Santa Cruz is still awaiting answers as details about local victims of a Labor Day boat fire near the Channel Islands continue to trickle in.
Soquel Creek Water District has confirmed that Vaidehi Campbell, a communications specialist for the district, was one of nearly three dozen victims in a predawn fire aboard the dive boat Conception off the coast of Santa Cruz Island on Monday, Sept. 2. The sudden eruption of flames, which is under investigation, claimed the lives of 34 people onboard for a three-day diving expedition just off the coast of Santa Barbara.
Campbell worked in several departments during her 18 years with the district. She launched a geographic information system platform and became an expert in many technology tools, according to a press release from Melanie Mow Schumacher, Soquel Creek Water’s manager of special projects and communications.
Early Monday morning on the boat, five crew members who were upstairs and awake managed to escape the 75-foot vessel alive. But downstairs in the sleeping quarters, all 33 passengers and one crewmember died.
Among those killed were two students of Pacific Collegiate School. The Santa Cruz charter school has identified students Berenice Felipe, Tia Salika and Salika’s parents—Steve Salika and Dianna Adamic—as four people on board. Another local, Kristy Finstad, co-owned Worldwide Diving Adventures, the company that chartered the dive. She was also a victim of the fire over Labor Day weekend of the recreational scuba-diving trip around Channel Islands National Park.
On Friday, USA Today reported that the victims likelydied of smoke inhalation, not burns. The Associated Press also reports that Truth Aquatics Inc., which owned the boat,filed a measure in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to limit its liability from lawsuits that families of the victims may attempt to bring after the tragedy by leveraging a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law.
I can’t say enough good things about Brandon Armitage and the wines he makes. This dedicated, dyed-in-the-wool winemaker strives to produce only the best.
His newly released Heart O’ The Mountain 2017 Pinot Noir Estate Blend is a masterful example of superb Pinot. But then, the vineyard in Scotts Valley is situated on prime land on what was once the historic Alfred Hitchcock estate. Now taken care of by the talented Armitage, the property produces more voluptuous grapes than ever—all harvested by hand during the cool, early-morning hours.
Bursting at the seams with dark fruit, earthy flavors and rich aromas, this world-class 2017 Pinot Noir ($48) is available at the Armitage tasting room in Aptos Village. Another chance to sample will be when Armitage pours his wines at the Harvest Dinner (see below) at Lester family’s Deer Park Ranch.
Armitage Tasting Room, 105C Post Office Drive, Aptos, 708-2874. Open Wednesday through Sunday; check armitagewines.com for hours.
Tiny Winery Concerts
Armitage Wines has also launched a Tiny Winery Concert series at the Hitchcock estate now home to the vineyard. Winemaker Armitage says that the concerts are a way to combine his love of music and wine while bringing joy. The next concert presents Keith Greeninger from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept.14.
Celebrate harvest under the stars at Deer Park Ranch in Aptos with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Experience an evening of award-winning wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains made by a dozen local winemakers, including host Lester Estate Wines. Paired with delicious food prepared by Brad Briske of Home restaurant in Soquel. Proceeds benefit Hospice of Santa Cruz County.
Pinot Noir & Chardonnay Harvest Dinner, Sunday, Sept. 8, 4-9 p.m. Deer Park Ranch, 2000 Pleasant Valley Rd., Aptos. 685-8463, scmwa.com. $150.
Orlando Osorino, founder of Central Coast pop-up Tortas Al 100, is focused not only on reinventing the torta, but also on his community.
In addition to making the rounds at breweries like Beer Mule, Elkhorn Slough Beer Co., Shanty Shack, Fruition, and Corralitos Brewing, Osorino uses Tortas Al 100 events to support local causes. He spoke to GT about building the perfect torta.
When did you come up with the idea for Tortas Al 100?
ORLANDO OSORINO: We are involved with the community with a civil rights organization, and we do a lot of community service. Periodically we attend city council meetings, and last year, they were proposing that they wanted to start a flea market at the Salinas Rodeo.
I had always had aspirations to be a business owner, and I always wanted to go into the food industry, because I know what I like. I know what I like to eat. I have a crazy idea of what other people might like to eat.
How did you come up with your name?
We wanted to do something more modern, and more the trend that is going on right now in Mexico. There’s slang words where they will be like ‘el viejon’ or ‘el patron’ or different things that kinda mean either power or hip or modern. It was funny, we were just sitting there, and my wife was just like, “What about Tortas Al 100?”
What makes a good torta?
I think the principal things that make a good torta is going to be fresh produce. And when you are cooking with fresh meats, good seasoning, right temperatures. You don’t want to have your meat overly dry, you don’t want to have your salsas overly spicy. I think that the bread definitely ties everything together. We don’t actually use bolios. A lot of people use bolios. We use talera bread. The talera bread is a lot less hard and crunchy on the outside.
What’s your craziest torta?
A: The Don Cheeto. We put chipotle mayo on the bun and we toast it. Of course the mayo has a little bit of fat in there, so it gets a nice crisp. Then we spread the bean spread on there, and then we throw cheese down directly on the grill so it gets nice and bubbly. We put bacon on there, carne asada and then we put it on your bread. Then we put a thin vlayer of nacho cheese, put the hot cheetos so they don’t go anywhere. Put some more nacho cheese on it, then we put lime-pickled onions. And then avocado, some more chipotle mayo. It’s a wrap.
This area isn’t known for producing a lot of YouTube stars, which makes Louie Castro’s story rather remarkable. Actually, there are a lot of remarkable things about Castro’s story, not the least of which is that he has found his online fame in Watsonville, without the similarly lifestyle-tech-obsessed community around him that one would find in Silicon Valley or L.A. That’s one of the challenges that he talks about in this week’s cover story by Denize Gallardo. I don’t want to spoil too much, but he does also do his makeup on a Boardwalk ride—he probably merits a cover story for that alone. But his views on YouTube as a career (or at least a launching pad), being gay in Watsonville, his cultural identity and personal style make this a fun and fascinating profile that offers some local insight into the phenomenon of online celebrity.
