Santa Cruz Changes - 25: Pacific Avenue 1300s

The first large building in the 1300 block of Pacific Avenue doesn't actually have a PacAve address. The edifice that replaced the beloved Cooper House has a 100 Cooper Street address, and the retail spaces have suite numbers, so longtime corner tenant O'Neill Surf Shop is in Suite 100D.

Inclusion of the Galleria walkway in the building design was perhaps a nod to the glass-roofed alley that used to serve as a backstage area for Don McCaslin and Warmth when the band was set up on the outdoor stage. Warmth inspired James McFarlin's mural that once adorned the alley wall.  

To the south of the Galleria was the Pour Taproom in Suite 100B, which offered an impressive array of brews on tap, but didn't survive the 2020 COVID closures. The space remains vacant, as does the adjacent space vacated by Verizon, who moved to a different suite in the same building.

The venerable El Palomar Hotel, at 1344 Pacific, is home to the also-venerable El Palomar Restaurant, which survived a lengthy dislocation during building repairs after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The restaurant found perhaps the nicest of all the outdoor "parklet" dining spaces allowed by the city in 2020 when indoor dining was prohibited, but it's not easy to find. It's behind the PacAve buildings, in Frazier Lewis Lane. You might not recognize that name, either, because the city has never installed any identifying signage.

Until 2019, there was a small sign identifying Frazier Lewis Lane, courtesy of local confectioner Marini's, whose back door opened onto the Lane. Lewis was also a Pacific Avenue confectioner, from a much earlier era, credited by some with inventing the candy bar. 

Marini's other locations remain open on the Boardwalk and the Municipal Wharf. Their former PacAve storefront remains vacant.  

Locations in the Santa Cruz Changes blog can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 24: Pacific Avenue 1400s

 

Continuing the survey of recent changes to the south, the 1400s occur only in the short block on the west side of Pacific Avenue, between Locust and Church streets. There have been, however, several recent changes: one arrival, one departure, and one change of ownership.

The arrival is the most recent change. Radhe Radhe Cafe just opened last week, a brand new restaurant at 1411 Pacific in the McPherson building, next door to Pleasure Pizza. The cafe menu is described as "vegetarian comfort food". 

Next door to the south is Peet's Coffee, which seems to be doing well, but past Peet's is the recent departure. Long-time PacAve tenant Palace Art and Office Supply moved out a few months ago, keeping only its Capitola location. 

The last 1400 block business is Santa Cruz Cinema, where new owners took over from Regal Cinemas. That change was noted back in February - in post number 3. The 2017 photo above shows both of the now-departed names. 

Locations in the Santa Cruz Changes blog can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz changes - 23: Pacific Avenue 1500s

Taking a break from looking at all the big new projects in the approval pipeline, let's take a walk down Pacific Avenue to catch up on recent changes along the main Santa Cruz business street. Starting at the Water Street end, the block from Water to Locust Street has numbers in the 1500s. 

The biggest change to the block was covered in post #6 - the multi-use pile called "Nanda on Pacific". Since then, I've been watching the two retail spaces that face PacAve. Both are still awaiting their first tenants, which is not surprising while we're still in the COVID upheaval.  

While admiring the nice ironwork of a gate set into the facade at the Lulu's end of the Nanda building (photo to be added here later), I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the space behind that gate is exterior - not inside the building as it appears from the sidewalk. A flight of steps leads up to an outdoor landing, from which the old brickwork of the Lulu's building wall remains visible. Unfortunately, only residents with a key to the gate can get up to that landing, but you can get a peek from outside the gate. 

It's nice to know that wall view will remain as a reminder of what we had to look at for almost 30 years as the site sat empty after the 1989 earthquake demolitions, including the bolted-on wood framing that once attached the 1899 Williamson & Garrett building floors and roof to the Lulu's wall.

A somewhat older change is the loss of longtime fixture Benten Japanese restaurant at 1541B, on the corner of Plaza Lane. Benten closed in 2019, replaced by a restaurant named Barceloneta (Spanish food maybe? - haven't checked the menu), which has now reopened.

Across the street at #1532 is one of the rare new businesses to open on PacAve since the COVID shutdown began. Leaf & Vine specializes in house plants, something all those new Nanda apartment dwellers will need. The new store replaced the venerable Judi Wyant Antiques, which posted notice that its business has gone entirely online. 

Locations in the Santa Cruz Changes blog can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 22: Pacific Station North

Last week's post looked at an upcoming redevelopment project called Pacific Station South, which will border the south side of Maple Alley between Pacific Avenue and Front Street. Across the alley will be another long-and-narrow, multi-use, many-story building, but with a different orientation. The 2017 photo above-right shows the view from the south on Pacific Ave.

Pacific Station North will occupy the entire Pacific Avenue frontage from Maple Alley to the five-story multi-use building at 1010 Pacific, built on the corner of Cathcart Street in 2004. That frontage now includes - south to north - a city parking lot, the Metro Center, and the Greyhound bus parking lot. The developer's rendering (at left) looks at the proposed building from approximately the same angle as the existing conditions (top photo). 

Comparing these two views, the most noticeable change is the replacement of blue sky with building facade. That's an unfortunate consequence of all the new developments - taller buildings will make downtown sidewalks a lot shadier. Fortunately, Riverwalk Park is only a block away. 

The biggest surprise with Pacific Station North, however, is what's behind it. The Metro bus lanes will be totally redesigned and expanded, with all entry and exit from Front Street. 

The bus lanes will be shaded, too - by a forest of solar panel "trees" similar to those at the City Hall Annex parking lot. The blue-tinted solar panels are visible in the aerial-view rendering at right - and you'll never again have to wonder what time it is while waiting for your bus.

