A long line of hungry customers stretched out the door of Phil’s Fish Market and Eatery in Moss Landing Monday, the last day of operation for the popular Central Coast restaurant.
For 22 years the business has seen a steady flow of customers, many repeats, at the Sandholdt Road location, sandwiched between the Pacific and the Moss Landing Harbor. The chief reason for the closure is simple, says owner Phil DiGirolamo: the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute did not renew its lease. In the works now for MBARI is to build a 33,000-square-foot marine research center in its place.
Tiffany Buckley of Modesto says she and her family have been eating at Phil’s for years.
“It’s almost like a family tradition when we come to the area,” she says. “It’s sad they’re closing. It’s such a great location and their food, the staff—all of it is just great.”
DiGirolamo has been in business for 40 years, and just over half of that has been at the current location. But closing his doors Monday does not put a permanent stop to business: DiGirolamo has been operating Phil’s Snack Shack & Deli, just around the corner, at 7912 Moss Landing Road for quite some time.
Though a much smaller venue, DiGirolamo says there will also be a food truck stationed there as well that will serve many of Phil’s favorites. He hinted the Snack Shack will take care of customers until he finds a new location that can fit his entire operation.
“We weren’t just a restaurant,” DiGirolamo says. “We manufactured, we shipped, we fileted and utilized our big refrigerator.”
Mary Lee of Aptos stood in line Monday.
“I just learned this second that this is their last day,” she says. “I’ve been coming here forever. I love their clam chowder; it’s the best. The ambiance is great.”
DiGirolamo says the closure had been in the works for at least 12 years.
“It’s been a while but we knew it was coming,” he says. “In my mind, it does not feel like the final day. Some people have shared stories about their children coming here and enjoying the atmosphere of Moss Landing; there’s a lot of history here.”
KATHERINE BLUNT: ‘CALIFORNIA BURNING’ Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Blunt’s latest book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America’s Power Grid, carries a lengthy title. But it’s not nearly as long as the history of deadly catastrophes in which PG&E endangered millions of Californians through criminal negligence. Blunt’s deep dive into the deterioration of California’s largest utility company, which has led to numerous wildfires, including the infamous Paradise fire, and a host of issues directly related to a broken infrastructure, is tragic and frustrating. It’s also a revelation. Read story. Free (with registration). Thursday, Sept. 8, 7pm. Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. bookshopsantacruz.com.
OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL While the seven films featured in the ninth iteration of the Ocean Film Festival focus on an array of subjects, they all share a common goal: to inspire viewers to protect and respect one of the world’s most valuable resources. Dani Burt is the story of the first-ever women’s World Adaptive Surfing Champion. After coming out of a coma, Dani Burt learned that her right leg was gone from just above her knee—one of many incredible stories set in the ocean. Read story. $21 (a portion benefit Save Our Shores). Friday, Sept. 9, 7-10pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. riotheatre.com.
THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS If you remember the 1986 Michael Keaton hit Gung Ho, you’ll remember “Tuff Enuff.” It’s one of several Thunderbirds tunes that have lit up Billboard’s“Hot 100” chart over the last five decades (the song peaked at No. 10). The band—co-founded by former member Jimmie Vaughan, Stevie Ray’s brother—learned early on that they have a knack for penning songs that work well in movies. From the John Cusack screwball comedy Hot Pursuit to Tom Cruise’s beloved melodrama Cocktail, the Thunderbirds’ musical stamp is all over 1980s Hollywood. Beyond that, they’ve scored a platinum record and appeared on bills with everyone from the Stones to Eric Clapton. $28.50/$34 plus fees. Saturday, Sept. 10, 8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. feltonmusichall.com.
CARL VERHEYEN BAND WITH GARY MEEK Guitarist Carl Verheyen played stadiums and arenas during his tenure with ’80s Brit-pop group Supertramp. But all the glitz of rock superstardom means little to someone like Verheyen. He’s in it for the music—a guitarist’s guitarist whose talent has yielded the title from Guitar Magazine as “One of the World’s Top 10 Guitarists” and the L.A. Music Awards’ “Best Guitarist.” The Carl Verheyen Band’s 25th Anniversary Tour brings the humble musician back to Santa Cruz—he first performed Moe’s to a packed house in the early-90s—as part of the venue’s Sunday Afternoon Blues Series. Monterey’s Gary Meek will join the band on sax and keys. $20/$25 plus fees. Sunday, Sept. 11, 4pm. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. moesalley.com.
REMI WOLF WITH JELANI ARYEH Remi Wolf’s 2020 breakout booty-shaker “Photo ID” was inspired by Talking Heads and Hall & Oates. The San Jose native told the Los Angeles Times she was “drawn to Daryl Hall’s big melodies and the funky strangeness of David Byrne.” Wolf’s neon, hallucinogenic-flavored videos for tunes like “Disco Man” and “Funky Sole” generated so much online traction the legendary Universal Music subsidiary Island Records scooped up the multi-talented youngster before any other label could get to her. Lucky for Island. Wolf describes her 2021 full-length debut, Juno, as a “fever dream.” When the opening track, “Liquor Store,” begins, the pop star leaves listeners no time for boredom. She saturates every second with hooks, emotion, friskiness and charm. $29.50/$35; $129 VIP plus fees. Monday, Sept. 12, 9pm. The Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. catalystclub.com.
BILL FRISELL TRIO FEATURING THOMAS MORGAN AND RUDY ROYSTON (TWO SHOWS) Jazz guitar phenom Bill Frisell will always have a deep connection to California’s Central Coast. His masterful 65-minute suite, Big Sur, commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival, uses music to evoke everything ethereal about that wondrous stretch of coastline 25 miles south of Carmel. Nearly a decade later, Frisell’s Valentine—his trio’s new record—has been hailed by Downbeat as a “masterpiece—everything feels utterly organic…the performances represent jazz playing at its most sublime.” It’s a 13-track collection that represents creative independence. The trio delivers new and old originals, jazz standards, traditional songs and covers. The bookend, “We Shall Overcome,” is an arrangement like none you’ve heard before. $47.25/$52.50; $26.25/students. Tuesday, Sept. 13, 7 and 9pm ($36.75/$42; $21/students). Kuumbwa, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org.