One other thing to mention this week: I’ll be judging moles at the Mole and Mariachi Festival on Saturday at the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park; come say hi in between sampling the deliciousness. I promise not to dance!
An $18,000 outside investigation ordered by city manager Martín Bernal against Santa Cruz City Council members Chris Krohn and Drew Glover has ended in practically nil findings of gender discrimination or other harassment by the accused public servants. The independent investigator in fact recommended that the city council should have sought mediation and conflict resolution services before hiring him or any further investigation like his. But for the second time, Good Times writer Jacob Pierce has successfully blown up trivial—almost non-existent—incidents into semblances of major violations of some vague code of civil conduct possibly located in City Manager Bernal’s back pocket. The real issues at this point aren’t whether some councilmembers are arguing too vigorously for their point of view, which is to consider real reforms. It is that under the city manager form of government as practiced in Santa Cruz, city manager Bernal and his loyal department heads have pretty well taken over all major policy decisions; e.g., whether market-rate housing will be built on our precious remaining land for the well-to-do from over the hill, or whether we as a city try to remedy our severe shortage of affordable housing for middle-income, low-income, and very-low-income residents. City Manager Bernal and department heads regularly plop into the council agenda for rubber-stamp approval and zero time for serious consideration: plays for luxury developments, plus countless other city projects that should have serious consideration time but have no place for extensive review by our elected representatives. That’s how the actual business of the city council is never adequately considered by council itself, because the council minority has complete control over setting agenda items, and that minority has been elected by big real estate money to fast-track our city into a profit-making machine for big developers and businesses.
Hence the witch hunt initiated by Mayor Watkins and allies, and seized upon by city manager Bernal to generate sound and fury over imagined ethics violations by the most ethical councilmembers. Glover and Krohn, along with Sandy Brown, are trying to build a city that has a healthy, greenhouse-gas-free environment with room for firefighters and police, teachers, nurses and doctors, as well as health care aides, restaurant workers, hospitality, construction and maintenance workers, craftspeople, artists and musicians, poor people and marginalized communities like immigrants and people of color, and the disabled and elderly, all currently being swiftly shut out by city’s staff and the conservative council minority’s sellout of our common heritage to wealthy developers.
Their flaks in print media like Good Times and the Sentinel don’t see the water rising around them, as they ignore humane social policies and avoid effective action against the storms—physical, social and economic—arising from climate change now full-flowing all around us.
Nonetheless, a perfect storm is rising. Your focus on a tempest in a teapot is helping to build that storm. Take heed of it.
Name Withheld By Request
Santa Cruz
Re: The Doors
Drunk or sober, old or young, I feel Jim would have stayed true to that core essence of creative integrity. Truth and authenticity are a frequency, not an ideal or philosophy. It’s what you “are,” not something you’re trying to be. The great artists have very little shades of gray. It makes them great. It makes them dangerous. It makes them burnout, often too soon.
— Eric Sander Kingston
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
Submit to ph****@*******es.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.
GOOD IDEA
September is Preparedness Month, both nationally and locally—as proclaimed by the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. Residents can download the Code Red app to make sure they receive emergency notifications. The County Office of Emergency Services maintains a number of preparedness resources for residents and their families at santacruzcounty.us/OES. It’s a good time to look at evacuation routes, think about plans for alternative shelter and consider what to do about any medical, prescription and dietary needs.
GOOD WORK
Santa Cruz’s highest-paying occupations by median wages are in the areas of computers and mathematics ($77,000), management ($63,000) and architecture and engineering ($56,000). That’s according to Santa Cruz County’s 2019 State of the Workforce, done by Beacon Economics. Residents age 25 and above who commute out-of-county earn significantly higher wages than counterparts who work closer to home. Other geographic disparities continue as well; North County jobs outnumber South County ones by nearly 5-to-1. View the full report at santacruzhumanservices.org/WorkforceSCC.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“No matter how good the video on YouTube is, don’t read the comments—just don’t, because it will make you hate all humans.”
The ultimate film event for all who love the sea, the International Ocean Film Tour brings the beauty and fascination of the oceans to the big screen. The program consists of five films from oceans around the globe.
INFO: 7 p.m. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. 423-8209, riotheatre.com. $18.
Art Seen
Chetan Tierra
Local, nationally acclaimed artist Chetan Tierra is a Yamaha Artist, pianist and composer who has delighted audiences across the globe in recital, as soloist with orchestra, and on radio and TV. Chetan began playing the piano immediately after birth, and later his father would tie him to his lap, point to the piano keys, and Chetan would play. He has since performed on some of the world’s most renowned concert stages and made appearances in the most rigorous and prestigious international piano competitions ,such as Queen Elisabeth, Van Cliburn, Jose Iturbi, Hilton Head, New Orleans, Unisa, and Seoul.
INFO: 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8. Peace United Church, 900 High St., Santa Cruz. distinguishedartists.org. Donation.
Saturday 9/7 and Sunday 9/8
San Francisco Mime Troupe Anniversary Show
It’s no small feat to manage to live in the Bay Area for even a few years, let alone 60. This year, the San Francisco Mime Troupe is celebrating its 60th anniversary of free political theater in Bay Area and Northern California parks. The troupe will visit Santa Cruz with its latest swashbuckling musical, Treasure Island. The mythical island in the San Francisco Bay is under siege—by developers! Developers … they scour the map looking for cities with fat purses, ready to be plundered, and Treasure Island may be next.
INFO: 3 p.m. San Lorenzo Park, 34 Dakota Ave., Santa Cruz. sfmt.org. Free.
Friday 9/6
Lille æske Grand Re-Opening
Lille æske 2.0 (as the owners have been calling it) is getting ready to reopen the doors, and will be kicking off the fall season with a First Friday group show and grand opening party. Titled Transitions, they will be showcasing works by more than 20 local artists that inspire or interpret the fitting theme: change, evolution and becoming something else. The ladies of Sugar by the Pound will be filling the space with music, and small bites and refreshments will be available for purchase.
Santa Cruz’s Mole and Mariachi Festival is one of the summer’s iconic events. A benefit for nonprofit Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks in support of Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, proceeds from the festival fund educational programs, visitor services and restoration at the Mission. Talk about eatin’ good for the cause.
