The cannabis business, while populated largely by serious, well-intentioned people, has more than its share of crazies and mercenaries. Go take a look at just about any Internet forum devoted to cannabis, and you will find people trading in all kinds of conspiracy theories and making all kinds of wild claims both for and against cannabis.
Predictably, given the current state of civilization, some cannabis advocates and peddlers of elixirs now declare that their products can alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19—or even cure it.
No one is as critical of the quacks than the marketers of legitimate products sold for legitimate uses and advocates of sensible, safe marijuana public policy. The Washington Post earlier this month published an op-ed written by Baltimore history teacher David A. Guba Jr. headlined: “No, cannabis is not a miracle cure for COVID-19.”
It’s disheartening that such a message needs to be delivered to a mass audience, but the fact is that there is so much chicanery in the cannabis business that it’s now joining with “essential oils” and other quack cures as major presence in multi-level marketing schemes and in online marketing schemes like email spam and Facebook ads. That’s bad not only because people are getting ripped off and misled, possibly in dangerous ways, but also because CBD and some essential oils are also legit products with valid uses.
Peter Jonathan Hanna has more than 8,000 followers on Twitter. In his pinned tweet, he declares that “Cannabis cures all diseases” and that it is “the most powerful medicine in history.” Perhaps he’s never heard of penicillin — or perhaps he thinks it was a fake cure invented by the wicked masterminds of the pharmaceutical industry.
On March 31, Hanna, who is selling a book full of his thoughts about cannabis, proudly pointed to a High Times article that mentioned the “Coronavirus cannabis prepper kit” he was promoting on YouTube. The kit includes weed, food and a semi-automatic rifle.
The same day, Hanna tweeted: “My family and I have the coronavirus.” In a subsequent tweet on March 16, he said he was “99 percent sure” they had the virus, and he posted a video on YouTube where he asked viewers to weigh in on the question. He hasn’t mentioned it since, at least on Twitter, and he didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
If somebody with 8,000 followers can be said to be fringe, the same can’t be said of former NFL player Kyle Turley, who has more than 48,000. Turley played offensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints, the Kansas City Chiefs and the St. Louis Rams until 2007. He began using medical cannabis to address lingering pain from game injuries and to combat “bouts of depression and rage,” as the Los Angeles Times put it.
In mid-March, just as it became clear the pandemic would be severe, Turley started promoting a CBD product online. “@NeuroXPF CANNABINOIDS CAN HELP BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM AND WIN THE WAR AGAINST #COVID19 ask @ drsanjaygupta,” he tweeted on March 19, pasting in an ad promising that the CBD oil would “Boost Your Immune System” and “Crush Corona.”
Turley is or was an owner of NeuroXPF, the company that makes the oil. He also is or was an owner of a cannabis dispensary in Moreno Valley, in Riverside County. After getting a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission, which has taken a hard line on companies selling supposed COVID remedies, he claimed he had relinquished his stakes in those businesses, which has not been independently confirmed. He said selling off his ownership has freed him to speak as a “private citizen.”
And speak, or rather yell, he has. “CANNABIS WILL PREVENT & CURE COVID19!!!!!!!…..commence the hate,” he tweeted on March 29. There is some research indicating that CBD and other cannabinoids can have calming effects, but much remains unknown about how that might work, whether it works similarly for everyone and whether it’s effective for every kind of emotional or behavioral malady.
Meanwhile, while it’s possible that some cannabis components might be antiviral agents, there is nothing like proof of it, much less any evidence that anything in the plant might be effective against COVID-19, a virus that is only months old. Nonetheless, the people making these claims point to this preliminary research as “proof” that cannabis will cure the virus.
Turley was still going strong this week. After having name-dropped Dr. Sanjay Gupta, one of the few TV-famous doctors who offer sound medical advice, Turley started yelling at him in all- caps, too, for not pushing cannabis as a treatment or cure for COVID-19. Gupta has in recent years become a careful advocate of medical cannabis, promoting it as a palliative for things like pain and seizure disorders only when there’s evidence for the claims.
There are many, many more examples of people with large followings promoting pot as a cure for the virus. Filmmaker and outspoken Hindu nationalist Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri tweeted that “Cannabis is a magic plant.” The tweet was accompanied by a picture of what looked like a still from a news show reporting that “Weed Kills Corona Virus.” When it was pointed out to that the picture was a fake created on a meme site, he refused to back down. Agnihotri has 313,000 Twitter followers.
“There is absolutely no proof or substantiated science indicating that somehow either cannabis or hemp cure or mitigate COVID-19,” pot lawyer Hilary Bricken wrote on her firm’s blog. Businesses and consumers “need to be on the lookout for snake-oil cures and/ or curative claims being shamelessly pedaled across the cannabis and hemp industries during this volatile time.”
Prohibitionists are making crazy claims as well. When the Drug Policy Alliance promoted an online festival, the proceeds of which would be directed to COVID-19 relief, Kevin Sabet, founder and president of the anti- cannabis group tweeted: “We’re trying to stop people dying, and you’re encouraging behavior that makes COVID-19 worse.”
Asked by multiple people how an online festival could make the virus worse, Sabet asked whether the event was “going to have anyone online using drugs” and whether it would “have messages promoting drug use.”
The people making this claim have more of a leg to stand on than do the cure-promoting quacks, but just a bit. Many doctors warn that smoking or vaping could make COVID symptoms worse and make it harder for the lungs to fight off the disease, although new research from France shows that a strikingly low number of smokers have gotten sick from the virus.
In any case, the legit cannabis industry as a whole, including the Drug Policy Alliance, has repeatedly warned about the potential risks from smoking, and also warned pot users not to share smoking or vaping devices. Most have suggested using edibles until the pandemic has passed.
“Get some … Graham crackers with the marshmallows. Little marshmallows with little chocolate bars and we’ll make some s’mores man. Celery, grape jelly, Captain Crunch with the little crunch berries, pizzas, we need two big pizzas, everything on ‘em, water, a whole lotta water and…….Funyuns.”
Don’t, ever, forget the Funyuns.
Any pothead growing up in the 90s will no doubt remember—and probably relate to—Jim Breuer’s post-bong-rip wishlist during the legendary munchies scene in the now-cult-classic movie Half Baked. The film features four 20-something slackers—characters played by Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Diaz, Jim Breuer and Harland Williams—living together and living to smoke Mary Jane.
Sadly, Williams’ character Kenny never returns heroically with the oh-so-important Captain Crunch, peanut butter or Funyuns. He ends up feeding every item on the carb, salt and fat-rich shopping list to a police horse that subsequently dies. It’s unclear whether Brian, Breuer’s character, is more distraught about his buddy being thrown into jail with a million-dollar bail figure, or missing out on the s’mores he was so desperately craving.
