scores of rural communities’ economies.
Cute plush boba stuffies, comfy leather seating, flashy LED displays and a white color scheme with crisp green accents fill the airy confines of Boba Bay, Cheryl Schnaider’s new premium tea joint in Capitola Village.
The 45-year-old mother of two says business has been “okay” during the off-season in the quaint beach town. For one week in August, though, Schnaider got a brief glimpse of Boba Bay’s potential.
“Capitola is a tourist town that is very seasonal,” she says. “That’s what I’m realizing. In certain areas, boba is mainstream. A lot of people have to travel to get it. There’s definitely a demand for [boba].”
Some businesses close up during the frigid months—the onslaught of atmospheric rivers tearing through the Central Coast this year is unprecedented.
Schnaider hasn’t let that get in the way, though. Her menu is carefully curated, and her passion for boba is undeniable; Schnaider’s discussions/explanations with curious customers are more like “Boba 101” classes.
“People use the word ‘boba’ for the drink itself,” she explains. “But it’s really the pearls. When people hear the phrase ‘bubble tea,’ they think it’s because of the tapioca pearls—but the bubbles form when you shake the drink. People are surprised by the pearls. Most think of tapioca pudding.”
19-year-old UCSC environmental science major Tani Ng says she’s on a mission to try every boba spot in Santa Cruz. Wearing large headphones, she sits hunched over a table at McHenry Library. Ng says that she’s yet to find good boba in Santa Cruz—until now.
“It’s severely lacking here,” she says. “Good boba is cooked well. Not hard. Boba has to have this subtle sweetness—not too plain. Bad boba is hard and plain. Some places are sweet, though. There’s this intricate balance.”
Isara Chongpilayert—an immigrant from Fatu, Thailand—sells around 150 boba teas and 70 crepes daily at iCrave in Capitola. Isara and his wife opened the hip boba-crepe biz in 2009 and have worked diligently to perfect it.
Many shops that advertise scratch-made boba prep their boba balls with organic tapioca starch and employ a machine that speeds up the boba kneading process. It takes longer, but the boba quality is generally much better.
“Boba is all about the details—and freshness,” Chongpilayert explains. “We have a special technique for our boba. It’s soft and chewy. Some places have boba that is hard inside and uncooked. Our customers say our boba is perfect.”
iCrave’s eclectic décor, bright colors, Totoro motifs, affordable crepes and boba teas keep customers returning. Lines routinely stretch out the door.
“Boba, the drink, not the tapioca pearls, at its most basic, is flavored milk and tea with tapioca balls shaken and poured over ice,” Chongpilayert says. “We sell more traditional boba than anything here. In bigger cities, there are more complicated ways of making boba. At my shop, I’m sticking to the boba basics—pure boba drinks. Because we only have two people working here, people would have to wait too long for their drinks. I make it easy for them.”
BOBA RISING
Using a half-empty taro-root boba tea in the courtyard of UCSC’s Iveta Café, computational media grad student J.T. Zong explains boba’s global popularity and significance. Her eyes, framed by delicate moon-shaped glasses, light up as she compares our boba with the small province where she grew up, just outside of Shanghai.
“Boba really is a global phenomenon,” Zong says thoughtfully. “It originated in Asian countries initially, but people are making it everywhere. It’s an okay thing, I guess. I’m glad that I can get boba here. But it’s not as good as in China. It’s really sweet compared to home. And they use real teas in China. Better tea. They care. Even the big chains like Quickly.”
With years of boba-cred, Zong says she can separate good boba from the pretenders and those just trying to make a quick buck.
Initially dominated by small family-owned businesses selling run-of-the-mill tea drinks made cheaply with simple powders and syrups, quality has grown exponentially. While not comparable to what Zong is used to in Shanghai, she says there are finally good boba options in Santa Cruz County.
Boba Bay, my go-to treat spot, represents the ongoing boba revolution. Schnaider reaches across the shiny, white countertop and hands me a large plastic cup with a cute little sea otter cradling a bubble tea. The scarily purple Taro boba is my favorite. I grab a giant pink boba straw and puncture the thin plastic that separates myself and pure, unadulterated boba bliss with ninja-like precision. The ambiance, the quality and it’s in Capitola!