INFO: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, 144 School St., Santa Cruz. Free entry/$10 for six tasting tickets.
Sunday 9/8
Farmworker Reality Tour
This tour will give participants a rare inside view of the lives of the farmworkers who grow our fruits, vegetables and nuts. Led by Felton’s Center for Farmworker Families and Watsonville climate action nonprofit Regeneración, the tour will begin on a lovely agroecological farm off San Andreas Road in Watsonville, where the group will hear the story of a family’s border crossing and observe skills involved in picking strawberries. Next, we’ll tour the state-run Buena Vista Migrant Camp, then end with a visit to the home of a single farmworker mom and share a delicious Mexican meal.
INFO: 3-7 p.m. in Watsonville; address provided upon registration. 216-8772, farmworkerfamily.org/events. $20-30 donation.
Ever try doing your makeup on a roller coaster at the Boardwalk?
Louie Castro has.
In one video on his YouTube channel, which has 1.8 million followers, the 20-year-old Watsonville native scrambles to do his eyebrows mid-ride, juggling a small pot of Anastasia Beverly Hills eyebrow filler and dabbing at his already perfect brows between screams. Halfway into a turn on the Undertow, the online personality known for beauty and confessional videos explains, he had dropped his eyebrow pencil.
“I had to do it with my finger!” Castro tells the camera.
Since he uploaded the video last summer, it’s been viewed 1.2 million times. Other videos have racked up as many as 5 million views on Castro’s channel “Louie’s Life,” which he started five years ago when he was a student at Watsonville High.
His makeup and talon-like acrylic nails are always immaculate, but the titles of Castro’s most popular videos reveal his relatable and personality-driven approach: “Sneaking Out at 3 a.m. Con Mis Hermanas” [with my sisters], “Latinas Going Through a Breakup” and “Losing My Virginity in 6th Grade?! Storytime.”
Castro’s popularity has grown along with a diverse generation of fashion and beauty social media influencers and vloggers, who have turned get-ready-with-me makeup videos and dramatic retellings of deeply personal stories into full-time jobs. For Castro, the notoriety also comes with daily reminders of his internet celebrity, like getting swarmed by young fans at Starbucks or setting up meet-and-greets at local events like the summer Strawberry Festival.
More recently, Castro has crossed over to TV, making appearances on Univision and attending movie premieres and award shows like the Latin Grammys. His pictures on Instagram routinely get hundreds of thousands of likes, and videos with millions of views have earned him advertising income and provided inspiration for merch, like hoodies and lanyards printed with his signature slogan: “The Baddest Perra” [the baddest bitch].
True to the way he speaks offline, most of Castro’s videos are in Spanglish, covering topics like chisme (gossip), Mexican food “muckbangs” (eating and chatting on camera), or acting out Spanish skits. Castro was born and raised in Watsonville, but he weaves in elements of his Mexican heritage from his dad, a shoe repair man, and his mom, who works at a café. For advertisers, the whole setup translates to accessible content for fast-growing Latino communities.
Despite his success, Castro has chosen to stay close to home—as much as he can, anyway. He thought about moving to L.A. after he says he was bullied in high school, then briefly studied film at CSUMB, but Castro still lives in Watsonville with his parents and two sisters (the oldest, Yoatzi, is a fellow YouTuber with almost 400,000 subscribers of her own). More and more, he finds himself commuting to L.A. for industry events.
In a Q&A, Castro spoke to GT about growing up on the Central Coast, how he got over the fear of wearing makeup in public, and how he actually makes a living online.
How did your YouTube channel start?
LOUIE CASTRO: I’ve had my YouTube channel for about 5 years now. [Before that] I would make videos on Instagram. They were like 15 second videos—remember when they would only let you do 15 seconds? So it was around that time, and I started getting a lot of comments: “Oh my gosh, you should make a YouTube channel.” But I didn’t even really know what YouTube was, because I would use YouTube for music videos and to find lyrics and stuff like that. My little sister was the one who was super into YouTube, so she was like, “Yeah, there are people who make videos on YouTube. They are called YouTubers.”
When did you notice that you were gaining a lot of subscribers?
It wasn’t until I made my quinceañera video, “How to Dance at Quinceañeras.” I felt like I kinda blew up from there.
Who were some of the influencers that inspired you to start?
I loved watching Bretman Rock (a similarly flamboyant, makeup-savvy Filipino vlogger). The way he would make his videos, it felt more like he was connecting with people. Because my videos back then were just very random, like “Oh my god, I’m just gonna record me dancing,” or “I’m gonna record me doing something dumb.” But when I would see him make his videos, it kinda made me see it differently, like it was a good way for me to connect with people.
What year did you come out as gay?
I wanna say, like, my sophomore year of high school. I came out to my friends first, and then slowly started coming out to the rest of my family. I think that they were shocked at the fact that I said it, not necessarily being like, “What? We didn’t know.” Because my mom told me, “Ever since you were little, like, I just knew you were,” and so did my sisters.
What was your experience at Watsonville High?
I hated high school, like super bad. Like, “Mom, I really don’t wanna go to school.” Sometimes I would try to skip class, but then I’ve always been super into my education. There was a lot of bullying during school, especially from YouTube. It was more like, “Oh my god, what are you doing? Like, that’s so weird. Why are you making videos on YouTube? No one is going to watch it.” So it was like a lot of hate coming from, you know, other classmates or random people. Even my teachers! Like teachers would play my videos in class and like to make fun of me for doing it, or sometimes quote me on certain parts of my videos, and the rest of the class would just find it funny.
I think because of that, it was also so hard for me to be myself in high school. I was a different person. Not because I was like, “Oh, I’m trying to be different,” but it was scary to be myself when all you get is hate, hate, hate, hate. So I was just kinda hidden, keep it to myself. But I definitely do think after high school was when I was like, “I don’t give a fuck. I’m gonna do my own thing.” My senior year I definitely kinda slowly started wearing more makeup. I started dressing the way I wanted to dress. Still had a very tiny friend group.
When was your first experience trying on makeup?
