Jason Revino, owner of the popular Scotts Valley Cambodian restaurant Jia Tella’s, opened another restaurant in July called Two Doors.
It’s got pizza, burgers, sandwiches, finger foods, beer, and bike décor everywhere. Oh, and it’s in the same building as Revino’s first restaurant—and next to the bar that he also owns, JT’s Next Door. We asked Revino to explain it all.
Why Two Doors?
JASON REVINO: My main restaurant is Jia Tella’s, which is two doors down. Right next to it is JT’s Next Door, which is my bar. When I was building it, Jia Tella’s was open, and I’d be working on building the bar next door, and all my friends would call me [asking], “are you at the restaurant or are you next door?” I’d go, “I’m next door.” It just kind of stuck. When I started building Two Doors, they’d say, “are you at Next Door or are you at JT’s?” “I’m two doors down.” It’s kind of an Abbott and Costello “Who’s On First?”
Why the bicycle theme?
The whole concept when I built Jia Tella’s—remember Seinfeld, the soup Nazi? It’s like “my way or the highway.” Everything in there is my favorite. Same thing with Two Doors. I had to decorate it. I love mountain biking. I go all over the world mountain biking. If I’m going to decorate it, it might as well be with something I love. I love beers, I love burgers, I love pizza, I love mountain biking. People think, “oh you’re sponsored by Fox.” No, my buddy’s head of the marketing department over there, and he hooked me up with a bunch of cool decorations. It’s a fun little place to come hang out. It’s kind of a little brewpub house in a way. You can hang out after a bike ride, have a couple of beers. I’ve got a couple of pool tables I built in the back. I’m going to have an outdoor gaming area.
Barking Dog, Star Wars, Sick ’n’ Twisted. Where’d you come up with these sandwich and burger names?
They’re named after bikes and trails all around Santa Cruz. It was something kind of fun. I ride a Devinci Spartan bike. My favorite pizza is a Devinci. It’s got black olives and sausage, onions, a little bit of garlic. It’s a thin crust. My favorite salad is a Spartan. I love Caesar salad. Barking Dog is our Italian Sausage sandwich. That’s a trail that’s way in the top of the mountain, kind of hidden. You got Sick ’n’ Twisted, Pipeline. Those are all names of trails. It’s fun. We create an environment where you want to hang out with some friends, drink some beers and get some good food.
I was fortunate to sit next to David Estrada at a recent Pinot Paradise dinner at Lester Family Vineyards—where all proceeds went to Hospice of Santa Cruz County.
Estrada, a retired Scotts Valley dentist, realized in 1990 that he wanted to make wine as well as attend to teeth. He established his estate vineyard that year, planted five different Pinots and “a few rows of Chardonnay and Viognier,” and called it Clos Tita after his wife, Tita.
I tasted Estrada’s elegant Pinot at the dinner, but I wanted to write about his interesting Gironde, and found a 2013 for $29.99 at Deer Park Wine & Spirits in Aptos—a well-stocked market with a selection of local wines. This Gironde is a well-made and robust blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, which Estrada says has a complex long finish with “Chaparral character in the nose.”
One of the stops we made on the open-house farm tour in early October was at Dos Aguilas Farm, where farm manager Roger Wolfe took us through lush olive orchards and we tasted the farm’s tangy olive oil. Having lived in Greece for 13 years where olive oil rules, I do all my cooking with olive oil, and I never use store-bought dressings on salads, preferring just olive oil and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice. Dos Aguilas’ superb olive oil is available at El Salchichero in Santa Cruz; Sunnyside Produce in Soquel; Corralitos Market; Kelly’s Books in Watsonville, and also available in Aptos at Pure Health; Glaum Egg Ranch; Marianne’s Ice Cream; and Seascape Foods.
The Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project and the Castroville Rotary Club are presenting their 40th annual fundraising Albacore Feed Dinner. There will be door prizes, silent auction and project demonstrations. The event starts at 6 p.m. with no-host cocktails, followed by dinner at 7 p.m. at the Castroville Recreation Center, 11261 Crane St., Castroville. Dinner tickets are $20 (kids 12 and under $10) and are available at the door, or email Mary Hermansky at mh********@**.com.
Event highlights for the week of November 8, 2017.
Green Fix
Homeopathy Film Screening
Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine promoting self-healing through diluted substances. It is often dismissed as a placebo because of what critics call a lack of concrete evidence, but the new film Just One Drop spotlights the rich history and evolving understanding of homeopathy in a pharmaceutical-dominated healthcare system. The film ultimately focuses on the freedom of choice, and asks the question: has homeopathy been given a fair shot?
INFO: Monday, Nov. 13. 7:30 p.m. screening, Q&A to follow. The Nickelodeon Theatre, 210 Lincoln St., Santa Cruz. $13. Tickets available online only at gathr.us/screening/21269.
Art Seen
‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’
Take a trip to the ’20s, in all of their toe-tapping glory, with a modern twist on social and political comedy still relevant today. Based on a novel by Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro, the 1920s’ prohibition story features bootleggers, dowagers and chorus girls, with nods to marijuana legalization and the political influence of the 1 percent. The show, a hit on Broadway, is here to make Santa Cruz laugh out loud.
INFO: Weekends from Nov. 4- Nov. 19. Cabrillo College Crocker Theater, Lower Perimeter Road, Aptos. cabrillovapa.com. $18/$20.
Saturday 11/11- Sunday 11/12
Goat Hill Fair
Goat Hill boasts more than 100 vendors at their antique and artisan fair, selling everything from vintage jewelry to collectibles and clever upcycled pieces. Look no further for that new loveseat or vintage rug to really tie the room together. There will be food and beverage options too, and most vendors accept credit cards, but bring cash just in case.
INFO: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, 2601 E Lake Ave., Watsonville. goathillfair.com. $10 general admission/$25 early bird.