I’m admittedly a boba newbie—just a few years in—but even I can taste the difference.
“There are two types of bubble tea—the fast food type—like Quickly or restaurants that serve it as a compliment to their menus. The ingredients are low quality, like powders,” Schnaider says. “Then there are specialty shops that serve high-quality teas, made fresh. At other places, boba teas are pre-made, or the ingredients are cheap and gross. When I trained with a Taiwanese supplier, he used Quickly and some other chains as examples of bad boba.”
Schnaider is convinced that quality matters and will win in the end.
Unlike traditional coffee joints, boba shops have been emerging as hangout destinations for Asian American youth, existing as a de facto, safe place for chilling on weekends and after school. For a group of adolescents living a fast-paced digital life but still sequestered in the throngs of suburbia, boba spots represent a “cultural home.”
“Boba is fun, sugary and sweet, so many teenagers and young people love it,” Ng says. “They hang out at boba shops and talk for hours. If they go to a restaurant to eat, many stop and get boba. Boba replaces the normal drinks we get in the food place, like soda.”
Like Starbucks cups, hip boba brands garner attention and business from Asian American youth, who often sport elaborately decorated bubble tea cups as accessories. You won’t see Quickly cups or low-grade logos—chosen brands demonstrate individuality and a deep and comprehensive understanding of boba and its unique, vibrant, customizable culture.
“At home, we go out with our friends and get boba,” Ng says. “It doesn’t happen as much here yet. People in Santa Cruz mostly go to cafes or coffee shops instead. But if you go to San Jose or more established boba areas, it’s the opposite. Boba spots are hangout spots. We like places that feel like ours—with cool, comfortable seating, good music and playing games and stuff.”
BOBA BREAKTHROUGH
Boba is becoming a heralded drink everywhere and is no longer specific to any nationality. Just about everyone has tried it or at least knows what it is. As boba’s appeal, visibility and popularity continue to a crescendo, everyone from every background can raise a collective toast and celebrate a drink—a plastic cup, cellophane lid, large colorful straws and mountains of teentsy black balls—that has surpassed expectations.
“Boba going mainstream? I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” Ng says. “More people are being exposed to something truly Asian. Asian culture. It’s good for parts of Asian culture to become more widespread. So, it’s not that‘super weird’ thing that we’re into. Boba can be a gateway to other parts and aspects of Asian culture.”
The market size of boba is predicted to increase from $2.4 billion (2019) to $4.3 billion by 2027.
During the dreary and masked-up days of Covid, labor shortages, a disaster in the Suez Canal and pervading hiccups in the global supply chain they caused, parts of the Western United States and Canada experienced a sudden and severe boba shortfall. A lot of the boba slurped in the States is imported from Asia—the drink’s most critical ingredient, tapioca starch, is grown there.
Some mainstream press even raised fears of a broader bubble tea shortage, panicking shop owners and boba addicts nationwide.
“For months, with supply chain issues and Covid, we couldn’t get any pearls,” Kurita recalls. “I scrounged for boba pearls anywhere I could, trying to order wherever I could get them. For months it was impossible. I ordered 15 pounds from a vendor in Los Angeles, and all I got was a cup of good pearls. The rest was powder. So, we tried to make them ourselves, but it didn’t work out. We just took the hit.”
The fact that U.S. mainstream media reported on the boba shortage during the darkest times shows how much the beverage has become embedded into our consciousness. It turns out those tiny chewy balls are a big deal.
Santa Cruz County Boba Mania
Boba Bay – bobabay.com Signature Drink: Oreo Tiger Milk Tea
Tranquilina Ramirez sits at a table outside a Freedom, California grocery store on a brisk March evening. Originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, the mother of seven has been a local farmworker for 14 years.
Now, like countless other workers in the Pajaro area, she is in limbo after the devastating impact of the recent winter storms. Storms have raged intermittently since January, with the most recent one causing the Pajaro River levee to suffer a catastrophic failure, flooding the town of Pajaro and creating a nightmare scenario for the already-devastated region. The destruction has created a dire situation for families like hers, whose livelihoods depend on the local land.