Half Baked may slightly exaggerate certain aspects of cannabis culture, but there is no denying one thing: the “munchies” are very very real. But why? Why, after sparking up a massive J or taking a few drags on a vape pen do we experience often-overwhelming urges for carb-rich and sweet and salty foods?
It turns out, there’s a bit of science behind it.
Researchers have recently unearthed a number of concrete reasons for why cannabis makes people so ravenously hungry. Most of our cannabis related food cravings can be blamed on marijuana’s cannabinoids, specifically tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). When THC travels into the deep regions of the human brain, it nestles into and stimulates the endocannabinoid system, an important area that regulates a person’s energy balance and feeding behavior.
In short, cannabis plays a trick on people’s minds—fooling their central feeding system and making them feel hungry even when they are full. THC is a tricky little bugger. It interacts with receptors in our brains that regulate important things like smell, taste, pain and emotions.
Most folks don’t realize that our brains produce a long list of their very own cannabinoids – lipids that help to moderate mood, pain reception, memory, and appetite. Sort of like a tick, THC attaches to the cannabinoid receptors in our brain—mimicking the same chemicals and effectively fooling the brain. The area of our brain that tells human beings to stop overeating effectively mutates—morphing into the driving force behind our often-insatiable hunger.
The hormone ghrelin, which has long been known to stimulate hunger, is another important byproduct of THC. As is dopamine, which is released by THC and enhances the pleasure of eating. Dopamine makes eating food more of an adventure and more enjoyable in general. It also lowers people’s inhibitions by influencing the brain’s pleasure and reward centers. This means that people are more likely to make unhealthy and sub-par food choices after consuming or smoking cannabis. Funyuns, anyone?
As THC pulses throughout the brain, it starts to interact with the cannabinoid receptors in a person’s olfactory bulb. Smell and taste become far more intense and sensitive, and food looks, smells, and tastes great! Aromas are far more potent after consuming cannabis, and every single basic taste—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savory)—more noticeable and pronounced. This is a big reason why food can be oh so pleasurable after smoking weed, and why people crave and eat more in general.
It turns out that overweight and obese people have more of a munchie response than the skinny- minnies out there. THC interacts with and activates the dopamine systems of obese men and women to a much greater degree than the non-obese population, steering them to a variety of sweet and salty options and “junk food.” Marijuana edibles can add another complicated wrinkle to the mix, compounding THC’s impact on weight and appetite. Rich foods like brownies, cookies, and cakes contain a massive amount of calories themselves. By causing significant drops and increases in blood sugar levels, the THC in edibles can increase cravings for even more unhealthy options in a salty, fatty cycle.
So the majority of cannabis users out there are super-obese, right? Surprisingly, no. A handful of studies actually indicate that heavy users of cannabis are leaner – with a lower body mass index- than the general population. Cannabis may lead to weight gain in those who are low weight, but it doesn’t seem to affect those who are overweight or normal weight the same way.
Cannabis science is relatively young, but there is no doubt that the drug can have therapeutic benefits. Appetite stimulation does have a medical upside. Many elderly patients and those who suffer from HIV or cancer rely on cannabis to stimulate their appetites and keep them healthy. Researchers are beginning to uncover the ways that cannabis increases appetite, and they may be close to developing ways to reduce a person’s appetite as well. With almost 100 cannabinoids in a single plant, the psychoactive and therapeutic effects of many of cannabis’s components remain a mystery.
There’s no question about it. This year’s cannabinoid darling is cannabidiol (CBD). The Food and Drug Administration recently approved CBD to treat pain, depression, anxiety, and nausea – and the cannabinoid is literally everywhere. No, CBD won’t get you high. But what about cannabidiol’s effect on appetite and the legendary munchies?
Turns out, CBD has little to no role in the munchies process. It can, however, do many other groovy things. CBD will calm a person’s digestive tract and nervous system – reducing nausea and making a person want to eat slightly more. CBD is also a known and proven pain reliever, and researchers say that feeling less pain can boost a person’s appetite. Treats, beverages, and other edibles containing CBD won’t get you buzzed or lead to the munchies, but one should still use caution. Don’t consume an entire six pack of CBD beer or an entire bag of CBD brownies, unless you want a CBD belly.
One decade ago, Créme De Canna began providing cannabis products for people who depended on medical marijuana to manage a wide range of maladies.
The business’ name is a nod to the days when it produced cannabis-infused ice cream, which had names such as Bananabis Foster and Straw-Mari Cheesecake.
Founder Jonathan Kolodinski says he launched the business as a way to combine his desire to improve the quality of life for those that need it with his “affinity for dessert products.”
And so Créme De Canna became known, among other things, for delicious ice cream with labels so infused with color that some stores griped they were “too loud” for their shelves, Kolodinski says.
That art can still be found on the company’s line of apparel. But gone are its days of ice cream production.
Under Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2016, perishable products that require refrigeration are no longer permitted.
But the law has allowed the business to continue producing numerous other cannabis products, which are now available at dispensaries throughout Santa Cruz County, and at dozens of others statewide.
This includes crumble, shatter, pre- rolled joints and dried marijuana buds.
Now, as the business celebrates its 10th anniversary, Kolodinski is looking to double the number of employees and expand production.
“We’re very grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to follow our dreams,” Kolodinski says. “And we’ve had the support of our community to bring the highest quality medicine to the market.”
“As a group we have stood strong and withstood the test of time to try to bring the highest quality medicine we can to the people of California,” he says.
Kolodinski is also founder of Jade Coast Organic Farms, which provides the plants for Créme De Canna. The business also gets its product from the Growing Family Collective and Zion Farms, both also local businesses.
In addition, Créme De Canna packages and markets cannabis products for growers such as Coastal Sun Cannabis.
Kolodinski says the transition to a legal market required a deep understanding of the strict regulatory standards that revolutionized the cannabis industry under Prop 64.
“There have been a lot of growing pains,” Kolodinski says. “I don’t think anybody really fully comprehended what was going to be asked of us.”
This has included building Class-1, Division-1 extraction room, a designation that means the facility meets stringent industry safety and quality standards.
“We have this unique opportunity to constantly keep up with new technology and procedures and allow for us to make any product imaginable,” Kolodinski says.
And it is that doggedness that has allowed Créme De Canna to weather yet another storm: the wide-ranging impact of shelter-in-place orders in the wake of coronavirus.
“From a business and logistics standpoint, it’s another challenge we’re having to climb,” co-owner Mark Davis says. “In the last three years, all we’ve done is had rocks thrown in our way. So at this point we’re used to removing boulders. So we just see it as another boulder we need to work around.”
That became somewhat easier after state officials deemed the cannabis industry an essential service, which allows most businesses to remain in operation.