Thursday 11/9
A Taste of Santa Cruz
It’s no secret that Santa Cruz’s food scene is changing for the better. If you are looking to check out how, look no further than A Taste of Santa Cruz. This annual event showcases 17 restaurants, 15 wineries and two breweries from around town. An entry ticket gets you unlimited bite-sized snacks and drinks. There is something for everyone on this culinary journey—and who knows, you might even find your new favorite dining destination along the way.
INFO: 5:30-9 p.m. Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. atosc.com. $45/$55.
Thursday 11/9- Sunday 11/12
Rainbow Theater Fall Show
Join UCSC students in the Rainbow Theater fall debut of four performances, each addressing issues around racial identity and experience, and aimed at creating more conversation about diversity on campus and off. Hands Up portrays African-American views and experiences on institutional profiling and police shootings, Esperanza is a “Chicanx/Latinx” reflection and discussion of the anxiety of crossing borders, R.A.W. (‘Cuz I’m a Woman) follows Asian-American women declaring their independence in a male-dominated world, and Poets Corner is a platform for student-produced performances that are intimate narratives of personal experiences. Change starts by understanding those around you, and there is no better place than Rainbow Theater’s shows to do just that.
INFO: 7 p.m. UCSC Stevenson Event Center, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz. cadrc.org. Free for UCSC students with student ID, $12 general admission, $10 non-UCSC students and seniors.
Mack Palmer, a soft-spoken 43-year-old man who struggles to get around, was one of the first people to move to the benchlands area of San Lorenzo Park after a citywide effort to clear the downtown post office of homeless campers living there. Before that, Palmer slept by the library, and before that, near Santa Cruz City Hall.
“Mack’s appearance has a lot to do with how people treat him,” says Brent Adams, Palmer’s friend and a local homeless advocate. “He’s huge and dark, yet upon speaking with him, he’s soft and quite vulnerable.”
Sitting on his collapsed green tent, with a towel covering one of his bare feet, Palmer tells me that he has been living outside for three-and-a-half years, since his downtown apartment was foreclosed on, and he was evicted. He briefly moved in with his mom, who was sick and appreciated his help in taking care of her, Palmer says, but her landlord informed them that they were breaking U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules, so he was out on the street.
“I haven’t been stable since,” he says.
Until recently, he was sleeping on concrete with only a sleeping bag. His living conditions have improved since being allowed to set up a tent at night and take it down during the day, in cooperation with a new moratorium on the sleeping ban that SCPD chief Andy Mills announced in a GT op-ed last month. In the days that followed, many others set up camp in San Lorenzo Park. The city brought in portable toilets, wash basins and extra trash cans.
Palmer has high blood pressure and sleep apnea. Last year when it started raining, he got sick three times.
“I don’t think I could do that again,” he says. “I was put in the hospital in intensive care three times. I have to sleep with a sleeping mask, but out here I can’t sleep with one. And I really need to have that, because I stop breathing.”
Déjà Vu
Controversy is already swirling around the San Lorenzo Park encampment—and this isn’t the first time. It’s an area that—not unlike the homeless population itself—city officials have never exactly known how to manage. Occupy Santa Cruz, an offshoot of the larger Occupy protests that began on Wall Street, was started in San Lorenzo Park in the fall of 2011 by twentysomethings who said they were fed up with corporate abuses and a financial system that protected institutions it deemed “too big to fail.” That camp’s main hub was above the benchlands and closer to the Santa Cruz County Government Center than the current one. As it swelled in size over time, Occupy Santa Cruz—like similar movements in other cities—grew into a gathering place for local homeless in search of safety and community. Unsubstantiated rumors spread through the media about a disease outbreak, and feces dumped on the other side of the river. Not long after, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department served the campers with an eviction notice. A day later, before dawn on Tuesday, Dec. 6, officers from all over the county, dressed in riot gear, rousted the remaining campers.
“There are those who think I’m enabling. They want to see rigorous enforcement on the homeless. What does that look like? We’ve written thousands of tickets, literally, for camping. Boy, that’s worked well.” — SCPD Chief Andy Mills
Adams says the Occupy camp was vastly different from the current situation, and City Manager Martín Bernal, who’s been with the city for 20 years, agrees. “First, the numbers were much bigger,” Bernal says. “The purpose was totally different, and the situation was totally different in terms of what caused it to come into existence.”
Sean O’Neill, president for Delaveaga Disc Golf Club, says the course never got much use, though, for two reasons: design and safety. He says players often found trash and syringes littered about. “It’s not exactly a place that an experienced golfer is looking to play because of its simplicity, and it’s not that inviting. It’s geared more toward a beginner player, and it makes it harder to, say, introduce children to disc golf at a place where you can potentially find needles,” he says.
Right to Sleep
Mills says he made his announcement out of a sense that it’s the right thing to do, both morally and for the good of the whole community.
“My personal belief system—as well as [what] the courts are ruling fairly consistently—[is] that people have a right to sleep,” says Mills, who’s been chief of the Santa Cruz Police Department since August. “And so I want to make sure we are treating people well. I think people are healthier, make better decisions, have the potential of getting out of some of the circumstances they are in, when they have sleep. I couldn’t imagine being in a place where I could sleep for one hour at a time, in the cold with yelling and screaming and all the other things that happen in that environment. Sleeping on rocks, or sidewalks, or bus benches.”
Mills, 60, adds that, at his age, it’s hard enough for him to sleep in a bed.
Bryan Flint and Amberly Pennock built a tent out of camping gear they found, like tarps and umbrellas. In the background sits a nine-hole disc golf course that never caught on. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
Adams, who is also executive director of the Warming Center, sees uninterrupted sleep and the allowance of tents as “rung one” of a ladder to improving the homeless situation in Santa Cruz. He’s traveled the state touring homeless encampments three times, interviewing more than 400 people in 40 cities for Out of Sight Out of Mind, his documentary on West Coast homelessness.
“When we demonstrate dignity, people behave in more dignified ways,” says Adams, who also leads the Coalition for Homelessness and the Downtown Bathroom Task Force. “When people are desperate, they start behaving more desperately.”