“We’re looking for work, but there is nothing out there. We are used to working the fields, but there is nothing,” she says in Spanish. “It’s hard for us campesinos because it’s taking a long time, and we have to wait and see if there is work. And if there is, it will be a lot less.”
Ramirez has worked in the fields since she was 18 and speaks Mixteco primarily. At this time last year, she was at least working about 15 hours a week weeding the strawberry fields, but the storms have drastically cut down working hours for farmworkers.
That’s because more than two months after the first major storms hit in late December 2022, agricultural fields are still flooded, leaving farmworkers across the county without income for the foreseeable future.
“There is not much support for immigrants and campesinos. Many of us need help right now,” says Ramirez. “Some people don’t have a place to live or can’t pay their rent.”
She has considered seeking work at local packaging plants but says that openings are hard to come by, especially in the off-season when many farmworkers flock to these jobs.
Meanwhile, her debt is mounting—her family of nine rents a one-bedroom apartment for $1,800 a month. They would rather go hungry than not pay the rent and lose their dwelling. They have resorted to taking out loans from friends and other family members. From January to now, they have borrowed $4,000 for rent and bills, with no anticipated relief coming down the pipeline.
Ramirez isn’t alone. South Santa Cruz County has the highest concentration of undocumented workers and migrants, many of whom are only eligible for federal aid if they meet a narrow criterion.
Tiana Suber, a Media Relations Specialist for FEMA, clarified the requirements.
“If they are undocumented and they have somebody in their household who is a U.S. citizen, then they can apply in their name,” Suber says.
Those who qualify may receive up to $40,000 in federal grants to help homeowners and renters pay for repairs.
But even if some farmworkers qualify through a household member, fearing deportation and having their families broken apart stops many from applying, according to Ramirez.
When asked what will happen to families that do not meet the criteria for federal aid, Suber points to local organizations as a solution.
“They can get help from other agencies. The state and the county offer a lot of resources as well for those that don’t qualify, and [they] can get help from these other resources and non-profits as well,” Suber says.
SAFETY NET
Dr. Ann Lopez, founder of the Center for Farmworker Families, calls the conditions that local farmworkers experience “horrible.”
“They’ve been hit on all fronts. I’ve never seen a catastrophe hit farmworkers on this scale,” says Dr. Lopez. “Within a three-year period, they’ve lived through the Covid pandemic, heat waves that have made farmworkers faint in the fields and now the aftermath of the winter storms.”
Since its founding, the center has worked to gain the trust of migrant farmworker families who are wary of government programs, helping them through weekly food and toiletry distribution.
“They know we are not the migra. When you mention an institution that is federal or state, it gets scary for them,” Dr. Lopez says.
At a recent food distribution that primarily serves farmworkers, about 700 families sought help. During the agricultural off-season, which typically runs from November through January, the Center serves about 250 families in need. This year, that number has nearly tripled, according to Dr. Lopez.
“Just this morning, I spoke to people from Watsonville, Salinas and Castroville who were literally begging for food. So, the need is tremendous. And so many people have lost everything, and there is no work.”
Ernestina Solorio, a local farmworker and advocate from Watsonville, agrees that the current situation is disastrous for these working families and that they have limited options. That’s because agricultural workers don’t have resources like unemployment benefits and aren’t able to qualify for government aid that a person with legal status might be able to obtain, he says.
Philanthropic foundations such as the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County and the Community Foundation of Monterey County have stepped in to help organizations provide relief. Alongside the Center for Farmworker Families, the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County and Community Bridges are also joining in to help South County.
Tony Nuñez, the communications manager for Community Bridges, says one of the biggest needs is rental assistance for people who are out of work, have had to leave their homes or have lost their homes.
Santa Cruz is the second-most expensive rental market in the country, according to a recent study. The market rate for a two-bedroom apartment is $3,138, which would require an estimated wage of over $60 an hour. Much like other working-class residents of the county, farmworkers make an average of $14 an hour.
“The Community Foundation gave us thousands and thousands of dollars to write rental assistance checks for farmworkers so they wouldn’t lose the places where they lived. And we do whatever we can,” says Dr. Lopez.