COMMUNITY
EL MERCADO FARMERS MARKET The Community Health Trust’s farmers’ market aims to “decrease food insecurity and improve access to health-promoting resources for Pajaro Valley families.” Free. Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2-6pm. Ramsay Park (the parking lot in front of the skate park), 1301 Main St., Watsonville. pvhealthtrust.org/el-mercado.
GROUPS
WOMENCARE ARM-IN-ARM This cancer support group is for women with advanced, recurrent or metastatic cancer. The group meets every Monday and is led by Sally Jones and Shirley Marcus. Free (registration required). Monday, Sept. 12, 12:30pm. WomenCare, 2901 Park Ave., A1, Soquel. 831-457-2273. womencaresantacruz.org.
OUTDOORS
GREAT TRAIN ROBBERIES Witness 75-minute reenactments of shootouts between prominent law enforcement officers and infamous desperados of the 1880s aboard the Redwood Forest Train as it chugs up Bear Mountain. Caution for those sensitive to loud noises. $44.95; $29.95/children 2-12. Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Sept. 11-13, 10am-5pm. Roaring Camp Railroads, 5401 Graham Hill Road, Felton. roaringcamp.com.
Email upcoming events to Adam Josephat least two weeks beforehand.
Javier Zamora would suddenly go blind in one of his eyes for five minutes; sometimes, he’d wake at night to shooting pains on the left side of his body. After seeing specialist after specialist, he was told that he suffered from a rare condition: eye migraines. But the Salvadoran immigrant knew it was something else—something that couldn’t be helped with a pill, better sleep or a healthier diet.
He had no choice but to finally let his 9-year-old self tell the story the internationally acclaimed poet had been holding in for 20 years. It manifested itself in Solito, a memoir of his arduous nine-week journey from El Salvador to get to his parents in “La USA”—the strangers, the desert, the guns, the helicopters, day after day of not knowing what’s next and the perpetual loneliness. Solito means alone.
“I just want a hug,” the 9-year-old Zamora expresses in his memoir.
He thought he had left all the agonizing memories in that unforgiving Sonoran Desert, but Zamora had no choice but to return. He spoke to GT about how he did it.
How did you know where the book would begin and end?
JAVIER ZAMORA: That was the hardest part. I think my book of poems helped. I’ve struggled to get this story out of my mind, out of my chest, my body since coming to this country. I stored all the trauma in a lock box in my brain, then pretended like it never happened. At 17, when I started writing poetry, I pretended I was born in the United States. That tells you how much assimilation and being undocumented did to my psyche. Poetry was the beginning, the key that began to unlock the events that I depicted. Poetry only got me so far. And I think as a 17-year-old, 22-year-old, or even a 28-year-old, I wasn’t ready to face the people that helped me get to this country or the trauma, the sadness, the isolation, the anguish, the fear, all of the big emotions that I experienced during those nine weeks, essentially by myself with strangers. When I turned 29, I was at this fancy fellowship at Harvard. I was touring the country with my book of poetry, and the audience kept asking about what happened because my poetry is snapshots. That was traumatizing because they asked for something I wasn’t ready to deliver. A lot of things happened in my personal life. But I think the best thing that happened was I realized that writing poetry wasn’t enough. I needed to go back to therapy, which I had been in since seventh grade, because I was an angry teenager, trying to hold everything I described inside. Therapy, meeting my now-wife, practicing Reiki, hiking and actively wanting to heal and face my trauma was the beginning of the book. I retraced my steps and looked at a calendar to see where the images in my mind matched the climate, the places and the dates. I knew the book would end on June 11, 1999. And I knew it needed to begin in El Salvador a few days before I left in April of 1999.
How did you retrieve memories in such detail from more than 20 years ago?
I think going to therapy, and going internal, was the research I needed to do before writing. Trauma made me a good observer. As I got older, I was not trusting my memory. I was questioning my memory, pretending that this trauma didn’t happen. Once I tapped into that sphere with therapy, through Reiki, I was re-traumatized in a way that I would get flashbacks in treatment, and I would have dreams about what later is seen in the book. Part of my therapist’s job was telling me I could trust those images; if I felt them, they happened. Before [writing Solito], I had this condition when my right eye would go blind. The doctors figured out that I fall into less than 2% of the population that gets eye migraines, and it might be because of X, Y and Z. Since that diagnosis in 2016, I’ve kept notes on my phone. For a while, we thought it was a reaction to coffee, a cardiovascular thing or something that happened when I worked out. I began to realize that it happened when something triggered a trauma; something regarding immigration or, for example, President Trump getting elected caused an eye migraine. Events like that. When writing the desert scenes, I would wake up with shooting pains down my left side. In a scene later in the book, I answer my question as a kid, complaining that my left arm is hurting. It hurt because the adults around me were pulling my left arm through the desert while we were running from helicopters or the Border Patrol. So little details like that are moments when you should trust your mind and memory. I needed to move to Tucson when I got to that point; once I realized the structure; the book became very linear. I hadn’t returned to the desert. I needed to live in the atmosphere. My wife and I moved across the country—we lived in New York City then. Being in the same atmosphere that caused me so much trauma gave me a lot, almost like the keys I needed to unlock the memories that are now on the page.
As you were writing about yourself as a 9-year-old, did you ever feel like you were writing about another person?
