Santa Cruz SUCKS! (San Diego: buy, live in, law)

[NorCal Dude]

My little brother went to school at UCSC and hated the place. I visited him quite a few times while I was getting my MBA at cal. Was not impressed with the place. They seem real lost in the 60's and the 80's.

My biggest issue is with the so called 'locals', some of whom give the appalachia west virginia folk a run for their money. A real working class lot that seems to resent the fact that they cant afford to live in neighborhoods they grew up in. Ironically in an attempt to 'keep outsiders out' they try to limit any and all building possible, reducing the supply of affordable real estate.

All the local business owners do not really want competition, they want a locally sanctioned monopoly so they do not have to compete with more efficiant national chains. It was a holy battle just to get that costco open...

The locals there seem to have a real bite the hand that feeds them mentality, they hate tourists yet their economy is utterly dependent upon them driving there and spending money there. They hate college kids and illegals, but they need a transient, cloutless, exploitable source of cheap labour. They hate the homeless, the hippies, and the druggies, transvestite hookers,gangbangers, etc, yet they all know in order for Santa Cruz to maintain its "draw" it must maintain its "funky" vibe, which includes all elements of human filth. They all want santa cruz to be monterey/carmel, but they do all the things to make it as far from monterey/ carmel as possible.

And make no mistake, a lot locals hate outsiders... If you were not born at dominican hospital, did not go to soquel or santa cruz high or what ever, people are not going to be very welcoming and in many cases can be down right hostile. Very provincial vibe, most provincial vibe I have gotten anywhere in CA OR the united states. The people of the county do things like limit freeway and road expansion and hyper control speed limits to insanely low speeds in an attempt to "keep outsiders out", and yet they wonder why they sit in traffic for 30 minutes to get from the warf to the east side.

The town and school have a lot still going for it, but the residents and the goofy city council have always been a major turn off for me. I never understood how my brother could live there. I don't even like to spend money there or visit. I always have a much nicer time at places like Stinson beach, pacifica, half moon bay, monterey area, etc. I'm just not a fan of gritty beach communities.

Oddly enough, next door Capitola, is Golden, but small.

[coyoteskye]

Different experiences and different perceptions although i've noticed that quite a few people who express disdain for Santa Cruz do it with such venom so i suppose S.C. is doing something right.

I'm most related to the land ... to the nature and the particularly unique energy of this part of the coast and relate to the county as a whole because to me, it is one.
I could care less about politics and social issues having to do with who hates who and blah, blah, blah.

The freeway is wider and the speed limit on 1 throughout the county is a sane one given all of the entering and exiting.
And if you didn't know where the town line was you most likely would not be able to tell where Santa Cruz ends and where Capitola begins.
And i'm not sure that the building codes have anything to do with those Appalachians you refer to.
Keep your chains .... although there are plenty of them in S.C. county so whatever.
People are a mixed bag and tend to let each other be ... in my reality anyway.
To compare locals to Appalachia West Virginia folk is kinda silly and if you think that Santa Cruz is the most provincial town in the country ... wow ... maybe you should get out more often and if you refer to people who are struggling as "human filth" .... well, i'm glad you can't stand the place.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

I hear you, and the problem is far from confined to starving artists. I am a lifelong renter, mostly by choice due to moving around a lot, but I wouldn't have minded settling down and buying a place starting around, oh, 2005 or so.

Unfortunately that was right in the middle of the real estate frenzy which even then was obviously not sustainable, not when I knew how much cheaper the same houses had been going for just five years earlier. (Like half as much, or even less.)

So I continue to rent, and it costs me right about half as much as a mortgage payment would be on the same exact house, even assuming a 20% downpayment and today's cheap interest rates. For it to make any sense to buy, either rent would have to double (good luck with that) or house prices would have to... well, you can do the math.

Renting sucks in some ways, no question about it, but think how much infinitely worse it could be, if you were one of those who bought into the mania a few years back and now were stuck with a house worth hundreds of thousands of dollars less than your mortgage, and quite possibly like many people dreading the day when the sheriff will knock on the door and send you packing.