Community Action Board (CAB) has received $300,000 from the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County for rental assistance and expects another $300,000. However, CAB’s role is restricted to housing relocation and wage replacement for those that qualify based on their legal status. Households qualifying can receive up to $1,500 as a one-time payment, but that is only a temporary solution.
“How are they going to pay for everything moving forward?” asks Elyssa Sanchez, Program Coordinator for CAB’S Homelessness Prevention and Intervention Services. She says these families’ financial hardships are compounding as weeks pass, and another cycle of rent and bills is on the horizon.
Despite the daunting tasks ahead for these organizations, the current situation has galvanized their role in the community.
“Something is happening in South County,” says MariaElena De La Garza, Executive Director of CAB in Santa Cruz County, “and it’s called organizing.”
COUNTY INEQUITIES
The national spotlight recently focused on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in South Santa Cruz County. It took a tragedy in Pajaro to get the country’s attention.
According to Paz Padilla, Director of Programs and Impact for CAB, South County was largely unrepresented when President Biden visited the region and held a press conference with local officials in January. It reminded her of the media coverage following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which focused on San Francisco and Oakland, effectively neglecting Watsonville, one of the hardest-hit areas in the county.
On March 15, Governor Gavin Newsom arrived in Pajaro and toured the area with local leaders, promising cash payments of $600 were underway for those affected, regardless of immigration status. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Raymon Cancino, CEO of Community Bridges, called the gesture a “slap in the face” and said that more help was needed. He noted that the $600 payments were initially intended as Covid-19 pandemic relief and were not aimed at assisting flood victims.
When asked what she thought about the lack of media attention before the Pajaro flood, Ernestina Solorio hoped people realized the benefits they get from farmworkers in the local area and that they should support them in any way they can. This rings even truer now.
“You never know the sacrifice and efforts that go into picking the food we eat. Campesinos may not be from here, but we are contributing to this country.”
David Blume, CEO of Whiskey Hill Farms in Watsonville, expects that the destruction from recent storms that have flooded local farms and led to farmworker job losses will start to have ripple effects across the county.
Consumers will soon feel an economic impact on the local and national levels. Blume says that shortages and higher prices for broccoli and cauliflower, both grown in the region, will be the effect of the massive regional crop loss.
Nishan Moutafian, Vice President of Production for Driscoll’s Inc, estimates that at least 1,500 acres of their strawberry fields have been affected by the recent flooding. And those that haven’t flooded are still over a month away from significant production, he says. However, he thinks the smaller growers will bear the brunt of the economic hit.
“Seventy five percent of the people who live in Watsonville are farmworkers and Hispanic. And without them, we’d all be lost,” Blume says.
Salmon population numbers in key California stocks are forecasted to be lower than they have been in years, prompting a full closure of the ocean fishery for the first time since 2008/2009.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) determines ocean salmon seasons for Washington, Oregon and California. The council is currently weighing three management alternatives for the 2023 season. These alternatives vary for Washington and Oregon, but none allows commercial or recreational salmon fishing in California until at least April 2024.
The PFMC will accept public comments on the alternatives this week and at a meeting in Foster City from April 1-7. The council will adopt one of the three regulations at the April meeting and forward the recommendation to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which will make a final call by May 16.
Plummeting Populations
The closure comes on the tail of annual pre-season abundance forecasts. Researchers use catch numbers and the amount of fish returning to rivers to create models that predict fish numbers for the coming season. In March, those numbers looked worse than they have in over a decade for two key stocks.
Sacramento River fall Chinook was forecasted to have 169,767 adults, while Klamath River fall Chinook was forecasted to have 103,793 adults. Managers say the causes for the declines are complex.
(The coho salmon in Santa Cruz County streams are not what people are fishing for in Monterey Bay. The California industry focuses on Chinook, also known as king salmon.)
“I’m hesitant to speculate as to what the primary cause was because it’s pretty clear that there’s a number of things going on—both in freshwater and in the ocean—that resulted in what we’re looking at today,” says Michael O’Farrell, the program lead of the fisheries assessment modeling at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz.