Yes, and no. I felt like it was somebody different at the beginning. But after spending so much time with this kid, which is what I needed to heal, I truly faced him and realized that this kid is me. This kid is one version of many voices that I had in my head, and that’s what trauma does. Accepting him and seeing this kid as a superhero, and for the longest time, from the age of nine until I started writing this book at the age of 29, I was ashamed of this 9-year-old boy. I treated him like somebody who had no agency and was weak. In the writing of this, I realized that the kid is a superhero. He has superpowers, and he survived. I never saw myself as a survivor. After humanizing him and spending so much time with him, meaning me, I realized as an adult that I had been shaped by this nine-year-old boy. I needed to love this kid, treat him with care and realize how these strangers provided a certain amount of care. We all helped each other. My therapist reminded me that adults helped me, but I also helped them. Multiple studies show that when you’re thrown into difficult situations, children can keep adults from going deep into a depression, for the most part, not every time. So, I also realized that I helped them.
What do you hope readers get out of Solito?
I didn’t begin writing this book in the present tense. I did what traditional memoirs do; tell you about what happened to me as a 9-year-old. I quickly realized that immigrants write other memoirs. There are countless movies; there are photos, very shocking photos of what’s happening at the border. There are politicians, but nothing’s working. It’s adults telling you how to feel and what to do. But it’s harder to ignore a child telling you what’s happening to them. I started writing this book while researching this American obsession with helping children. In the United States we are obsessed with that notion. It sometimes doesn’t even matter what color that child is; they could be a brown, black kid or white. But the moment that the adult views this kid as an adult—we see this multiple times with black people in this country, and regarding immigration—once a child turns 18, Americans don’t care. Telling the story from the child’s perspective, not in a manipulative way, puts the reader there; when that kid was alone. And the way this kid viewed the world, which wasn’t mired in politics. It was mired in the love that this kid had to be reunited with his parents. All the kid wants is love. And all the kid wants is his parents. How can you say no to him?
Javier Zamora will speak about ‘Solito’ on Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 7pm at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free. bookshopsantacruz.com.
The Rio Theatre will make waves with the Ocean Film Festival for a fifth year on Sept. 9, when seven films, ranging from four minutes long to half an hour, will take viewers around the world.
“There’s not a lot of times where I like every single one of the films in a festival, and this might be one of those times,” says Kathy Ferraro, who works with the Rio to bring adventure films like the Banff Mountain Film Festival and Reel Rock Film Tour to Santa Cruz.
“It’s a good mix,” she says. “One is about a group of people who are on a catamaran sailing around the world in search of low-tech innovation. So they live off of what they grow on the ship.”
Several of the films focus on sustainability, she says. Others spotlight wildlife and ocean adventure.
“One that I really enjoyed, and that I think our surfing community will really enjoy, is about a big wave surfer in Portugal and his connection to the ocean,” says Ferraro.
Another chronicles a woman’s journey to becoming an adaptive surfing champion after losing her leg in a motorcycle accident.
“Two or three films talk about what being in the water brings back to people—that it’s a healing place,” says Ferraro. “It’s a mutual relationship.”
Mutual Healing
Ferraro reached out to local, ocean-focused nonprofit Save Our Shores to partner with them as part of that mutual relationship. This year, $2 from every ticket will go to the organization.
“Our goal is to make sure that our bay and the connected communities and surrounding habitats are all being taken care of, not just for environmental health, but also for human health,” says Erica Donnelly-Greenan, executive director of Save Our Shores.
Beachgoers might know Save Our Shores for the frequent beach cleanups they organize. Donnelly-Greenan sees the cleanups as a stepping stone.
“At cleanups, we’re out there picking up items that are ocean-bound. It gets people involved so they can see the scope of the issue and take some ownership of helping to solve the problem,” she says. “And we feel that if we get people connected to the problem, they’re more likely to then look further into why we’re pushing for certain advocacy and policy measures.”
The nonprofit also trains “sanctuary stewards.”
These volunteers spend four weeks learning about local environmental problems and solutions. Some stewards will host beach cleanups the weekend following the film festival. Sept. 17 is California Coastal Cleanup Day, and Save Our Shores serves as the regional coordinator for Monterey Bay.
“So that means we’re in charge of covering 60 to 70 beaches, rivers and open spaces for cleanup in one day,” says Donnelly-Greenan. “So that’s a huge undertaking.”
One film about the Alaskan coastline, might inspire viewers to check out a cleanup.
“It’s shocking how much debris is on our beaches,” says Ferraro. “I think [the film] is going to help people be thoughtful about how we dispose of our trash—especially our plastics.”
Ocean Month
In addition to partnering with Save Our Shores, the Rio will cross-promote Blue Innovation, the ocean-focused symposium formerly known as Santa Cruz Blue Tech. It will kick off at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center on Sept. 11 and go through Sept. 13.
Santa Cruz Works joins the Seymour Center in hosting the event, and other collaborators include UC Santa Cruz, the city of Santa Cruz and its newest sister city: Biarritz.
The Rio will also celebrate the new tie to Biarritz, a city in the southwest of France known as the “historic surfing capital of Europe,” a few days after the Ocean Film Festival with a free screening of Biarritz Surf Gang.
Ferraro hopes the Ocean Film Festival will inspire people to help protect our oceans and get involved with local groups.
“The community has really supported us with our events, especially during COVID,” she says. “We want to, in turn, support these nonprofits that are so important to making Santa Cruz what it is—a great place to live and a strong community.”
The Ocean Film Festival will be presented Friday, Sept. 9, 7-10pm at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $21. riotheatre.com.
