Santa Cruz County Local News: History


All Local History News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: The California mental health crisis is tied to both homelessness and rising crime.
UPDATE: California’s Mental Health Crisis: How We Got Here

How the California mental health crisis emerged out of the state’s history of deinstitutionalization and laws designed to protect the mentally ill, as well as the communities around them.

Image caption: The 1965 law known as the Williamson Act has been responsible for keeping about half of California's farmland out of the hands of developers.
The Williamson Act: How the Law That Protects California’s Farmland Works

The Williamson Act, passed in 1965, now keeps more than 16 million acres of farmland out of the hands of developers. Here's how the law puts the brakes on the development of California agricultural properties.

Image caption: The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
California’s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land

How California’s 10 state conservancies buy up open land and shield it from developers to preserve the natural environment for public use.

Image caption: Translated from the Greek, “Democracy” means “people power.” How much power do the people have in California?
People Power! What Is Democracy, and How Does It Work in California?

Democracy is a 2,500-year-old system of government still looked on today as the best system, because under a democratic system, the people govern themselves. But is that all there is to it? What is democracy? And how does it work …

Image caption: Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation has cost California 90 percent of its wetlands.
How Land Reclamation Hurts California’s Environment

Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation projects have helped to build California, but they are also damaging the state’s environment for people, plants and animals by eliminating essential wetlands.

Image caption: How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland

California has used reclamation districts to turn millions of acres of unusable swamps into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush. Here’s how it happened.

Image caption: The California Supreme Court has defined the state’s legal and political agenda for more than 170 years.
How the California Supreme Court Blazes Legal Trails

The California Supreme Court has kept the state at the forefront of legal issues surrounding abortion, the death penalty and same-sex marriage, starting in its earliest days in the Gold Rush era.

Image caption: From nitrates to arsenic to “forever chemicals,” California’s water supply faces a serious pollution threat.
Dirty Water: California Faces a Water Contamination Crisis

Almost one million California residents are forced to drink from contaminated water supplies, or pay for bottled water. Economic inequality makes the crisis worse. What is the state doing to fix it?

Image caption: Moss Landing in Monterey Bay is the world’s largest battery storage facility for solar and other renewable energy.
Solar Power and California’s Clean Energy Goals

Solar power, and a network of giant battery storage facilities, are playing an essential role in moving California toward its goal of exclusive reliance on renewable energy sources.

Image caption: Like ripples in a pond, the hip impulse moved through Santa Cruz and beyond, and continues across generations.
How Did Santa Cruz Get So Hip?

Looking back at the Sixties and Seventies in Santa Cruz

Image caption: California transportation history runs from railroads to today’s car culture.
California’s History of Transportation: From Railroads to Highways

The history of transportation in California has shaped the state, from the railroads to today’s highways, making the need for planning increasingly urgent. Here’s how it all happened, and where we stand today.

Image caption: Over two weekends last October, residents of Santa Cruz and Watsonville  participated in demonstration rides aboard an electric streetcar on rails.
The ‘Rail Trail’ Movement, Explained

Thousands of miles of railroad track, including some in Santa Cruz County, now sit idle. The fate of those largely abandoned tracks has become a burning controversy.

Image caption: California continues to work on legislation that would make voting easier.
Voting Rites

California keeps on taking legislative steps that will keep it ranked in the top 10 of voter-friendly states.

Image caption: Access to abortion in California is limited in many areas, though state laws protect a woman’s right to choose.
Abortion Rights in California, Explained

California has historically been ahead of the rest of the country in expanding the legal right to abortion services. Here’s what state laws say today, and how we got here.

Image caption: Old Sacramento Historic District Sacramento is an open-air museum of historic buildings.
Capital Collections

Sacramento’s rich past can be explored by visiting its many and varied historical museums.

Image caption: View of the architectural detail on the Palomar Hotel.
Santa Cruz Online County Historical Resources

History, writ both small and large, has been made in Santa Cruz County.
Use these online resources to learn more.

The Pajaronian logo From The Pajaronian...

05/08/2025
Image for display with article titled Countywide History Fair Set for Watsonville

In the late 1800s, Claus Spreckels ran a mill that processed locally grown sugar beets, a thriving industry that is generally credited with seeing Santa Cruz County through troubled economic times.

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05/05/2025
Image for display with article titled Cinco De Mayo Festival Hits 35th Year

Thousands of people showed up for the 35th annual Cinco de Mayo Festival in downtown Watsonville Sunday for live music, food, dancing and arts and crafts.

