Page 3 – Good Times

Taking Off

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September 24, 2025

A new form of flight is taking off in Santa Cruz.

Transportation secretary Sean P. Duffy has announced that companies will now be allowed to test limited operations of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft—air taxis that lift off like helicopters but cruise like airplanes—before they are fully certified by the FAA. The pilot program is intended to accelerate adoption of what’s often called “advanced air mobility.”

Santa Cruz–based Joby Aviation is one of the companies ready to seize the opportunity.

“We’ve spent more than 15 years building the aircraft technology and operational capabilities that are defining advanced aerial mobility, and we’re ready to bring our services to communities,” said Greg Bowles, Joby’s Chief Policy Officer. “This program provides a clear and pragmatic path to introduce our service sooner, while continuing to meet the FAA’s rigorous safety standards.”

The FAA normally requires years of rigorous testing and approval before any new aircraft can operate commercially. No aircraft like Joby’s has yet been certified, and the first such approval is not expected for at least another year. The new program creates a bridge, letting mature designs begin real-world flights—whether carrying passengers, cargo, or providing emergency services—under strict oversight while certification continues.

Joby’s prototypes are designed to carry a handful of passengers or small cargo loads, beating traffic while producing zero operating emissions. The company has already logged tens of thousands of miles in testing, including nearly six hundred flights this year alone. It has flown in extreme environments to demonstrate durability, and is currently in the fourth of five stages of FAA type certification. Joby expects to fly its first FAA-conforming aircraft later this year, with FAA pilots onboard early next year.

Santa Cruz has been home to Joby from the beginning, bringing together engineers, designers, and builders, making this new form of transportation possible. Close to home, Joby has scaled up operations in Marina, expanding its manufacturing footprint to more than 435,000 square feet and preparing to build what it describes as the first scaled electric aircraft production facility in the United States.

For Santa Cruz, the implications reach beyond aerospace headlines. Advanced air mobility could translate into hundreds of local jobs, new investment in infrastructure, and a reputation as the birthplace of a new transportation industry. It also positions the region alongside Silicon Valley in pioneering technologies with global impact.

Challenges remain—certification is ongoing, air traffic integration and community acceptance are far from simple, and scaling production will be costly—but once again, Santa Cruz is not just watching the future take shape. It may soon be the place where the age of air taxis truly takes off.

Retail to Residential

Todd Guild

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September 24, 2025

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Capitola City Council OKs housing plans for ailing mall

For 15 years, city leaders have been looking for ways to re-envision the Capitola Mall, which, like many of its shopping-center brethren across the U.S., has lost a measure of the luster it had a few decades ago, the neon-colored heyday of the ’80s.

And while a handful of new, local businesses have helped to revitalize Santa Cruz County’s only mall, it is no longer the draw it once was.

That is likely to change after the Capitola City Council on Sept. 11 unanimously approved a set of zoning amendments that will allow the creation of a housing development on the mall property, which is bordered by Clares Street, Capitola Road and 41st Avenue.

With a rezoning plan expected by January, Merlone Geier Partners (MGP)—the majority owner of the mall site—will begin plans to redevelop the property.

The project is an effort by city officials to help meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation numbers, which the state of California requires of every jurisdiction.

That means Capitola must plan for 1,336 units of low, moderate and market-rate housing units by 2031.

But because Capitola is just 2 square miles—and has few buildable spaces—city officials have to look to infill development such as the mall.

In addition to the sizable housing project, recently approved changes also include building heights up to 75 feet.

The plan approved includes community engagement sessions.

MGP managing director Jamas Gwilliam said it is too early in the planning process to say what the project will look like.

Once the city provides the objective design standards it wants to see at the site, the company can move forward, he said.

“Then we can share that with the community, run studies to look at traffic, talk to the community more about the placemaking aspects, the number of units and affordable units and get you the specifics on what that exactly looks like,” he said.

Gwilliam said that MGP is hoping to get feedback from the community, but warned against extending that period for too long.