There has been a lot of horrific greed over the past decade, and it's really done a lot of damage to this state - and the country, for that matter. If this "great recession" leaves people (and the government!) just a little bit more modest, humble, and willing to try to live within their means instead of trying to outdo each other with mad spending, that will be no bad thing at all.

Oh i know people are struggling everywhere.
I was just ranting about a particular rental scenario in S.C. county.
I don't know if this recent crisis is radical enough to be truly transformative. It may take something bigger as people are fairly entrenched in their ideas of what the "good life" is (and what they think they need) and the media / consumer culture seems to have the upper hand and more so all the time so we'll see but it seems to me that people are kinda beat down, numbed out and feeling (or at least acting) powerless.

[Wisteria]

Wow, some pretty harsh things about Santa Cruz. When I lived in Boulder, Colorado, I heard similar things….it seems that often progressive places are dissed. Not quite sure why. I loved Boulder when I lived there and it was gorgeous, laid-back, friendly, and I did have a nice rental. When I went back a few years ago, I was very disappointed. Now THAT place has become a VERY yuppified town! It has chain stores, hardly any mom and pop stores anymore, parking lots downtown taking over old charming places, and really built wayyyyy out to the east. Fortunately, the Flatirons prevent building to the west.

As for Santa Cruz, it is not for everyone. I loved Felton, the little country town above Santa Cruz, but just could not care for my land anymore, so I moved into town. However, I am finding that living near the beach isn't bad at all. I knew I was only six miles from the ocean in Felton, but rarely went there. Now, I'm just down the street (and I live in a cheap mobile, but it's right on the ocean) and I've grown to care for the ocean, the peacefulness of sitting on the rocks by the yacht harbor, and just walking in the sand.

It sounds like Coyoteskye and I have similar aspects to our personalities that allow us to overlook the Board of Supervisors and City Council. There is a "live and let live" attitude, there are pseudo-hippies, lots of college kids, all kinds of people, and, I personally, do not even drive Hwy. 1, I only take side roads. I don't drive Hwy. 17, either, I take the bus when I need to go over the hill.

I do work full-time in law enforcement – so I'm very aware of those "gang bangers," which there are very few of in this area. Most are in the south county. I also am an artist! Two extremes in one! I actually teach "Right Brain Drawing" through the City of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation and have done so for the past 13 years here. I've done it in other cities, as well.

So, maybe our more artistic eyes see differently here. Perhaps we are able to gloss over all the junk that goes on in every town across the nation. There is NO "perfect" place. However, you have to be someplace, so I ended up here virtue of serendipity – it was not a conscious choice.

I am a very tolerant person, but I don't like panhandlers, either. However, I see them anyplace I go nowadays. Santa Cruz is not the only place – that's silly to even say that. As for San Jose, they have their fair share there, too – I know, I get hit up when I have to go to the university.

The point is, you don't have to live here! If you are visiting, and as a tourist, if you don't know the areas to go to that are super nice, you might miss a lot of cool stuff – and all along West Cliff Drive to Natural Bridges is outstanding, the Santa Cruz Wharf is fun, the Boardwalk beach is there, and I live around East Cliff Drive near the harbor and on the city line of Capitola and Santa Cruz.

I know there are many unhappy people around. And obviously not everyplace is for every person. I'm going back east in a week, and where I am going to (Western New York) is definitely not for everyone – but I know people who absolutely adore it and would never leave! You might ask why someone would want to live in a city with winter six months of the year and snow piled up 20 feet? Well, they do it, they love their city, and despite economic crises, they still stay.

As for condos being the price listed – wow, I've not seen those. The typical price I see around here is $300,000 for a condo. (At least recently.) Rentals are hard to come by, but I did have a cabin I loved in Lompico for awhile. I mean, I really loved it. A nice wrap-around deck, a yard, fireplace, parking, no landlord on site – yes, it was in the woods, but I really liked it and the price was right.

And keep in mind that the ocean prevents any real growth. I mean, you just can't build houses in the ocean! So to say that Santa Cruz prevents growth, well, there is really no choice. There are mountains on one side and the ocean on the other – everything else has to be squished into one place. There's only so much you can do with a natural environment like that.