I did a video on my YouTube channel (with) my older sister, who is super into makeup. She did my makeup, and it was so weird—like, so weird. She did full face, contour and lashes. And I had never tried on makeup before that, so to have no makeup, then like slap on every single product, I was like, “Oh my god.”
And even in that video, my sister had asked me, “Would you ever do makeup?’ I was like, “No.” But then slowly, as time went by, I started picking up more products, like I’d take my mom’s foundation to cover like a pimple. The first thing I ever really did was my eyebrows—started filling my eyebrows, and then little by little just started buying more and more.
HOMETOWN HEROLouie Castro in downtown Watsonville. PHOTO: TARMO HANNULA
What was your experience first going out in public in makeup?
Maybe two or three years ago was the first time. I was always used to wearing foundation and my eyebrows; that was it. But this time specifically, I put on concealer for the first time, and contour. That already made a huge difference to my face. I remember looking in the mirror and being like, “It’s so scary. Like, I don’t want to wear this out.” My sisters came and were like, “No, just do it! If you like it, just go out.”
We went to the mall, and I remember being so scared, because I felt like I was being so judged. For one, already, being gay caught a lot of people’s attention. People might not always support it, but wearing makeup on top of it I feel like is even scarier. You know, it puts you more out there. I remember walking around and being super duper nervous—every five seconds checking either the mirror or my phone to make sure I looked good. I even went into Sephora because I felt like my sisters were just telling me it looked good to be nice. I remember asking a worker, “Hi, can you be super honest with me?” I was like, “It’s like my first time really like wearing makeup. Do you think this looks good?” I remember her looking at me, and she was like, “Yeah, everything looks really good.”
Even wearing eyeshadow for the first time, it was so bad that I went back into my car and took it off. So many people were staring at me.
How did the rest of your family react to you in makeup?
At first it was weird to them. Not weird, but they didn’t understand it. I remember my mom, she’s always super supportive—both my parents are very supportive—but I think they wanted to understand what I was doing. When I started wearing makeup, my mom thought that I was thinking of going transgender. Not that she was against it or anything, but she was like, “Hey, I wanna talk to you. Are you wanting to transition?” I was like, “No, no, no. I’m happy with being a boy, but I just love wearing makeup.”
It definitely took them a while to understand it. Now it’s to the point where like my parents like it so much, like, my mom will ask me to do her makeup and my sisters will ask me to do their makeup. My dad will compliment my makeup, which to me means a lot, because I was super scared back then to even come out to my dad. I was like, “Damn, I’m the only boy in the family.” I don’t want it to feel like I’m letting him down or something like that.
With fashion, when did your style begin to change?
Senior year I started wearing crop tops and wearing brighter colors, but I definitely think even not too long ago, less than a year ago, I just really, really dove into it.
Thankfully I found a stylist who helps me dress up now. I do not know how to dress. If it wasn’t for my stylist, all I wear is just black.
How do you handle backlash?
Luckily, I’ve never had someone tell me something to my face. I feel like that is so different than seeing something online. But whenever it is online, I just ignore it or I delete it or block it. Thanks to Instagram, there’s this feature where you can block out certain words from being commented on your stuff. For my own comfort, and to not feel like I’m being attacked, I blocked so many words on that. It definitely has helped a lot. It’s taken away so much hate, so I don’t see it. I literally don’t see it. I don’t understand why so many people get so angry about it. I’m just playing with makeup, just having fun.
When did you decide to make YouTube your full-time job?
I used to work at Kmart. I worked there my senior year in high school. It was so hard. I was still trying to balance YouTube, my classes, work, and homework. I started seeing my income increasing on YouTube and was like, “Why am I still at Kmart?” It was pointless because I was making way less money at Kmart than what I was doing on YouTube.
Do people from your hometown treat you differently now?
Yeah, it’s a good feeling. When I do go out, I get recognized a lot. Being able to see the love and support in a person, instead of seeing comments, you actually get to see people’s facial expressions and how excited they get.
Has YouTube fame changed your personal relationships?
It’s so hard for me to let people into my life, because I don’t know people’s intentions. I definitely have had so many people come into my life with the wrong intentions. Like, they want to get something out of me, or even try to get a following from me. I have lost a lot of friends, and I have even lost some actual relationships because of it.
How much can you make from one video?
It really depends on the views. The more views a video gets, the more you can make from it. There are advertisements that get put into our videos, and that is a way you can make money from them. It’s not a job where I’m going to work this many hours, and I’m guaranteed to make this much money.
Sometimes you will get paid really poorly and sometimes really well, which sucks sometimes. I put a lot of effort into my videos. Some of them can be 30 minutes long. We get paid month to month.
Do you have a manager?
I have a manager. I found her about a year ago. Before having a manager, I was ripping my hair out every day because you don’t know where to go. You don’t know what to do for help.
How do you come up with content?
My video ideas will come to my head randomly. I could be eating and I will get a video idea, or taking a shower. Very few of them are planned. The way I like to film my videos is, I get an idea, and then I don’t think about it too much, because when I film it, I want it to be as natural as possible. I don’t want to have a script or follow this or that. I think the fun in me making videos and the whole comedy comes from me just doing it naturally. It can be stressful sometimes, because there will be a day when I don’t get any ideas and my upload is coming up. That’s when I get stressed out.
On average, how long does it take you to edit a video?
Average video, six hours maybe. Because I have to go through the full video, then I edit it once, then I watch the full video again and edit it twice. Then the last time I finalize everything, like add background music and add an intro and outro. It takes a big part of my day to sit there. I try not to do it all in one day, because then I won’t have time for anything else.
How long does it take you to film a video?
I try to film between two and three hours, which is so crazy to say out loud, because when you watch the video on YouTube, you really only see like 15 minutes or 20 minutes.
Do you ever feel nervous for your viewers’ reactions?
I do! What I really want to focus on with my channel is comedy. I want people to get a good laugh.
Is it difficult living far away from other influencers and trying to collaborate?
That is such a difficulty—like, huge! Obviously I live here in Watsonville, and being here for a while, I felt like I wasn’t growing because I wasn’t meeting people. I wasn’t making friends. I wasn’t meeting other YouTubers, and I wasn’t going to events.