“There is a timeline HCD is given and the questions, while good…it would be better to respond to a project once we have the zoning code,” he said.

Of the four choices presented to the council for the development process, Councilwoman Susan Westman opted for one that both expedites the process and calls for more public engagement, although at $68,000 is slightly more expensive than a similarly expedited $46,000 plan that allowed only one public session.

“I think it’s worth the city spending that money to engage with our community and give us an opportunity to engage with our community to try and move this project forward,” Westman said.

Councilwoman Melinda Orbach said she would also like to see a hotel at the site with a large event and conference space.

“I’ve heard from many people who struggle to find a big enough space to hold their events in Santa Cruz County,” she said. “Rarely are there spaces for the capacity of more than 500 people. Many of us working professionals travel to conferences where we spend thousands of dollars each year out of the pocket of our employers. Why not spend the money here? People already want to come to Capitola. Why not build the infrastructure needed to support this tourist industry?”

Feds Target ‘Hispanic-Serving’ Programs at Cabrillo College

Todd Guild

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September 23, 2025

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Feds Target ‘Hispanic-Serving’ Programs at Cabrillo College

When U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on Sept. 10 announced that the Department of Education is ending discretionary funding to Hispanic-serving institutions (HSI), she pointed to a decision by the Office of the Solicitor General that such programs violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States,” McMahon wrote in a statement. “To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs, the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas.”

Under the HSI program, which Cabrillo has been enrolled in since 2006, colleges foster a sense of belonging and cultural validation for LatinX students.

But McMahon in her statement said the Trump administration is taking some $350 million in discretionary funding for programs nationwide that serve a wide variety of minority student groups such as Hispanic, native and Black.

Locally, the policy shift severs two key programs at Cabrillo College in the middle of a five-year grant cycle, said college President Matt Wetstein.

Camino al Exito, which provides assistance during the first year, and Abriendo el Camino, which offers dual enrollment to high school students, were part of an effort to retain students and grow its numbers, Wetstein said.

He pointed out that the HSI grant program was created by Congress and supported by U.S. presidents on both sides of the aisle.

McMahon in her letter also argues that the program calls for unconstitutional “quotas,” an assertion that Wetstein rejects.

“I don’t agree with that argument,” he said. “I don’t know of any ruling from any court, particularly from the Supreme Court, where that’s ever been articulated.”

Wetstein added that Cabrillo is an open-access college.

“We don’t discriminate in any manner in our admission process,” he said.

Wetstein said the college plans to apply for extensions to the existing grants, and braid that funding with other sources to keep staff doing the work through June 2026.

He is also considering legal challenges to McMahon’s decision.

“We’re going to take every opportunity we can through our legal channels to file for a reconsideration with this Department of Education,” he said.

If the programs end, Wetstein said it will mean that plans to grow the college’s dual enrollment program—allowing high school students to take classes at Cabrillo—will be harder.

“If the money goes away in the way this cancellation order suggests, our ability to scale out begins to disappear,” he said.

In addition, the college will be unable to pay student mentors to help first-year students, he added.

The announcement, he said, is part of a growing pattern with the Trump administration.

“I think this is part of a pattern,” he said. “It is another arm in the attack and assault on higher education institutions from this administration. It is an effort to undermine confidence in colleges and universities in trying to argue that they’re doing something illegal and unconstitutional.”

County Unveils Center for Youth in Crisis

Todd Guild

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September 23, 2025

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County Unveils Center for Youth in Crisis

For years, young people experiencing a mental health crisis in Santa Cruz County were taken to overloaded emergency rooms, the county’s adult psychiatric facility or were shifted to out-of-county facilities, away from their families.

That problem will end in the winter, when the Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health department opens Hope Forward–Esperanza Adelante, a crisis center in Live Oak designed for young people.

It will be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The center’s Crisis Stabilization Unit offers eight chairs and is designed for short-term stabilization and stays of less than 24 hours.

Upstairs, the 16-bed Crisis Residential Program will offer therapeutic support and treatment for young people and their families, with typical stays ranging from two to 10 days.

