Santa Cruz County History Digest

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.

Lookout Santa Cruz asked its readers to weigh in with suggestions for Cabrillo College’s new name—selecting either from a multiple-choice list of names or submitting ideas of their own.

Avi Kwa Ame National Monument will protect sacred Native American sites, wildlife.

Californians are accustomed to being battered by many of nature's whims. Less familiar are volcanic eruptions like the one currently taking place at Hawaii's Mauna Loa. But California's own volcanoes are capable of violent fury.

The local landmark that hosts daytrippers and hostel guests alike is about to undergo renovations that could increase public access.

The woman, who moved to Santa Cruz County in the 1950s, is said to have had visions of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and other Catholic saints.

As Cabrillo College is learning, changing the name of an institution is exactly the kind of issue that often mushrooms into a larger and more painful discussion about culture and society.

Beauty drew Brieanne Mirjah D'Souza to Eureka.

Trustees will also seek input for renaming the college with a focus on using a "values-driven or geographic reference" for the new name and a stated goal of selecting a new name by the August 2023 board meeting.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom recently joined the California Museum in announcing the 15th class of inductees into the California Hall of Fame. They join 138 Californians previously inducted for embodying the state’s innovative spirit.

Low-income patients who need specialized cancer treatment often struggle to get it. Advocates say a new law is a small step toward improving services for those patients.

Columnist Ross Eric Gibson writes that an unprecedented amount of community outreach generated guidelines that retained the village character of Santa Cruz’s downtown.

Photos from Stanford University’s Ernesto Galarza collection documenting the bracero program were on view at the Salinas Sports Complex. Now county leaders hope to find a permanent place for the display, but until then the photos can be seen at the Monterey County Historical Society.

Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress who declined Marlon Brandon’s Oscar in 1973, has died. Littlefeather, who was Apache and Yaqui and born Nov. 14, 1946 in Salinas, died “peacefully at home” in Marin County.

Columnist Ross Eric Gibson recounts how a business school founded in 1884 was the first step to bringing both a junior college and a university to Santa Cruz County.

Many Santa Cruzans might think of the small Patagonia outlet store on River Street as the only local vestige of the iconic outdoor lifestyle brand. But the company’s ethos is also carried on by people like Kyle Thiermann.

As the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary turns 30 this year, it will be celebrated by the United States Postal Service. The stamp will be one of 16 representing the National Marine Sanctuary System, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Former legislator Sam Farr writes, “There are four parts to the story of protecting Monterey Bay and the central coast.” He outlines them all, then notes that the fourth one—the effort to enact a National Standard for Ocean Protection—is still a work in progress in the rest of the nation.

In nine books, preeminent California chronicler Kevin Starr ranges from the state’s pre-Columbian setting to the 21st century. His knowledge, scholarship and exquisite writing are as breathtaking as one’s first view of Yosemite Valley.

Raymond Evans hosted the first Santa Cruz Juneteenth events 30 years ago. Since then, it has grown from a single event at London Nelson Community Center to this year’s two-day celebrations, planned by a committee of about 10 members.

When President Theodore Roosevelt took his case for conservation directly to the public with a 1903 tour of the west, he stopped in Pajaro, Watsonville and Santa Cruz.

Local train history blog SantaCruzTrains.com provides a fascinating and detailed history of commuter and excursion train service in the county, ending with their take on upcoming Measure D.

There are approximately 6 million items in the inventory of the California State Library. Four million of those are books, and nearly 2,000 of those are law books.

Historic moments of local Indigenous resistance to colonization are highlighted in a new book by Martin Rizzo-Martinez, “We Are Not Animals: Indigenous Politics of Survival, Rebellion, and Reconstitution in Nineteenth-Century California.” The book includes a forward by Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Chairman Valentin Lopez.

Bill Buchanan, writing on SF Gate, speculates on whether leaving rail in place on the Santa Cruz Branch Line might allow for the return of the train that ran from San Francisco to Santa Cruz from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Since Alushta became a Santa Cruz sister city in 1987, the Black Sea resort town has been part of the Soviet Union, then Ukraine, and then under the control of Russia. And it doesn’t get less complicated from there, reporter Wallace Baine found.