Mills will be the first to admit that the benchlands encampment is not a beauty to behold. But he says he has been closely following court rulings around homelessness. “And then the courts, and housing and urban development have given some very clear guidelines that you need to have enough beds for those who are without shelter, and until that takes place, I don’t know how I can thoughtfully and rigorously enforce a camping ban,” he says.
Mills has heard that employees working at the county building near the tents haven’t been thrilled by the current situation, and he is aware of the need to maintain a functioning city where everyone feels safe.
Jason Hoppin, Santa Cruz County’s public information officer, says there have been ancillary issues that employees have noticed.
“One of the unfortunate side effects of having that population over here is there is a subset of them that engage in behaviors that are basically unacceptable,” he says. “It’s drug use, it’s public intoxication, it’s prostitution. We’ve had employees that have witnessed those types of activities,” he says, clarifying that such activities aren’t necessarily entwined with the homeless population at large.
“They don’t necessarily go hand in hand. The law-abiding homeless persons who are over there now shouldn’t have to witness that either,” he adds.
The county has added two sheriffs to patrol the area, along with increasing alarm security at the county building. Hoppin says county workers are also in the process of removing two large storage lockers on the back lawn that he says people are hiding things under.
Mills says some of his critics have doubts about his approach, although they don’t always address the chief directly, and that members of Take Back Santa Cruz have been particularly vocal.
“There are those who think I’m enabling,” Mills says. “They want to see rigorous enforcement on the homeless. What does that look like? We’ve written thousands of tickets, literally, for camping. Boy, that’s worked well. I’m much more concerned with effectiveness than efficiency. I can write thousands of tickets, but if it’s not doing any good, then let’s figure out something else to do.”
After Mills’ announcement, one Take Back Santa Cruz member wrote on Facebook, “Poor SanLo park and those families that try and enjoy it.”
Another complained about police officers shooing away some suspicious drugged-out men carrying nice leather purses who he felt should have been questioned. “I give up, no more calling police,” the man wrote, tagging Chief Mills.
Analicia Cube, who started Take Back Santa Cruz nine years ago with her sister and friend who are also mothers, says Mills absolutely got pushback on their site, because many of its 17,000 members are scared and disturbed by the situation, and don’t see the San Lorenzo encampment as a viable alternative.
But what Mills is bringing to the table is at least an attempt at a real solution, she says.
“Our children and our elders are afraid to wander the streets,” Cube says. “We have to just believe. I know it’s going to be really hard for everyone, and I know that after everything we’ve been through, and the compassion fatigue we’re all feeling, that this right here is just another ask. But for the first time, I feel like somebody else is asking me. At least it’s something new, it’s not, ‘oh, it’s OK. Just keep walking, mama. Don’t worry. We’re not headed in the wrong direction …’ Someone in a leadership, authority position is looking me in the eyes and saying, you’re right. This is bad.”
So for now, Mills has Cube’s wary support. “As long as the chief is prepared to show us some positive outcomes and get us to checkmate, then I believe that Take Back Santa Cruz supports him 100 percent,” she says.
This is the kind of dialogue that Mills wants to see. He’s glad that his op-ed piece started a conversation about the issue.
“This battle is taking place of ‘what do we do with these people,’ and some of this is kinda forcing us to have that conversation as a community,” Mills says. “I think people are so entrenched in their minds, they’re not willing to listen about homeless issues. Everybody has their little stake in the ground and if you pull that stake out, you feel like you’re giving ground. Well, that’s not necessarily the case. People say, ‘I want rigorous enforcement.’ Okay, wait a second here … so rigorous enforcement, but just on the homeless, not on everybody else. Now wait a second, that doesn’t make any sense to anybody, does it? It doesn’t to me. We’re going to take one class of people, the poorest of the poor, and we are going to do rigorous enforcement on them?”
Future Tents
As clouds roll in and the rainy season gets underway, no one can say for sure how long the encampment—or the relaxed enforcement—will be around.
If SCPD receives a complaint from a property owner, officers will still enforce the ban on a case-by-case basis. Mills says he is concerned for everyone’s safety, including that of the families who use San Lorenzo Park, especially, up by the playground. And as much as he might mock “rigorous enforcement” for a class of citizen, he says he is certain to employ it for crimes and behavioral issues. “Defecating, urinating, stealing, smoking dope downtown, spreading trash all over the driveway of Wells Fargo, that doesn’t work. I completely get that,” he says.
He’ll also be waiting to see what happens when the winter shelter opens on Nov. 15. If many beds go unused, Mills may take another look at the moratorium. “That changes the perspective a little bit,” he says. “If there’s 100-plus beds and people aren’t taking them, then perhaps enforcement does become a significant option, so people need to avail themselves of the help that’s available to them, and we’ll do everything we can to point people in the right direction.”
Whatever the future of the benchlands in the short term, Bernal says San Lorenzo Park won’t work as a permanent encampment.
“It’s a facility that gets used for events, so people can’t be there all the time anyway. The uses aren’t compatible with what’s there. And it floods in the winter, so it’s not a good long-term solution. We need a more permanent solution. We’re working on that,” Bernal says.
While traveling the West Coast, Adams has seen all kinds of so-called “tent cities”—including ones in areas like Los Angeles, where people are allowed to sleep outside in tents any place that isn’t privately owned.
“The problem with an encampment with no rules, no boundaries and admitted use of illegal addictive substances,” Adams says, “is that there may begin to be dangerous interactions based on the acquisition of substances and the means to afford them, which can include illegal, coercive, and exploitive behavior.”
Adams points out that so far, things at San Lorenzo Park have been surprisingly peaceful and he says the number of overdoses have been declining in the park. He sees the encampment as surprisingly successful, but believes there are ways it could be improved by developing clean, safe and dignifying sanctuary-type camp programs, safe parking programs and authentic, safe sleep zones.
“I applaud the chief, Andy Mills, for all the tents, portapotties, garbage collection, no enforcement of the camping ban. All of those things are amazing, and I celebrate them,” Adams says. “And yet, whether the police department or the city does it or not, this will become uninhabitable at some point. But what is the plan? My organization has lots of plans. Lots of ideas. Can we work with the city on those? I hope so.”