Such care is essential, as mental health professionals over the past decade have noticed a “concerning trend” of mental health issues cropping up among young people, said Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health director Marni Sandoval.

In the U.S., Sandoval said, an estimated 20% of youth suffer from a mental health concern, and 80% of those have not received treatment.

Worse, professionals have noted a 104% increase in inpatient visits for suicide and self-harm for children 1–17, Sandoval said.

“Mental health is the number-one reason our kids under 17 are hospitalized, and it is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10–24,” she said. “So this is a pretty serious issue.”

The center’s programs will provide short-term, intensive support for children and youth experiencing acute mental health crises

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig called the new center “truly transformative.”

“This is a complete 180-degree turnaround in the care that our county is providing,” he said. “Until now, youth needing long-term care went out of county, separated from their families and support systems. That ends now.”

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Kim De Serpa, who has spent her career as a social worker with a focus on focusing on public health, child welfare and healthcare, said that it can take hours for mental health workers to find a place for a young person experiencing a mental health crisis.

“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “This facility is a huge benefit to our community and our hospitals.”

The $26.1 million project was funded from state grants and county sources. The project was completed after only three years of work.

Aspiranet, a California-based nonprofit, will operate the center. The Santa Cruz County Mobile Crisis Response Team will also support the center by providing referrals and transporting youth.

For information, visit santacruzhealth.org/YouthCrisis.

Santa Cruz Wellness Expo Offers Demos for Health-Minded People

Kristen McLaughlin

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September 17, 2025

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Santa Cruz Wellness Expo Offers Demos for Health-Minded People

Ever feel daunted by the sheer volume of health and wellness treatments out there? You are not alone.

A growing frustration with conventional care is leading more people to explore alternative and Eastern medical practices. Yet it can be overwhelming when it comes to understanding all of the choices.

What if one had access to a restorative bodywork session, a mini-yoga workout, a healthy snack and a talk with a hypnotherapist or sleep expert, all under one roof? These are just a few of the resources attendees can access at the Santa Cruz Wellness Expo, a Sept. 20 event showcasing 40-plus local fitness, coaching, nutrition, and wellness professionals at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH).

Hosted by the MAH and local media outlets (including Good Times and Growing Up in Santa Cruz), the inaugural expo will showcase dozens of nutrition, holistic health, fitness and self-care advocates through free talks, demos, product samples and more than 40 giveaways, says expo organizer Elizabeth Borelli, founder of Mindful Mediterranean Workshops and Events. “There is a variety of different modalities to experience, including massage, Breema, Reiki and bio-tuning,” Borelli says. The event is expected to take over the entire first floor of the museum, lobby and garden room.

Helping People Thrive

Blue Zone Waters will be handing out samples of hydrogen-rich “structured living water,” a Kangen ionized and alkalized water. “Expos are great because they’re not there to buy, they are there to learn,” says Alayna Nathe, owner of Blue Zone Waters. Nathe invites attendees to learn more about the health benefits of molecular hydrogen water and the scientific principles behind water ionization systems. “I’ll be bringing lots of handouts and flyers to talk about the water specifically.”

“Kangen water is a Japanese word that means specifically returned to origin,” Nathe explains. “Kangen water has a high mineral content, contains molecular hydrogen, is anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory.”

What’s the one thing she wishes more people knew about her business? “Not all water is created equal or treated equal,” Nathe says. “Nor does our body respond the same way to all water.” Celebrating its second anniversary (which fell on Labor Day), Blue Zone provides quarterly water classes and free water in exchange for education. Blue Zone Waters is located at 3617-B Portola Dr. in Pleasure Point.

Alisha Slaughter will be on hand to talk about Alchemy Holistic Mind Body Health, an online and in-person nutrition and movement resource providing a range of services, including yoga classes, health coaching and natural solutions to issues such as mental health, digestive problems and hormonal issues. “I’m really excited about helping people look at nutrition and movement that is going to be best for their bodies to feel vibrant and energetic,” she says. “My passion is 35 and older women.”