As a resident of downtown Santa Cruz, I find it increasingly difficult to feel compassion and empathy for much of the county’s homeless population, despite my strenuous effort to do so. There is no doubt in my mind that city and county residents should be responsible for assisting a certain percentage of the local homeless, such as persons with diagnosed mental disorders, families, elderly and veterans. However, the 2022 homeless census found a 282 percent increase—yes, that is correct, a 282 percent increase—in individuals identifying as having a substance abuse disorder since 2019. This accounts for approximately half of the county’s homeless. As a frequent passer-by of the Benchlands, it’s easy to understand why this incredible increase. We have managed to create a responsibility-free zone; that is, a place where one need not take any responsibility for themselves. We (you) provide everything needed to live reasonably comfortably (food, tents, electricity, port-a-potties, water, clothes). At the same time the homeless are ensured no repercussions for littering (food, needles, feces, tents, propane tanks, chairs, etc.), getting high in public, or camping anywhere they like. If we stay on this path, one can envision another 282 percent increase in individuals with a substance abuse disorder by 2025, many of which will undoubtedly migrate to our city. Ask any substance abuse counselor and they will tell you that the only way for someone to overcome a substance abuse issue is for them to make the decision to do so on their own.
Chad Mitcham
Santa Cruz
These letters do not necessarily reflect the views of Good Times.To submit a letter to the editor of Good Times: Letters should be originals—not copies of letters sent to other publications. Please include your name and email address to help us verify your submission (email address will not be published). Please be brief. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and to correct factual inaccuracies known to us. Send letters to le*****@*******es.sc
Re: “No Free Ride for RVs” (Letters, 8/31): It’s not the folks living in vehicles and RVs who are entitled, but those who feel it is their right to pass abusive laws that violate people’s constitutional rights. The normalization of tearing someone away from the only shelter they have, simply because you fear poverty or the illnesses that often accompany it, is unacceptable in our community. If you don’t want to support the delivery of services to the poor, that’s one thing, but you can’t then turn around and also demand a level of “sightlines” and “order” from those who are struggling to survive in a deeply unforgiving economic system. I refuse to allow you and others like you to continue to spend our community’s funds on just kicking people while they’re down. People deserve more than that.
Reggie Meisler
Santa Cruz
These letters do not necessarily reflect the views of Good Times.To submit a letter to the editor of Good Times: Letters should be originals—not copies of letters sent to other publications. Please include your name and email address to help us verify your submission (email address will not be published). Please be brief. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and to correct factual inaccuracies known to us. Send letters to le*****@*******es.sc
An arts community is not built in a day. And even when it is built, through years of networking and mutual support from countless artists and arts organizations, there’s the question of whether anyone will notice.
That’s why I think the time is right for Johanna Miller’s cover story this week about the ascension of Watsonville’s art scene. And also why, I suspect, more than one of her sources makes a point to mention that getting it to this point has been a sustained effort from a lot of people over a long period of time.
I remember some of the people still involved in the South County scene from when I was covering arts and culture at the Register-Pajaronian in the ’90s. And others I’ve seen bring incredible energy to it in the years since—look at the work Consuela Alba and the Watsonville Film Festival group have done over the last decade, for instance. For so many of these central players, the key has been perseverance and innovation, constantly testing what works and what doesn’t in Watsonville. That’s never going to be exactly the same as what works in Santa Cruz—and it shouldn’t be.
You’ll also notice the appeal that these Watsonville artists and organizers are making directly to the rest of the county: in order for this scene to sustain itself, it needs buy-in from a lot more of us. If you haven’t checked out any of the many events and exhibits there, you owe it to yourself to do so. After seeing this unique group of artists and supporters finally break through, I hope they continue to thrive for a long time to come.
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ONLINE COMMENTS
Re: RVs
I agree with the writer [of the “No Free Ride for RVs” letter]. Groups like Santa Cruz Cares make no distinction between those who are living in their vehicles because they have to and people who are just on vacation or rolling through to surf. Both groups create bad impacts to the neighborhoods and contribute absolutely nothing. I’m happy the city is providing places for parking legally, but the cops need to insist that people living on the streets use those places and stop parking wherever they want.
— Steve
Re: Duke Kahanamoku
I really loved and appreciated this piece. I learned so much that I was never aware of. I’m glad to have spent a lot of time in the “Plunge” myself, and now know the Duke was a star swimmer there before I jumped into those salty and mysterious waters. Isn’t Santa Cruz history special! Thanks for this superb article.
— David Ladd Wilson
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
HAND IN HAND WITH THE DUKE This photo was taken at the Bishop Museum in Oahu. The photographer’s hand is in a graphic illustrating the size of Duke Kahanamoku’s hand. She also included an image from the museum of Kahanamoku smiling at a canine friend who appears to have gotten two paws onto his desk in a ploy for attention. She wrote: “He had the biggest hands, and the biggest heart.” Photograph by Whitney Wilde.
Submit to ph****@*******es.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.
GOOD IDEA
FOR SHORE
On Monday, Save Our Shores collected 30 pounds of trash during the group’s post-Labor-Day cleanup. There’s a lot more work to be done, and you can sign up to join volunteers around the world for the largest beach cleanup event of the year on Sept. 17. Register at saveourshores.org.
GOOD WORK
IT’S A GAS
UCSC astronomers led the way in analyzing the first direct images of a planet outside our solar system captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Aarynn Carter, a postdoctoral scholar working with Astronomy Professor Andrew Skemer at UCSC, led the analysis. The planet is a gas giant that could not be habitable, but can teach us more about exoplanets. More info at ucsc.edu.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Some people think they are in community, but they are only in proximity. True community requires commitment and openness.”
On Aug. 20, the historic Porter Building in downtown Watsonville came alive for the first time in more than seven years.
Pajaro Valley Arts (PVA), a nonprofit formed in 1984 to promote and host cultural events in South Santa Cruz County, invited the community to visit during the city’s annual Wine, Beer & Art Walk. The organization had finalized its purchase of the building less than three weeks prior.
“This building, it’s stunning,” says PVA’s Judy Stabile. “The artists were looking around going, ‘look at the brick walls, look at all the hanging space, all the light!’ Even without any major modifications to the building, it’s a beautiful space.”
