Santa Cruz Changes 131: What's In a Name?

 

Thanks to new Lookout Santa Cruz reporter William S. Woodhams for alerting me to a change I hadn't noticed, even though I've walked past it a number of times. The image at right shows the new name of what has been the "Cocoanut Grove" (see 2024 image below) for decades.

Naturally, some people are upset, and I can empathize. Historic preservation sometimes extends beyond buildings to include the names of those buildings. 

Lessening the historic value of the old name, however, is the fact that it was copied from the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, which opened in 1921. A more distinctly Santa Cruz name would have been preferable. "The Grove", while not exciting, makes a nod toward the older name.

Other long-standing Santa Cruz place names have been changed (or not), with mixed results. Across the street from The Grove, the new La Bahia hotel chose to keep the name of the apartment complex it replaces, so the years-long controversy there was not about the name.

Up the hill, however, we may remember that in the early 2000s, The Dream Inn decided to change its name to the uninspiring "Coast Hotel Santa Cruz". After a few years, however, the name changed back (presumably after Coast Hotels sold the property). I doubt that anyone protested that reversion.

So name changes can be unpopular and/or temporary, and may be remembered or forgotten, but are usually (but not always) less-important than the building they are attached to.      

Santa Cruz Changes 130: mid-year updates

Updates on a number of Santa Cruz County development projects that have been the subjects of previous posts in this blog:

* The senior housing project at 126 Eucalyptus Avenue (photo shows the former school building in the foreground, and the St. Joseph Shrine beyond) has broken ground (Changes 56: Feb. 11, 2023).

* The Santa Cruz City Council meeting agenda for June 24 includes hearing an appeal of the multi-use project approved at 530 Ocean Street (Changes 91: May 19, 2024)

* The "Clocktower Plaza" project (Changes 94: June 22, 2024) has been approved for construction (in its 8-story iteration), subject to resolution of a dispute about projecting balconies.

* The downtown Santa Cruz farmers market has completed its relocation to the parking lot next to the downtown library (Changes 127: May 10, 2025). Toadal Fitness has found a new home on Ocean Street. The gym's former home on Walnut Avenue, and the parking lots formerly used by the farmers' market, will be demolished to make way for the new library/housing/garage development (Changes 58: Feb. 25, 2023).

* Finally open (only 2 years late) is the segment of the Coastal Rail Trail from California Street to Pacific Avenue, where it connects to the existing segment that runs past the Boardwalk to the eastern bank of the San Lorenzo River (Changes 49: Feb. 19, 2022), crossing the river on the widened bike/pedestrian bridge completed in 2019 (Changes 33: Oct, 2, 2021). The rail trail is now complete from the river to the western city limit (and on to Wilder Ranch if you don't mind a dirt trail). 

* Also: work has begun on the Murray Street bridge seismic retrofit, which will be snarling traffic through the harbor area for the next two years or more. The bridge will be closed entirely for the next 7 months.

Santa Cruz Changes 129: San Lorenzo Park Redesign Final [concept] Report

As noted in the email copied below, at its meeting on Monday, June 9, the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Commission will be asked to approve the San Lorenzo Park Redesign Final Report. The redesign recommendations are still at the "concept" stage, so approval doesn't commit the city to any specific element (yet). Some of the report inclusions were expected (e.g. preservation of mature trees, lawn bowling, and Lorenzo), while others may come as a surprise, including: 

• The duck pond is gone entirely, with no alternative plan for attracting and viewing water birds (although such a feature is mentioned as possibly included in "Riverlands" restoration design).
• Replacing the duck pond are two new paved paths described as components of a "multi-use lawn".
• A basketball court and four pickleball courts (all noisy) will surround the existing (quiet) lawn bowling green, making that end of the park a noisy area - especially for lawn bowlers and County offices with windows on the west side of the CGC.
• The existing direct path from the park to the CGC parking lot is gone. Restrooms there are replaced by a new larger multi-use building. New restrooms are proposed elsewhere.
• An installed slackline
• Several new memorial installations, but no recommendation to retain the existing "Bull and Bear Fights" plaque 
• Indefinite deferment of restoration planning for the "Riverlands" (aka lower terrace)  

The Parks and Recreation Department has completed the San Lorenzo Park Redesign Final Report which includes the vision, guiding principles, design goals, and design concepts. Staff will be requesting that the Parks and Recreation Commission recommend approval of the report on June 9, 2025. The San Lorenzo Park Redesign Final Report can be found here: https://www.cityofsantacruz.com/government/city-departments/parks-recreation/significant-projects/san-lorenzo-park-redesign-project.

