Some 30,000 fans gathered to welcome American Idol contestant James Durbin back to Santa Cruz. (Tessa Stuart)
January
Arizona Rampage
On Jan. 8, UCSC graduate Gabriel Zimmerman was one of six victims gunned down in the parking lot of a Tuscon Safeway. The 30-year-old Tuscon native, who served as community outreach director for Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, had organized the “Congress on Your Corner” event where 22-year old Jared Lee Loughner ambushed Giffords and her staff. Zimmerman studied Sociology at UCSC’s Stevenson College and graduated with honors in 2002. In a statement, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal called Zimmerman's death “a tragic loss for all of us.”
March
Surf Kickflip
Santa Cruz surfer Zoltan “The Magician” Torkos landed the first documented kickflip on a surfboard. The video depicting Torkos’s trick, shot at Steamer Lane, was submitted to the surf company Volcom, which three years earlier had announced a contest with a $10,000 prize for the first surfer to complete the feat. Volcom first denied that Torkos had won the contest, citing a stipulation that “the kickflip must be a real air ‘above the lip,’” but the company eventually relented and awarded Torkos the prize money. Torkos was ecstatic upon hearing the news. “AH! I feel like I’m in a dream right now. I can’t even believe it. This is insane, dude. I’m-going-to-Disneyland status,” he is captured saying in a video on the contest’s website. “Thank you bro. Thank you guys.” Volcom has since renewed the challenge, putting out a call for an above-the-lip kickflip—a trick that will score the first surfer to complete it a $20,000 prize.
Tsunami
On Friday, March 11, a 9.0 magnitude underwater earthquake struck 43 miles off the coast of Japan. A massive tsunami triggered by the quake inundated the island nation’s coastal cities and sent shockwaves rippling across the Pacific Ocean. In Santa Cruz, emergency shelters were set up and the authorities issued evacuation advisories for low-lying neighborhoods. No tidal wave ever materialized, but a sizable surge wreaked havoc on the Santa Cruz Harbor where, over the course of the morning, 18 boats sank and more than 100 others were damaged. All told, more than $28.5 million dollars worth of damage was done to local public infrastructure that day.
Storms
A series of storms pummeled the county between March 15 and March 27, triggering the evacuation of more than 1,700 homes for everything from rockslides in Scotts Valley to flash flooding in Capitola. Estimates of the damage were around $19 million to Santa Cruz County roads and other infrastructure. In June, FEMA denied the state's application for federal disaster relief money, which would have covered 75 percent of the cost of repairs. Gov. Jerry Brown appealed FEMA’s decision in July; his appeal was rejected in August. The decision hinged on whether the storms were considered discrete events or if they were part of a storm system. Brown argued they were; FEMA said they were not.
Bryan Stow
On March 31, Scotts Valley paramedic and San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was beaten so severely in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium that he fell into a coma. Stow had driven to Los Angeles with three friends to watch the defending world champion Giants open the season against their archrival team. The men were heckled by Dodgers fans during the game, but things got decidedly more hostile as they walked to their cars. A man attacked Stow and a friend from behind, and when Stow fell to the ground, the attacker kicked him in the head repeatedly. The father of two suffered severe brain trauma; he is currently rehabilitating at a facility in San Jose. Trials for the two men suspected in the assault will begin in January.
May
Durbin Day
Devotees of Fox’s American Idol know that only the final three contestants are allowed the opportunity to serenade their adoring hometown fans in concert. That knowledge made the moment that James Durbin was eliminated all the more excruciating for fans who had watched the Santa Cruz native every week on the popular program. Tears were dried and broken hearts were mended when, in a rare exception, the show’s producers struck a deal with the city of Santa Cruz to allow Durbin to perform at the Boardwalk. Durbin serenaded a crowd of 30,000 with his renditions of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles, “Don't Stop Believing” by Journey and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles. To show the city’s appreciation for all Durbin had done for [CKmetal his own careerCK] Santa Cruz, Mayor Ryan Coonerty officially declared 2011 The Year of James Durbin and presented the reality show singer with a surfboard emblazoned with a hand-rendered painting of Durbin himself bursting from the frothy ocean, grasping aloft a scepter-like microphone stand dripping with kelp. The singer graciously accepted, saying the gift would be an incentive for him to learn to surf.
July
X Games Gold
X Games 17 took place in Los Angeles in July. Santa Cruz native Raven Tershy took home the gold medal for Skateboarding in the “Park” category at his first appearance at the extreme sports competition. The 18-year-old beat out the defending champion, 16-year-old Pedro Barros of Brazil, by just one point, scoring 82 to Barros’ 81.
Predictive Policing
The Santa Cruz Police Department began using an algorithm to predict the locations and times of spikes in crime. The program, developed by Santa Clara mathematics professor George Mohler, monitors statistical trends to predict where criminals will commit their next crimes. Santa Cruz became the first jurisdiction in the nation to pilot the program. The police department’s project drew parallels to Philip K. Dick’s science fiction tale Minority Report, in which police catch perpetrators before they strike. Some critics are concerned that the data will be used in a manner that could endanger established standards for probable cause. SCPD has said that crime has dropped since it began using the program, but a full review of the program’s effectiveness will not be conducted until January.
September
Moriarty Film
The Jay Moriarty biopic Of Men and Mavericks began filming in Santa Cruz in September. The film, directed by Curtis Hanson of LA Confidential and 8 Mile fame, is based on the life of the Santa Cruzan and Surfer Magazine cover boy who earned his reputation riding big waves at Mavericks in Half Moon Bay. Filmmakers recruited locals as extras for scenes, including one recreating the paddle–out memorial for Moriarty at 38th Avenue. Moriarty died in 2001 while free diving in the Maldives on the day before his 23rd birthday. Though filming came to an end here in October, the drama didn’t stop; on Dec. 20 actor Gerard Butler, who plays Moriarty’s mentor, Rick “Frosty” Hesson, was held under the water by two 15–foot waves at Mavericks during filming. He was taken to Stanford Medical Center after being pulled from the water.
October
Occupy Santa Cruz
Occupy Wall Street began in New York’s Zuccotti Park in September, and within weeks the protest had taken root locally. On Oct. 7, two women videotaped themselves sticking it to the 1 percent by way of closing their personal Bank of America accounts. Things didn’t go as planned, though; a River Street branch employee refused to assist the women and threatened to call the police if they did not leave the premises. The protestors, one of whom carried a sign that said “I’m closing my BOA account today!” insisted they were (still, for that moment at least) members of the bank. “You cannot be a protestor and a customer at the same time,” the bank employee responded before kicking them out.
(Honorable mentions: Occupy Santa Cruz also made headlines when a splinter group occupied a former bank building on River Street, and when news outlets, glossing over the details of a Sentinel article, erroneously reported that the group was responsible for 200 pounds of human feces behind the Veterans Memorial Building in downtown Santa Cruz.)
November
Close Whale Encounters
In early November, a pod of humpback whales migrating south to Mexico for the winter posted up off the coast of Santa Cruz for several days. The whales came unusually close in order to feed on what the Los Angeles Times called “a late-season smorgasbord of anchovies.” Although onlookers were cautioned (and legally obligated) to stay 100 yards away from the animals, throngs of kayakers and surfers crowded coastal waters hoping to get close. And a few did! Photographer Paul Schraub, while on assignment for the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council, captured a shot of two whales breaching just a few feet from one kayaker, and a video of a whale bursting from the surface and nearly knocking over a bikini-clad surfer and a kayaking couple became a sensation on YouTube, quickly racking up more than 7 million views.