“In this time of need where our community and our humanity as a whole is having to reassess the way in which they contemplate their true reality, were very grateful for our ability to be able to provide this medicine,” Kolodinski says.
When California Gov. Gavin Newsom last month gave the emerald light allowing cannabis dispensaries to remain open and sell marijuana during the shelter-in-place order, Assemblyman Ash Kalra saw no reason why Santa Clara County wouldn’t follow the state’s lead.
Instead, local health officials restricted recreational cannabis to delivery-only and in-house sales to medical marijuana users in an effort to promote social distancing and curb the coronavirus outbreak.
“That’s when it raised my eyebrows,” Kalra says.
While Santa Clara County’s more restrictive stay-at-home mandate doesn’t necessarily make a distinction between recreational and medical, the county’s decision makers say the general rule is that healthcare operations get to stay open, dispensaries doling out medical marijuana being one of them.
The ruling, which came in a set of frequently asked questions that popped up on the county health department’s website on March 22, sent shock waves through the South Bay cannabis industry. Dispensaries and advocates argued that the local rule harkens back to a less enlightened era and runs contrary to the will of California’s voters, who overwhelmingly favored legalized recreational marijuana in 2016.
“The differentiation of medicinal and adult-use cannabis doesn’t really exist anymore,” says Chris Lane, chief marketing officer of San Jose-based Airfield Supply. “Anyone over 21 has
the legal right to access cannabis. … There’s no other essential business that’s experiencing additional rules and regulations.”
Oakland-based cannabis attorney James Anthony called the FAQs problematic because, “they create an artificial distinction between medical and non-medical based on some unknown authority that does not exist in state law.”
Anthony has since launched a petition, which has garnered more than 21,000 signatures, urging Santa Clara County to reverse its decision and “not roll back Proposition 64.”
Proposition 64’s passage eliminated the need for medical marijuana cards.
But while the number of people with prescriptions dwindled, those needing cannabis for health-related reasons didn’t. Restricting who’s allowed through the doors, Kalra says will strain the still- developing cannabis delivery market.
“The cannabis industry is still in its infancy and facing a number of logistical and fiduciary challenges,” Kalra and state Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose) wrote in a letter to Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody. “Requiring the industry to build delivery capacity under current circumstances is impractical and runs the risk of driving demand to the underground illicit market.”
Dispensaries have already started to see an uptick in delivery sales. Caliva CEO Dennis O’Malley previously said that deliveries usually bring in one-third of the company’s sales.
“But over the course of the past month, we’ve seen this revenue model shift with delivery offerings now securing about two-thirds of our total income,” O’Malley said in late March.
Although delivery sales may be booming, Lane says he has concerns about their ability to make all of the orders.
“Even if we combined all the efforts of every dispensary in the Bay Area, there’s not enough supply or capacity to meet the demand,” he says.
Wendy Sollazzi, who heads San Jose Police Department’s Division of Cannabis Regulation, says they’re running the risk of marijuana users going back to the black market.
“The advantages of keeping licenses ‘recreational’ retail cannabis providers open to the public, while following social distancing requirements, is that people in San Jose are electronically age- verified and they are obtaining lab-tested product,” Sollazzi says. “Closing retail stores will redirect their purchases to the illegal market selling untested products and not age-verifying.”
On April 6, Kalra and Beall, along with San Jose City Council members Pam Foley, Magdalena Carrasco and Maya Esparza, lobbied the county health department to reverse its decision and allow curbside pickup.
Foley says she was especially concerned about seniors who rely on CBD oil for pain management. “A lot of seniors, they don’t have smartphones, and if they do, they don’t want someone to deliver CBD ointment for a drive by,” she says. “[It] makes it very difficult for a population that’s already at high risk.”
But County Executive Jeff Smith and County Counsel James Williams say that people don’t need medical marijauna cards for in-person purchases at dispensaries.
“The health order doesn’t say anything about medical cards or prescriptions or anything like that,” Smith says. “That’s not required pursuant to the order at all. It’s really an individual is on [the] honor [system]. If they need it for medical purposes, they can go to a dispensary.”
Despite what people on all sides of the question might say, declaring cannabis to be an “essential” service, thus keeping dispensaries open along with grocers and pharmacies, isn’t necessarily an easy call. Most consumers of legal cannabis are recreational users, after all. Most of them don’t need cannabis, as much as they might appreciate having it while they’re stuck at home. If it’s crucial that we eliminate human contact to the greatest degree possible, why should cannabis be excepted?
It’s a dilemma that local governments have wrestled with since the middle of March, when six Bay Area counties, followed later by the state government, issued stay-at-home orders and forbade all but “essential” businesses to close down. Although “essential” included cannabis, the details of how pot businesses should be allowed to operate were let to local jurisdictions. San Francisco at first declared that cannabis shouldn’t get the designation at all, but quickly backed off. A couple of weeks ago, Berkeley issued an order that cannabis shops had to close, even for curbside pickup. Only deliveries would be allowed. That order was rescinded in less than a day.
On April 1, Santa Clara County ordered that cannabis sales would have to be delivery-only, except for medical marijuana purchases. Local dispensaries, customers and some of their shops’ suppliers mounted a pressure campaign to get Santa Clara to back off, just as San Francisco and Berkeley had done. A petition drive collected more than 18,000 signatures as of April 8, according to campaign leaders
The groundswell of support for the petition is not surprising. The bottom line for cannabis businesses and their customers is that, since cannabis has been deemed “essential” by the state, there’s no good argument for treating it any differently than any other business. One big reason: while recreational sales make up the bulk of the business, lots of people really do need cannabis for medical reasons. And, especially since cannabis became legal in California, there’s a murky middle ground, where many “recreational” users depend on cannabis partly to address health concerns, but don’t have a medical marijuana card. It’s a restriction that isn’t applied to, say, people who want to buy aspirin at CVS, or a bag of donuts at Safeway for that matter.
“With the passing of Prop 64, a medical card was essentially deemed unnecessary,” wrote Jocelyn Sheltraw, an executive at the cannabis-data outfit Headset, in an open letter to government officials posted on LinkedIn. “In fact,” she continued, “according to officials in Santa Clara County, 95 percent of people do not hold medical cards.”
If medical marijuana had been kept a separate business from recreational pot, it might be easier to shut down the recreational part, critics of these restrictions note. As it stands, it’s impossible. What’s more, many consumers who use cannabis to treat aliments are elderly or poor. “Both of these populations may have limited access to the Internet, which would prevent online ordering,” Sheltraw wrote. “And equally as important, these patients may need consultation with dispensary staff to receive proper medical guidance.”
Oakland-based cannabis attorney James Anthony warned that if the county’s rule remains in place, “It would set a really bad precedent, and other governments around the state could follow suit.”
