About Santa Cruz, California

General Information

History
(per http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/)

In 1769 the Spanish explorer Don Gaspar de Portola discovered the land area which is now known as the City of Santa Cruz. When he came upon the beautiful flowing river, he named it San Lorenzo in honor of Saint Lawrence. He called the rolling hills above the river Santa Cruz, which means holy cross.

Twenty-two years later, in 1791, Father Fermin de Lasuen established a mission at Santa Cruz, the twelfth mission to be founded in California. Across the San Lorenzo River, in what is now known as East Santa Cruz, Villa de Branciforte was established. It was founded by the Spanish as one of three civil settlements or pueblos in California. The other pueblos were San Jose and Los Angeles.

Villa de Branciforte later merged with the Mission Santa Cruz community across the river. By the 1820's Mexico had assumed control of the area and within the next twenty years, Americans began to arrive in great numbers.

California became a state in 1849, and Santa Cruz County was created in 1850 as one of the twenty-seven original counties.

By the turn of the century logging, lime processing, agriculture, and commercial fishing industries prospered in the area. Due to its mild climate and scenic beauty Santa Cruz also became a prominent resort community.

Santa Cruz was incorporated in 1866 as a town under the laws of the State of California and received its first charter as a city in 1876. At that time the city was governed by a Mayor and Common Council consisting of four members.

In 1907, the citizens voted for a new charter designating a Mayor as chief executive and a City Council consisting of seven members. Subsequent charters gave a Mayor and four Commissioners both executive and administrative powers. At that time the city was divided into five departments: Public Affairs, Revenue and Finance, Public Health and Safety, Public Works, and Streets and Parks.

In 1948, the City of Santa Cruz adopted a new City Charter. This charter established a Council-Manager form of government, with a Mayor and six Council members setting policy for the city and a city manager serving as the chief administrator of those policies. The Charter, with amendments, is still in existence today.

Read more history via the Santa Cruz Public Library Website

• Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California, United States
• As of the 2004, Santa Cruz had a total population of 56,300 (per CA State Dept of Finance)
• It is located on the northern edge of the Monterey Bay, about 74 mi south of San Francisco
• The City has of an area of 12 square miles
• The major industries include agriculture, education (UCSC) tourism, manufacturing, food processing, and high tech firms
• The average high temperature is 69 degrees Fahrenheit and the average low temperature is 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Rainfall averages 32 inches per year.

Colleges & Universities

• UC Santa Cruz
  UCSC was built starting in the 1960s. To date, there are ten colleges, each with a different theme and architectural framework. The UCSC campus sits among a redwood forest and overlooks Monterey Bay. Originally, UCSC did not use letter grades in evaluating student academic performance and had no organized sports teams, although both of these have now changed. There are also a number of NCAA division III sports programs, including tennis, water polo, swimming, diving, basketball, rugby, and soccer. The university mascot, the banana slug, was established by students on an informal basis, and recognizes an indigenous creature that can be found throughout the campus. The campus administration attempted to assign the sea lion as the mascot in the early 1980s. However, after a 1986 student referendum voted overwhelmingly in favor of the slug, the then-Chancellor declared the slug the official UCSC mascot.
   
• Cabrillo College
  Cabrillo College, named after the explorer Juan Cabrillo, is a community college in Aptos, California. It is one of 109 public community colleges in the state of California. The college opened in 1959. In addition to its main campus, it includes the Watsonville Center which serves approximately 2,300 students, and the Scotts Valley Center opened for the Spring semester of 2007. Cabrillo College has an enrollment nearly 15,000 students, more than a third of whom attend full time.
   
• Bethany University (Bethany Bible College)
  Founded in 1919 as a training center for an urban San Francisco ministry, Bethany University was the first college founded by the Assemblies of God. Today, the school is a four-year, Christian university located in Scotts Valley offering associate's, bachelor's and master's degrees in the arts and sciences and professional studies on-campus, online and in distributed locations. Our vibrant, close-knit community is located on California's Central Coast, minutes from the beaches of Santa Cruz and in close proximity to Silicon Valley, Monterey and San Francisco where students enjoy opportunities for internships, ministries and entertainment.

Recreation / Things to Do

• Beaches
  Santa Cruz County boasts 29 miles of beachfront. Whether you're looking to sunbathe, swim, surf, play volleyball, picnic, collect shells, visit tidepools, fly a kite, walk your dog or just people watch, here's a great resource to locate the perfect beach for you.
   

• Surfing
  Santa Cruz is the reputed site of the first surfing in California in 1885, when three Hawaiian princes, Prince Edward, Prince David and Prince Jonah Kalaniana’ole, surfed on locally milled redwood boards at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River.

  Santa Cruz has 11 world-class surf breaks, including the point breaks over rock bottoms near Steamer Lane and Pleasure Point, which create some of the best surfing waves in the world.

  Home to the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum at Steamer Lane, which continues to be staffed by docents such as Harry Mayo and others from the Santa Cruz Surfing Club who have surfed Santa Cruz waves since the 1930s, Santa Cruz hosts several surf contests drawing international participants each year, including the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, the International Longboard Association contest, and many others.
   

• State Parks

  Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

  • 1/2 mile south of Felton on Hwy 9
  • Camping, Hiking, Interpretive Nature Center
  • A one mile loop trail shows off some of the greatest old growth trees -- the Fremont and the Giant
  • For more info: 831.335.4598 or
    www.santacruzstateparks.org/parks/henrycowell

  Big Basin State Park

  • 24 miles from Santa Cruz. From Santa Cruz, take Highway 9 to Boulder Creek. Take Highway 236 (west) which enters the park after 9 miles.
  • Consists of 14,000 acres of sequoia sempervirens trees and is the oldest living grove in the world
  • Created in 1901 as the first California State Park
  • Camping, Hiking, Nature Center
  • More than 80 miles of hiking trails, including waterfalls and ocean views
  • 1/2 mile trail loop through an ancient grove
  • For more info: 831.338.8860 or
    www.santacruzstateparks.org/parks/bigbasin

  Additional Parks & Beaches

  • Additional state parks include Lighthouse Field State Beach, Mission Santa Cruz State Historic Park, Natural Bridges State Beach, Seabright State Beach, Wilder Ranch State Park, Nisene Marks State Park and others.
     
• Activities
  Whether looking to visit a gallery or museum, enjoy live music or dancing, enjoy a relaxing spa, go birdwatching or more, here's a great resource detailing these activities and more.
   
• Kid's Day Out
  Looking for something to do with the kids? Santa Cruz offers plenty of indoor and outdoor options. For the outdoors, how about visiting a tidepool or visiting one of the many local state parks. For a bit more structured adventure, how about visiting the West Coast's last remaining seaside amusement park, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, or Roaring Camp Railroad, Bowling, Mini Golf at Neptune's Kingdom, swimming at Simkins Family Swim Center, Laser Tag, or visit the sea lions at the Santa Cruz Wharf.