I was saddened yesterday to read of the passing of John Leighton Chase, author of The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture. Given my interest in architecture, it is probably natural that Sidewalk Companion is my favorite and most-often-consulted reference book, and was the first local history book I ever bought.
I never met John Chase, since he moved to southern California about the time I moved from there to Santa Cruz. One surprising thing I learned from the Santa Cruz Sentinel's article about Chase was that he was a twenty-two year old UCSC senior when he wrote Sidewalk Companion. The meticulous research and approachable writing style seem like the products of a much more mature and experienced writer. Thank you, John Chase, for giving us Santa Cruz history geeks such a treasure.