Health coaching can help people get to the root cause of their health issues, Slaughter explains. “I don’t think that people get a lot of support in the traditional medical system to get to the root,” she said. “I try to be as much as possible a one-stop shop to deal with chronic health issues and just uplevel their approach to life.”

In addition to tackling digestive issues, mood issues and hormonal health, she recently added nervous system support and somatic guidance to her practice. “Your nervous system can’t be activated all the time,” Slaughter said. “We need strategies to switch into that rest and digest mode.”

Slaughter says the “first 50 or so” guests will receive free hats from her “Self Love Club,” and visitors can try their luck in a drawing for a $275 credit for services.

Fitness facilities—including GOAT, Breath & Oneness Yoga and Santa Cruz CORE Fitness + Rehab—have demos in store for Expo guests. UCSC alum Jaimi Jansen started Santa Cruz CORE as a personal training facility 16 years ago, when she was 26, and now has locations in Santa Cruz and Watsonville. “It started as a personal training facility and grew into a medical clinic,” she says. The business recently added ketamine therapy, platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell therapy.

“We are going to have an acupuncturist there, a chiropractor and massage therapist,” Jansen says of her plans for the Expo. “They are going to offer chiropractic evaluations and a mini treatment. We could do a brief injury assessment.”

For those looking to try a more alternative treatment, Jansen will provide ear seeds, a treatment that triggers acupuncture points to work on different meridians of the body. “On the ear, there are a lot of different organs you can treat,” Jansen says. “I found that with strength training and functional movement, it really helped.”

“It’s all about nonsurgical ways to heal your body and live your best life,” Jansen says. “We pride ourselves on getting people better faster. We try to be on the cutting edge of ways to inspire longevity and keep people injury free so they can live an optimal life.”

Additional participants in the Santa Cruz Wellness Expo include Harbor Health Center, Rejuvenate Medispa & Wellness, Amanda Edward Alchemy BeWell IV, Breath & Oneness Yoga Studio, Carrie Asuncion of Keys to Empowerment, holistic gut health specialist Cordelia Sidijaya, Don Nathe of Intuitive Healing Touch, Dr. Alexandra Johnson of Breema Bodywork, Dr. Mayra Sanjuan of Florecer Wellness, Eat for the Earth, Elizabeth Borelli of Mindful Mediterranean Diet & Lifestyle, Empowering Hands Therapeutic Massage, mindset coach Ilana Ingber, spiritual wellness coach Jason Hottel, Maaliea Wilbur of Therapyworks, Dr. Marylou Romo, Neumi Skin, Merry Alanis Quantum Health, Buteyko educator Michelle Dixon, The Essential Canning Cookbook author Molly Bravo, Nurture Women’s Health and Fertility, Rabia Barkins of Unstuck Coaching, Rise Collective gym and studio, Rita Rivera Healing, breathwork teacher Sam Kabert, Reiki master Sam Renfroe, Santa Cruz Ayurveda, Sleep Sovereign, SoulCare Studios, Stacy Pan Hypnotherapy, The Healthy Way Weight and Lifestyle Solutions, Tierra Owen, The Hearth and Ledger, Wild Beauty Cosmetics, GOAT Santa Cruz, Loving Hands Infant Massage, Far West Fungi, Amelia Yeager of Looking Good Feeling Good.

Santa Cruz Wellness Expo happens 1–4pm on Sept. 20 at MAH, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. Free, but register in advance at elizabethborelli.com/scwellnessexpo.

Always on Tour

Comedy

DNA

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September 17, 2025

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Paula Poundstone, the delightfully intelligent and engagingly scruffy veteran comic, continues to be a leading voice of sanity in an increasingly nutty world.

Poundstone has been performing brilliantly unique stand-up comedy every week, around the world, since 1979. It’s oddly compelling that, in spite of her easy 10K times onstage, Poundstone might be best known for her current work on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! A radio show. Radio!