Mills and the county are both on board with the recommendations to get people a day-use facility where the homeless can receive services designed to get them out of homelessness and participate in constructive activities while addressing mental health or addiction as well as hygiene.
The questions are how to do that, and who will foot the bill. The city points to the county and state as typically being providers of health and human services. Hoppin, on the other hand, points to cities like Los Angeles, which set aside $176 million of their own dollars to address their much larger homeless population.
Mark Hemersbach, a 58-year-old Santa Cruz resident of 35 years, has been homeless for two years. He’s been living in a tent at the benchlands for the last six months. “It only took ten days to go from heaven to hell,” he says.
“Relying on the state to pay for everything is somewhat of a fool’s errand,” Hoppin says. “I think there’s going to have to be some skin in the game locally to get this done. We don’t know what the funding formula is going to look like yet, but like I said, it’s a good thing that everybody is moving in the same direction.”
Hoppin, who works with County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios, says he’s still waiting from the city for a clearer indication of the next steps in the process. “We are not alerted to what the city’s plans are, and we still don’t have a handle on what their plans are, what’s their exit strategy here, where this is going. We’ve been meeting with them and asking for that. We don’t have a clear picture yet,” he says, noting that there’s no evidence that homeless people are drawn to services from out of the area.
Palmer, the homeless man who’s been on the streets since being evicted from his apartment, has a Section 8 housing voucher that is set to expire next month. Jenny Panetta, executive director of the Santa Cruz County Housing Authority, said at a meeting last month that about half of voucher holders aren’t able to find housing before their Section 8 expires.
Palmer faces many challenges as he searches, including what to do with his few belongings while he is away from them so that they don’t get stolen. He would like to stay close to his mom in Santa Cruz, but there are fewer low-income housing options in North County, and so he says he will probably have to move to Watsonville.
Storage facilities are one of the short-term fixes that the city’s recommendations identified as a need. Bernal says some steel shipping containers and plastic bins that the city ordered for this purpose have arrived, and they’re being set up on the city’s parcel on River Street that served as a staging center for the winter shelter last year. Adams has been pushing for storage containers in several of the spots where homeless people already congregate to make it easier for them to use the facilities. Adams would also like to see a mobile shower trailer where people can get clean, part of an idea he calls “pop-up homeless services.”
Falling Through the Cracks
Mark Hemersbach, a 58-year-old Santa Cruz resident of 35 years, has been homeless for two years. He’s been living in a tent at the benchlands for the last six months, after what he calls a “set of bad circumstances” involving the collapse of his marble and stone contracting business, he tells me, when a large developer didn’t pay the bills and he didn’t have the resources to fight them in court.
“It only took 10 days to go from heaven to hell,” Hemersbach says. He had 25 employees and had invested his life savings in the company. Hemersbach says that a nearby storage facility would help provide homeless people some peace of mind, while cutting down on theft from a population that doesn’t have much to their name to begin with.
“It would give the people a sense of organization if they can maintain it, and in the end it would give people a little more hope,” he says.
These days, Hemersbach has become something of a mediator among the community benchlands, sometimes settling disputes, and other times organizing morning cleanup efforts to make sure the camp stays as tidy as possible. “We don’t want to be an eyesore for the public,” he says. “We understand this is a park. It’s not supposed to look like a run down beat-up litterbox, and we don’t want it to look that way.”
When rock climber Chris Sharma finds himself suspended over the water, clinging from a precarious cliff overhanging violent waves, he knows exactly what the stakes are. As he clambers his way up, searching for the right path, Sharma almost always feels his grip start to slip. Hepushes off the rock, yelling at the top of his lungs, before splashing into the surf below, and then swimming back to the cliff to try again.
“The real danger comes when trying to get out of the water,” says Sharma, a Santa Cruz native who is considered by many to be the world’s best rock climber.
Sharma has travelled the world, pioneering some of the most difficult routes on Earth. One of his favorite spots is Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands off the eastern coast of Spain, where he grew as a climber, clinging to the chief features central to his life—the mountainous cliffs and the sea.
“It’s brought me back to the ocean,” Sharma says. “In Mallorca, there is this mixing of two environments that are so important to me.”
Sharma stars in a new film called Above the Sea, a part of the 12th annual installment of the traveling adventure film festival Reel Rock, screening at the Rio Theatre at 7 p.m. on Nov. 10. The film chronicles Sharma’s adventures in deep-water soloing, a type of climbing where the participant climbs difficult routes ropes-free, relying only on the water below to provide safe harbor in the event of a fall.
“Climbing without a rope has high consequences, and I never really did it, because you have to climb far below your limits to ensure safety,” Sharma says. “I have always dedicated myself to climbing at the edge of what is humanly possible. To do this, you have to be able to fall over and over again. With deep water soloing, it enables you to try things at the edge of what is possible.”
Sharma used a surfer’s mentality to analyze swells, tides and wind direction in order to plan and execute his latest climb—all skills that he honed growing up by the beach, playing in the breaks and along the bluffs.
“Growing up in Santa Cruz, with a connection to the ocean, it differentiates me and gives me a unique advantage with this type of climbing. It’s second nature to me,” Sharma says.
Among climbers, what sets Sharma apart is a blend of his rock-solid fundamentals and sheer physical strength that lets him glom onto the slenderest of rock holds, even while balancing on tiny crystals that are often vertical and overhanging.
“What really sticks out to me about Chris, aside from his genetic gifts, is his mental approach,” says Tom Davis, the founder and co-owner of Pacific Edge Climbing Gym, off Murray Street. “He has this Zen-like abandon and capacity to fire on all cylinders.”
Davis remembers the day Sharma first walked into Pacific Edge—within three months of the gym’s opening in 1993.
Sharma, born in 1981, always knew he had athletic gifts, but traditional team sports weren’t for him, and neither was surfing, which he says he was “really bad” at. He’s still grateful, he adds, to Davis for opening Pacific Edge.
“With climbing, it just clicked,” Sharma says. “I was probably the first generation of kids who wouldn’t have found climbing without a gym.”