So, obviously, we're talking about apples and oranges – the people, that is. (Hmmmm, a painting/drawing of apples and oranges with people's faces on them????)

I had a friend whose husband would come to a local Buddhist monastery for retreats. She stayed in a hotel. She didn't like Santa Cruz. I asked her why. Well, it seems that she had never been out of the commercial area!! So, I gave her the standard tour: the hills of the university overlooking the Monterey Bay, the drive along West Cliff Drive with hundreds of surfers in the glistening ocean, the people walking dogs and riding bikes, the Santa Cruz Wharf where you can fish off the wharf, see pelicans up close, and eat lunch there. Often there are events and music on the wharf.

Then I took her to the Boardwalk, and the beach in front, explaining that music bands played for free in the summer there. I took her up along the coastal highway to Capitola and the beautiful colorful Mediterranean homes there. I even took her to Gayle's Bakery. Then I took her into the redwoods, and Quail Hollow Ranch, to Roaring Camp, to gorgeous places throughout. She was stunned!! She was truly amazed that she had not ventured out from her hotel and saw all this. But the hotel was in a commercial area and you could not see the ocean from there, she had no idea that the downtown was so nearby, she did not even realize that there were miles and miles of ocean one could go by. She did not know where to go.

I think that is some of it. People come into Santa Cruz, they come in through Hwy. 17 or Hwy 1, which all lead to Ocean Street, which isn't pretty, and then they don't know where to go, or they head to Pacific Avenue or the university. But there are tons of areas throughout the county that benefit people like me who don't have a lot of money, who love nature, appreciate the weather (I'm from Western New York!! land of snow and cold and no sun), and enjoy discovering little nooks and crannies of delight.

So, maybe that is why there are so many artists and musicians in town – their sensibilities may be more in line with the natural beauty that abounds. Big Box stores? They're easily gotten to a little farther down the road. Monterey? It's got Cannery Row – that's pretty much it. One street. I have a close friend who lives in Monterey who constantly comes to Santa Cruz because he loves it here. Monterey is an old military town, it is very small, not much there, just the touristy street on Cannery Row and the Aquarium. There are still military outposts there, and I don't think people realize that it was built on the military presence. Santa Cruz is just a regular college town – it is not a military town.

The great news is that if you hate Santa Cruz, you don't ever have to return!! That is the beauty of free will! My guess is that the naysayers don't actually know the area, and most likely have not discovered what is here. Or maybe they are yuppies who want a more traditional, chain store environment. I don't know.

An open mind is a great thing (and if you have a lot of brains, it won't matter if some fall out!).

[nancy thereader]

What a wonderful post, wisteria. I could not begin to add to what you (and coyote ) have so eloquently written . Santa Cruz is a paradise with its sparkling ocean beaches , lilac mountains and beautiful year-round foliage.
Right now I can hear the crashing of the waves through my open window and if I look closely I can see that the skies are filled with stars.

[TenMuses]

Originally Posted by Wisteria

I haven't seen him around lately, though. Too bad, he was interesting to watch as he snail-walked up the sidewalks, twirling that umbrella and smiling. He made me feel cheery!

He moved on from his pink-costumed strolls and ran for city council (but dropped out before the election).

[LexusNexus]

I know quite a few people who live in SC. They are all welcoming of all races of people, highly intelligent, and very laid back. They take their jobs and families seriously and are very approachable. Although the place is not for me, I don't condemn it.

[Everest209]

Originally Posted by sms1967

If you think Santa Cruz sucks, there might be a few hundred thousand here that would trade places with you. Spend a week somewhere between Stockton and Bakersfield... an ounce of perspective would do you good.

I live between Stockton and Bakersfield, I wouldn't trade places with him..... overcrowding,cost of living, no thank you.... I'd rather just visit and keep my mortage that would get you a 1 bedroom apartment in Santa Cruz.

[NorCal Dude]

Yea I can think of a good dozen valley towns id rather live in

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

... I was getting my MBA at cal. Was not impressed with the place. They seem real lost in the 60's and the 80's.

^^Makes more sense, in a rather ironic way.

Enjoy the Costcos, WalMarts, McDonald's and Barnes & Nobles of the world. Ever visited the "OC"?