“When I was younger, I didn’t even like public radio,” says the always refreshingly honest Poundstone. “I eat those words now, because I do love public radio, and I think it provides a really important service. But, you know, I was young and stupid. They just always sounded too whispery to me. And that kind of voice drove me crazy.”

Every week, for almost 50 years, Poundstone has traveled nonstop, across the country, making strangers laugh. And if you condense her arc, Poundstone went from working her way up from legendary San Francisco dives like the Holy City Zoo and the Other Cafe to touring the world.

When questioned, Poundstone—who thinks like Jack Kerouac writes, and talks with a stream-of-consciousness set of memories that contain a View-Master look at our rich regional comedy history—the answers come fast, so you need to keep up.

“You know, what I used to do at the Holy City Zoo,” Poundstone begins. “It’s a tiny, tiny place, if you’re familiar with it. And it had a chalkboard. Sort of not right directly behind the performer, but on the wall to the side of the performer. There was a chalkboard where they would have your name up in chalk. And so I used to delight in taking the chalk from that board and drawing. I can’t draw, not any way, but I would make stick figures of the audience. It was just a way in, and I liked it so much that I actually bought a chalkboard, and an easel, and used to take them on the road.

“I used it until, I believe, I was opening for Dave Mason. His roadies were putting their stuff away, and they just took it. And I never bothered replacing it,” Poundstone laughs.

The one thing you can’t manufacture, yet, is authenticity. It’s something people aspire to, or somehow fool themselves into thinking that their conformity is authenticity, but either you got it, or you don’t. And comedian Paula Poundstone has always had it. She was always there in her corner, always talking on and on and on, or napping with a blanket over her head—but mostly just waiting, patiently, to go onstage and create something new.

More than ever, people are talking about comedy. And there’s a lot of statistical analysis, AI-generated dialogues, and Bro Joes talking about the “best comics”—and their data is complete garbage. Because their sense of humor has been co-opted, monetized and sold back to them. It’s an ouroboros of ass-eating jokes for eternity.

On the other cheek, you have comics like Paula Poundstone. It isn’t about viral moments, or crowd clips, or what does AI think—it’s about the work.

“This is the greatest job in the world,” Poundstone starts. “You know, it really is. I mean there was, and I’m not proud of this, but there may have been a brief period, prior to the stay-at-home order, and maybe possibly where I complained about the travel. …

“I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know if we would ever be able to be in theaters again because of this virus. There was really that period where there was just such uncertainty. And boy, after that, you could put me in the overhead compartment and I’m fine, you know? I mean, I never needed fancy to begin with,” she concludes.

And that’s Paula Poundstone. She might phase back and forth between timelines, but she’s always in the moment, trying to find the heart of the matter—and make it funny.

Paula Poundstone appears at 8pm on Sept. 19 at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets: $30/$45. riotheatre.com

Taking the Lead

Music

Dave Gil de Rubio

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September 17, 2025

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When Ruthie Foster opens her mouth, it’s hard to believe the little girl who started out playing guitar in church in Texas was more than content, as she said in a late-June interview “to be the person who backed up incredible singers because I was really, really shy.”

But 10 studio albums in, Foster has developed a rich voice that lives at the crossroads of gospel, blues, soul and country and has garnered her six Grammy nominations, with the most recent being a win for Best Contemporary Blues Album by way of 2024’s Mileage. For the Lone Star native, who grew up taping sermons and regularly attending services in the small town of Gause, she’s just as surprised to see where she’s wound up.

“I thought I wanted to be part of a group that could really move people,” she recalled. “I wanted to be support, because I didn’t want to be up front. Little did I know that I had a knack for being up front because I had studied so many incredible players and singers in the church. Great guitar players—rhythm guitar players and incredible soloists, including my mother putting on Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, young Aretha [Franklin] and Dorothy Norwood, who was a great gospel songwriter—all of these songwriters who wrote gospel. I was introduced to all of that first.”

