"After the Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, blackout drills were immediately instituted in Santa Cruz County," writes Local History columnist Ross Eric Gibson. "Mayor Edwin Rich said on Dec. 9, 1941, to shop early before the mandatory 5 p.m. store closings, since most air attacks in war zones were made around dusk."
"Once upon a time, Santa Claus was 'mayor of Scotts Valley,'" writes Ross Eric Gibson. "It all began with a little boy named Glen Holland, who grew up in Southern California during the Great Depression."
"After the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack, the entire town had succeeded in a Dec. 8 blackout, with the exception of the downtown, and a mysterious red light reported in Seabright," writes Local History columnist Ross Eric Gibson. The Seabright light turned out to be the Kelly Hotel sign viewed from a distance and was unplugged as downtown managed at last to extinguish all its lights."
"When was the last time you were concerned about crossing a river? It is so effortless today that we're seldom even aware that we crossed one, or in fact many rivers and creeks, under bridges, culverts, or pipeline streams," writes Ross Eric Gibson. "Several centuries back, one crossed a river at its ford, usually a shallow place, perhaps with a sandbar in the middle of the river."
"In 1887 a mysterious castle-like building was constructed on Pacific Avenue, at the head of Walnut Street," writes Ross Eric Gibson. "The building's architect was the popular Charles Wellington Davis, who had designed Santa Cruz landmarks like Knight's Opera House, and F.A. Hihn's Mansion (which would became City Hall)."