Our Broadway is not quite "where lights are bright", as in the old song, but it is a major four-lane thoroughfare in a city that has few of those, connecting to one of the five bridges that cross the San Lorenzo River in the City of Santa Cruz.
Not a lot has happened on Broadway in the last couple of decades, but now there's a big new Hyatt Place hotel just west of Ocean Street. I couldn't find a photo of the church buildings that used to be on that site, but I remember attending services there in the late 1970s, so they were there for well over 40 years. As with many other sites of recent redevelopment, those structures will not be mourned as a loss of great architecture.
The complex is now nearly complete, as can be seen in the recent photo on the right. The utility pole on the right, which the developers unfortunately chose to leave in place, can be used as a reference point between the 2017 and 2021 images. Also, the gray transformer box on the pole shows the large height difference between old and new. The "Moorish" trend in architecture was mentioned last week, and this building went full Moorish with its red and white striped entrance archway (cut off at left by my amateur photography).
By the way, if you're interested in the story of why Broadway stops abruptly at its eastern end, I recommend an article by Linda Wilshusen in Santa Cruz County History Journal 9. It's called "Between the Gulches: The Twin Fates of Live Oak Cityhood and the Broadway-Brommer Road".
I'm not sad that the Broadway-Brommer hookup didn't happen, and I love that, since Arana Gulch Open Space Park was completed, I can ride my bike across the "gulch" on a nice bridge while cars have to take a long detour around (a scenic back way to get to Aldo's for lunch!)
Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.