Everything is in L.A., at least for what I do. All of my friends live over there. A lot of them move from different places, but for what we do, we have to be there. Recently I started traveling a lot more. I can tell you, I’m there all the time.
What are your plans for the future?
I am going to try to stay on YouTube and do it as long as I can and keep having fun with it. I hope this opens opportunities for me to do something on TV myself. I would like to stick with the film industry, movies or something like that.
How do you feel representing your town?
It makes me happy, because it’s very small. I get messages from people saying, “Damn Louie, it’s so crazy seeing you going out and doing these big things and going on TV and meeting people. Keep representing Watsonville.” Which is cool to me, because to my knowledge, I don’t think anyone from Watsonville has [done that]. For me being able to do these things I do, it’s cool to be like, “Oh, I’m from Watsonville.”
What was your experience growing up in Santa Cruz County?
I do love the area, especially being so close to the beach. It was always just a little drive away. There’s a lot to do around Watsonville—I don’t think there’s much to do in Watsonville, but you have everything super close. You know, you have like Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Salinas, Gilroy, and Monterey. You’re in the middle of everything, so it was fun growing up being able to travel to all these different areas, or even taking the bus to the Boardwalk. Walking around Watsonville, it’s super small, so it wasn’t like, “Oh my god, I’m going to get lost” or “What if someone does something?” I felt I knew my way around. It’s a good little place, and you know a lot of people.
Where does your comedy come from?
I feel like most of my comedy comes from my dad. He is shy and doesn’t like to come out on camera. Which sucks, because I know he would be super funny. My dad is literally just me, but older. He does all of the little funny dances that I do. He is super funny with the jokes. It’s not like those cringy dad jokes.
How important is your Mexican cultural identity to you?
Anywhere that I go to where there are more Mexicans or Latinos, I feel like I am at home. I feel comfortable. I just feel like they are super nice to me. I can relate to a lot of them. I love being Hispanic, like the food and everything about it.
Do you get responses to creating content in Spanglish?
I do get those comments, a lot of people saying things like, “Oh my god, you are so funny, but I don’t understand all of your videos.” Or I will say something and people will ask, “What does that mean?” And all of my Latinos will get it. It kind of does make me want to make pure English videos, but I feel like the only thing holding me back from not making those videos is it’s not 100% me. That’s the one thing—I just want to keep it me.
Before former Parks Director Mauro Garcia came to work for the city of Santa Cruz, he worked for the Southern California city of Vista, where he served as public works director.
Martha* worked with Garcia there. She doesn’t remember the time fondly.
“That man’s a monster,” she told GT.
After leaving Vista, Garcia spent seven years here in Santa Cruz before abruptly leaving his post as parks director a year and a half ago.
As GT learned via a public records request and reported earlier this year (“Poor Conductor,” 6/5/19), City Manager Martín Bernal asked Garcia to resign because of a violation of Santa Cruz’s employee conduct policy.
Years earlier, at the city of Vista, Martha says Garcia manipulated her into staying at a job she was trying to leave, and into beginning an affair with him.
After evaluating Martha over several sessions, a counselor hired by the city of Vista summarized his findings in a 2010 letter, saying that Garcia had taken advantage of Martha when she was in a vulnerable period of her life. Garcia targeted her and emotionally bonded Martha to himself, so that she could serve his needs, the counselor believed. Martha suffered “emotional abuse/intimidation and isolation at work,” he wrote, and a cycle was created that only made her more dependent on Garcia.
Martha ultimately left her management analyst job, under duress, she says. Nine years later, she says she hasn’t dated since—she fears men, she says—and adds that she’s been suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
After hearing about GT’s previous coverage of Garcia from a family friend, Martha called me to talk about her experience. She remembers feeling shaken when she learned that Garcia, who began his career in San Diego, had landed a new job in 2011—in spite of his track record. After she found out about Garcia’s career move, Martha says she and a friend warned a Santa Cruz official about Garcia’s past, but they never heard back.
“I’m glad that he was forced to resign,” Martha says now. “But of course, he gets his full pension.”
According to public records, Garcia received $110,000 last year—most of it from the retirement system for San Diego, where he worked for 20 years, and the rest from the city of Santa Cruz, via the state CalPERS program.
There is no evidence that Santa Cruz strayed from typical employer practices in hiring Garcia. Still, the story raises interesting questions about how much cities learn about potential employees before bringing them onboard.
After weeks of looking for a way to speak with Garcia, I stopped by his home to see if he would be willing to speak with me, or provide any contact information so that we could talk later.
“No,” Garcia told me at the door. “You shouldn’t come here.”
BAD MEMORIES
In 2008, Martha says she was going through a divorce from her alcoholic husband when she told Garcia she wanted to leave her job. She planned to take her two kids and move to Northern California to be closer to her mother, according to interviews with GT and documents from nine years ago, when she filed a complaint about Garcia’s conduct in Vista.
Martha says Garcia told her she couldn’t leave and repeatedly took her out to lunch, begging her to tell him what was wrong. She finally told him about her rocky marriage and looming divorce. Garcia was the second person she ever told, after her therapist. Martha says her boss thanked her for opening up and told her he could help her because he was “practically a psychologist,” given his master’s degree in organizational psychology. Garcia started talking about getting a divorce himself, although Martha insisted that she wasn’t comfortable hearing about it and that he should seek counseling, she says.
One day, Garcia took off Martha’s shoes in his office and kissed her, she says. Partly given the tumult in her life from the divorce, Martha says she felt confused, trapped and scared. She says that when she tried to leave either her job or the relationship, Garcia would shove papers off his desk and yell at her for betraying him and not caring about him. She says Garcia told her she couldn’t go to Human Resources about their relationship.
Martha began having panic attacks and vomiting due to lack of sleep, according to her written chronology from that time. “He knew that I was in a very vulnerable place,” she tells GT. “He would not let me out of the relationship. I used to cry.”
Martha finally did go to HR, and ultimately resigned under duress days later, she says, at the end of 2009. A nervous breakdown left her in bed for seven weeks, she says. Garcia left the city of Vista a few months later. The city adopted a fraternization policy later that year.
