Mission Santa Cruz was a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscan order in present-day Santa Cruz, California. The mission was founded in 1791 and named for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, adopting the name given to a nearby creek by the missionary priest Juan Crespi, who accompanied the explorer Gaspar de Portolá when he camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River on October 17, 1769, and erected a wooden cross.As with the other California missions, Mission Santa Cruz served as a site for ecclesiastical conversion of natives, first the Ohlone, the original inhabitants of the region, and later the Yokuts from the east. The settlement was the site of the first autopsy in Alta California.The current Holy Cross Church was built on the site of the original mission church in 1889, and it remains an active parish of the Diocese of Monterey. One of the only remaining walls from one of the mission buildings along with a graveyard is located in a small ruin directly behind the chapel at the Holy Cross Church. A reduced-scale "replica" chapel was built near the mission site in the 1930s and functions as a chapel of Holy Cross Church. Today's Plaza Park occupies the same location as the original plaza, at the center of the former mission complex. The complex at one time included as many as 32 buildings. The only surviving mission building, a dormitory for native acolytes, has been restored to its original appearance and functions as a museum of the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park.
The Giant Dipper is a historic wooden roller coaster located at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, an amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. It took 47 days to build at a cost of $50,000. It opened on May 17, 1924, and replaced the Thompson's Scenic Railway. With a height of 70ft and a speed of, it is one of the most popular wooden roller coasters in the world. As of 2012, over 60 million people have ridden the Giant Dipper since its opening. The ride has received several awards such as being named a National Historic Landmark, a Golden Age Coaster award, and a Coaster Landmark award; it has been ranked annually in Mitch Hawker's Best Wooden roller coaster poll.HistoryThe Thompson's Scenic Railway was built on the site of the Giant Dipper in 1908 as the longest roller coaster in the United States. In October 1923, manager R.L. Cardiff and Walter Looff began negotiations to build a new ride to replace the Scenic Railway. The price was set at $50,000, $15,000 more than the Scenic Railway. In January 1924, the permit to build the Giant Dipper was granted to Arthur Looff. He wanted to create a ride that had "the thrill of a plunge down a mine shaft, a balloon ascent, a parachute jump, airplane acrobatics, a cyclone, a toboggan ride, and a ship in a storm." The Scenic Railway began to be demolished in January 1924 to make room for the Giant Dipper. It took 5 months to demolish the Scenic Railway and construct the Giant Dipper. The actual construction of the Giant Dipper took 47 days. The ride opened to the public for the first time on May 17, 1924. The ride had a few incidents over the years in which three people have died.
Through an innovative partnership with California State Parks known as the “Friends Model,” and by leveraging local community support, Friends has provided millions of dollars of funding for educational programs, visitor services and capital projects. See the Friends Model infographic: http://www.thatsmypark.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Friends-Infographic-9.17.13-8.5-x-11.pdf Throughout decades of declining funding from the state and increasing visitor attendance, the unique and highly successful Friends Model enables us to provide visitor service staffing and fee collection at park entrance kiosks – while investing 100% of our net proceeds back into our local parks. The Friends Model significantly extends the reach of State Parks in the areas of education and interpretation, capital improvements, park maintenance and public safety. Friends leverages strong local support from business partners, grants and Friends members to fund programs and projects. Friends‚ Facebook fans and followers on Twitter and Pinterest are an engaged, active community in support of our mission. And proceeds from sales at 5 Friends ParkStores, as well as the ParkStore Online, also support park programs and improvements. The state legislature has indicated a desire for more entrepreneurial practices and incentive-based strategies at the local level. The Friends Model has been proven over the past 26 years and is consistent with the growing interest in innovative, enterprise-driven models in support of our state parks. Highlights of what the Friends Model accomplished last year: -Supported operations at 32 state parks and beaches in Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties -Funded all education and interpretive services provided by state employees -Funded operations to keep Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park open -Provided over 100 local jobs at peak season and funded the second largest volunteer program in State Parks -Funded key projects on behalf of State Parks, such as restoration of the historic Castro Adobe -Served 8,334 students through the Friends-funded “PORTS” program (Parks Online Resources for Teachers & Students) The Friends Model is anchored by innovative tools that are unique and were developed during ongoing budget cuts and the Great Recession. Two specific examples include propriety online tools that 1) track and report daily receipts from state park entrance kiosks, and 2) monitor staff scheduling in order to maximize yields and provide excellent customer service. Friends tools move beyond current industry standards that are inefficient, reducing human error associated with manual data entry and math calculations, and taking advantage of the security and convenience benefits of cloud-based computing. These innovations, an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong sense of collaboration with State Parks have produced many benefits, chief among them a significant increase in transparency and access to data, tighter integration with State Parks, and most importantly, steady revenue growth that supports the delivery of vital services and improvements for local parks and beaches.
The Golden Gate Villa is a Queen Anne style house built in 1891 Santa Cruz, California. The house was designed by San Francisco architect Thomas J. Welsh for Major Frank McLaughlin, a mining engineer and California politician. Visitors to Golden Gate Villa included Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Edison. In the 1940s the house was operated as a restaurant, the Palais Monte Carlo. After passing through several owners, in 1963 the house was purchased by seafood magnate William W. Durney and his screenwriter wife Dorothy Kingsley, who sold it to the present owner.
The Hotel Metropole, built in 1908, was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1979. It was demolished after being severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Mission Santa Cruz was a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscan order in present-day Santa Cruz, California. The mission was founded in 1791 and named for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, adopting the name given to a nearby creek by the missionary priest Juan Crespi, who accompanied the explorer Gaspar de Portolá when he camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River on October 17, 1769, and erected a wooden cross.As with the other California missions, Mission Santa Cruz served as a site for ecclesiastical conversion of natives, first the Ohlone, the original inhabitants of the region, and later the Yokuts from the east. The settlement was the site of the first autopsy in Alta California.The current Holy Cross Church was built on the site of the original mission church in 1889, and it remains an active parish of the Diocese of Monterey. One of the only remaining walls from one of the mission buildings along with a graveyard is located in a small ruin directly behind the chapel at the Holy Cross Church. A reduced-scale "replica" chapel was built near the mission site in the 1930s and functions as a chapel of Holy Cross Church. Today's Plaza Park occupies the same location as the original plaza, at the center of the former mission complex. The complex at one time included as many as 32 buildings. The only surviving mission building, a dormitory for native acolytes, has been restored to its original appearance and functions as a museum of the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park.
Defib This Emergency Response Training is a Santa Cruz-based provider of American Heart Association training courses for physicians, nurses, paramedics, EMS professionals, and other medical professionals. In business since 2010, we have amassed an arsenal of experienced and dynamic Instructors who not only teach, but continue to work in care and maintain the skills they teach. In addition to our EMS training; EMR and EMT renewal courses, we also provide American Heart Associate courses such as ACLS, PALS, BLS, NRP, PEARS, CPR, and first aid to medical professionals and the general public. Contact us today to sign up for a class!
The Hula School of Santa Cruz offers classes in traditional and contemporary Hawaiian dance. We share the Hawaiian culture within our community, sponsoring workshops such as lei making and group 'ukulele playing. We also are involved with various charities and perform with musicians that are visiting from Hawai'i. For more information, please visit our website at www.hulaschool.com.
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