While sacred sounds lit the fuse, Foster was quick to embrace secular music once she focused on studying music and audio engineering at Waco’s McLennan Community College. There she transitioned from playing in Black and white churches to widening her musical palette while getting a real-time education in the blues.

“I went to school for music so I was surrounded by blues, which didn’t move me as much,” she admitted. “Later on, when you have something to say you realize that the blues says it all. The first time really experiencing the blues was when Stevie [Ray] and Jimmie Vaughan were playing Waco. We got a chance to open for The Fabulous Thunderbirds when Jimmie was with them, so I got a chance to watch the band and make eyes at Jimmy down front. They would come through Waco at a time when my band, which was mostly Hispanic, was doing a lot of quinceañeras.”

Over time, Foster’s role as a musical sponge has found her working with a number of artists, ranging from the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gov’t Mule to late producer/musician Jim Dickinson, the Blind Boys of Alabama and storied soul singer William Bell. Along the way, the singer-songwriter, 61, has accrued a stellar string of albums, including 2007’s The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster, 2008’s The Truth According to Ruthie Foster and 2017’s Joy Comes Back, while dropping on an array of eclectic covers drawing from myriad corners of the music world, including The Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Adele and The Meters.

For the current album, Mileage, Foster worked with producer Tyler Bryant, who also enlisted wife Rebecca Lovell (one half of duo Larkin Poe) to help with the creative heavy lifting. That collaboration eventually found Foster shuttling between the duo’s Tennessee home and Texas.

“Mileage came about one song at a time,” Foster said. “I was introduced to Tyler Bryant during the lockdown. Everyone is on YouTube, and that’s where I saw him and loved his segment on Andrews Masters, his YouTube channel. He mentioned Paris, TX so now I know this guy is from Texas. That stuck in my mind—and the fact this twentysomething little white boy from East Texas was playing slide guitar like an old Black man and I needed to know where he learned that. Fast forward and it’s time to do another project. My management mentioned Rebecca, from Larkin Poe, who is also part of my management. Her husband was this guy named Tyler. I asked if he wouldn’t happen to be Tyler Bryant and that’s what brought us together.”

She added, “I started taking trips up to Nashville, sat on their couch, drank coffee and talked about my life. They are wonderful listeners. Me and Rebecca sat across from each other just coming up with lyrics for “Mileage” for that particular song while Tyler walked around with an acoustic guitar, coming up with chords. And then we just kind of did that off and on for about nine or 10 months. Maybe one or two songs per visit.”

With a brand-new batch of songs under her belt and a solid canon to draw from, being on the road is a constant state of being for Foster, who plans to keep fans guessing on her current string of dates.

“I’m mixing it up on this go-round,” she said. “I will be anywhere from solo to quartet, so they can expect anything from just having ‘An Evening With…’ to me and my fellas with me.” For this week’s show at Moe’s Alley, Foster will perform with Chris Jones, frontman of local band Wolf Jett. Foster promises to do material from the new album, but she’ll also look back at earlier work, including 2007’s The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster: “We’ll try to put it all in there and stuff it.”

Ruthie Foster appears with Chris Jones of Wolf Jett at 8pm on Sept. 18 at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. Tickets: $45. moesalley.com

Yuk It Up

Comedy

DNA

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September 17, 2025

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Adam Bergeron and wife Jaimi Holker are back in the owners’ saddle at The Crepe Place, which bodes well for the Santa Cruz comedy scene. Previous shows with Neil Hamburger, Kyle Kinane and other quirky underground legends have made The Crepe Place a bit of a legendary spot for the yuk yuks.

Starting on Thursday, Sept. 18 is a new monthly (third Thursdays) comedy show at The Crepe Place, with longtime Santa Cruz comedian Richard Stockton.

Stockton is a fixture in the local comedy scene, pioneering the revered Planet Cruz Comedy shows that zeroed in on “what’s weird (and funny) about Santa Cruz.” The silver-coiffed curmudgeon was the only white comic on BET’s influential show Live from LA, playing the “out-of-touch” Caucasian, on set, with folks like Dr. Dre, Shaggy and L.V. (singer of “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which was the theme song for Dangerous Minds, which was filmed in Santa Cruz).