Demand and average sales figures at Santa Cruz County cannabis dispensaries may be (way) up since the state enacted its sweeping shelter-in-place mandate, but no business, not even those in the red-hot cannasphere, are immune to the effects of the coronavirus.
Even though marijuana is widely considered a “non-cyclical,” capable of weathering (and sometimes flourishing in) tough times and economic downturns, the nasty little virus has put considerable pressure on the cannabis industry.
Officials in Santa Cruz County, like many other municipalities across California, have deemed cannabis dispensaries to be “essential,” allowing them to remain open alongside supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations and banks. However, unlike almost all other essential businesses during these trying times, operators in the cannabis space are barred from receiving any and all federal assistance because the crop is still illegal at the federal level. That means dispensaries will not see a dime from the gargantuan $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) act.
“They are dependent on customer transactions to survive. If customers stop coming to them, that’s a big problem,” says Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer Melodye Serino.
According to the federal government, cannabis is a Schedule 1 controlled substance, so dispensaries, growers, cultivators, those doing lab testing and distributors won’t receive a crumb of the economic recovery package. If capital gets tight—and it has for many operators—there’s often no one to turn to. Banks can be prosecuted for conducting any business with cannabis companies, so loans (aside from the high-interest private sector) and cash for daily operations can be hard to come by. And due to the federal illegality of cannabis, dispensaries are precluded from taking federal tax deductions for their operating expenses.
“For cannabis businesses to be deemed essential but not eligible for any federal relief, it’s a bold contradiction between state and federal policy. It’s huge,” says Colin Disheroon, CEO of Santa Cruz Naturals. “We’re essential businesses that don’t get any tax relief, must conduct transactions without credit cards, and aren’t given any employment relief. Plus, we’re taxed heavily at all levels of the industry. All of these things may not impact us right now, but 2-3 months down the road… the cannabis industry finds itself in a potentially dire situation.”
Today, business for most players in the local cannabis industry is strong, but some wonder and worry whether the industry can sustain itself in the face of an uncertain future and global pandemic.
“I think all of this will be good for us, but not for a lot of people. Especially those without a delivery license. Which is pretty much everybody,” Cole Hembree, owner of Curbstone Exchange Dispensary, tells Cannabis Chronicle. He fears that the other 15-plus brick and mortar dispensaries across Santa Cruz County may have to close their doors—at least temporarily—in the wake of the rapidly changing global pandemic.
In other parts of the country, things in the cannabis space are markedly changing—and not for the better. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak recently declared that all recreational and medical dispensaries must close their storefronts immediately. The Nevada Department of Taxation effectively outlawed curbside pickups of herb overnight. Don’t start crying for all of those Nevada potheads though. Cannabis will still be available, but only by delivery. With 38 dispensaries delivering cannabis across the state, Nevada consumers will get their weed—they might just have to chill a bit.
Santa Clara County’s top officials recently decreed that dispensaries would no longer be allowed to sell recreational weed to customers at their brick-and- mortar locations. South Bay weed purveyors are allowed to sell medicinal marijuana in their interior spaces (and by curbside), but recreational users must now use a delivery service to receive their medicine. Some dispensary owners, especially those who don’t (or can’t) offer delivery service, are irate.
By barring recreational or “adult-use” customers, they contend, the county is virtually eliminating the majority of their day-to-day business. To put things in perspective, only 3 to 5 percent of South Bay cannabis consumers do so with a doctor’s rubber stamp.
While cannabis is deemed “essential” in most counties, licensed dispensaries face an uncertain, and somewhat terrifying, future. “Right now we’re open for the public, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be open tomorrow,” says a manager at Capitola’s Herbal Cruz Dispensary.
“I think things are going to get worse— not better. People need to listen. And no one listens. I think they are really going to shut everything down. That is what is going to happen in Santa Cruz,” the manager says.
AT RISK COMMUNITY
What will happen if local dispensaries are forced to shut down in the wake of a citywide—or nationwide—quarantine? Where, and how will residents get their medical and recreational cannabis? The black market in Santa Cruz County will no doubt rise, flooding the area with untested, unregulated, possibly toxic, breathed-on and handled products. And dispensaries who deliver, like Hembree’s Curbstone, will probably need to buy more cars. But in all seriousness, many people could suffer.
“We have a large clientele who are medical patients. A lot of veterans, and members of the general public, coming into our shop and needing their medicine. To an extent we act as a pharmacy. The effects of us having to close our dispensary would show up almost immediately. It wouldn’t be good,” says Bruce Valentine, a budtender at the Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance (SCVA).
Through its Veterans Compassion Program, SCVA serves around 150 veterans each month by handing out vouchers redeemable at its own dispensary. Local veterans each receive 8 grams of SCVA’s own flower at no cost. Without a physical dispensary, this program may be interrupted.
Access to and hours are severely impacted in countries like Italy, but pharmacies remain open for business. But how will dispensaries, who often act as de facto pharmacies themselves, be treated and effected if similar quarantines and social distancing measures are implemented on a national level here in the United States? We’ll most likely have to wait and see.
As the merry month of May is just around the corner, along with the warmer weather that comes with it, we turn more toward white and Rosé wines. Birichino makes a delicious blush wine called Vin Gris that’s sure to lift one’s spirits—something very much needed right now.
“Like the ideal Provencal Rosé,” say Birichino owners John Locke and Alex Krause, “our Vin Gris allies the suggestion of citrus, rosehip, orchard fruits and violet pastilles with the enigmatic imprint of garrigues—the wild herbs which aromatize the Provençal countryside.” An intricate blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Rolle and Mourvèdre, the 2019 Vin Gris “enlivens many a savory dish.”
“The most relevant distinguishing traits of the 2019 are a dramatically increased percentage of old vine fruit,” say Locke and Krause, “specifically Mourvèdre derived principally from a dry-farmed vineyard planted at the end of the 19th century.”
A beautiful salmon pink wine with a delicate minerality, rich berry flavors and an aromatic herbaceous border, the Vin Gris is a delicious bargain at $17, and it comes with an easy-to-open screw cap.
Although tasting rooms are closed, wine is still available for pickup at most places. Birichino’s tasting room is smack in the center of downtown Santa Cruz, so when you’re picking up your dinner-to-go from one of the many downtown restaurants, you might as well stop at Birichino for some good wine to pair with it. They have a fine array of different wines to choose from. And right now they’re doing a six-bottle pack of different spring wines for $140 with ground shipping included.
Birichino Winery, 204 Church St., Santa Cruz. 831-425-4811. birichino.com.
Continuing Support For Local Wineries
Pelican Ranch in Scotts Valley is doing a Corona Wine Case—select three or more from their list and they offer free local delivery. Big Basin has an ongoing promotion of 10% off online orders. Silver Mountain has Spring Shelter Specials—a mixed case of fine wines for $198. Bottle Jack is partnering with Lago di Como Ristorante for advance food purchase and pickup at the Westside tasting room on Saturdays.