More information about this project can be found at the City of Santa Cruz website. 

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 21: Pacific Station South

 

Santa Cruz Changes post #4 looked at the big redevelopment project now underway at the Pacific-Laurel-Front site. Another not-as-big project will soon begin just to the north of that one, along the south side of Maple Alley. Its current project name is Pacific Station South. 

The proposed mixed-use building will have below-market-rate apartments on the upper levels.

The Pipeline smoke shop, which used to be flanked by the Haber's building on the south and Tampico Kitchen restaurant on the north, now stands all alone awaiting its fate. For reference, its location is about where a red car is shown emerging from a garage onto Pacific Ave. at middle-right in the design rendering above. The near corner of the building in the rendering is where Tampico Kitchen used to sit.

Tampico Kitchen closed in 2016 after 24 years at that location, and no new restaurant ever took over the space. Then the empty building was damaged by a fire, and sat boarded-up until the developer DEVCON bought the site in 2017 and tore the building down. 

Now combined with other parcels, Pacific Station South will run the entire one-block length block of Maple Alley from Pacific to Front.

More information about this project can be found at the City of Santa Cruz website. 

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 20: Bail Bonds

 

State laws sometimes create visible changes in the local built environment. One example already noted in this blog is marijuana legalization, which has spawned a number of new retail businesses in Santa Cruz. 

A somewhat less noticeable change has come about because of changes to state laws reducing the number of cases where cash bail can be used in the criminal justice system. The law's effects seem to have caused three of four local bail bond businesses to close.

The state law was enacted in 2018, but legal challenges put it on hold until this year, when finally confirmed by the state Supreme Court on March 26. The anticipated outcome, however, had already begun to cause a reduction in the number of bail bonds offices in the area around the County Court House (Water and Ocean streets).

On Ocean Street, one of the two bail bond businesses (Diaz Bros.) has closed, and both of the bail bond offices on on Water Street have now taken down their signs. Santa Cruz Bail Bonds (pictured above) opted to consolidate with a legal documents preparation business next door and share space there, giving up its separate space. These businesses were just a small part of the local business scene, but their disappearance marks big changes in the workings of our local criminal justice system.

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 19: Coming to Water Street?

 

As promised last week, we're moving up the hill on Water Street to the corner of Water and Branciforte, where a developer proposes a six-story multi-use building at 831 Water Street. We can follow the process on the City of Santa Cruz website, which posts documents filed relating to large project proposals. 

The two images at right are copied from the developer's "Concept Plan" package. The upper image is a photo of the corner as it looks now, while the lower image is a computer rendering of the finished project. 

It's not hard to envision a re-development that would improve on what's there now. The proposed structure, however, is a massive change that will be strenuously opposed by many of its residential neighbors. Several years of permit applications, presentations, and public meetings lie ahead, so we won't know for some time how this turns out. Updates here to follow...

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 18: Up We Go

It's hard not to notice that all of the newest apartment buildings constructed recently are taller than the two-story structures that had been typical since the 1960s. The downtown core of Santa Cruz is filling with six-and-seven story buildings, with heights similar to downtown Paris - just about the only large city downtown still lacking monster skyscrapers.  Indeed, a couple of the newer tall Pacific Avenue buildings even have mansard-roofed "garret" top floors.

Away from the downtown core, a good place to watch buildings grow is the south side of Water Street, between Branciforte Creek and the base of the hill going up to Branciforte Ave. Until the 2010s, this stretch of Water Street was occupied only by small one-story structures, as can be seen in the 2017 photo at right. The upward trend began with The Breakers, a three-story apartment development (located to the right of this photo). 

Then, in 2019, three combined lots provided a wide frontage for the Water Street Apartments, a four story block. For reference, the same street-light fixture appears in both photos, taken from roughly the same location.

Up the street, at the corner of Water and Branciforte, a developer has now prepared a proposal for a six-story multi-use building. Watch this space for news on that project. 

Santa Cruz Changes locations can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 17: RIP Aptos Coffee Roasters

One more older coffee story deserves mention. In 2018, after 30 years in the Rancho del Mar shopping center, Aptos Coffee Roasters closed its doors forever. This photo was taken just as the remodel was beginning, with the Aptos Coffee decals still on the door glass. 

Since 2020, the remodeled space has been home to Wonderland Toys & Classroom Resources, which moved a couple of miles from its former location in Capitola.

The closing was a sad day for many coffee lovers in that area, but just one part of the major Aptos changes that have happened in the past five years or so. There will be more to say here on that subject later.

Thankfully, the downtown Santa Cruz retail location of Santa Cruz Coffee Roasters seems to have survived COVID. All the new apartments being built nearby should mean an increasing stream of customers for all of the downtown caffeine providers.

Locations in the Santa Cruz Changes blog can be found on this Google Map.

Santa Cruz Changes - 16: Last Coffee Standing

While we're on Ocean Street and talking about coffee house closures, might as well mention the one Ocean Street survivor. With the closure of Fins and Coffeeville, the last coffee place on Ocean Street is Starbucks, which just opened in 2018. While not a landmark building, it's not ugly, and is certainly an improvement over the empty fenced-in lot that had been there for many years. 

Before Starbucks, the prominent corner was home to a Shell gas station from 1960, one of the first projects completed in the San Lorenzo Park Project redevelopment that commenced after the big December 1955 flood. More about that HERE.

The old Shell station was demolished in the early 2000s, and the Chipotle's restaurant chain eyed the site in 2008, but backed out when it was discovered that the gasoline storage tanks had been leaking, requiring more soil removal than expected before new construction could begin. Meanwhile, Shell found a new site right across Water Street, and built a new station on that corner.

Locations in the Santa Cruz Changes blog can be found on this Google Map.