The Porter Building, designed by famed architect William Weeks and constructed in 1903, has been vacant since 2015 after Ceiba College Prep Academy moved out. In 2019, the City of Watsonville released a request for proposals for its sale or long-term lease.
Local artist Ana Muñoz and PV Arts Executive Director Valéria Miranda
at Arte del Corozan’s Frida Kahlo-inspired art market in July. PHOTO: Johanna Miller
PVA plans to use the first floor of the building as a visual arts gallery and a small performing venue, and push out one of the walls to create an outdoor patio space. Upstairs will include artist studios, offices and workshop spaces and more.
“Every room has an incredible view of our town, the Fox Theater, the mountains,” Stabile said. “Imagine an artist working in one of these rooms, painting—it’s going to be incredible.”
PVA’s procurement of the Porter Building is one of many ongoing projects contributing to the ever-increasing momentum of art in downtown Watsonville. For decades, artists have been looking for space, funding and general support from the city, county and beyond. Longstanding dance groups had no secure place to practice. Performing venues and exhibition space was limited. And money to fund events was scarce.
But now, after years of work by local advocates, Watsonville is finally making progress. From small, independent art studios to new venues and opportunities for local artists, the arts scene is thriving like never before.
“This didn’t start now,” says PVA director Valeria Miranda. “It’s important to remember that this is the culmination of many hard-working people over a very long time. And now it’s finally blooming.”
Big Changes
Judy Gittelsohn is a local artist who opened her own gallery, Studio Judy G, on Watsonville’s Main Street last year. She says she’s seen big changes happening in the short time she’s been in the community.
“The energy downtown right now is really good,” says Gittelsohn. “Watsonville is a place with so many creative people doing amazing things.”
Gittelsohn’s gallery has so far presented a handful of small art shows and concerts, and hosts weekly art classes. Gittelsohn says that the growth of PVA and other groups has allowed her to be independent.
Artist Judy Gittelsohn installs watercolor paintings by the late Christopher Arnold at her art studio in Watsonville. PHOTO: Johanna Miller
“I’m in a rare position,” she says. “While PVA is increasingly highlighting more local artists, working with schools, I’m given the freedom to do what I want. I hope this movement continues, with artists seeing more opportunities downtown. This could really become a unique arts district.”
Public events are also increasing. In 2019, local teaching artist Monica Galvan founded Arte del Corazón, a group bringing open-air art markets to various locations throughout the city.
“I’m seeing a lot more happening in Watsonville,” Galvan says.“It’s gone from having something to do once every month to every week. It’s really cool.”
Galvan says she started Arte del Corazón after noticing a lack of diversity in the arts scene. She and other artists joined together to create the first art market at Romo Park across from Watsonville Plaza. The markets continue to gain in popularity, and Arte del Corazón now partners with other local organizations and businesses.
“There wasn’t a huge representation of artists of color,” she says. “There were a lot of artists here, but we didn’t know each other because there was no way for us to meet. We started the markets in a way to ensure that everyone had access, everyone knew about them. Now, people reach out to us.”
Galvan is also part of Arts Council Santa Cruz County’s (ACSC) Watsonville Stewardship Committee for the Arts (WSCA), a group of nonprofit organizers, artists and more who come together regularly to discuss the state of the arts in Watsonville.
“At first, it was just about making one big center,” she said. “But why can’t Watsonville as a whole be a center? I don’t even know how many museums, galleries, theaters there are in Santa Cruz. In Watsonville, we barely have any. I for one don’t ever want to leave Watsonville, so I want to make sure it’s a place for people who want to make art.”
Finding a Home
Two blocks north from the Porter Building, another new arts hub is now up and running. Watsonville Center for the Arts (WCA), located on the corner of Main and West Beach streets, opened this summer. The center acts as a home base for a number of longstanding performing arts groups, education programs, Arts Council offices and more. They have also started to rent out the space for events.
“This is part of the movement for the arts that’s been building in momentum for some years now,” said Mireya Gomez-Contreras, deputy director of ACSC, which will manage the space. “The arts in general, especially here, have been way underfunded, and there’s been little by way of resources. So we’re hoping this can be a hub that brings together artists, and makes visible what the arts truly are for this community.”
WCA has started out as a collective of established dance, music and theater groups. Some have been active in the community for decades but never had a permanent practice space.
“We’ve been in the community for over 40 years without a home,” says Janet Johns, founder and director of folklorico group Esperanza de Valle. “It’s time. Thanks to the Arts Council and Mireya’s leadership, it’s happening.”
Stephanie Dieguez, secretary and board of directors liaison for the White Hawk Indian Council for Children, agrees. The Whitehawk Dancers have also been performing in the community for more than four decades.
“We’ve bounced around town so many times,” Dieguez says. “From school parking lots, cafeterias, the Vets Hall. It’s been tough. When the Arts Council came to us with this idea, it was the biggest blessing ever. To be able to be planted here, in the heart of Watsonville, it’s really exciting.”
Film Fellowship
The Watsonville Film Festival (WFF) organization, while still searching for a permanent space to present its annual festival, is also experiencing major growth. Working with local groups such as Digital NEST and PVA, they have transformed into a year-round organization that not only presents films but also supports local filmmakers and students aspiring to study the craft.
Last year, WFF launched Cine se Puede, a fellowship that supports cohorts of local up-and-coming filmmakers, assisting with funding of up to $1,000 per project. Participants learn to pitch stories and projects, improve proposals, budgets, marketing and more.
Alba, who now also acts as board chair for the Arts Council, says the fellowship has so far been a success.
Watsonville Film Festival staff (including founder Consuelo Alba, third from left in front row) with the first cohort of Cine Se Puede fellows at the 10th annual festival in March. PHOTO: Courtesy of Watsonville Film Festival
“It’s really been happening organically,” Alba says. “Our cohorts are a tight-knit group of talented people who support each other, personally and professionally.”
