COMMUNITY CHATTER Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook-Off raises $81,000
MARCH 2020 | APTOS LIFE
12
State apologizes to Japanese Americans for imprisonment SACRAMENTO—Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring Feb. 19, 2020, as A Day of Remembrance: Japanese American Evacuation in the State of California. Starting in 1942 roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up and held at 10 “internment camps” during World
Tarmo Hannula
SANTA CRUZ—The 39th Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder CookOff raised $81,000 for Santa Cruz Parks & Recreation Department programs, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and City of Santa Cruz recently announced. The event has raised more than $1,658,250 for since 1981. Chef Elbert Richard from Latin Asian Fusion Food Trucks and Catering, a new competitor from Scotts Valley, took home the judge’s top prize for their Professional Boston Chowder. “We loved the competition, it was so much fun,” said owner Roddy Diaz. “It was a great opportunity to meet the community and many people from outside the Bay Area including Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles.” Also in the Professional Boston category, chef John Viray led JV’s BBQ to a second-place finish, and
Sutter Health’s chef Corby Chavez brought home third. Two returning competitors with an excellent track record were rewarded for their Manhattan chowders. Michael Midgley’s Public House in Stockton won Best Professional Manhattan and Derek Rupp’s East Side Eatery, took home second place. Chef Viray and chef Josh Martin with the UCSC Chowder Slugs received the top “People’s Choice” Awards.
REBUILD CONTINUES Framing construction is underway on The Hideout
restaurant that sustained massive damage in a fire in May 2019. Workers from Graaskamp Construction have built the skeleton of the eatery’s frame, nestled beneath a canopy of redwoods at 9051 Soquel Drive between Rio del Mar and Freedom boulevards. War II over two and a half years, as ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order No. 9066. The governor’s proclamation called the incarceration of thousands of United States citizens a “stain” on the country’s history that should serve as a lesson for future generations. “Despite these experiences, thousands of young Japanese-American men enlisted in the U.S. armed forces, bravely fighting to defend
the nation that was abridging their own freedoms at home,” the proclamation reads. “We honor their sacrifice, as well as the resilience that made it possible for thousands of Japanese-American families to reclaim and rebuild their lives after the war. A decision motivated by discrimination and xenophobia, the internment of Japanese Americans was a betrayal of our most sacred values as a nation that we must never repeat.”