The staff report for the June 9, 2025 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting will be uploaded to the Parks and Recreation Commission webpage on Thursday, June 5, 2025: https://ecm.cityofsantacruz.com/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Meetings/Search?dropid=4&mtids=118

Santa Cruz Changes 128 - A Warriors concept

 

As the City of Santa Cruz solidifies its south-of-Laurel rezoning plans, the Santa Cruz Warriors offered a draft-concept image of a new permanent arena. It answers a couple of questions and brings up others. 

In the image above, the new arena is seen from what's now the corner of Spruce Street, across Front Street. It's worth noting that:

• The pedestrian plaza in front of the arena is where Laurel Street Extension runs now. City plans call for rerouting that street to the opposite side of the arena, eliminating the big S-curve around the arena. That would eliminate some city-owned supportive-housing apartments - no word yet on where that housing might be relocated.
• There appears to be landscaping on the roof - does that indicate a public space up there? That would be cool, with nice views of the river.
• The building shown at far left in this rendering is not described in the Warriors concept, or in any proposal we've seen to date. Maybe a parking structure? Current occupant of that triangle-shaped Front Street parcel is Wheel Works. 
• The foreground crosswalk would connect to another pedestrian plaza that would take the place of today's Spruce Street, adjacent to the Ace Hardware parking lot. That plaza concept is illustrated in a rendering submitted for a proposed development (see Changes 126) that would fill the Ace Hardware block (foreground in the image below).

Santa Cruz Changes 127: The Once and Future Farmers Market

 

May 14 UPDATE: Move delayed until June 4

After 25 years, this coming Wednesday will be the last time the downtown Santa Cruz Farmers Market sets up in the Cedar Street parking lots between Walnut and Lincoln, seen at right (Photo: Dan Coyro, Santa Cruz Sentinel). 

The City is ready to move forward with preparing the site for the long-planned library/garage/housing project (first described here in 2023: Changes 58) that will cover those lots, so the Farmers Market moves to a temporary location next to and around the current library, as shown below.

Meanwhile, planning proceeds on a reuse plan for the current library location. At a March 25 presentation, the city asked for community input on 3 options. The motion described below was passed:

"Motion To: 

1) Adopt a resolution appropriating $250,000 from the Economic Development Trust Fund to fund site furnishings to activate Lot 16 for the Farmers’ Market and $150,000 from the Infill and Infrastructure Grant approved budget to fund needed site infrastructure; and 

2) Select Option 2 for re-use of the existing library site with a preference for affordable housing for city employee, seniors, and/or other sub populations identified in need of housing, to the extent legally feasible; and 

3) Direct staff to seek developers that will contribute to the development of the public market space."

No timeline has been established for these actions, so the Farmers Market may remain in its "temporary" location for quite some time. Eventually, the results of Option 2, as described in the presentation, will aspire to look something like the image below (City Hall is at far left).

 

Santa Cruz Changes 126: First SoLa proposal under new rules

See updates below.

Changes 93 reported on City of Santa Cruz changes to development standards for a downtown area to the south of Laurel Street. Now the first development proposal under the new rules has entered the first stage pre-application review process. 

In the developer's rendering above, the proposed building looks similar to the completed project directly across Laurel Street. It would fill the block now occupied by the Ace Hardware/Cruz Kitchen building and its parking lot (current image at left). 

The mixed-use proposal has 245 residential rental units above street level commercial, with internal parking. No public presentation has yet been scheduled. 

May 14 update: City Council approved SoLa expansion, but cut height limit to 85 feet (which is, coincidentally, the height proposed for this project).

May 28 update (from Santa Cruz Local): 

• A housing proposal at 201 Front St., Santa Cruz will be discussed at an online meeting 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 4. Join on Zoom or call 669-444-9171 meeting ID 882 0034 3888.
• Submit comments on the Santa Cruz city project page for 201 Front St.

Santa Cruz Changes 125: End of the Line for the Redman-Hirahara house?

With the title "End of the Line", an article in Good Times (image at right) updates the decades-long story of efforts to preserve and restore the 1890s Redman-Hirahara house in Watsonville. 

