Sports Page 12
ROV Team Page 8
APTOS
APRIL 2015
SOQUEL
CAPITOLA EVERYTHING APTOS, CAPITOLA & SOQUEL
Vol. 3 No. 9
Celebrating a milestone
HISTORY CORNER By John Hibble Call: 688-1467
By TODD GUILD
Visit us online: aptoshistory.org Visit the museum:
7605-B Old Dominion Court Aptos, CA
The apple industry in Aptos, part 1
If you have seen the new mural on the railroad trestle at Soquel and Spreckels drives you may be wondering what apples have to do with Aptos. I have long been looking for an opportunity to showcase our historic apple labels and when Steve Allen from Allen Property Group offered to pay for a mural to cover the trestle next to his office we collaborated on a design that would showcase that part of Aptos history. Arturo Thomae, the muralist, completed the final design. The mural also includes the historic apple barn and apple dryer. Why apples? After Claus Spreckels and Fredrick Hihn (Heen) brought the railroad to Santa Cruz County, they ran rail lines into the mountains, proceeded to cut down virtually every tree in the Aptos hills, mill them into lumber and ship them out on the railroad. Cut Please turn to Page 6
Aptos artist Maia Negre works on a new section of a mural on a railroad bridge in Capitola. Photo by Tarmo Hannula
Mural expands in Capitola By TARMO HANNULA CAPITOLA — A highly visible colorful mural in Capitola is expanding due to popular demand. Mural artists Maia Negre of Aptos and John Ton of Petaluma (the creator of the initial phase of the mural) are busy adding begonias and people to the 35-foot extension. The overall mural, which depicts a Capitola Beach scene surrounded by hundreds of begonias, will eventually stand at more than 100-feet long and about 14-feet high. “I’m very excited to be working with John on the mural,” Negre said.
“We get so much positive feedback from people passing by, it really feels good. People are so happy about it. It’s an amazing feeling and so rewarding, that so many people encourage us. It’s inspiring.” While the work is Negre’s first outdoor public art project, Ton is no stranger to the world of murals. He has painted about 30 murals in Santa Cruz County including six large murals of large apple box labels sprinkled around Watsonville. “The murals are for the community and they are about the community,” Ton said. “As Maia said, the
Family business going strong Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant celebrates 50 years
Fourth victim named in fatal crash By TARMO HANNULA APTOS — Authorities have released the name of the fourth person that died in a head-on crash on Freedom Boulevard March 1. Vanessa Guzman, 16, of Watsonville was a rear seat passenger in a black Mercedes C320 sedan and was one of seven people in the vehicle. Guzman and another passenger, a 17-year-old girl that was injured, were both students at the continuation school, Renaissance High in Watsonville. The driver, Arturo Avalos, 22,
Healthcare decisions Briefs Garage Sale Guest Columns Calendar Dare to Pair
3 4-5 7 11 14 15
Please turn to Page 10
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 23 WATSONVILLE, CA
Inside ...
and Osbaldo Melgoza-Ortiz, 18, of Watsonville, and Terisita Brady, 19, of Soquel were the other fatalities in the 8 p.m. incident. The CHP said Steven Clark, 56, of Aptos was the driver of the gray Ford F-150 pickup that the Mercedes collided with. He remains in critical condition. The crash occurred just west of Valencia Road California Highway Patrol officer Bradley Sadek said. A bus driver told the CHP that moments before the crash he saw the Mercedes traveling west on
******ECRWSSEDDM****** POSTAL CUSTOMER APTOS, CA 95003 CAPITOLA. CA 95010
Please turn to Page 7
Please turn to Page 3
Monthly publication dedicated to covering everything in
Board of Supervisors and a Certificate of Recognition from Assemblyman Mark Stone. Contributed photo
Please turn to Page 2
APTOS, CAPITOLA & SOQUEL,CA.
and those children in turn would grow to bring their own. It was also an epicenter for political APTOS — A half-century ago, Manuel and Alice Santana opened Manuel’s organizers and a community gathering place for neighbors, business people and Mexican Restaurant in the heart of Aptos. As its roots grew, the restaurant did too, politicians alike. It has a place in history as a gathering expanding from nine tables to 21 just three space for Ken Kesey and his “Merry years after its inception. Manuel’s soon became a community Pranksters,” with a mention in the book place where families brought their children, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.” It was also headquarters for a farm worker cooperative organized by Manuel Santana in the 1970s to help migrant farm families incorporate into life here. With such political convictions, the founders were known for their donations to a number of local charitable organizations. It is in that spirit that current owners Leonardo and Patricia Santana — Manuel’s son and daughter-in-law — celebrated the restaurant’s 50th anniversary during the week of March 9 as 50 percent of their proceeds went to certain charities each day. Homeless Services Center of Santa Cruz, Second Harvest Leonardo Santana (second from left) and his wife, Food Bank, Teen Kitchen Project, Patricia, are presented with a proclamation from the Cabrillo College’s Visual, Applied
By TODD GUILD
APTOS — Twin Lakes Church was founded in 1890, a time when congregants made their way to services on horseback and buggy over the unpaved lanes of Santa Cruz. Benjamin “Little Ben” Harrison was president, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic Sherlock Holmes was making his first U.S. appearance in “A Study in Scarlet.” Founded as a Baptist church, the Victorian building was located near Twin Lakes Beach at the end of Seventh Avenue in Santa Cruz. On March 14 and 15, 125 years after its inception, the church known for its philanthropy and for collecting millions of pounds of food during the holidays every year celebrated with special sermons and a historical look at its roots. Popularly known as the “Little Brown Church by the Sea,” it hung on as a small community church until the 1920s, when a lack of attendance forced the church to close. It was later reopened by the Baptist church for Sunday school classes. Then in 1930, a group of 25 people came back to reopen the institution. Reopening the dilapidated building was a difficult task, said senior pastor René Schlaepfer. “After they paid all the bills, they had 19 cents left,” he said. “It shows you that, sometimes you don’t need much to get a great thing started.” The church relocated to its 2701 Cabrillo College Drive address near Cabrillo College in 1973. It has grown to well over 3,000 congregants and includes Camp