But whatever the major causes, the drought certainly didn’t help.
“This is a decades-long trend, and the past few years of record drought only further stressed our salmon populations,” said Charlton H. Bonham, Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), in a press release about the closure.
Chinook salmon follow about a three-year cycle, during which they hatch in a river, migrate to the ocean and spend a few years at sea before returning to their home stream to spawn and die, so environmental conditions from a few years ago determine the population that returns now.
“Three years ago, we were dealing with intense drought that dried up rivers, as well as climate disruption,” says Jordan Traverso, the Deputy Director of Communications at CDFW. “We also have major issues with barriers to passage in their historic habitat, with dams preventing them from utilizing hundreds of miles of it.”
Fisherman Panic
The closure feels like a final blow for some local fishermen who depend on salmon. Kevin Butler, who has fished salmon commercially in Monterey Bay since 2002, calls it devastating.
“We didn’t have a crab industry, our harbor was shoaled up for three months, no one has made money in years and the last couple years, they gave us these little spots [to fish],” he says.
Drops in restaurant sales during the pandemic, increasing costs and closed fisheries are forcing people who have been in the industry for decades to reconsider their careers—particularly, Butler says, if they operate smaller boats.
“I don’t have anything else to fall back on,” he says. “I’m going to get my captain’s license and try to start doing eco-tours, but other than that ….”
Despite the challenges, Butler says he supports a closure for at least two years so that people can’t blame the salmon declines on fishermen.
“We didn’t do it,” he says, pointing instead toward water management and hatcheries.
CDFW says the problem is more complex.
“Water management is part of the salmon strategy, but there is more to the story,” Traverso says. “It’s really easy for groups advocating for one small piece of the story to boil it down to this age-old—and tired—debate. But the whole story is so much more vast.”
The good news, he says, is that salmon numbers fluctuate, and conditions this year are better.
“We anticipate that the fish born this year will have better success,” says Traverso.
Hope for Recovery
The recent storms, though destructive in many other ways, aid current salmon in getting to the sea and back.
“I think [the rains] can only help right now,” O’Farrell says. “Better than drought conditions, that’s for sure.”
CDFW is taking advantage of higher water levels to release millions of smolt—young salmon ready to migrate to the sea—from hatcheries into streams around California. But because of the salmon life cycle, it will be a few years before biologists and fishermen see the results.
Another strategy for bolstering the population is the removal of dams around the state. In what Traverso calls “the largest river restoration project in American history,” four tribal water projects will remove four dams along the Klamath River, giving salmon and steelhead access to almost 400 more miles of watershed in California and Oregon.
Still, managers, scientists and fishermen remain cautious in their hopes for a normal season soon.
“Salmon management goes on a year-by-year basis,” O’Farrell says. “We go through this process every year of making abundance forecasts and planning the salmon seasons, and salmon populations can be pretty variable. So, I’d hesitate to be too confident about what we’re looking at for next year. But salmon are resilient, and so you never know.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19): If we were to choose one person to illustrate the symbolic power of astrology, it might be Aries financier and investment banker J. P. Morgan (1837–1913). His astrological chart strongly suggested he would be one of the richest people of his era. The sun, Mercury, Pluto and Venus were in Aries in his astrological house of finances. Those four heavenly bodies were trine to Jupiter and Mars in Leo in the house of work. Further, sun, Mercury, Pluto and Venus formed a virtuoso “Finger of God” aspect with Saturn in Scorpio and the moon in Virgo. Anyway, Aries, the financial omens for you right now aren’t as favorable as they always were for J. P. Morgan—but they are pretty auspicious. Venus, Uranus and the north node of the moon are in your house of finances, to be joined for a bit by the moon itself in the coming days. My advice: Trust your intuition about money. Seek inspiration about your finances.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “The only thing new in the world,” said former US President Harry Truman, “is the history you don’t know.” Luckily for all of us, researchers have been growing increasingly skilled in unearthing buried stories. Three examples: 1. Before the US Civil War, six Black Americans escaped slavery and became millionaires. (Check out the book Black Fortunes by Shomari Wills.) 2. Over 10,000 women secretly worked as code-breakers in World War II, shortening the war and saving many lives. 3. Four Black women mathematicians played a major role in NASA’s early efforts to launch people into space. Dear Taurus, I invite you to enjoy this kind of work in the coming weeks. It’s an excellent time to dig up the history you don’t know—about yourself, your family and the important figures in your life.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Since you’re at the height of the Party Hearty Season, I’ll offer two bits of advice about how to collect the greatest benefits. First, ex-basketball star Dennis Rodman says that mental preparation is the key to effective partying. He suggests we visualize the pleasurable events we want to experience. We should meditate on how much alcohol and drugs we will imbibe, how uninhibited we’ll allow ourselves to be and how close we can get to vomiting from intoxication without actually vomiting. But wait! Here’s an alternative approach to partying, adapted from Sufi poet Rumi: “The golden hour has secrets to reveal. Be alert for merriment. Be greedy for glee. With your antic companions, explore the frontiers of conviviality. Go in quest of jubilation’s mysterious blessings. Be bold. Revere revelry.”
