As it celebrates its 30th year, Santa Cruz County’s Open Studios is one of the most successful in the country—and a make-or-break event for many local artists With the fifth most dense artist population in the country—behind San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Santa Fe—Santa Cruz is a hotbed for creative talent. Several local venues,...

Win tickets to the Santa Cruz Music Festival on SantaCruz.com A high-point of the local music scene, the Santa Cruz Music Festival features a dozen-plus stages—including several free ones—and more than 100 bands throughout the downtown area. Described as a 13-hour musical marathon, SCMF showcases acts from around the world, including an abundance of Santa Cruz...

S.T. Young, who plays guitar and sings for the Naked Bootleggers, and Joshua Lowe, frontman for Joshua Lowe and the Juncos, found something in each other they didn’t expect: an easygoing side project that really stretches their creative muscles. They call it, appropriately enough, Young and Lowe. “Usually with a duo or trio, you just get...

Fischer vs. Spassky in Cold War chess thriller ‘Pawn Sacrifice’ The Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was waged on many fronts. One of the most intense and memorable confrontations took place not on a battlefield, or in a congressional hearing room, but in an indoor sports arena in Reykjavik, Iceland. At this...

Assembly’s pop-up space goes into regular rotation, Cabrillo wine dinner, and a visit to Mozaic Listen up all you fans of exotica, esoterica, and extreme flavor surprises. Weekly rotation at the Pop-up space (next door to Assembly) will start off on Wednesdays with breads and pastries from Manresa Bread, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Ah, the exceptionally fragrant...

Citrusy Chardonnay 2013 is a great fall wine Cinnabar Winery’s crisp 2013 Chardonnay has a complex nose of pineapple, pear and orange blossom with complementary layers of kiwi and apples on the palate. Tangerine and citrus add a bright minerality, leading to a burst of freshness in the mouth. With the way it complements this late-September/early-October...

Where to find the best hot dogs in Santa Cruz  OK, so you’re craving a hot dog. For God’s sake, stay away from Wienerschnitzel. And don’t waste your money on a 7-Eleven hot dog, either—who knows how long they’ve been there! Besides, the best hot dogs in town are sold out of a cart in front...

‘Mighty’ Mike Schermer took a huge risk leaving Santa Cruz—but as he returns this week, it’s paid off The novelist Thomas Wolfe famously noted that you can’t go home again, but to the best of my knowledge Mr. Wolfe never caught a wave on Steamer Lane. Santa Cruz has changed some since “Mighty” Mike Schermer moved...

Cannibal Ox brings its 14-years-in-the-making sophomore album to Santa Cruz When indie/hip-hop blog Pigeons and Planes published an article on the “30 Best Underground Hip-Hop Albums,” it put The Cold Vein by Brooklyn duo Cannibal Ox at No. 2. But that wasn’t anything underground hip-hop fans didn’t already know. The Cold Vein has been universally adored...

As he retires from painting his striking Santa Cruz murals, James Aschbacher is re-inventing his art Though he’s best known now as Santa Cruz’s most popular muralist, James Aschbacher once wrote a column for Magic Magazine. “I had a little stage show when I was 16,” he reveals. “My dad and I did magic acts—sawing the...