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05/05/2025
Former slave London Nelson, who donated land for the first permanent school in Santa Cruz in 1860, was celebrated in a City of Santa Cruz ceremony proclaiming May 5 as London Nelson Day.

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05/05/2025
Lookout Local ponders the future of Santa Cruz's historic Evergreen Cemetery.

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04/03/2025
Image for display with article titled Redman-Hirahara House Facing Final Chapter

The Redman-Hirahara house has sat on a 14-acre parcel on the outskirts of Watsonville since William Weeks built it in 1897 for farmer James Redman.

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04/03/2025
Image for display with article titled Easter on the Farm at the Agricultural History Project

Everyone is invited to take a step back in time at the Agricultural History Project’s annual Easter on the Farm and Egg Hunt April 12 from 11am-3pm.

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03/14/2025
Image for display with article titled History Presentation to Recount Ben Lomond’s Early Years

The rich and colorful history of Ben Lomond comes alive in the second of a three-part lecture series, “Tales of Ben Lomond, Gem of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Part 2” on Saturday, March 22. Doors open at 9:30am and the presentation begins at 10am sharp at Park Hall Community Center on Mill Street in downtown Ben Lomond.

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03/07/2025
Image for display with article titled Explore the Intricate World of Calculation at San Lorenzo Valley Museum’s New Exhibition

San Lorenzo Valley Museum is counting on locals to visit its newest exhibition, “The Way We Calculated,” at the San Lorenzo Valley’s Faye G. Belardi Memorial Gallery in Felton. The exhibition runs until June 15, with a reception on Saturday, March 15, from 2-4pm.

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03/06/2025
Image for display with article titled Celebrating International Women’s Day With Women Activists

We hear from the singing group, the Ukes of Bonny Doon, Suzanne, Laurie, Rizzie and Becca, who recently returned from singing and playing at a protest at the state capital. Then, an interview with Amanda Harris Altice and Jenny Evans with Indivisible Santa Cruz County about their organizing efforts. Then, a visit with United Way CEO, Yvette Lopez Brooks about an upcoming celebration of HERstory honoring local women leaders. The event is March 13th at 5;30PM.

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03/06/2025
Read on to learn more about "15 women to know in Santa Cruz County."

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02/06/2025
Ever wonder about the 'door to nowhere' at the base of the big golden mansion suspended over Front Street in Santa Cruz? You asked, Lookout Local explains.

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02/05/2025
Image for display with article titled Tribute to Jess York With PK Hattis and Shmuel Thaler – Talk of the Bay

Talk of the Bay's host PK Hattis is joined by longtime Santa Cruz Sentinel photographer Shmuel Thaler. Both Thaler and Hattis, who also works as a reporter at the Sentinel, are mourning the death of colleague Jess York, who died in January after battling a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer for more than four years.

California Local Pin Marker From The Sacramento Observer...

02/04/2025
A look at 14 places in California where Black businesses and culture thrived.

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01/20/2025
Image for display with article titled A Message of Peace—hundreds Attend MLK March

Hundreds of people came to Santa Cruz Monday to honor Martin Luther King Jr., many waving signs, chanting and singing as they made their way down Pacific Avenue. Their message was one of community, activism and support.

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01/11/2025
Read what UCSC professor Gary Griggs has to share about the rich history of wharves in Santa Cruz County.

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01/10/2025
Image for display with article titled The Rich and Storied History of Hecker Pass

The original road between Watsonville and Gilroy was a narrow, windy turnpike, dating back to 1860.

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01/10/2025
Image for display with article titled Telling the Story of the Braceros

In 1942, the U.S. and Mexico hammered out a deal that allowed millions of Mexican men to enter the country to work as Braceros.

San Lorenzo Valley Post logo From San Lorenzo Valley Post...

01/06/2025
Image for display with article titled Filling Stations in Ben Lomond |  Local History

Gasoline powered automobiles became popular in the 1920s as motorists enjoyed a new sense of mobility and adventure. In the early days, travel required careful planning, and gassing up was always a priority. Initially, gasoline had to be obtained at “bulk depots” where fuel was provided in cans or other containers.

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12/31/2024
Image for display with article titled Looking Back on 2024: The Year in Photos

We wanted to end the old year and ring in the new one with a collection of photos from notable events from2024.

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12/28/2024
Lookout Local profiles retiring county supervisor, state representative and newspaper editor Bruce McPherson. Read on to learn about his and his family's local legacy.