Santa Cruz County History Digest

“Every town is interesting,” said John Hibble, co-executive director of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce, “but Aptos is the cream of the crop.”

In a new study published Aug. 17 in the journal Science, fossil records at La Brea Tar Pits indicate that the disappearance of California’s sabertooth cats, dire wolves and other large mammals nearly 13,000 years ago was linked to rising temperatures and fire activity spurred by people.

Ritchie Lovejoy wrote a novel more than 80 years ago, and he was able to do it because of John Steinbeck’s faith in his talent. That novel, “Taku Wind,” finally got published last month, albeit in a very limited edition—24 copies.

Mayor Jack Dilles muses on 57 years of Scotts Valley history.

Frank “Lud” McCrary Jr., Santa Cruz County native and co-founder of family business Big Creek Lumber Co., died Sunday. He was 95.

Park Hall has roots dating back to 1908, but the establishment of a public trust that transferred ownership of the hall to the residents of Ben Lomond in 1923 proved it was here to stay.

In his latest Local History column, Ross Eric Gibson writes about Hotel Ben Lomond.

The first-in-the-nation measure to add caste to state anti-discrimination laws, which passed the state Senate, survives the Assembly judiciary committee. The bill’s author refused to water down the measure further.

Ruth Rosenheim Solomon, born on June 10, 1935, in New York City, passed away this month. She was the founder of the dance program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, which she ran until her retirement in 1995.

An obscure 1910s-era labor board once regulated everything from canneries to film sets to sheep farms. Why is California trying to bring it back now?

The Cabrillo College Board Name Exploration Subcommittee will host three forums to reveal the top five potential new names and provide an opportunity for the community to discuss.

With a conservative Supreme Court expected to rule this summer in favor of ending or restricting affirmative action in college admissions, California’s private universities are worried about the potential impact on campus diversity. College administrators are revamping admissions and doing more high school outreach, while student activists are campaigning against a potential ban.

Dick and Mac McDonald came to California to seek opportunities in the movie business and wound up owning a drive-in BBQ restaurant in San Bernardino. On May 15, 1948, they opened their revamped restaurant with a Speedee Service System featuring hamburgers.

Economic models calculate reparations to eligible Black residents to address past racial inequities. The task force also voted to recommend California apologize for “gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity and African slaves and their descendants.”

Remove by X, housed at the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery, is an exhibition of flyers, newsletters, brochures, and posters archived from UC Santa Cruz’s 1965 inception to 2000. This content chronicles important campus happenings, from anti-war protests to student-run art shows.

Few assembly members have pledged their support for monetary reparations for the descendants of formerly enslaved people. Public response is split.

OP was the staple brand for the California surfer in the '70s and '80s, known for its iconic corduroy shorts. But the brand went beyond fashion.

Dominican Hospital is planning to train an inaugural class of eight residents in a program lasting three years.

For every Chinatown still standing, there are dozens that have been bled dry and paved over.

A state-appointed panel inching toward recommendations for reparations wants a new state agency to handle compensation and services to Black people.

For Santa Cruz City Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, the ongoing uprising in Iran is personal. She and her family fled Iran in the early 1980s, only a few years after the Islamic regime came into power.

If the town's front yard is the boardwalk and beachfront, then West Cliff Drive is its front porch, writes columnist Ross Eric Gibson.

Harry Mayo, one of the founders of the famed Santa Cruz Surfing Club in the 1930s, died Feb. 13 at Dominican Oaks.

A small white deer is the sole survivor of a once-large herd created by famed publisher William Randolph Hearst.

Sentinel columnist Gary Griggs writes that four forces combined this January to recreate the conditions of the destructive winter of 1983, now 40 years later.

Marilyn Liddicoat, former Santa Cruz County supervisor and staunch conservative who was among the first women lawyers in county history, died at her home in Corralitos late last month.

Capitola Historical Museum curator Deborah Osterberg dug back into the past 100 years and compiled a litany of weather-wrought catastrophes befalling the village and wharf.

President Joe Biden visited storm-damaged areas, including Seacliff State Beach near the Cement Ship, which appears to have sunk mostly beneath the tides. Ross Eric Gibson looks back at the ship’s mysterious history.

Cabrillo College’s governing board plans to solicit applications to form a “name advisory committee” of up to 25 people to help narrow the list of potential new names.

As Santa Cruz County has faced a series of pineapple express-heightened winter storms, this week marks the 41st anniversary of one of the area's most deadly natural disasters.

A specific plan for finding a new name has not yet been agreed upon, but the subcommittee will begin drafting an outline for the process with a goal of selecting a new name by the August 2023 trustee meeting. This story is part of the Sentinel's Newsmaker 2022 Year In Review series.

One of the oldest documented archaeological sites in California is underneath Scotts Valley City Hall and police department. Archaeologists and community members are upgrading a display at City Hall to reflect its importance.