Santa Cruz, California is a place that I both like, but also don’t actually know too much about. Some friends and family went to college there at UCSC, and in fact I went to a kids summer camp (COSMOS) where the cluster I was in learned some game design (UCSC has a game design major). I also liked Santa Cruz as a kid because I’d go to the beach boardwalk and get jawbreakers.
Places I like
- Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk theme park (map)
- Mystery Spot (map, https://www.mysteryspot.com/), but it’s been a pretty long time.
- Pono Hawaiian Grill (map) was decent the last time we went.
Want to go
Or general notes about places in Santa Cruz.
- Natural Bridges (map) rock arch seems scenic.
- Bad Animal Books (1011 Cedar Street, www.badanimalbooks.com) had pretty cool decoration when we passed by it. Seems like a bookstore and a cafe/restaurant?
- Akira (1222 Soquel Ave, www.akirasantacruz.com) seems like they might have decent sushi. It was mentioned on reddit.
- Lillian’s Italian Kitchen (1148 Soquel, www.lilliansitaliankitchen.com) also mentioned online
- Taqueria Vallarta? I feel like I’ve been there before.
- Many people online seem to mention getting breakfast at Zachary’s (819 Pacific Ave, https://www.zacharyssantacruz.com/ [broken HTTPS])
- Makai (49a Municipal Wharf, https://www.makaisantacruz.com/) is rotating Tiki bar?
- Ulterior (map, roughly, https://www.ulteriorsc.com/) is a kind of speakeasy?
- Front & Cooper (map, https://frontandcooper.com/) is mentioned on Reddit as having good cocktails.