Vista’s city manager declined to answer any questions about Garcia or the circumstances surrounding his departure.
Martha also filed complaints with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) against both Garcia and Vista. An investigator did not establish evidence of any illegal activity, but hetold Martha it would be very difficult for Garcia to find work in the next three years while the agency kept the complaint on file, which she took comfort in.
But that didn’t turn out to be the case.
POSSIBLE PATTERN
Santa Cruz officials say they had never heard Martha’s experience.
“I know it’s one side of the story—at HR, we always try to think, ‘What’s the other side of the story?’” says Santa Cruz Human Resources Director Lisa Murphy, who was not on staff when Garcia was first hired. “But even on that surface, it’s a pretty disturbing story.”
Bernal says he wasn’t aware of any behavioral issues, either when Garcia was first hired or when Bernal promoted him from parks superintendent to parks and recreation director in 2016.
Two years after that promotion, Bernal asked Garcia to resign from the city of Santa Cruz because of a complaint under the city’s Respectful Workplace Conduct policy, which outlines a number of behaviors deemed unacceptable.
Bernal says that no criminal activity was involved in the incident. The complaint apparently pertained to romantic advances that Garcia made toward a lower-level city employee.
“When this occurred, I thought it was just really bad judgment,” Bernal says. “I was really surprised by it. Even just to go out with someone to a restaurant and have drinks, I wouldn’t have done that. If I had heard that, that would’ve been not a good thing from my perspective. But this went beyond that.”
Bernal adds that the situation escalated from there, and the two went back to a private residence.
When told about the circumstances of the Santa Cruz complaint, Martha was happy to hear that things ended there.
“It sounds like he didn’t get far with that woman,” she says.
HIRE POWER
Santa Cruz doesn’t make public information requests for state DFEH complaints as part of its hiring process. Neither do other local governments, like Scotts Valley, Capitola and Watsonville, GT has learned. That’s partly because—without knowledge of a particular complaint, and the complainants’ permission—any request would have likely turned up little useful information, according to DFEH officials.
Garcia started work at the city of Santa Cruz in 2011, just over one year after he left the city of Vista. In 2012, Martha found out from family friend Larry Peterson, who lives in Santa Cruz, about Garcia’s new job. Peterson emailed an employee of the city manager’s office with information about Martha’s experience with Garcia, and a copy of her DFEH complaint.
At that point, Santa Cruz officials could have followed up to get Martha’s permission to access her file, which she says she would have consented to. Peterson never heard back.
HR Director Murphy joined the city two years later. She says that, generally speaking, when Santa Cruz hires a supervisor or department head from another city, her department is limited in the information it can learn from an applicant’s previous employer. For instance, she may not be able to learn the nature of an employee’s departure from a previous job.
And the same goes for a former Santa Cruz employee who’s looking for work somewhere else.
“Unless there’s a signed release from the candidate saying you can release and say whatever you want, we’re only limited to saying your years of employment and what your position was. Even today, that’s how we operate,” she says. “Now, we can’t tell your salary, but we used to be able to tell your salary.”
That means that an employee who left under the same circumstances that Garcia did could potentially find work again without worrying that the reasons for his departure would surface in another employer’s hiring process.
Bernal argues that in this instance, a recruiter would likely find out about Garcia’s forced resignation from Google searches and news coverage. GT uncovered the reason for the departure in June—more than a year after Garcia left.
Even without GT’s coverage, Bernal argues that a recruiter would have likely seen Garcia’s brief two-year run as a department head as a potential red flag. In that scenario, Bernal says, recruiters may call to ask privately if there were other reasons for the leadership change.
But if short tenure is a red flag, Santa Cruz leaders might have missed similar indicators when they hired Garcia in 2011. Garcia worked for the city of Vista for less than two and a half years. Prior to that, he worked for the city of Santee for a few months. Before that, he worked for many years as San Diego’s deputy parks director, a lucrative position in California’s second-largest city.
Nonetheless, Danettee Shoemaker—who served as Santa Cruz parks director prior to Garcia and oversaw his 2011 hiring—says there are a variety of reasons someone might leave a job, like looking for a change of pace or scenery.
She adds that if anyone has any information about ways for local governments to learn more about applicants from previous employers or from other sources, they should let the city of Santa Cruz know.
“People are pretty limited on what they can share,” she says. “The law protects the applicant more than employers.”
Soquel Creek Water District customer Nicole Behar’s water bill went up more than 50% this year, after the agency hiked rates in March. She feels that the district may be getting “greedy.”
“It’s almost $200 a month, and we were paying $74,” Behar says.
The trend is “super frustrating,” she adds. “I feel like it’s shady.”
The water agency bills customers in two ways—a fixed service charge, which often sits around $40 per month—and an additional charge based on the quantity of water used. The district bills households $6.43 for each of the first six units of water, based on about 748 gallons per unit. After that, billing increases sharply, to $29.19 per unit.
For customers with large meters or fire line connections, charges are even higher. While aimed at promoting conservation, the tiered rate system can have expensive consequences for those with large families like Behar, a stay-at-home mom of four boys.
“I’m pretty conservative with water. I get dinged just because we have six people in my house,” she says, compared to smaller households that may use water in other ways. “People that have lavish lawns and use tons of water are actually getting a cheaper rate.”
Rates at Soquel Creek Water District will continue to increase by 9% per year for the next four years. In a county with notoriously high costs of living, the increases could represent another way for residents to get priced out of the area, worries Soquel Creek Water customer Marty Fletscher, whose bill went up $40 per month. “I didn’t get a $40 a month raise,” he says.
There are some, however, who think the bills aren’t high enough. Retired journalist John Dickinson served for two years on Soquel Creek’s Water Rates Advisory Committee, which aimed to create a fair rate scheme for consumers and the district.
“The problem is that water is way too cheap. We don’t charge enough, and people basically think it ought to be free,” he says. “But they’re perfectly happy to pay all sorts of prices for gasoline and perfume and whiskey.” Dickinson adds that increased rates might incentivize people to conserve more.