This new monthly show is born out of Stockton’s vision and Bergeron’s loyalty to the comic. “I’ve always felt a special kinship with Richard,” Bergeron says. “After his Planet Cruz Comedy shows, the whole cast would come in afterwards, and we’d put our big tables together in the back, and we’d all hang out ’til closing. It’s going to be nice to sort of officially put a stamp on it.”

It’s a new gambit for the Crepe Place to use the recently renovated, spacious backyard patio as a comedy venue—and it’s a super nice spot.

“We see the garden as a community multi-use space that is used for a broad spectrum of entertainment, but we’ve always wanted comedy in here, and Richard is the comedian I like. Our ethos aligns, and this seems like a perfect marriage. I want him to get us all riled up in a beautiful setting,” Bergeron says.

Both men are committed to a thought-provoking space, where freethinkers can congregate and express their art, and that sounds perfectly Santa Cruz.

Comedy in the Garden begins at 6pm on Sept. 18 at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. thecrepeplace.com

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

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September 17, 2025

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HERE’S ONE TO INCLUDE IN THE TOP 50

Not to disparage the 50 honorees in your list, but Celia Scott, always supported by her husband, UCSC Physics Professor Peter, surely deserves a place for her years-long leadership of the efforts to secure the magnificent greenbelt that surrounds Santa Cruz, from Pogonip and Lighthouse Field up the coast to the Moore Creek Preserve, Wilder/Gray Whale State Parks and Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument.

Starting in the 1970s, Celia led the campaigns to keep these cherished lands from development, and to insulate Santa Cruz from the urban sprawl that affects the Santa Clara Valley.

A city planner and an attorney, Celia helped win passage of the California Coastal Act in 1972. As a Santa Cruz City Council member, mayor and force behind the local Friends of the North Coast organization, as State Sen. John Laird wrote after her death last year at 89, “I cannot recall a major environmental issue in Santa Cruz that she was not involved in.”

Those issues included the ban on offshore oil drilling and the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

As you jog along West Cliff, whale watch on the Bay, ride the trails at Wilder/Gray Whale or hike at Cotoni-Coast Dairies, imagine what Santa Cruz would be like with Lighthouse Field the site of a convention center, a town of 30,000 on Wilder Ranch, and our new national monument cut up into several dozen parcels dominated by huge mansions. All real possibilities! That we and generations of our descendants are now and forever will be able to enjoy these precious lands preserved in their natural state is thanks to no one more than Celia Scott. She should not only have been on your list, but at the top.

Ted Benhari | Bonny Doon

WELCOME TO THE NEW HOTEL

La Bahia Hotel has finally opened, finally, despite the vitriolic opposition over the years from a cabal of obstructionists who used the issue to fuel their personal political agendas. The new structure fits in beautifully on Beach Street between the Wharf and Boardwalk. The original building with its bell tower has been meticulously restored. More importantly, the hotel provides jobs for many local people, even from the adjacent neighborhood, and brings in tax revenue to support municipal services. And, of course, visitors will spend money in locally owned small businesses. Standing on the Wharf, the forested mountains are clearly in view, contrary to the hyperbole from the opposition. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this project.

Robert deFreitas | Santa Cruz

BONDS ARE NOT A GIFT

The people who live in the Pajaro Valley School District have voted for bond measures for infrastructure improvements in our schools. These improvements are long overdue. Bonds are not gifts. They are essentially loans that need to be paid back by the taxpayers. I was shocked that in the Sept. 10 PVUSD board meeting my trustee, Joy Flynn, had to ask what a bond is. She is a voter in the district. Did she not know then what she was voting for? Now she gets to vote how the money is spent. How can the people of our district trust the board to make good decisions with such incompetent people sitting there?

Gil Stein | Aptos

¡Vino Victory!