Alba says that programs like Cine se Puede are vital to keeping talented artists in the community. Many filmmakers, she says, tend to move to big cities where there are more opportunities.
“My dream is that we realize the full potential we have in Watsonville,” she says. “I have lived here for 25 years and I have always seen it. But I’ve also always seen the obstacles, from access to funding to finding spaces. I see a big shift now. We need to keep working, pushing and supporting the arts for the long term. We’re just at the starting line.”
Funding Search
Convincing local governments, businesses and residents to invest in the arts has always been a challenge, said Miranda, who is also vice chair at ACSC. But things are shifting in Santa Cruz County, especially in its southernmost city.
“The Arts Council has taken a very thoughtful and serious look at what we need to do to really make sure that we’re being inclusive,” Miranda says. “When we looked at the grant making for the whole county, it had been unfairly heavy with Santa Cruz-based groups, who already have access and connections. This is not only about redistributing money, but also creating resources, like making grant applications less complicated. There are so many barriers we need to address.”
Recently, ACSC invested in an Americans for the Arts survey in order to study the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences, both countywide and in South County specifically. The Arts & Economic Prosperity study is still ongoing, but Alba said they expect the results to be illuminating.
“This is huge,” Alba says. “Even though Santa Cruz County is a known place for the arts, we haven’t been able to invest in it the way we should.”
Both Alba and Miranda highlighted the importance of treating the arts as a crucial economic sector.
“It’s mind-boggling when you see the amount of money that the arts generate,” Miranda says. “It’s time for governments to stop thinking about the arts as a frill, something nice to have but not necessary. This is why this study is so important.”
Other support in South County includes the City of Watsonville’s Percentage for the Arts, a fee requiring developers to pay 0.75% of their estimated total construction costs, with proceeds going into a Cultural Fund the city will use to create a public art.
The city has also supported PVA for years by leasing the organization its current home on Sudden Street for just $1 per year.
“We’ve been incredibly honored by the partnership with the city,” Miranda says. “It’s a big commitment that’s made a world of difference.”
Arts on the Ballot
Arts education funding in Watsonville may also be getting support, as a statewide proposition that will be on the ballot this November could have a major effect on arts in public schools.
Proposition 28, or Californians for Arts and Music in Schools, dedicates $1 billion annually from the state’s general fund to arts and music education in public institutions, without raising taxes. 70% of the funding will be allocated to every public school based on enrollment, and the remaining 30% will be given to schools serving economically disadvantaged students and communities, such as Watsonville.
“It’s so exciting that this might go through,” says Sarah Brothers, arts education director at ACSC. “Arts have historically been underfunded in California schools, especially in districts like PVUSD. They typically don’t receive equitable opportunities.”
Brothers says that Prop. 28 is unique in that it has built-in accountability measures to make sure schools use the funding correctly.
“In the past, schools would be getting a certain amount for the arts, but could still shift things around,” she says. “With this measure, they are required to report how they spend the funding.”
If passed, Prop 28 would be the largest investment in arts education in the country.
“Studies have shown that students, especially those who are disadvantaged, benefit from arts curriculum,” Brothers says. “They are more likely to graduate, not drop out and pursue a degree. The importance of the arts is extremely apparent.”
Drawing an Audience
While adequate funding and resources are vital to supporting the arts in South County, there is also a simple way that residents can help grow and sustain it for the long term.
“People need to come here,” Miranda says. “We need everybody in the county to participate. That is how we can grow sustainability. A lot of people in this county just don’t visit Watsonville. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that sometimes, it goes along color lines. There is definitely racism in this county. But I also hear people say it’s ‘inconvenient,’ which I don’t understand. They will drive to San Francisco to see an exhibit, but they can’t drive 20 minutes to South County on a Sunday? It makes no sense.”
Miranda encourages residents of all areas of the county to get out of their comfort zone.
“You might go to the ballet every year, so why not check out folklorico?” she says. “Try something you’ve never tried before. I guarantee you’re going to be amazed.”
On the day that I spoke with Katherine Blunt, the author of California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—And What It Means for America’s Power Grid, firefighters attacked a 1.1-acre blaze that had broken out the day before north of Boulder Creek.
The Hartman Fire devoured a single residential structure; it would take at least six different agencies nearly 24 hours to put it out. There was no immediate indication that electrical wires were to blame, but it was a stark reminder of the risks utilities face as part of their business.
Nor was PG&E at fault for the CZU Lightning Complex that destroyed more than 900 local homes in 2020, but its equipment has sparked many others in recent years. In tracing this trail of controversies in California Burning, Blunt has merged an exhaustive corporate compendium, criminal procedural and courtroom drama into a single narrative.
Blunt, a San Francisco journalist, covers renewable energy and utilities for The Wall Street Journal, and her team’s reporting on PG&E has won a Barlett & Steele award for business investigative journalism, the Thomas L. Stokes award for energy and environmental reporting and also been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She says she is particularly pleased that PG&E has said her book will be required reading internally.
“It’s nice to feel that it could have that kind of value, you know?” says Blunt. “PG&E’s response has been very gracious.”
California Burning is also likely to strike a chord with locals, who are increasingly concerned with both wildfire prevention and power-company transparency amid PG&E’s acknowledgement of failure to communicate with its customers. Blunt has deftly laid out the delicate balance PG&E is now trying to strike in attempting to protect lives and wilderness while delivering electricity. She spoke to GT about the book in advance of her event at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Thursday, Sept. 8. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Your book is a methodical look into the web of decisions made over the previous century, as we’ve figured out how to bring gas and electricity into our homes. Why did you feel it was necessary to go that granular for the reader to be able to understand PG&E’s history?