As the coronavirus has spread, comparisons to the influenza pandemic of 1918 have continued to grow. For most of us, our knowledge of that outbreak a century ago quickly went from “I vaguely knew there was a ‘Spanish flu’ a long time ago” to something more like “Did you know there was a global pandemic from January of 1918 to December of 1920 that infected a third of the world’s population, and by the way it wasn’t really a Spanish flu?”
Even though I’d read up a bit on its history in the last couple of months, some of the parallels between the 1918 pandemic and our current situation that Geoffrey Dunn writes about in his cover story this week still shocked me. Perhaps more so than the details of the outbreak itself, it was reading about what it was like right here in Santa Cruz—how it terrified and ravaged this community 100 years ago just as the coronavirus is doing now. Seeing the photos from that time, especially of men and women on a local beach in masks, really drove it home.
It’s fascinating to read in Dunn’s story about the squabbles and feuds that hampered efforts to contain the spread of the virus, and how crazy and petty they seem now. I can’t help but wonder what our descendants a century from now will think when they read how we handled our own pandemic.
My business is over 117 years old—dry cleaning and laundry, deemed an essential business. We have reduced our hours in efforts to get our employees some payroll. Our normal bread and butter customers have shut down or reduced (i.e. hotels, Presidio of Monterey, food service, doctors, dentists, attorneys, etc.). We are continuing to service our local emergency operations, homeless projects, fire fighters, police, CHP and sheriff departments. We are proud to serve our first responders.
When the PPP program starting accepting applications, we applied to over eight banks, one by one we were told we did not have existing relationships. The banks (Wells Fargo and Bay Federal) of which we do have business relationships were unable to assist us (Wells Fargo, due to a hand slap because of false checking account quotas, only accepted preliminary applications for approximately nine hours) and Bay Federal who as of today has not been able to set up applications or guidelines. Then funding ran out.
In the meantime my father (a cancer victim) was admitted into Einstein Hospital in Pennsylvania for low blood pressure, lack of appetite, loss of energy. After a two-week stay, he was transferred to a rehabilitation clinic in Pennsylvania. After two days in the rehabilitation clinic, my father was very weak, under distress and with shortness of breath. 911 was called. My father was then transferred to ICU at Potts Hospital in Pennsylvania with all markers showing COVID-19. Tests were requested, and we were told it takes 24 hours for the results, but as they must perform the test in house, their lab is showing a 20% false negative. We must wait for the false negative before we can test again and send that to the larger more reliable labs taking another 24 hours of wait time. I have been asked to sign a DNR along with the hospital clergy offering counseling, as my father is now not expected to make it through the night.
I cannot get gloves, face masks, hand sanitizers, etc. for my employees that are servicing our first responders. I do not know how I can make payroll on the first of the month for my 17 employees that are willing to serve our communities and first responders.
Please get testing in place. Please get small business relief. Please pass additional funding for hospitals in their own bill. Please pass assistance at the state levels in an additional bill. Playing the blame game is killing my family, it is killing my business, it is hurting my employees.
Pamela Whittington | Classic Vapor, Santa Cruz
ONLINE COMMENTS
RE: ELLEN BASS
It’s been my honor and privilege to learn from Ellen Bass through a couple of her workshops and by reading and re-reading her work. I’m thrilled to own her latest book, Indigo.
— Annis
Re: NONPROFITS IN NEED
When those government checks for $1200 start coming in, there are some who really won’t need it. It is a government handout that could be so much better spent by having it funneled to the non-profits of Santa Cruz. I plan to pass mine onto the non-profits of Santa Cruz because without them, this city loses it soul. The Good Times is in a unique position to try and make this a trend. Furthermore, those who have too high an income to get the refund should be urged to dig deep and make a $1200 donation regardless.
— Peter Emanuel
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
Caroline Pate and Ted Fehn created this signpost in the Santa Cruz Mountains to offer a little comfort and inspiration for positive thinking in difficult times. Photograph by Caroline Pate.
Submit to ph****@go*******.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
TEST WISHES
In response to high demand, UCSC Molecular Diagnostic Lab will begin doing coronavirus tests for the UCSC Student Health Center and medical providers in the local community, starting May 1. The campus lab will work with local medical providers to test patient samples, initially partnering with the Student Health Center and Santa Cruz Community Health. According to a university press release, the lab will turn around results quickly—within 48 hours.
GOOD WORK
FACE FIRST
Now that face coverings are required across Santa Cruz County, the city of Santa Cruz has launched the 10,000 Masks Project. City staff worked with local business Harts Fabric to secure 200 volunteers and 7,000 yards of fabric, thread and elastic. Santa Cruz distributed 200 kits with enough material to make 50 masks each to volunteers on Monday. The city expects to soon reach its goal of 10,000 masks for distribution to workers providing essential services and persons experiencing homelessness and workers in key industries.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past.”
Because in-person events across Santa Cruz County have been canceled or postponed following the shelter-in-place order, Good Times is compiling a weekly list of virtual events hosted by local artisans, artists, fitness instructors and businesses. To submit your virtual event, send an email to ca******@go*******.sc.
ARTS
MAH FILM NIGHT: RADICAL FUTURISMS PART II RESCREEN: Join the MAH to watch films from a diverse group of visionaries on topics and themes related to our current exhibition, Beyond the World’s End. Curator TJ Demos will provide a virtual introduction of these films which seek to offer points of light in a dark world. These films focus around central questions such as how are virtual artists imagining radical futures? How can the traditions of oppressed peoples become the foundation of the future? How can social justice and ecosystems flourish going forward? How can we escape our current climate catastrophe and anxiety and instead transform the present time into a radical future by asking what is “not-yet”? Those who RSVP’d via Eventbrite will receive a Zoom link at 2pm and 6:40pm on the day of the event. If you have questions please e-mail in**@sa**********.org. Wednesday, April 29.
VIEWABLE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA: CABRILLO GALLERY EXHIBIT ‘SIX YEARS SMITTEN: OBJECTS OF ADORNMENT.’ We miss seeing you take your time so generously with the artwork in our gallery. But this too shall pass, and we will be able to gallivant around to different venues again someday and bump elbows. In the meantime, we hope you are making the most of hunkering down at home; tidying up, being creative, or continuing work remotely. Since there are more than 150 pieces in the show, we are posting regularly on Facebook and Instagram so you can get a daily inspirational dose of the artwork. You don’t even have to join Facebook to just tune in and see the images. They are available to everyone; you can sidestep the prompt that comes up to join or log in.