At age 14, just two years after walking into Pacific Edge, Sharma won the U.S. Bouldering Championship. At 15, Sharma bagged the first-ever ascent of an Arizona climb called Necessary Evil—at the time, widely considered the most technically difficult rock climb in North America. As the sport burgeoned in popularity, Sharma became the young climber to watch in a crowded field.
Closer to home, Sharma continued honing his craft on the boulders in Castle Rock State Park, nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains off Skyline Boulevard, near Highway 9, where Sharma remembers establishing some of the park’s modern climbs. The experience taught him to have the imagination to envision aggressive climbing lines where none existed before. “It’s always been a talent of mine, to identify these beautiful lines that exist out in nature, and it was Castle Rock that really helped me unlock that potential,” he says.
Those skills came in handy in 2007, when Sharma moved to Spain, where he continued to be creative about discovering and establishing new lines. Sharma grabbed headlines when he climbed the hardest deep-water soloing line in the world on the fabled Es Pontas, a natural arch that protrudes from the rollicking Mediterranean Sea just off the southeastern coast.
But as he pushed boundaries physically, Sharma found himself always on the road.
“It’s a great lifestyle, but it can be exhausting,” he says. “I wanted to find a way to live in one place and climb. For me, it all connected on my first trip to Mallorca.”
For Sharma, the island of Mallorca will forever contain a personal dimension that exceeds the purely athletic pursuits of his climbing career. He finished his 2007 climb with a heavy heart, as his mother Ghita Jahn had just passed away.
His latest climb in September of last year was equally difficult, as documented in the new film, and represents yet another climbing triumph, one coinciding with the birth of his daughter, Alana, which took place in June of last year. He named the climb Alasha, a mash-up of his daughter’s first and last names.
“The climb represented an equally groundbreaking connection to my daughter,” he says. “It’s amazing how we come full circle in our lives. For me, these two climbs happened parallel to this opportunity for reinvention.”
At 36, Sharma looks at his career—both his accomplishments and his future goals—with a meditative sense of calmness that’s uncommon in his hyper-competitive field.
Sharma recently opened a climbing gym in Barcelona with his wife, Jimena Alarcon. He still gets back to Santa Cruz about three or four times a year, he says. Many of the friends who helped him pioneer routes at Castle Rock still live in the area, as does his father, Bob.
“I want to keep pushing the limits and finding beautiful things, finding ways to inspire people and share this great sport,” he says. “It’s been an honor to be a part of the evolution of rock climbing.”
Relentlessly curious and prolific, Anne Fadiman has won awards as a reporter, author, essayist and teacher, and has even been quoted in the New York Times Sunday Acrostic, which may be the ultimate compliment. Those who wonder what inspired her to reach such heights need look no further than her generous new memoir about her father, The Wine Lover’s Daughter. She spoke to GT about the book in advance of her event at Bookshop Santa Cruz this week.
Your father, Clifton Fadiman, was an author, critic, editor, radio and television personality. What was it like to grow up with such a celebrated intellectual?
ANNE FADIMAN: Not as intimidating as it sounds. I was born when my father was nearly 50, past his heyday, so the light was a little less blinding, and his references to his glory days were amusing rather than boastful. I had no idea that more than a 10th of the population of the United States had listened to my father’s radio show. I knew only vaguely that he’d spent a decade influencing America’s literary tastes as the book critic for The New Yorker.
Both your mother, Annalee Jacoby Fadiman, and your father were famous writers. How did they influence your path?
It wasn’t hard for me to imagine becoming a writer, since I’d seen my father make a living from it, and I knew that before I was born, my mother had been a well-known journalist—the only woman war correspondent in China. In other words, writers didn’t seem to starve. And my father worked at home. It was like living over the family store—you see how it’s done.My mother was the bigger influence when I wrote my first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a work of reportage. My father was an essayist, so he was the bigger influence when I wrote my two essay collections, Ex Libris and At Large and At Small. But it took me a long time to feel able to write essays, because that was his territory.
Wine became a big part of your father’s life and self-image. What did it mean to him, both personally and culturally?
He truly loved the taste of wine, and had a fine palate, the kind that can effortlessly discriminate among vintages. Wine also symbolized the kind of life he’d aspired to when he was growing up poor in Brooklyn. Not that he’d thought about wine then; he’d thought only about books, his other great love and an equally powerful symbol of cultivation and refinement. But after Prohibition, when he could buy wine legally in the United States, starting a wine cellar not only let him bring something he loved into his life, but also seemed like the sort of thing a gentleman would do.
You write that even though your father experienced success, he still sometimes felt like an outsider. Why did he feel that way and how did he cope with it?
Like many successful people who grew up without money, he always felt he was imitating a gentleman rather than being the real thing. He felt particularly inauthentic when he was an old man, because his childhood memories seemed more and more real, and his adult achievements less and less real every year. His insecurity both motivated his work—I’m certain that he wouldn’t have accomplished as much had he been more self-confident—and made him exasperatingly self-deprecating.
You’re the wine lover’s daughter, but not a lover of wine yourself.
After a lifetime of wondering if my inability to love wine made me an inferior human being, I visited a couple of taste scientists and did some laboratory and genetic tests, from which I learned that biology was to blame. I just don’t have the same palate as my father. However, I wouldn’t and couldn’t have written The Wine Lover’s Daughter unless I loved wine as a subject, much as my father did. The history of wine has tremendous cultural resonance for me, not to mention the fact that it reminds me of my father.
Anne Fadiman will discuss and sign ‘The Wine Lover’s Daughter’ at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Monday, Nov. 13 at 7:00 p.m. at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free.
Lewis Rogers isn’t used to being struck suddenly by creative inspiration. But he was hit with some a couple years ago while his band Busman’s Holiday, for which he sings and plays guitar, was on tour. He imagined a complete song with an orchestral section, and wanted to record it as soon as possible.
“It kind of overtook me. I was very excited. I was like, ‘We’ve got to make this next album, and we’ve got to have a 21-piece orchestra,” says Rogers.