Paying More For Less?
The problem is that conservation efforts by Soquel Creek Water customers in previous years are also contributing to today’s rising costs.
“When people use less water, our costs don’t drop, so we have to charge more for the water that’s being used,” says Leslie Strohm, finance and business services manager for the district. That declining revenue stream, she says, creates a financial planning catch 22 for a district that hiked rates partly to disincentive unnecessary water use, but also to raise money for conservation and new projects.
Customers, in turn, responded by aggressively cutting their usage, not only to save water, but also to save money. That has prompted the district to keep raising rates in an effort to make up the difference, and it’s left customers paying more for less.
Soquel Creek’s tier-one revenue covers expenses like maintenance and transport costs. The second-tier revenue will fund supplemental water supply sources, namely the Pure Water Soquel project, a $90 million venture aimed at replenishing groundwater levels and preventing seawater intrusion by pumping treated wastewater back into the over-drafted groundwater basin.
If all goes as planned, Pure Water Soquel will treat the wastewater using methods like reverse osmosis filtration, disinfection and ultraviolet light. “Once we’ve purified it to that level, you can drink it, but we won’t be doing that,” says Strohm.
At least not right away. Instead, water will be funneled into recharge wells where it will seep down and replenish the aquifer. Over time, the water will move through the aquifer and back to production wells, where it will be re-treated and delivered to residents’ homes.
Soquel Creek is not alone in upping its rates to pay for big projects. The neighboring Santa Cruz Water District saw rates increase again last month, for the fourth time since 2016. The city has $300 million worth of improvement projects lined up over the next several years on its backbone infrastructure to address issues like antiquated technology, pipes and treatment systems.
Since no federal or state funding is pre-allocated to help pay for these improvements, the cost burden falls primarily on ratepayers. Neither district has a program in place to assist low-income ratepayers.
Santa Cruz Water Director Rosemary Menard says it’s almost impossible for any water district to offer bill assistance as a result of a voter-approved 1996 propositionthatprohibits any ratepayer revenue from being used to assist another group of ratepayers.
“The business model that we’re stuck in is not conducive to maintaining equity and access for people who are less able to pay,” says Menard. “That issue has been emerging all over the state.”
Statewide, water rates went up 45% from 2007 to 2015, according to data from the American Water Works Association. With no end to increases in sight, things may have reached a tipping point as the state aims to address access issues through Assembly Bill 401. The bill, which was signed into law four years ago, established the Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Act, with the goal of establishing a statewide program for low-income ratepayers. It’s still in the research and development phase.
Menard says she’s focused on immediate solutions to try and keep costs down for Santa Cruz ratepayers. That includes grant funding, debt financing and a $25-40 million bond measure to help pay for the next wave of projects.
“We deal with people every day who have challenges and issues, and really our toolbox isn’t very full,” she says. “We’re trying to figure out how to get some more tools in the toolbox, but we’re not all the way there yet.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19): John Muir (1838–1914) was skilled at creating and using machinery. In his twenties, he diligently expressed those aptitudes. But at age 27, while working in a carriage parts factory, he suffered an accident that blinded him. For several months, he lay in bed, hoping to recuperate. During that time, Muir decided that if his sight returned, he would thereafter devote it to exploring the beauty of the natural world. The miracle came to pass, and for the rest of his life he traveled and explored the wilds of North America, becoming an influential naturalist, author and early environmentalist. I’d love to see you respond to one of your smaller setbacks—much less dramatic than Muir’s!—with comparable panache, Aries.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Of all the children on the planet, 3% live in the U.S. And yet American children are in possession of 40% of the world’s toys. In accordance with astrological omens, I hereby invite you to be like an extravagant American child in the coming weeks. You have cosmic permission to seek maximum fun and treat yourself to zesty entertainment and lose yourself in uninhibited laughter and wow yourself with beguiling games and delightful gizmos. It’s playtime!
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The ama are Japanese women whose job it is to dive to the sea floor and fetch oysters bearing pearls. The water is usually cold, and the workers use no breathing apparatus, depending instead on specialized techniques to hold their breath. I propose we make them your inspirational role models. The next few weeks will be a favorable time, metaphorically speaking, for you to descend into the depths in quest of valuables and inspirations.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Renowned Cancerian neurologist Oliver Sacks believed that music and gardens could be vital curative agents, as therapeutic as pharmaceuticals. My personal view is that walking in nature can be as medicinal as working and lolling in a garden. As for music, I would extend his prescription to include singing and dancing, as well as listening. I’m also surprised that Sacks didn’t give equal recognition to the healing power of touch, which can be wondrously rejuvenating, either in its erotic or non-erotic forms. I bring these thoughts to your attention because I suspect the coming weeks will be a Golden Age of non-pharmaceutical healing for you. I’m not suggesting that you stop taking the drugs you need to stay healthy; I simply mean that music, nature and touch will have an extra-sublime impact on your well-being.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you visualize what ancient Rome looked like, it’s possible you draw on memories of scenes you’ve seen portrayed in movies. The blockbuster film Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott, may be one of those templates. The weird thing is that Gladiator, as well as many other such movies, were inspired by the grandiose paintings of the ancient world done by Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912). And in many ways, his depictions were not at all factual. I bring this to your attention, Leo, in the hope that it will prod you to question the accuracy and authenticity of your mental pictures. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to get fuzzy and incorrect memories into closer alignment with the truth, and to shed any illusions that might be distorting your understanding of reality.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I don’t know if the coming weeks will be an Anais Nin phase for you. But they could be if you want them to. It’s up to you whether you’ll dare to be as lyrical, sensual, deep, expressive, and emotionally rich as she was. In case you decide that yes, you will, here are quotes from Nin that might serve you well: 1. It is easy to love and there are so many ways to do it. 2. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find peace with exactly who and what I am. 3. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. 4. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. 5. It was while helping others to be free that I gained my own freedom.