CANCER (June 21-July 22): If you have been holding yourself back or keeping your expectations low, please STOP! According to my analysis, you have a mandate to unleash your full glory and your highest competence. I invite you to choose as your motto whichever of the following inspires you most: raise the bar, up your game, boost your standards, pump up the volume, vault to a higher octave, climb to the next rung on the ladder, make the quantum leap and put your ass and assets on the line.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): According to an ad I saw for a luxury automobile, you should enjoy the following adventures in the course of your lifetime: ride the rapids on the Snake River in Idaho, stand on the Great Wall of China, see an opera at La Scala in Milan, watch the sun rise over the ruins of Machu Picchu, go paragliding over Japan’s Asagiri highland plateau with Mount Fuji in view and visit the pink flamingos, black bulls and white horses in France’s Camargue Nature Reserve. The coming weeks would be a favorable time for you to seek experiences like those, Leo. If that’s not possible, do the next best things. Like what? Get your mind blown and your heart thrilled closer to home by a holy sanctuary, natural wonder, marvelous work of art—or all the above.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It’s an excellent time to shed the dull, draining parts of your life story. I urge you to bid a crisp goodbye to your burdensome memories. If there are pesky ghosts hanging around from the ancient past, buy them a one-way ticket to a place far away from you. It’s OK to feel poignant. OK to entertain any sadness and regret that well up within you. Allowing yourself to fully experience these feelings will help you be as bold and decisive as you need to be to graduate from the old days and old ways.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Your higher self has authorized you to become impatient with the evolution of togetherness. You have God’s permission to feel a modicum of dissatisfaction with your collaborative ventures—and wish they might be richer and more captivating than they are now. Here’s the cosmic plan: This creative irritation will motivate you to implement enhancements. You will take imaginative action to boost the energy and synergy of your alliances. Hungry for more engaging intimacy, you will do what’s required to foster greater closeness and mutual empathy.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet Richard Jackson writes, “The world is a nest of absences. Every once in a while, someone comes along to fill the gaps.” I will add a crucial caveat to his statement: No one person can fill all the gaps. At best, a beloved ally may fill one or two. It’s just not possible for anyone to be a shining savior who fixes every single absence. If we delusionally believe there is such a hero, we will distort or miss the partial grace they can actually provide. So here’s my advice, Scorpio: Celebrate and reward a redeemer who has the power to fill one or two of your gaps.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Poet E. E. Cummings wrote, “May my mind stroll about hungry and fearless and thirsty and supple.” That’s what I hope and predict for you during the next three weeks. The astrological omens suggest you will be at the height of your powers of playful exploration. Several long-term rhythms are converging to make you extra flexible and resilient and creative as you seek the resources and influences that your soul delights in. Here’s your secret code phrase: higher love.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Let’s hypothesize that there are two ways to further your relaxation: either in healthy or not-so-healthy ways—by seeking experiences that promote your long-term well-being or by indulging in temporary fixes that sap your vitality. I will ask you to meditate on this question. Then I will encourage you to spend the next three weeks avoiding and shedding any relaxation strategies that diminish you as you focus on and celebrate the relaxation methods that uplift, inspire and motivate you.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Please don’t expect people to guess what you need. Don’t assume they have telepathic powers that enable them to tune in to your thoughts and feelings. Instead, be specific and straightforward as you precisely name your desires. For example, say or write to an intense ally, “I want to explore ticklish areas with you between 7 and 9 on Friday night.” Or approach a person with whom you need to forge a compromise and spell out the circumstances under which you will feel most open-minded and open-hearted. PS: Don’t you dare hide your truth or lie about what you consider meaningful.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean writer Jack Kerouac feared he had meager power to capture the wonderful things that came his way. He compared his frustration with “finding a river of gold when I haven’t even got a cup to save a cupful. All I’ve got is a thimble.” Most of us have felt that way. That’s the bad news. The good news, Pisces, is that in the coming weeks, you will have extra skill at gathering in the goodness and blessings flowing in your vicinity. I suspect you will have the equivalent of three buckets to collect the liquid gold.