DNA’S COMEDY LAB VIRTUAL COMEDY Who says comedy has to be in-person to be funny? We can still laugh over the internet. DNA’s Comedy Lab is hosting live standup (sit down?) in online Zoom meetings, plus their open mic and Sloth Storytelling Show, all online. Visit dnascomedylab.com for more information.
CLASSES
PARADIGM SPORT LIVESTREAM CLASSES LIVE While we are sheltering in place, one of the best things we can do for the health of our minds is to move our bodies. When we move together as a community, connected by the desire to inspire and promote wellness, we encourage, motivate and lift each other beyond what we might think is possible. Every day at noon. 426-9500. paradigmsport.com.
TOADAL FITNESS ONLINE CLASSES Toadal Fitness is streaming live classes and workouts that don’t require much if any, workout equipment. You must be a member, so visit toadalfitness.com to sign up. Members can get access to classes at toadalfitness.com/online-classes to take a class.
KIDS EXERCISE CLASS Stuck at home? Don’t let that stop your kids from getting quality exercise. Tune in for a fun, creative way to exercise at home! This class meets state curriculum guidelines for children’s physical education. Classes taught by bilingual trainers (English and Spanish). Our collective health is critical now more than ever! We all need to be healthy to boost our immune systems and fight this virus. We may all have to socially distance in the physical sense of the word, but we do not have to be entirely separated and isolated. All you need is a streaming device, water, Wi-Fi, and a positive attitude. Tune in to our online fitness and education sessions. Pay what you can, and together we will make a stronger, healthier, more resilient community of wellness. We hope to partner with you on your journey to optimal health to keep this going as long as possible. Please RSVP, then use this link to join our sessions: zoom.us/j/344330220. Contributions are via: Paypal: ja***@sa***********.com. Venmo: @santacruzcore. Every day at 11am. 425-9500.
GROUPS
HEALING CRYSTAL BOWL SOUND BATH Relax, empty out and soothe our nervous systems in these uncertain times of great change. While humanity is laying low, nourish your spiritual immune system with high resonance alchemical crystal vibrations! Support all aspects of your being. Ride the wave for one hour with Sonic Vibration Specialist Michele for a deep journey with harmonic, alchemical crystal bowls and chimes. Feel free to sit up or lay down in a restorative pose to receive this uniquely relaxing expression of compassion. Immerse yourself in healing crystal bowl sound resonance and Michele’s angelic voice. Singyoursoulsong.com. Every Monday at 7pm. Online-By Donation: eventbrite.com/e/harmonize-w-alchemical-crystalline-sound-immersion-tickets-102214323794.
VIRTUAL GUIDED MEDITATION Reduce stress with meditation and maintain a healthy lifestyle during social distancing. Join us for a free virtual session. It’s been a tough week. In our lifetimes we have never faced a public health crisis like this one. As a locally owned small business, this situation is particularly overwhelming and stressful. Yet, we are also grateful. Grateful for our amazing cohort of practitioners that want to help as many people as they can. Grateful for our dependable back office and administrative support team. And, most of all, grateful to you, our community who has helped my dream of co-creating a community of wellness become a reality. Without you, there is no Santa Cruz CORE! Please RSVP, then use this link to join our sessions: zoom.us/j/344330220. Contributions are via: Paypal: ja***@sa***********.com. Venmo: @santacruzcore. Every day at noon. 425-9500.
VIRTUAL YOUNG ADULT (18-30) TRANSGENDER SUPPORT GROUP A weekly peer support group for young adults aged 18-25 who identify as transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, agender, or any other non-cisgender identity. This is a social group where we meet and chat among ourselves, sharing our experiences and thoughts in a warm, welcoming setting. Our meetings will be held on Discord during the Shelter in Place Order. For more info, contact Ezra Bowen at tr***@di*************.org.
LGBTQNBI+ SUPPORT GROUP FOR CORONAVIRUS STRESS This LGBTQNBI+ support group is being offered to help us all deal with stress during the shelter-in-place situation that we are experiencing from the coronavirus. Feel free to bring your lunch and chat together to get support. This group is offered at no cost and will be facilitated by licensed therapists Shane Hill, Ph.D., and Melissa Bernstein, LMFT #52524. Learn how to join the Zoom support group at diversitycenter.org/community-calendar.
OUTDOOR
OCEAN CLIMATE ACTION WEBINAR In a time of crisis, we look for hope and action. The climate crisis prompted youth to demand a Green New Deal. But the Green New Deal lacked the “Blue.” The Center for the Blue Economy has partnered with Blue Frontier to put the ocean and coasts front and center in climate solutions with the Ocean Climate Action Plan (#BlueNewDeal). Join us on Wednesday, April 29 beginning at 9am PST to learn more about this consensus plan, formed with input from thought leaders from across industry, government, academia, and the conservation community. The webinar will feature keynote speakers, discussion, and Q&A on each of the main topics in the plan. Participants may join for any portion of the webinar, and registration is preferred, but not required. Hosted by David Helvarg, Blue Frontier and Jason Scorse, Center for the Blue Economy, Middlebury Institute of International Studies. The plan, with its growing support, will provide the template for historic ocean climate legislation and policy actions. See the schedule of speakers, register for the webinar, and be a part of the growing wave of support. Please visit the Ocean Climate Action webpage: middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/center-blue-economy/ocean-climate-action-summit.
LIVE FEED FROM THE AQUARIUM It’s not recommended to go outside a lot at this time, but that doesn’t mean the outside can’t come to you. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has its live feeds up and running, from the jellies to the aviary. Log on to montereybayaquarium.org for more information.
NOON IN THE PARK Tune in to our livestream at noon! facebook.com/countyparkfriends. Walk a walk with us; we host virtual storytimes, special guests with yoga, music and more. Every day at noon.
The year 1918 was one marked by death and destruction on a scale never recorded before in human history. World War I—the “war to end all wars,” as it was tragically dubbed—wrought havoc across Europe and left a ghostly wasteland of roughly 40 million soldiers and civilians in its wake. Probably twice that many were wounded or deformed. The fighting in the trenches of France, Belgium and Germany was particularly gruesome, leaving an entire generation scarred and haunted by its terrors.
On the heels of this apocalyptic bloodshed came an even more deadly and invisible executioner in the form of an influenza pandemic—which today is known incorrectly as the “Spanish flu”—that was to claim more than 100 million lives during a trio of outbreaks that circled the far corners of the globe over a period of roughly two years.
The first wave of the global influenza pandemic hit the United States in March of 1918, when soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, broke out with flu-like symptoms before being sent to Europe to fight in the war. It is now believed that the disease mutated in Europe, turning deadly, and soon there was a massive outbreak among troops and civilians alike living in the mud, blood and grime. It returned to Boston in April, then back to Kansas in mid-summer, traveling along transportation corridors, until by Sept. 24, headlines in the Santa Cruz News declared: “SPANISH INFLUENZA STRIKES DOWN MANY IN EASTERN CAMPS.”
