Just north of Sunset Beach is Manresa Beach, a true gem. Surfers often come here to escape the crowded sets a few miles north, and, unlike most state beaches, at Manresa your four-legged friends can join you (on leashes).
Articles by Lily Stoicheff
‘Escaping Queens’ at Cabrillo Stage
Capitola playwright Joe Ortiz’s latest work, Escaping Queens, is a heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting operetta inspired by his troubled childhood in Queens, New York. This is Ortiz’s fourth musical collaboration with director Greg Frisch, and their seamless partnership is clear in his translation of the material into movement.
A Few Canning Rules
Keep everything clean when you’re composing the jars, but don’t worry about sanitizing. The tomatoes aren’t sanitized, after all. Everything is sanitized in the hot water bath.
Seacliff State Beach
Between Rio Del Mar and New Brighton is Seacliff Beach, so named because an ancient sea wall rises precipitously behind it.
New Brighton State Beach
New Brighton was once known as China Beach or China Cove, and was the site of a Chinese fishing village during the 1870s and 1880s.
Hot Tomatoes And Canning Class
It’s 11am and I’m chopping my way through the largest pile of organic dry farmed tomatoes I’ve ever seen outside of a farmers market with nine other burgeoning homesteaders at Live Earth Farm outside of Watsonville. Jordan Champagne, our ringleader and canning queen at the Happy Girl Kitchen Co., is teaching us how to can tomatoes with the confidence, patience and optimism of a sage.
Twin Lakes State Beach
Twin Lakes is beloved by both tourists and locals for its incredible beauty, diversity and proximity to the harbor and the popular Crow’s Nest.
Seabright State Beach
Choose your view: the Harbor mouth to the south crowned with an idyllic white lighthouse, or, to the north, the Santa Cruz wharf and Steamer Lane.
Natural Bridges State Beach
Named for its beautiful natural bridge (the last of three once visible), Natural Bridges is secluded, sheltered and ideal for observing sea life.
Rio Del Mar State Beach
With its back to tons of homes, a few shops, the charming Café Rio and the Seabreeze Tavern, Rio Del Mar has more of a neighborhood feel than nearby Seacliff Beach.