Artichokes never looked more attractive than they do right now.
OK, maybe they did way back in 1948. That was the year Castroville crowned its first Artichoke Queen, Norma Jean, aka Marilyn Monroe.
Now 75 years later, almost to the week, a new anniversary provides some timely inspiration to celebrate artichoke sex appeal: On the 160th birthday of Castroville, the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau is launching the Artichoke Trail. (That comes ahead of the spring harvest and the annual Artichoke Festival June 10-11, amid a 2023 that’s hit growers hard.)
That makes me happy and hungry. I’m on the record as a longtime fan. My two favorite ways to respond when people ask where I’m from are 1) The original capital of Alta California; and 2) The world capital for artichokes, bonus nugget on Marilyn optional.
A decade back, when then-Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom held a contest for Golden State’s unofficial food, I had artichoke on my ballot, ahead of heavy hitters—and personal fetishes—Dungeness crab, sourdough bread and avocado. (Artichoke was named the state vegetable, and California produces all of the U.S.’s supply, with 80 percent of that coming from Castroville.)
That world capital now has an official map. It pops with 40 spots: farmers markets, restaurants, tours, attractions and farm stands, like my favorite, Pezzini Farms, where the house artichoke seasoning is an incredible—and incredibly versatile—spice blend.
The restaurants and bars stretch from Big Sur to Moss Landing but stick to Monterey County, so I’ll tab three standout spots on this side of the bay to turn the saliva ducts on.
The Crow’s Nest goes high-quality classic with a simple steamed artichoke, chilled-and-shrimp-stuffed and a crab-and-artichoke dip.
Santa Cruz stalwart Upper Crust Pizza & Pasta brings on several pizzas with fresh local artichoke, like the pizza bianca and the al fresco.
Meanwhile, Chocolate does hand-rolled pasta in an artichoke cream sauce and offers a “sizzling” pot of artichoke hearts, melted Asiago and ricotta cheeses and a splash of white wine with an Adorable French Bakery baguette.
The downtown destination even crafts its own traditional Italian-style artichoke liqueur with the fresh harvest from Rodoni Farms, which proves timely itself because a ’choke cheers is in order.
SERIES GETS SERIOUS
Last month Good Times swung by The Pizza Series, tucked in the former Tony & Alba’s in Scotts Valley. While overhauling the interior and exterior of the place, pizza master Matt Driscoll is prepping 60 Detroit-style pizzas for takeout Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (order via thepizzaseries.com), drawing eaters from as far afield as Watsonville and the South Bay. Along with his fiancée/co-owner, Maddy Quesada, he’s eager to introduce indoor dining by the end of the month, starring supporting acts like pastas, desserts and small plates. “I seriously can’t wait to be fully open!” he writes via text.
In 1964, the Merry Pranksters hopped on a carnival-colored, converted school bus with a large supply of LSD in tow. Things would never be the same. Immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, the Pranksters’ perpetual party was punctuated by brushes with the law and a psychedelic ethos that lives on: “embrace life, express yourself and break some damned rules.”
These words appear on La Honda Winery’s label for the upbeat 2020 Merry Pranksters Cab. Talk about an eye-catching bottle of wine—ideal for those looking for the ideal April Fool’s Day red wine. Plus, you can’t beat the $16 price tag.
