The United Way of Santa Cruz County will celebrate the United in Purpose Celebration & Awards starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Hotel Paradox in Santa Cruz.
"My mother Dana Potter, moved to Santa Cruz in 1948 to run a florist and nursery business on Ocean Street," writes columnist Ross Eric Gibson. "Her parents, Poppy and Hopie Potter, decided to join her, driving from Maryland to Santa Cruz in a 1949 Chevy, calling themselves the new '49ers. They bought a home on West Cliff Drive, a neighborhood with a small population and a large number of vacant summer cottages."
Nick Sherman, chef/owner of popular Capitola restaurant Trestles, is opening restaurant Cavalletta on Thursday at 9067 Soquel Drive (the former site of Restaurant Malik Williams).
Chef Katherine Stern’s long-awaited restaurant The Midway opens Thursday at 1209 Soquel Ave. (the former site of Oyunaa’s Mongolian Cuisine). Hours for the initial soft opening stage are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday-Monday; the restaurant will be closed on Dec. 31. The plan is to add dinner service in mid-to-late January.
Santa Cruz’s hotel landscape has been stagnant for decades, dominated by overpriced midcentury motor lodges and chain motels that are about as enticing as they sound.But with the debut of fresh renovations at the boutique, 170-room Hotel Paradox this fall, the beloved beach town’s accommodations are.