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Santa Cruz
is the
county seat
and largest city of
Santa Cruz County
,
California
,
United States
.
As of the
2000 U.S. Census
, Santa Cruz had a total population of 54,593. It is located on the northern edge of the
Monterey Bay
, about 72
mi
(115
km
) south of
San Francisco
and is considered the overlapping portion of
Northern California
with
Central California
.
Santa Cruz is well-known for watersports such as
sailing
,
diving
,
swimming
,
paddling
, and
surfing
. It is the home of
O'Neill
Wetsuits
and Santa Cruz Surfboards, as well as Santa Cruz Skateboards and Santa Cruz Bicycles. Santa Cruz also houses Derby skate park, the first public skate park in the USA as well as the brand new Mike Fox skatepark. The
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
is California?s oldest
amusement park
and a designated State Historic Landmark. Home to two
National Historic Landmarks
, a 1911
Charles I. D. Looff
Carousel
and 1924
Giant Dipper
roller coaster, the Boardwalk has been owned and operated by the Santa Cruz Seaside Company since 1915.
Santa Cruz is the reputed site of the first surfing in California in 1885, when three Hawaiian princes, Prince Edward, Prince David and Prince Jonah Kalaniana?ole, surfed on locally milled redwood boards at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. Santa Cruz has 11 world-class surf breaks, including the point breaks over rock bottoms near
Steamer Lane
and
Pleasure Point
, which create some of the best surfing waves in the world. Home to the
Santa Cruz Surfing Museum
at Steamer Lane, which continues to be staffed by docents such as Harry Mayo and others from the Santa Cruz Surfing Club who have surfed Santa Cruz waves since the 1930s, Santa Cruz hosts several surf contests drawing international participants each year, including the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, the International Longboard Association contest, and many others. Was home to the Miss California Pageant, state finals to Miss America for six decades.
The Santa Cruz Wharf is known for fishing, viewing marine mammals and other recreation.
Many outdoor sports are popular in the area such as skateboarding, cycling, camping, hiking, and rock climbing.
In addition to its reputation in surfing and skateboarding, which now has the first full pipe in Northern California, Santa Cruz is known for other alternative sports such as disc golf. The Santa Cruz Skatepark is open to the public 7 days a week and is free. The De Laveaga Disc Golf Course hosts PDGA tournaments, including the annual Masters Cup. De Laveaga was the disc golf and discathon venue for the WFDF-sanctioned World Disc Games overall event held in Santa Cruz in July 2005.
The Ken Wormhoudt Skate Park (formerly Mike Fox Park) is a 15,000 square foot park featuring a full pipe, two bowls with pool coping and tile, practice bowl and street course with steps, hubba ledges, wall-rides and metal rails. It is located at 225 San Lorenzo Boulevard at Riverside Avenue along the San Lorenzo River levee. The park opened in March 2007. It is open from 9 a.m. to sunset daily. All skaters must wear a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads and have skateboards and in-line skates with composite wheels only. Bicycles, scooters, and metal skate wheels are not allowed in the skate park. The skate park will be closed during rainy or wet conditions.
Santa Cruz provides many opportunities for birding (see bird list) and butterfly watching.
Many residents consider downtown Pacific Garden Mall to be the heart of Santa Cruz culture with its historic buildings, locally-owned businesses, and street performers. Representing an aspect of the "Keep Santa Cruz weird"
contingent is Robert Steffen, a gentleman who walks slowly down Pacific Avenue dressed in pink women's clothing and makeup, including a parasol, thereby attaining the moniker "Slow Robert" and "The Pink Umbrella Man".
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