The song in question is called “See the Rain,” and Busman’s Holiday did in fact record it with a 21-piece orchestra. It’s a moody, gorgeous track that brings to mind some of the more eclectic songs in Randy Newman’s ’70s catalog.
The song was released last fall on Popular Cycles, the third album for the Bloomington, Indiana-based duo that also consists of Rogers’ brother Addison, who sings and plays drums.
Normally, Busman’s Holiday songs consist of some acoustic guitar, a suitcase drum set and some harmonies. But this time the duo overdubbed a lot of instruments; not every song has a 21-piece orchestra, but many have string quartets and/or horn sections. In other words, it’s by far the most ambitious thing the brothers have ever recorded.
“I think the earlier things are just like I felt good about what we had. I think it’s why those old records are so sparse. You don’t want to ruin something. It’s so easy to add crap. Cycles felt like, ‘let’s get more instruments on there, because we can do this,’” Rogers says.
The group spent many years writing, recording, and touring as a two-piece. Many of their early gigs, which date back to Rogers’ teen years, were on the street corner, and not in venues.
“It was good conditioning ’cause it feels like you have to sing loud and you have to project,” he says. “You have to have songs that will make people stop. You figure out which songs are the ones that make people stop. It’s a really good way to kind of learn how to entertain people really quickly, which I think has been pretty valuable for us.”
But there was a downside to cutting their teeth in the busking realm. Like a theater actor trying to adjust his or her skill set to the big screen, Busman’s Holiday slowly came to realize that some of the things that were off-limits when playing for spare change were useful for creating a nuanced record.
“It was only recently that I felt like I could sing quieter than as powerfully as I could. It took me a long time to realize that I didn’t always have to sing at full volume,” Rogers says.
It clicked by the time they went to record Popular Cycles, which is a tender, emotive record. The weaving of strings and horns punctuates stirring melodies. For this record, they allowed themselves to take some time and explore everything they could do to make the songs better, even if that meant re-writing parts in the studio.
“Getting the right textures, I find, is really important to making a good album. We spent so much time thinking about what’s going to go on it, what’s going to go on top of the stuff,” Rogers says.
The group still tours a lot, though they favor clubs these days over bustling city streets. However, they can’t take a 21-piece orchestra out on the road with them—and they don’t want to. They haven’t decided exactly what their live band this tour will be like, but they do know it’ll be much more stripped down than the record. The focus will be on the core melodies and chords—Addison, for the record, still plays a suitcase drum set.
“We try to make sure the melodies are strong enough, where hopefully if you just hear the melody even, it’ll carry the song enough,” Rogers says. “Hopefully, any way someone hears it they’ll be happy. I feel like it’s the melody and the lyrics. And hopefully giving it a good enough performance where you feel like you weren’t robbed of an experience.”
Busman’s Holiday performs at 9 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 13, at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. 429-6994.
Secrets to homemade pasta will be revealed at Pasta Night up at the 1440 Multiversity Teaching Kitchen on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Executive Chef Kenny Woods, who designs and executes menus for the handsome new retreat center, will lead a small gathering through a hands-on pasta workshop, with wine pairings and dinner, too.
There are many of us who love pasta, and secretly wish we knew a few tricks about finessing dishes to delight and impress our guests—or simply to enjoy with family. Well, Woods will reveal some professional techniques for participants, such as learning to create and stuff classic tortelloni with whipped lemon ricotta, winter greens, and more. After you’ve learned to create this Northern Italian farmhouse classic, you can relax and enjoy the creation, along with two other savory dishes and two wine pairings. The pasta intensive happens in 1440’s brand new, state-of-the-art teaching kitchen classroom, and will finish up with Chef Woods sharing his tiramisu secrets. You’ll be able to whip up your own homemade version of this creamy dessert after the evening workshop.
Woods is devoted to using the freshest local ingredients from farmers markets for his campus menus, and Pasta Night is no exception. “What’s great about our farmers markets is that everything is grown right here, in our own backyard,” he says. “My job is to have the food be itself, not mask it. Fresh and simple. That’s how you eat healthy.”
Quickly check to see if there are any spaces left for this exclusive night with Chef Kenny Woods and a passionate group of foodies. And since alcohol will be served to those who wish to pair it with the menu—attendees should be 21 years and older.
Pasta Night is 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8. $90.1440 Multiversity, 800 Bethany Drive Scotts Valley. Tickets on eventbrite.com.
Ice Cream Happy Hour
A sweet idea from the folks at Assembly in downtown Santa Cruz. Yes, they already have a happy hour special on draft beers and wines by the glass—half off from 3-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But now there’s also a special “double for the price of a single” deal on designer ice cream scoops at The Penny Creamery (same folks as Assembly), from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Something to brighten up your late afternoon! theglassjar.com.
Cocktail 101: Part 2
After extensive Facebook contretemps, I have discovered a few things that might help you (and me) navigate the expanding world of the New Cocktail currently happening in our neck of the woods. Some old-school cocktails, e.g. the martini, the Sidecar, cater to those who enjoy the irreplaceable flavor of the central liquor involved in the cocktail, e.g. gin and/or brandy and Grand Marnier. Others, including ace Avanti mixologist Katie Cater, reminded me that a good cocktail requires a balance of ingredients and that the alcohol needn’t be the dominant flavor note. It might be any number of herbal or fruit ingredients. So when we see “gin” as one of the items in a multi-ingredient cocktail, that doesn’t mean that gin has a starring role. Silly me. I was still on the page where cocktails contained few ingredients and highlighted the central liquor involved. The New Cocktail can be a glamorous mixture of anything that tastes fabulous, even if alcohol plays a minor role. Got that?
Catch My Act
If you couldn’t reserve a place at my New Leaf Westside event Heightening Your Food Pleasure, then sign up for the second act from 1-2 p.m. next Wednesday, Nov. 15. Free and lots of fun. newleaf.com/events.