Three days later, it hit California. State newspapers noted there were more than 6,000 new cases of influenza being reported in U.S. military installations across the country, and that the first cases in California had been reported in Camp Kearny in San Diego County, 10 miles inland from La Jolla. The virus, following highways and rail lines, quickly spread northward—Los Angeles, San Pedro, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Sacramento. By mid-October, there were 6,092 cases reported in the state.
Red Cross nurses ready for the ill, 1918.
Santa Cruz’s first encounter with the pandemic came indirectly. On Oct. 7, 22-year-old Evan Marlin, a graduate of Soquel Elementary School and a private in the U.S. Army, died of pneumonia at Camp Grant, then a military base in Rockford, Illinois. His obituary in the Evening News did not mention the pandemic, but the newspaper in his family’s hometown of Newman, California, noted that his illness came “very probably following the Spanish influenza.”
His mother, living in Capitola, received a curt telegram from the Army: “What disposition do you desire made of the remains[?]”
Less than a week later, local papers reported the death of Santa Cruz teacher Grace Baldwin, the daughter of prominent local bank president Frederick D. Baldwin, who was visiting with family in North Abington, Massachusetts, just south of Boston. This time, the influenza was identified as the cause.
“Miss Grace Baldwin was one of the most truly popular women in Santa Cruz,” the Evening News reported. “As a teacher at the Mission Hill school, she was eminently successful and well-liked and in her social life carried sunshine and happiness wherever she went.” She was only a few weeks shy of her 44th birthday.
Then the pandemic really hit home.
On Oct. 15, in what was described as “the first death in Santa Cruz directly traceable to the Spanish influenza,” Loula Jones, another “popular young woman” in Santa Cruz, lost her battle with the virus at her Eastside home on Pacheco Avenue. She had been working earlier that summer at a pair of downtown establishments. “Her death,” the Evening News declared, “has cast a pall of sadness over Santa Cruz, where she numbered her friends by the score.”
That same day, funeral services were held locally for Carleton Canfield, the 17-year-old son of local insurance impresario Charles E. Canfield, who died while attending Harvard military prep school in Los Angeles. His obituary noted that he was “the victim of Spanish influenza.” James “Jimmy” Leask, from another prominent family that owned the Seaside Store (later to become Leask’s department store downtown), also contracted the flu while studying at Harvard in Los Angeles, but he survived and returned home in late October.
Within a week, the number of cases being reported in California had grown tenfold—up to more than 60,000. New cases in Santa Cruz and the rest of the county were reported daily. In Soquel, then a small agricultural community, the elementary school was shut down due to an outbreak there. In Watsonville, where the fall harvest was concluding, the Japanese and Croatian communities were hit particularly hard.
Santa Cruzans followed the plight of “Miss Elsie King,” a well-known Santa Cruz High teacher, then working during the war for the federal government in Washington, D.C., and who, it was reported, had “been very ill with Spanish influenza and pneumonia.” A week later, she was said to be “improving and believed to be out of danger at this time.” She survived and eventually returned to teaching Latin and mathematics at the high school.
Family Ties
Almost instantaneously, the numbers and statistics appearing in the local newspapers were replaced by deadly accounts involving family, friends, neighbors and community figures. That which was previously abstract was replaced by real flesh and blood. The distance between life and death was eliminated.
Sometime during the late 1970s, my mother, born in Santa Cruz in 1915, contracted a severe case of influenza and had a temperature approaching 103°F, along with tremendous body aches and pain. I remember being frightened, as I cared for her, by the seeming virulence of the illness.
“Don’t worry,” she assured me. “I survived the Spanish flu when I was a girl, and I will survive this.”
That was the first time I had ever heard about it. The distance between history and the present had vanished.
My mother casually mentioned surviving the “Spanish flu” from time to time after that, and several years ago, while doing research in the archives of local newspapers, I came across a page-three account in the Santa Cruz Evening News from the autumn of 1918.
“The influenza is very prevalent among the fishermen, where in several cases, the entire families are ill,” the newspaper reported. “Nearly all of the patients reside on Lighthouse Avenue, Laguna and Gharkey streets.”
At the time, that section of Westside Santa Cruz was called the Barranca, then a neighborhood of claptrap homes filled with multi-generational families from Liguria, in Northern Italy, who had immigrated to Santa Cruz and had formed an extensive fishing community on the city’s Westside.
The article went into specifics and, suddenly, the influenza of 1918 became very personal to me. “Cottardo Stagnaro [my grandfather] of the Stagnaro fishing company, his wife [my grandmother] and four children [my mother, my aunts and an uncle] are all ill, five members of the Olivieri family, two children of Steve Stagnaro, a son in the Bassano family, Mrs. Clara Ghio, Mrs. Catharina Castagnola and others.”
They were all cousins or married into each other’s families, one way or the other, and I knew and loved them all in my youth.
My mother showed me a picture in her scrapbook of her aunt, Clara Loero Ghio (my great aunt), in a mask that my mother told me she was required to wear in Santa Cruz during the 1918-1919 pandemic.
It was a stunning, memorable image. The photograph, clearly taken in a studio in which the photographer had placed her next to a table with a flower arrangement of some sort and a strange stuffed animal at her feet. My aunt is wearing a stylish dress and in her hat is a chrysanthemum. Her strong rough hands reveal a life of working in canneries, tending to her garden and mending fishing nets. And her eyes, highlighted by the mask, stare directly into the moment and the catastrophe at hand.
My great aunt Clara was a sweetheart, but she was tough. Clara was a survivor, too.
Clara Loero Ghio in a mask she was required to wear in Santa Cruz during the 1918 pandemic.
Eerily Familiar
As those of us living in the 21st century are painfully aware, there are no rules or regulations in place when a pandemic hits. It’s a time of full-catastrophe living at its best. Existential anarchy prevails.
If the times were dire in 1918, some of the journalism at the time was equally odd, and, of course, downright sexist. “Masks are Now in Style” one Evening News headline proclaimed. “This influenza epidemic has caused the vanity of women to take a great big slide,” the newspaper declared, “as none could possibly say these masks are becoming …. Of course the young girls don’t mind wearing them right now, for what difference does it make if they are not very becoming, as all of the young men are at war, and there really isn’t any reason why the girls need look particularly fetching.” Such was the state of sexism in our community on the eve of Congress ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment, which provided women with the right to vote.