KATHERINE BLUNT: I think it’s reflective of my style and the way that I think about things. But I also think it is important to spell out how complicated the story is. I mean, when PG&E evokes such ire right across the state of California, it’s lost the trust of a lot of people. And, you know, people might say, “This company has been putting profits over safety for years.” In some ways, that is true. But it is much more complicated than that statement conveys. And I wanted to explain what that actually means in practice for a company like this, and how you can see that sort of systemic breakdown. It’s not the fault of any individual. But by the same token, it’s the responsibility and the fault of all individuals. I think it’s really important, so that you can truly understand what it means for this company to have failed.
A lot of people in this area have been touched by fires. What do you hope that California residents can get out of your book?
Well, a few things. I hope it does justice to the really challenging elements of this story. A lot of people lost homes. They lost loved ones. The loss was really devastating. I think telling that story is important, to remind everyone of the consequences of this sort of failure. That’s one thing. But, I suppose, like with everyone, I hope it helps them develop a more nuanced understanding of PG&E and why it failed. These people feel very victimized, sort of like, the company did this knowingly and intentionally. And that’s sort of true, as we’ve seen with the criminal charges. But it is a company that’s full of hard-working people who don’t mean any harm. And then they are trying to do better going forward. So, it’s doing justice to the stories—the victims—and maybe helping introduce some new elements into the conversation about PG&E.
One of the most frustrating moments in the book is after PG&E is convicted for the first time, in the San Bruno gas explosion case where eight people died. And then suddenly the prosecution drops its ask from half a billion dollars to $3 million. How should we make sense of this?
Basically, the way to make sense of it is: the Penal Code is written for people. It’s not written for corporations. So the statutory maximum fines for a lot of the crimes that a corporation has the capacity to commit, as it turns out, they’re meant to be significant fines for individual people. But if you’ve got a multibillion-dollar corporation, $3 million really doesn’t mean anything. And trying to impose an alternative fine can be really hard. Because you basically have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, how much the company’s misdeeds cost the public. And that’s tough. I’d like to look into whether or not there has been much success on this front in terms of prosecuting other companies and imposing alternative fines. But in this case, it was tough. I think that’s why they dropped it. So ultimately, the statutory maximum fines for the crime ended up being just a few million dollars. And it didn’t have much of an effect on the company.
There have been several instances of power outages throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains that, according to PG&E, are a result of new equipment that puts customers’ safety above all else. I’m wondering how you think about the balance that not just PG&E needs to strike, but also other utility companies.
What is remarkable is that after the major fires of 2017 and 2018, PG&E really began employing a new strategy at scale in which, as you say, it preemptively would cut power if big, strong winds picked up and increased the risk of its line sparking. And this strategy in and of itself is a tacit admission that the company cannot provide electricity safely and reliably all the time. Historically, that has been the expectation of all of our utility companies: to provide safe and reliable power at the same time, constantly. And so, you’re beginning to see that relationship break down. I think that there may be a future in which we do have to accept some of these inconveniences for safety, but I don’t think it should be used at scale. I don’t think it should be used with great frequency, because I just don’t think it’s sustainable long term. I think that customers are going to expect more, and rightfully so. I think the challenge here is finding solutions that eliminate—or at least substantially reduce—the need to employ that strategy.
One of the things that PG&E is doing right now is working to underground a large section or swath of IT system—10,000 miles of distribution wire that would really change the risk profile. It would basically eliminate fire risk on the circuits, and make it so that, when the wind picked up, they wouldn’t have to shut off power to those that were running underground. Whether they still need to do public safety power shutoffs elsewhere remains to be seen. They probably will. But yes, I think it’s going to be incumbent upon PG&E and other utilities to really minimize the use of this strategy going forward, to the best of their ability.
The book is, to some extent, a character drama. Tell me about some of your favorite characters.
Well, yeah, they’re all really interesting. I really enjoyed talking to James Haggerty, who helped lead the federal investigation of a big natural gas pipeline explosion south of San Bruno. It was really personal to him, you know? It happened on his birthday, right in his childhood neighborhood. And just the amount of passion with which he approached his undertaking was really kind of inspiring, and helped me understand the consequences of the case in a way that I might not have otherwise.
I certainly enjoyed talking to Nick Stavropoulos, who helped rehabilitate the gas division after San Bruno. He’s a colorful guy, he’s a lot of fun to talk to. And I think he’s really proud of his work. And it’s a nice reminder that the companies can make progress on improving issues throughout their systems—if they have the right leadership in place, and the right strategy.
I liked that you went through the history of California governors, including the role that Arnold Schwarzenegger played in putting climate change at the forefront. Do you still have hope that California can lead the way into a green energy future?
There’s a lot of near-term challenges. Managing the pace of the transition has proven to be difficult. Just managing the retirement of certain plants, notably Diablo Canyon, with the addition of wind and solar farms and batteries to store the output for use when production declines. We’re at a period right now, this kind of inflationary, challenging environment with supply-chain problems that’s made it so it’s been harder to bring some of that new generation online quickly enough to make sure that supply and demand are always in balance. I think the next few years are going to be tough to navigate. But I think some of these challenges will ease with time. And I do think that there’s certainly a longer-term story of hope for California.
Katherine Blunt will discuss “California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America’s Power Grid” in conversation with Nikki Silva at 7pm on Thursday, Sept. 8, at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. The event, co-sponsored by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History and Santa Cruz Public Libraries, is free. Register at bookshopsantacruz.com.
Three years ago, the Santa Cruz City Council made the decision to scrap some four years of work by the city’s staff when it tossed out the so-called Corridors Plan, a proposal that would have aligned the city’s zoning rules with the community’s vision outlined in the 2030 General Plan. Among other things, the plan would have opened up various properties along the city’s major transportation routes—Water Street, Soquel Avenue, Mission Street and Ocean Street—to be redeveloped into mixed-use developments featuring shops and restaurants on the ground floor, with high-density housing on top.