Free Will astrology for the week of November 8, 2017.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Adriana Martinez and Octavio Guillen got engaged to be married when they were both 15 years old. But they kept delaying a more complete unification for 67 years. At last, when they were 82, they celebrated their wedding and pledged their vows to each other. Are there comparable situations in your life, Aries? The coming months will be a favorable time to make deeper commitments. At least some of your reasons for harboring ambivalence will become irrelevant. You’ll grow in your ability to thrive on the creative challenges that come from intriguing collaborations and highly focused togetherness.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I had pimples when I was a teenager. They’re gone now, although I still have a few pockmarks on my face as souvenirs. In retrospect, I feel gratitude for them. They ensured that in my early years of dating and seeking romance, I would never be able to attract women solely on the basis of my physical appearance. I was compelled to cultivate a wide variety of masculine wiles. I swear that at least half of my motivation to get smarter and become a good listener came from my desire for love. Do you have comparable stories to tell, Taurus? Now is an excellent time to give thanks for what once may have seemed to be a liability or problem.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The next two weeks will be one of the best times ever to ask provocative, probing questions. In fact, I invite you to be as curious and receptive as you’ve been since you were four years old. When you talk with people, express curiosity more often than you make assertions. Be focused on finding out what you’ve been missing, what you’ve been numb to. When you wake up each morning, use a felt-tip marker to draw a question mark on your forearm. To get you in the mood for this fun project, here are sample queries from poet Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions: “Who ordered me to tear down the doors of my own pride? Did I finally find myself in the place where they lost me? Whom can I ask what I came to make happen in this world? Is it true our desires must be watered with dew? What did the rubies say standing before the juice of the pomegranates?”
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Things to say when in love,” according to Zimbabwe poet Tapiwa Mugabe: “I will put the galaxy in your hair. Your kisses are a mouthful of firewater. I have never seen a more beautiful horizon than when you close your eyes. I have never seen a more beautiful dawn than when you open your eyes.” I hope these words inspire you to improvise further outpourings of adoration. You’re in a phase when expressing your sweet reverence and tender respect for the people you care about will boost your physical health, your emotional wealth, and your spiritual resilience.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Are you working on solving the right problem? Or are you being distracted by a lesser dilemma, perhaps consumed in dealing with an issue that’s mostly irrelevant to your long-term goals? I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions, but I am quite sure it’s important that you meditate on them. Everything good that can unfold for you in 2018 will require you to focus on what matters most—and not get sidetracked by peripheral issues or vague wishes. Now is an excellent time to set your unshakable intentions.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Every one of us experiences loneliness. We all go through periods when we feel isolated and misunderstood and unappreciated. That’s the bad news, Virgo. The good news is that the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to make loneliness less of a problem. I urge you to brainstorm and meditate about how to do that. Here are some crazy ideas to get you started. 1. Nurture ongoing connections with the spirits of beloved people who have died. 2. Imagine having conversations with your guardian angel or spirit guide. 3. Make a deal with a “partner in loneliness”: a person you pray or sing with whenever either of you feels bereft. 4. Write messages to your Future Self or Past Self. 5. Communicate with animals.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The drive for absolute perfection could undermine your ability to create what’s very good and just right. Please don’t make that mistake in the coming weeks. Likewise, refrain from demanding utter purity, pristine precision, or immaculate virtue. To learn the lessons you need to know and launch the trends you can capitalize on in 2018, all that’s necessary is to give your best. You don’t have to hit the bull’s eye with every arrow you shoot—or even any arrow you shoot. Simply hitting the target will be fine in the early going.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Remember the time, all those years ago, when the angels appeared to you on the playground and showed you how and why to kiss the sky? I predict that a comparable visitation will arrive soon. And do you recall the dreamy sequence in adolescence when you first plumbed the sublime mysteries of sex? You’re as ripe as you were then, primed to unlock more of nature’s wild secrets. Maybe at no other time in many years, in fact, have you been in quite so favorable a position to explore paradise right here on earth.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As a courtesy to your mental health, I minimize your exposure to meaningless trivia. In fact, I generally try to keep you focused instead on enlightening explorations. But in this horoscope, in accordance with astrological omens, I’m giving you a temporary, short-term license to go slumming. What shenanigans is your ex up to lately, anyway? Would your old friend the bankrupt coke addict like to party with you? Just for laughs, should you revisit the dead-end fantasy that always makes you crazy? There is a good possibility that exposing yourself to bad influences like those I just named could have a tonic effect on you, Sagittarius. You might get so thoroughly disgusted by them that you’ll never again allow them to corrupt your devotion to the righteous groove, to the path with heart.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the coming months it will be crucial to carefully monitor the effects you’re having on the world. Your personal actions will rarely be merely personal; they may have consequences for people you don’t know as well as those you’re close to. The ripples you send out in all directions won’t always look dramatic, but you shouldn’t let that delude you about the influence you’re having. If I had to give 2018 a title with you in mind, it might be “The Year of Maximum Social Impact.” And it all starts soon.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The punk ethic is rebellious. It transgresses conventional wisdom through “a cynical absurdity that’s redeemed by being hilarious.” So says author Brian Doherty. In the hippie approach, on the other hand, the prevailing belief is “love is all you need.” It seeks a “manic togetherness and all-encompassing acceptance that are all sweet and no sour—inspiring but also soft and gelatinous.” Ah, but what happens when punk and hippie merge? Doherty says that each moderates the extreme of the other, yielding a tough-minded lust for life that’s both skeptical and celebratory. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because the punk-plus-hippie blend is a perfect attitude for you to cultivate in the coming weeks.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’m falling in love with the way you have been falling in love with exciting possibilities that you once thought were impossible. Oh, baby. Please go further. Thrilling chills surge through me whenever you get that ravenous glint in your mind’s eye. I can almost hear you thinking, “Maybe those dreams aren’t so impossible, after all. Maybe I can heal myself and change myself enough to pursue them in earnest. Maybe I can learn success strategies that were previously beyond my power to imagine.”
Homework: If you could change your astrological sign, what would you change it to and why? Write: FreeWillAstrology.com.