Proposed remedies for the 1918 influenza were many and often byzantine. Everything from placing an onion on the bedpost to sprinkling Indian tobacco on a victim’s chest to pointing the left index finger at the moon were promoted as providing a cure. Eucalyptus oil, whisky, camphor, castor oil, quinine, cayenne pepper (followed by a liberal dose of laxative), ad infinitum were advanced as elixirs. One reporter condemned the remedies as being based on “home treatment, witchcraft and voodism”—although no one, it should be noted, had gone so far as to suggest the injection of Lysol.
Fortunately, a trio of public health officials began to assert their will over the pandemic, albeit some more effectively than others: Dr. Adolph Nittler, chief health officer for the City of Santa Cruz; Dr. William H. Keck, the County Physician; and Dr. Aaron Bixby, health officer for the City of Watsonville. Unlike today, when the County (under the direction of Public Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel) has taken the lead in shaping the local response to the pandemic, officials in the county’s two municipalities took the reins in 1918.
Nittler, for several years the chief physician at the Portland Cement Company in Davenport, had assumed the chief medical post in Santa Cruz a year earlier. On Oct. 14, 1918, Nittler noted that while there was yet “no epidemic of Spanish influenza in the city,” he proclaimed that “if each and every family will take ordinary precautions, cases that might start here could be easily controlled and the number minimized.”
Shortly thereafter, as the number of cases in the city climbed exponentially to 128, Nittler closed down theaters and public meeting halls and declared that churches would only be allowed to hold “open air” services provided that “members of the congregations wear masks.”
He called for the Santa Cruz City Council to hold a special session, during which they adopted an ordinance, going “into effect immediately,” requiring every person appearing in the street or anywhere else in public “to wear a gauze mask.” All but two physicians in the city supported the ordinance.
In the county at large—which oversaw the unincorporated communities of the San Lorenzo Valley, the North Coast and Mid-County—Dr. Keck ordered the use of masks in public as well (including on street cars), along with the closing of saloons, pool halls, soda fountains and ice cream parlors—though take out orders were permitted. Restaurants were prevented from selling alcohol on Sundays
In Watsonville, Dr. Bixby had a rougher row to hoe, the metaphor being very much intended. The farming community in the Pajaro Valley and nearby foothills refused to support restrictions or enforcement of the mask ordinance. Bixby, who was born during the California Gold Rush and had once had his medical license revoked in the 1880s, originally opposed use of the masks, then changed his position.
It wasn’t until the first week of November that the Watsonville City Council adopted such ordinances and until mid-month that Watsonville Chief of Police Sylvester Whitsett asserted that “all people without the gauze masks on will be arrested.”
The cantankerous editor of the Watsonville Pajaronian, James J. Piratsky, and Bixby engaged in a very public feud, with Piratsky declaring that Bixby “should not object to our chewing the rag about it a little when we have to lungs full of lint.” Bixby dubbed Piratsky an “editorial autocrat,” while the latter responded that if Bixby truly supported the ordinance, “why doesn’t he obey it himself?”
While the Piratsky-Bixby skirmish may have sold newspapers, by the time public health restrictions were in place, influenza cases in Watsonville had soared to 840— reflecting more than 15% of its population of 5,000.
Battling On
By the second week of November, it was clear that the War in Europe was nearly over and that Germany was preparing to surrender. But the war against the influenza continued. Advertisements appearing in local papers declared that District Attorney George W. Smith was prepared to prosecute those who failed to wear “the required influenza gauze masks.” Several arrests were made.
On Monday, Nov. 11, banner headlines trumpeted “HUNS QUIT!”, with sub-headlines declaring that “Germans Sign Armistice at 5 O’clock” and “Hostilities Cease at 11.”
Santa Cruz “went wild” over the end of the war, headlines in the Evening News proclaimed. “Horns and whistles shrieked,” the newspaper reported. “Bells were rung, the sleepy-eyed citizens left their warm beds, dressed and hurried downtown where they heard the news which virtually brings to an end the world’s most terrible war …. The strangest ceremony, the most emotional in its intensity, and the most enthusiastic in the city’s history took place at the post office steps at 3:30 this morning …. Miss Corinne Wood then stepped out of the crowd and led the singing of the national anthem, probably one of the most impressive choruses that has ever been rendered in the history of this county.”
Santa Cruzans celebrate the End of World War I at the Downtown Plaza, November 11, 1918. Photo: Courtesy Gordon van Zuiden
Afterward, some youngsters ventured to the nearby Chinatown, where the influenza impact was reportedly mild, securing ”enough firecrackers to again set the echoes of freedom in Santa Cruz ringing.”
At some point, celebrated local photographer Ole Ranvos captured an image of the gathering at the downtown plaza. It records several hundred people in dark clothes assembled for the celebration. While social distancing certainly wasn’t in place, most in the crowd were wearing masks.
The battle against the influenza waged on. A third wave of the influenza hit the Central Coast in January of 1919, causing illness and more deaths until the end of February.
Five years ago, archivist Greg Gardner of the Museum of Art and History carefully assembled a list of all those who died in Santa Cruz County during the Great Pandemic. He calculated a total of 65 deaths—19 in Santa Cruz, six in the San Lorenzo Valley and 40 in Watsonville, nearly 1% of its entire population and representing nearly four times the mortality rate of Santa Cruz.
Life Lessons
As I read through the papers of local newspapers from a century ago garnering this historical record, I was startled by how many names I recognized and how many people I actually knew while growing up as a kid in Santa Cruz many decades later. Jimmy Leask, for example, who was one of the first locals to contract influenza, was a buddy of mine and very active at the Yacht Harbor during my early sailing and fishing days there in the 1970s.
I hadn’t realized that my mom’s entire family—and so many in the Italian fishing community that had nourished me when I was young—had been stricken with the influenza. How my life would have been irrevocably altered had they died. My great aunt Clara was a special favorite of mine and I loved hanging out with her in her backyard wine cellar while she sorted through fava beans. She lived to be 68. Her husband, my great uncle Cottardo “Trub” Ghio, had fought in France during World War I and lived to be 92.
Life goes on, as we know. And then it doesn’t.
My mother, who would outlive the pandemic by nearly a century (she died at the age of 99 in 2014), had a survivor’s attitude for most of her life. She was sweet, usually, but always tough and feisty and determined until the end. The Great Pandemic of 1918 was simply her first hill to climb of many, and it gave her a sense of underlying confidence that she could survive others.
For marginalized poor and immigrant communities, that hill is steeper—they had much higher mortality rates then, as they do presently. A dear friend of mine—an 86-year-old immigrant from Trinidad—died from the coronavirus in the Bronx last week. It was a harsh reminder of that reality.
Nietzsche was right: That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Human communities have survived wave after wave of pandemics for millennia. History reminds us that life is a bit of a crapshoot. We will mostly get through this current challenge, but, unfortunately, not all of us. It was a sobering reality a century ago, just as it is today. Mortality is the nature of the beast.
