When the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that anarchists involved with the May 1 riot downtown set fire to the porch at Caffe Pergolesi and blocked access to firefighters, it left out one important detail: there was no fire on the porch. According to a 911 recording obtained by Santa Cruz Weekly and the accounts of SCPD spokesman Zach Friend and Pergolesi baristas Hiram Coffee and Sam Trude, what really happened was that someone lit a bag on fire across Cedar Street from the café and a bush on fire on Elm Street.
Articles by elgeorge
In About-Face, Judge Hands Victory to Hotel Backers
In a surprise decision, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick ruled that the Santa Cruz City Council explored sufficient alternative options when it approved a plan to demolish the historic La Bahia Apartments to make way for a four-star hotel.
A New Coachella Rocks in Indio
Mathematically, it’s impossible for one person to see every band at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. With around 140 acts playing on five stages over three days, it’s unlikely, in fact, that said person would even see every band they like. Accepting this fact is the first step in attending the West Coast’s premier music event and it’s especially important if you’re a journalist naively hoping to sum up a weekend’s worth of sensory overload on paper. With slideshow.
Supes Order Review of Plastic Bag Ban
Santa Cruz County lawmakers are one step closer to banning plastic shopping bags from stores. On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to ban plastic shopping bags and impose a 10-cent fee on paper bags. The actual ban, however, may take another year to impose as county leaders ordered a full environmental review of the plan before they enforce it.
Santa Cruz County Officials Mull Bag Ban
High in a cherry tree on Raymond Street, 300 yards from Main Beach in Santa Cruz, a tattered plastic shopping bag wrapped around a white-blossomed branch snaps in the breeze. It might have come from CVS, Safeway or the Apatzingan Taqueria up the block. Where it came from, however, isn’t as important to the environment as where it is now and where it will go once it finally blows down.
From Rock Star to Winemaker
Growing up in Northern Arizona I heard all the rumors.
“Maynard James Keenan!” they’d say. “Singer of Tool, you know?” Of course I knew. “He bought a house in Jerome and does all kinds of crazy shit up there!”
What I didn’t know at the time was that, no, my friends weren’t completely bullshitting me. The tall and mysterious frontman of Tool, A Perfect Circle and, more recently, Puscifer, did in fact buy property in the impossibly small mountainside former ghost town of Jerome 60 miles southwest of my of birthplace, Flagstaff.
Homeless Flock to Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium for Services
For a young homeless person struggling to make ends meet, Project Homeless Connect—the all-day service bonanza at the Civic Auditorium on Tuesday—is an easy way to tick off the lingering items on his or her basic needs to-do-list. For the 275 volunteers who offer their time and expertise to cut hair, clean teeth, exchange needles and sign people up for local, state and federal aid programs, it’s a way to serve the neediest people in the community with the most essential necessities—and a few niceties as well. With slideshow.
Are Santa Cruz Pot Dispensaries Making A Profit?
The marijuana laws in California used to be simple: it was illegal. Now, with the federal government relaxing its stance against medical marijuana, and in light of a statewide push to legalize cannabis altogether, the legal weed world has become the wild, wild West.
Central Coast Goes Fishing for Salmon
It’s been three years since fishing enthusiasts have been allowed to go after salmon. Local authorities have banned salmon fishing to give the dwindling schools of fish a chance to recover. That will all change on Saturday, however, when the ban will be lifted off the California coast.
Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Fest Arrives
The sun is only beginning to peek its crimson head over the eastern horizon at Steamer Lane, and already dozens of neoprene-swathed bodies are bobbing on boards in the water. Dominating the human flotsam on this picture-perfect spring dawn is the standard cadre of surfers who have spent months, if not years, perfecting Steamer’s unique break. But the longboarders and shortboarders don’t have the world-famous point break to themselves anymore. With slideshow.