Dining Reviews

Mark C. Anderson

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September 17, 2025

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Who says the government never does anything tasty?

In 2004, the California State Legislature designated September as California Wine Month.

So—yes, math majors—this is the year that the month turns old enough to drink. (And, BTW, the wine-stacked Golden State turns 175.)

Here appear three divergent—and character-rich—ways to mark the occasion, in order from mo$$$t to lea$t.

1. Buy a barrel and do vinotherapy.

I had to include this for its uniqueness. But that applies to the other entries too. For the coastal climate cool price of $30,000, couples can do the Carmel Valley and Vine Escape at Bernardus Lodge & Spa, where Dream Inn Exec Chef Gus Trejo now runs the kitchen. That includes a vineyard tour and ceremony to place a personalized plaque on one’s own row of vines, private cellar tours and tastings, dinner in the vineyard under the stars curated by Trejo, vinotherapy spa treatments, an entire barrel of Bernardus wine (336 bottles, with one case labeled to the guest’s adopted vine and the rest featuring a custom special label). Go big/go for broke/go for it!

2. Go little then go home (happy).

This reps a spiritual and literal counterpoint to the Bernardus package: The Margins Wine Cubby is so modest in size that if you squint you can feel like you’re inside a wine barrel, in a comfortable way. The best part about this Westside treasure are the intriguing vinos curated by Megan Bell—on our visit, a fresh Paicines Verdejo, juicy Rosy Wake blend and memorable Grenache, among others—upped by energy from the blossoming tasting team of one and empanadas from next door Fonda Felix. When The New York Times’ Eric Asimov highlighted after our visit, writing, “I’ve never had a Margins wine that I haven’t liked a lot,” that provided FUNctional affirmation.

3. Get catty with your Cabernet.

I love Wine Enthusiast contributor Jeff Bogle for this story idea (“The Ultimate Guide to Pairing Wine with Cats—Yes, Cats”), and that admiration amplifies with the project that helped inspire it (Street Cats & Where to Find Them: The Most Feline-Friendly Cities and Attractions Around the World). Bogle checks in with wine experts on the way to highlighting how we can be better examples of our species by pairing cats with varietals rather than food—Maine coons with mourvédre, Siamese and sparkling, ragdolls with chardonnay, etc.—while dropping dimes like with the “Tortie: Petit Verdot” mini chapter “just as these bottlings boast a deep color (dark purple), these kitties are just as richly hued.”

My closing thought: Cats don’t belong to us any more than wines “belong” to the winemaker. Both feline and vine are the product of nature, gently guided to not eat us alive.

QUALITY CALORIES

About a cork’s throw from the Wine Cubby (see #2, above) sits the dynamic Izakaya West End space (328 Ingalls St., Santa Cruz)—long known as West End Tap & Kitchen—which closed mid-summer so its owner-operators could focus on Tortilla Shack and East End Gastropub in Capitola. Both the landlord and later the new tenant have been cagey about details, but I have learned who they are, and that’s promising in and of itself: Manresa Bread, the celebrated baking team with multiple outposts, including one right next door…Drop your line in the waters quick, as the latest Get Hooked! flavor-forward/local fisherfolk-supporting/fly-restaurant collaboration happens a day after this land on newsstands, with Pete’s in Capitola hosting to support Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust efforts to keep local seafood alive. petescapitola.com/events-1/event-one-smywg…Permaculture Santa Cruz is looking to fill two new full-time job openings, sales manager and crop production manager, and its Harvest Dinner approaches Oct. 12, santacruzpermaculture.com…Vampire Ball at Chaminade Resort—21+ costume party with cash bar, heavy bites buffet, bloodsucking DJ, fortune tellers, fire dancing, costume prizes and endless IG photo opps—happens Oct. 24, $50 pre-sale, chaminade.com/things-to-do-santa-cruz/vampire-ball/…

From “Showerthoughts” on Reddit: “Trying to get all the groceries into the house in a single load is both lazy and ambitious.”

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