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “When you’re nailing a custard pie to the wall, and it starts to wilt, it doesn’t do any good to hammer in more nails.” So advised novelist Wallace Stegner. I hope I’m delivering his counsel in time to dissuade you from even trying to nail a custard pie to the wall—or an omelet or potato chip or taco, for that matter. What might be a better use of your energy? You could use the nails to build something that will actually be useful to you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them,” wrote author Amy Tan. My Scorpio friend Audrey once made a similar confession: “I buried my secrets so completely from the prying curiosity of other people that I lost track of them myself.” If either of those descriptions apply to you, Scorpio, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to secure a remedy. You’ll have extra power and luck if you commune with and celebrate your hidden feelings and buried secrets.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “No Eden valid without serpent.” Novelist Wallace Stegner wrote that pithy riff. I think it’s a good motto for you to use in the immediate future. How do you interpret it? Here’’ what I think. As you nourish your robust vision of paradise-on-earth, and as you carry out the practical actions that enable you to manifest that vision, it’s wise to have some creative irritant in the midst of it. That bug, that question, that tantalizing mystery, is the key to keeping you honest and discerning. It gives credibility and gravitas to your idealistic striving.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The coco de mer is a palm tree that grows in the Seychelles. Its seed is huge, weighing as much as 40 pounds with a diameter of 19 inches. The seed takes seven years to grow into its mature form, then takes an additional two years to germinate. Everything I just said about the coco de mer seed reminds me of you, Capricorn. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’ve been working on ripening an awesome seed for a long time, and are now in the final phase before it sprouts. The Majestic Budding may not fully kick in until 2020, but I bet you’re already feeling the enjoyable, mysterious pressure.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If you throw a pool ball or a bronze Buddha statue at a window, the glass will break. In fact, the speed at which it fractures could reach 3,000 miles per hour. Metaphorically speaking, your mental blocks and emotional obstacles are typically not as crackable. You may smack them with your angry probes and bash them with your desperate pleas, yet have little or no effect. But I suspect that in the coming weeks, you’ll have much more power than usual to shatter those vexations. So I hereby invite you to hurl your strongest blasts at your mental blocks and emotional obstacles. Don’t be surprised if they collapse at unexpectedly rapid speeds.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the 13th century, the Italian city of Bologna was serious about guarding the integrity of its cuisine. In 1250, the cheese guild issued a decree proclaiming, “If you make fake mortadella … your body will be stretched on the rack three times, you will be fined 200 gold coins, and all the food you make will be destroyed.” I appreciate such devotion to purity and authenticity and factualness. And I recommend that in the coming weeks, you commit to comparable standards in your own sphere. Don’t let your own offerings be compromised or corrupted. The same with the offerings you receive from other people. Be impeccable.
Homework: Saul Bellow wrote, “Imagination is a force of nature. Is this not enough to make a person full of ecstasy?” Do you agree? freewillastrology.com.
If you watch a few episodes of Kevin Nealon’s YouTube show Hiking With Kevin, you’ll notice that the everyman-comedian vibe Nealon showcased for almost a decade on Saturday Night Live—especially as the anchor of “Weekend Update”—translates remarkably well into a format where he literally takes people for a hike on every show, interviewing them while they walk.
You’ll also notice that some of the hikes are pretty intensive, and both host and guest can get winded, punctuating their questions and answers with heavy breathing. So I had to ask Nealon, who brings his stand-up set to the Rio on Sunday, Sept. 15: Does he ever wish he’d done Sitting Down With Kevin?
“I have thought about that, a lot,” admits Nealon. “Most of my hikes are more flat-ground now. But I do like it. It’s a good workout.”
YouTube may seem like an odd place for Nealon to be doing a show, especially at the same time that he’s going into his fourth season of a recurring role as Matt LeBlanc’s dad on the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan. But it came about kind of by accident in 2017, and required the 65-year-old Nealon to upgrade his tech skills.
“It was a totally new world for me,” he says. “Initially, I was posting these things on Instagram. Then I found out that Howard Stern was a big fan of the show, and he thought it’d be a good idea to make them longer. So I had to learn how to start a YouTube channel, and figure out how to make thumbnails and edit and all that stuff. Now I’ve even got a drone. I’ve really created a whole kind of world for me to do this in.”
With two shows in various states of production, he doesn’t have as much time to tour as he once did. But when he does, he thinks Hiking With Kevin has actually had an effect on his stand-up.
“I think it helps me think on my feet,” he says of the show. “And it makes me a better listener, too. When I first started, if you look at the Conan interview, I was just interrupting him all the time, and you can see him getting really angry. I look back at that and think, ‘Oh man.’”
His new role as a real interviewer is a bit ironic, considering he made his name as a fake news anchor on “Weekend Update” while on SNL from 1986-1995.
“That came out of the blue for me, because I wasn’t a sketch player, or a character guy or things like that,” he says of his SNL tenure.
The “Weekend Update” slot has always been one of the most hotly debated aspects of SNL—namely, who was a good anchor, and who wasn’t. Nealon’s approach was generally deadpan, but he doesn’t think it was necessarily better or worse than other comedians who took a different or even opposite approach—like Dennis Miller, with his trademark smug snark.
“‘Weekend Update’ is very subjective, I think. You have different personalities, and people always have their favorites,” says Nealon. “I started out watching Chevy Chase, and I loved the kind of dry, real-newscaster kind of a guy. So that’s what I modeled mine after. Dennis brought more of his personality into it, and had a certain angle on it that was great, too. Everybody comes in with their own thing. But now it’s more kind of stand-up. It’s almost like people are doing stand-up up there, and commenting on the story. So it’s changed a little bit. But I don’t think I have a particular favorite way. It’s kind of nice that things change all the time.”
Now that Hiking with Kevin is a success, one thing you’d think he’d want to do is maybe hire a few people to help out. He’s taken the DIY concept to the extreme, even carrying the camera filming the episode on a selfie stick.
“I think the charm of it is it has a homegrown feel to it. It’s not a highly polished show. It’s only me, there’s nobody else. I don’t have 12 people with cameras,” he says. “Occasionally, I’ll have my son film me. He’ll have my cell phone. So that helps a lot. I do like that. And I’m teaching him how to fly the drone, so he can fly the drone, too. I am trying to delegate some authority.”
Kevin Nealon performs at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15, at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $27/$40 gold circle.