The grapes are hand-farmed, and the wine is handmade. It has some distinctive black currant, tobacco, coffee and mint notes with dark fruit flavors of blueberries and black plums.
La Honda Winery, a Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains member (scmwa.com), boasts a beautiful property often called a “best-kept secret.” You might even feel the lively spirit of Neal Cassady bouncing around.
La Honda Winery, 2645 Fair Oaks Ave., Redwood City, 650-366-4104. lahondawinery.com
ROSÉ MILLESIMATO 2020
Made in Italy, this sparkling brut is imported by the Michael Mondavi family of Napa. It’s an attractively packaged bubbly prosecco that you can find pretty much all over for under $20.
BOOZY BRUNCH
Sevy’s Bar & Kitchen in the Seacliff Inn in Aptos has started Boozy Brunch every Saturday and Sunday. Sip on bottomless mimosas, bloodies and even wine Jell-O shots alongside traditional brunch favorites. The huevos rancheros will help soak up all those Bloody Marys. seacliffinn.com
Angel Yeo’s path to owning Toya Sushi began in Malaysia, where she was born and raised. She went to college in Santa Cruz, where she supported herself working in restaurants. Eventually, Yeo and her husband fulfilled their dream of becoming restaurant owners. After decades of success, Takara Sushi moved to the Westside three years ago and changed names. Toya Sushi offers takeout only with easy online ordering and a pick-up window. Yeo says the food is full of traditional sushi favorites. Appetizers include avocado tuna with ponzu sauce and sweet mussels with “Monster Sauce,” a housemade garlic-forward sweet and tangy creation. Classic rolls include Takara with Hamachi and daikon sprouts and the spicy tuna with tempura shrimp, avocado and cucumber. They also offer boba, a fresh-brewed three-tea blend and slushies. Toya is open from noon-8pm every day (8:30pm Fridays and Saturdays). GT fished for more info on Yeo’s unique drinks and her background.
Describe your journey to owning a restaurant.
ANGEL YEO: Growing up in Malaysia taught me to work hard. Since I’m passionate about the food business, and so is my husband, we put our hard work into Takara and Toya. My husband has a passion for clean and healthy food and, for me, serving customers. I get to celebrate special occasions in their lives and watch them grow up.
What sets your drink menu apart?
The drinks are all completely made from scratch utilizing fresh and organic ingredients. We brew the tea leaves at different temperatures and steeping durations so we can serve fresh tea. Many of our slushies use fresh organic purees that we make, like strawberry and mango. For matcha lovers, we have our very popular matcha latte with organic dairy or non-dairy.
Volunteers throughout the community have been serving hot meals to hundreds of Pajaro residents whose homes are considered unhabitable after being submerged in flood water.
Under a tent, chefs have been preparing carne asada, soup, grilled chicken and more on-site for displaced families, many of whom have been living out of their cars for over a week.
“This means so much to us,” says Jose Ververde, who stands in a parking lot after dark surrounded by his family, each eating from paper plates piled with steaming hot food. “It’s good food—beef and chicken. We can’t go home and don’t know when we can. I work in Santa Cruz, but at night we have no place to go.”
Aileen Hernandez said her mother, Luz Maria, came up with making meals for people left on the streets by the flood.
“It’s about people helping out, helping people who are sleeping in their cars and those that don’t have enough money to buy food,” she says. “There are some people that are staying at shelters and other places, but then there are people on the other side of the bridge in Pajaro who, people don’t realize, aren’t getting enough food and water. People are donating to help. We’re the first people who actually came here and made sure they got food.”
Hernandez says she sees donations from around town that include water, tortillas, soup, various types of meat, beans, rice, vegetables and fruit.
“And people are bringing hot dogs and pizzas for the kids,” she adds.
Luz said she knows how it feels to go without food during trying times.
“I know because I’ve been there,” she says. “I knew we had to do something, and that started with feeding these people.”
No word has been given when folks can return to Pajaro to their homes and belongings. Officials have said there is a four-phase program to ensure homes are safe to re-enter, and they are currently in the second phase.