Another recent article on this subject appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on April 6, authored by local historian Ross Eric Gibson.

The W. H. Weeks-designed house will probably be demolished soon, and its story highlights the weakest link in the historical-structure-preservation chain: the property owners. Preservation of a structure requires full buy-in from the owners. Preservation and restoration is expensive, and even willing owners are often unable to afford and sustain the effort.

Nor is this a condemnation of the current Redman-Hirahara owners, who did not buy the property intending to preserve the house, and have made no secret of their intention to raze it. Preservationists had their chances, but a fund set up for that purpose went bankrupt.

Many other historical structures worthy of preservation in Santa Cruz County have disappeared, for a variety of reasons. Images and descriptions of many of those within the City of Santa Cruz can be found in The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture. In some cases, we should probably be grateful for even partial preservation, as with the La Bahia Hotel project.

Santa Cruz Changes 124: the Builder's remedy

A Lookout Santa Cruz story reports that an online public meeting will convene next Tuesday, April 1, to present a development project proposal for a property located at 841 Capitola Road, just outside the Santa Cruz city limits. No link is available, but article author Max Chen provided a Zoom meeting ID: 873 6854 5479.

Above are several renderings copied from the Santa Cruz County project webpage. The building size and shape are familiar, but one factor makes this proposal different from most others we've looked at here: it intends to employ a provision in state housing law called the "Builder's Remedy". 

Most of us who are interested in local housing policy have seen the term "Builder's Remedy", but what is it and how does it apply to Santa Cruz County? The term refers to a specific bit of state law, which is explained on a Santa Cruz County webpage (with my underlining added):

"To address the statewide housing shortage crisis, the State Housing Accountability Act establishes limitations on a local government’s ability to deny, reduce the density of, or make infeasible housing development projects, and includes penalties for noncompliance. (See Gov. Code § 65589.5). One of these penalties, referred to as the “Builder’s Remedy,” allows housing development projects that do not comply with local General Plan and Zoning standards, when a local jurisdiction does not have a compliant housing element."

There was apparently a brief window of time in early 2024 when the county housing element was not yet approved by the state. During that window, four project applications were submitted under the "Builder's Remedy" provision. The County webpage lists the four projects (including 841 Capitola Road). Another one of the four, on Graham Hill Road, was the subject of Changes 110, back in December.

Santa Cruz Changes 123: 525 Water Street

Thanks to Stephen Baxter at Santa Cruz Local for a heads-up this morning on a March 26 (tomorrow!) online meeting about a new mixed-use project proposal. 

The rendering above shows the proposed structure, but a full plan set has not yet been released. The information below from the city project page includes a link to join the online Webinar.

You are invited to attend the virtual community meeting for the project application related to 525 Water Street, Project Number: CP25-0001. Community members can click the link below to join the community meeting:

When: March 26, 2025 06:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) 

Topic: Community Meeting for 525 Water Street (CP25-0001)

Webinar Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89963471991 

Webinar ID: 899 6347 1991 

Call: +1 669 444 9171 US

At left is a current photo of the site, from about the same angle as the rendering. 

Santa Cruz Changes 122: 901 Pacific Avenue

Andy's Auto Supply closed in  2019 and, in keeping with the current downtown trend, it has always seemed likely that the small single-story would eventually be replaced by something taller. The image at right shows that a project now proposed for that corner will look a lot like most of the other mixed-use now under construction or in development. 

The first step in the planning process will happen at 6:00 pm on March 18, when the City hosts an online community meeting to present a project proposal submitted by HBA Architects, based in Santa Barbara, which describes itself as a "multi-disciplinary architecture, planning, and development consulting firm." The online meeting is described as part of a "Preapplication Review for a six-story mixed-use project consisting of ground floor commercial and 91 residential units on parcel located in the CBD (Central Business District) zone district". A Santa Cruz Sentinel story by reporter Arik Sleeper has more information. 

In addition to the Andy's building, the development includes the adjacent 2-story brick building that currently houses the Santa Cruz Warriors store and a check-cashing/payments business. The Google Street View image below is from 2018, when Andy's was still open. The Warriors store can be seen at far right, with its blue and gold awning.

On Lookout Santa Cruz, a story by reporter Max Chun recounts the history of Andy's Auto Supply.