At the time, some Santa Cruz residents, in an effort spearheaded by a group called Save Santa Cruz, pressured the city council to terminate the plan and send staff back to the drawing board to lower the impact on their neighborhoods.
History seems to be repeating itself.
The Objective Standards proposal, a spiritual successor to the Corridors Plan, is now facing the same pushback. Whether it’s the fact that some parcels would be rezoned to allow up to six-story developments, or that gridlock traffic and scant parking would worsen, residents are calling for the council to once again stop the city’s efforts.
Staff came to the council with a two-hour presentation on the plan at its Aug. 23 meeting. The council could have then accepted it, but instead chose to continue the review at its upcoming Sept. 13 meeting. And, according to city staff, the council will likely kick the plan down the road to mid-November at next week’s meeting.
“Our intent is to use the brief delay to connect with those who provided comments, address various misunderstandings and accept comments for future evaluation,” says the city’s Director of Planning and Community Development Lee Butler. “The two months will provide us with an opportunity to conduct some final engagement work, after which time we will be recommending that the council take action on Nov. 15.”
Best Laid Plans
The proposal currently before the council is not only a way for the city to sync up its zoning laws with the 2030 General Plan approved in 2012, but also for it to also come into compliance with various state laws regarding housing design reviews. No longer can cities use subjective review standards that have allowed both staff and elected leaders to deny projects based on “community character” and the like. But what municipalities can do is lay out specific checklists—including standards for, among other things, lighting, roofs, landscaping and building materials—that developers must follow in order to receive approval from staff. The Objective Standards plan is that checklist, and without it things get messy, says Santa Cruz Senior Planner Sarah Neuse.
She highlights the recent troubles with the 145-unit 831 Water St. development that the city council first denied, only to reverse course when it realized it could not do so under state law. Had the city had its objective standards in place, Neuse says, the development could have looked much different—and some of the impacts on the adjacent suburban neighborhoods off North Branciforte could have been reduced.
“For instance, the project might have been less blocky and more articulated, incorporated more varied roof forms, included more private balconies for residents and provided different landscaping,” she says.
And while height and the number of units would likely not have changed, the review process would’ve gone much smoother for everyone involved, Neuse says.
“One of the biggest issues with the 831 Water St. project was that people were surprised by how much could be built. The rezonings will create greater transparency in how much can be built,” she says, emphasizing that the proposal “does not add any additional residential capacity than what is currently allowed.”
In the Aug. 23 proposal, various parcels on Soquel Avenue between Ocean View Avenue and Morrissey Boulevard were slated to be rezoned for Mixed Use High Density, which would allow for five-story developments. On Ocean, between Glenwood Avenue and Barson Street, some properties could be zoned up to six stories, though the majority called for a maximum of four or fewer. And on Mission Street between Fair Avenue and Laurel Street, four-story, mixed-use projects would be allowed.
Public Demand
Early in her Aug. 23 presentation to the council, Neuse presented two color-coded maps of Santa Cruz. The first showed the different zoning standards—single family, multiple family, mixed-use, etc.—from neighborhood to neighborhood. The second was the first map overlaid with 2010 census data of where people of different ethnic backgrounds live. White residents demarcated by blue dots dominated the areas of the city zoned for single-family homes. Hispanic residents, demarcated by orange dots, were largely concentrated in areas of the city zoned for multiple-family homes.
“That shows both that Hispanic communities are highly concentrated—they live in dense housing—and they are also limited to certain neighborhoods,” Neuse said. “You can see how having patterns like this, where there’s highly concentrated pockets of certain races, can create inequities between communities and challenges for households.”
Gary Patton, one of the co-chairs of Save Santa Cruz, took issue with Neuse’s insinuation that Santa Cruz’s decision makers have used zoning rules to keep minorities out of certain communities. The former Santa Cruz County Supervisor and current Eastside resident says that the coastal city doesn’t have “a historic record of trying to exclude people,” and that his group is not against housing construction—even if the group’s mission statement is to “stop overbuilding Santa Cruz.”
“Save Santa Cruz is not like, ‘Don’t let anybody else come here.’ Save Santa Cruz is very pro-affordable housing,” he says.
However, Patton also says that East Side residents do feel that the Objective Standards disproportionately impact their neighborhoods, and he adds that the council should identify alternative areas of the city to rezone that “might be better for some,” and “may be worse for others.”
But his main gripe with the plan is that staff proposed to remove the public hearing process for projects that meet all of the city’s objective standards. Neuse says although it is rare for projects to meet all standards and not require a public hearing, staff will indeed come back to the city council with an option to have every project undergo a public hearing—whether it meets the standards or not.
Patton was one of a dozen or so people who spoke in opposition to the proposal during the Aug. 23 city council meeting. In addition, more than 100 people submitted written public comments opposing the plan. Many in opposition urged the council to preserve the “quality of life” and “character” of their suburban neighborhoods.
Housing Santa Cruz County Director Elaine Johnson says that she understands these concerns. Johnson grew up in public housing in the Bronx, and when she tells people that, they often think it’s a bad thing.
“And it’s not,” Johnson says. “Once these people know who I am and how I show up in the world, they see, ‘Oh, housing projects aren’t bad.’”
But changing the narrative around high-density housing, Johnson admits, takes time and patience. Presenting data on the demoralizing rental rates in Santa Cruz County—it was recently ranked as the second least affordable rental market in the U.S.—only goes so far. To truly destigmatize housing development, she says, people need to listen to one another—and leave their agendas at the door.
It is these missing conversations, Johnson says, that HSCC hopes to lead.
“There’s no, ‘I’m right, you’re wrong, you’re wrong, I’m right.’ With that, you just get more wrong and right. That doesn’t move the needle,” Johnson says. “What moves the needle are healthy conversations.”
The ‘Wall Street Journal’ reporter investigates the mishaps of California’s largest utility in ‘California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America's Power Grid’