When the Sun is in Scorpio all of humanity enters into a time of testing. Humanity is given Scorpio’s Nine Tests. An example of the tests, ancient yet relevant today, can be read in the biblical story of Samson, the Old Testament hero, who had to choose between passion (Delilah) and obedience to and love of God. The Nine Tests describe the Scorpio labor (each sign offers us tasks and labors to overcome). The tests are subtle and are given to ascertain whether we are strong enough to proceed forward into Initiation. As we encounter the tests we either enter into an expanded field of Soul light or remain within the underbelly of Scorpio, the darkened emotional waters of the personality. The latter makes us feel imprisoned and drowning.
The Nine Tests focus on the three aspects of the personality (physical, emotional, and lower mental). Howwe respond is part of the test. Do we react or respond when the tests appear? The Tests are as follows.
Physical tests: sexuality, physical comfort over service to others; and the right use of money.
Emotional tests: fear (inhibiting activities); hate (which destroys relationships); and excessive and obsessive ambition and desire for power, (which can destroy entire nations. Hitler is an example).
Mental (lower mind) tests: pride (creates a barrier to the Soul); belief in separateness and isolation (create barriers to Right Human Relations); and cruelty (outcome of inappropriate use of power).
These tests are for our own personal spiritual practice. They are not to judge others. Neither are we to judge ourselves. Observation, discrimination, non-criticism and compassion must be learned. We are all traveling the path together. We are all being tested. Understanding these things, we help each other. Struggling toward Jerusalem, together.
ARIES: How to more fully secure finances and resources held in common and also stabilize relationships? These are questions you ponder over the next several months. Some answers. Maintain necessary boundaries and confidentiality, yet be very truthful with those you trust. Pay bills, organize and safeguard important papers, tend to long forgotten needs (and deeds), and allow no alienation to occur. Share and safeguard more.
TAURUS: Important tasks, set aside for months, now need tending and completing. These include cleaning, clearing, home repair, order and organization, ordering supplies, licensing, day to day living needs, commitments and something concerning marriage. Deep emotions emerge from the tests. They will appear in all relationships. Partnership needs deep-need listening. Sit down together. Talk heart to heart.
GEMINI: The nine tests reveal themselves in daily life events, such as scheduling, tending to self, health, animals and serving others. You will be asked to help and assist others, fulfill more tasks, set high standards, volunteer, floss more carefully, act as if you are beloved, be respectful, and communicate as if the maintenance of the world depended upon it. You can do all of this easily.
CANCER: You might feel restricted, lost and alone and far away from others, especially family. You may be stretched in four directions, experiencing financial fears and dreams intruding upon reality. “What’s real?” you ask. This question is all about the tests. You remember to step back and observe, to nurture yourself, and to dream more about what you really and truly desire.
LEO: You may be concerned about money—lack or loss of it, or not receiving your share in a family legacy or will. You may be concerned with having resources to purchase something for the home. Sometimes you hide away at home enfolded in shadows. If there is persistent grief, take ignatia amara (homeopathic remedy). Death could be on your mind. Death is the great adventure, a liberation. You’re sensitive.
VIRGO: A quiet frame of mind may be what you’re experiencing. There are many planets in Scorpio influencing thinking and communication. Careful that you don’t allow a critical nature or separative judgments to take hold. Have the intention to pass the Nine Tests with loving care. Then assist others in their tests. Hold a light up for them in their darkness. Lighting their way. The Light of the Soul.
LIBRA: Review all monetary situations—loans, bills, and tithes—in order to carefully assess finances in the next three months. This is a good exercise. You’ll find life is generous. In turn, you are to be generous, too. Give to (tithe) those in need. Do this scientifically. A bit each month. Financial differences occur within relationships. Stand your ground by sharing. Then share more.
SCORPIO: The tests for Scorpio center on self-identity. You will observe your many selves through the lens of who you are, who you used to be, who you think you are, and who you really are, now and in the future. This is complex but not confusing. It’s clarifying, especially since the tests are made especially for you. Watch your communication. Always practice Ahimsa (doing no harm).
SAGITTARIUS: How you observe and tend to the Nine Tests will determine what your next opportunities will be. So, tend carefully to the tests. They will appear even in dreams, at odd times day or night, when you’re about to fall asleep and in between thoughts, ideas and words on a page. Information is available through this experience. Keep your eyes wide open.
CAPRICORN: Dear Capricorn, always moving upward and onward. The tests, none of which deter you, will occur in teams, groups, your community. The tests, subtle and behind the scenes, will transform and reorient your values. The Nine Tests will ask what are your hopes, wishes and dreams for the future? For yourself and your family? What are your deepest goals? What do you love?
AQUARIUS: Your home and work life are in states of change. If you are a writer, photographer, or artist, notice the nine tests appearing in your life. Attempt to portray them through the medium of your art. Wherever you are, make it feel like home. Host a party. Use your creativity to write about, describe, and film everything about home. This allows you to look homeward again.
PISCES: The world is listening to you as a teacher. Make sure all that you say contains words concerning the beloved. Everything is the beloved. Write and speak as if you hold the world in your hands and any movement shifts humanity into states of Goodwill. What am I saying? That every action we make affects humanity and all kingdoms. Therefore, we are to act as if, and always act kindly.
Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine promoting self-healing through diluted substances. It is often dismissed as a placebo because of what critics call a lack of concrete evidence, but the new film 
Take a trip to the ’20s, in all of their toe-tapping glory, with a modern twist on social and political comedy still relevant today. Based on a novel by Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro, the 1920s’ prohibition story features bootleggers, dowagers and chorus girls, with nods to marijuana legalization and the political influence of the 1 percent. The show, a hit on Broadway, is here to make Santa Cruz laugh out loud.
Goat Hill boasts more than 100 vendors at their antique and artisan fair, selling everything from vintage jewelry to collectibles and clever upcycled pieces. Look no further for that new loveseat or vintage rug to really tie the room together. There will be food and beverage options too, and most vendors accept credit cards, but bring cash just in case. 
Join UCSC students in the Rainbow Theater fall debut of four performances, each addressing issues around racial identity and experience, and aimed at creating more conversation about diversity on campus and off. 
