Sentinel.com blog

I’ve been living on the streets in Santa Cruz for about a year now–and I love this beautiful town dearly. There are going to be a ton of great sunshine suggestions, so I thought I’d throw some activities that are not very well known.nYou should go to the beach flats located near the Boardwalk and check out the hole in the wall mexican places to eat –amazing food. If you’re lucky, you may be able to catch the tamale man dragging a cooler of beef, chicken, or pork tamales wrapped in foil –they are awesome.nIf you’re in the mood for sexy time and have a little cash, there is usually a group of roaming prostitutes of varying ethnicities on Barson St, just off of Ocean drive towards the San Lorenzo river. They usually come in from the Oakland area, but have a good working knowledge of the area to turn tricks with little chance of being discovered. However before you do that, you may want to hit up the “Drop-In Center” near the bus station downtown on Pacific. This is a needle exchange where you can also get free condoms and lube.nIf you’re looking for drugs, you can usually approach any random homeless tweaker hanging out in front of new leaf or the bus station on Pacific avenue for meth –be careful not to “feed the bears” too much because they will follow you all over the place. Heroin can be found on the San Lorenzo levee going towards the beach flats. Watch for young kids on cruiser bikes with dark glasses and manicured goatees –mostly tar heroin with some good hard gunpowder now and then. If it’s marijuana you’re looking for, ask anyone downtown under the age of 25. They will likely be flipping their medicinal marijuana at street level prices to turn a profit –several do –so you’ll have a nice variety of strains to choose from. Also, across the street behind the Saturn Cafe parking lot is a good area to buy crack cocaine after nightfall. Be careful though –I hear people have gotten some broken up Macadamia nuts in lieu of crack from this location. Scandalous.nIf you’re wanting to get drunk and fight, check out The Avenue bar or The Asti on Pacific Avenue downtown. Usually around the hours of 1AM – 2AM there is a small group of drunken beef-heads looking to impress their girlfriends by picking on drunk unknowing tourists.nIf you need a bike to ride around the area, you can either buy one from a aforementioned tweaker downtown (likely stolen), or you can cut out the middle man and go to the UCSC campus late at night and clip your own. Security is usually off somewhere smoking pot and completely unaware. The ride back down the hill from the dorms on the bike trail in the middle of the night is exhilarating. Going down the steep Bay street hill is also fun and exciting in the dark.nHotels can be a bit pricey on the weekend. You can always get yourself a used sleeping bag from the thrift stores and camp out on the banks of the San Lorenzo river downtown. Be sure you’re well hidden in the bushes though, because camping is illegal, and of course we’re not looking to break the law here are we? Another spot to camp is the Pogonip, mentioned before known for their trails –which is nice, however expect to hear screams in the night from homeless people sick from lack of heroin at random times. Oh, watch out for dirty needles, and the occasional raccoon too. You can also crash out in various locations along West Cliff drive. Just jump over the railing and find yourself a dry spot on the rocks and fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean. Try not to slip and die thoughnFood is very abundant in Santa Cruz –you cant go hungry. There is a mission downtown behind Streetlight Records that gives away free sack lunches on Saturday afternoons. Also, every weekday at noon you can go to St. Francis mission off of River Street. They serve some of the best soup and stale bakery bread in town. The gold however is after hours behind Pizza My Heart on Pacific. Catch the kids closing the shop down and ask them for some pizza. You’re likely to walk away with a 50lb garbage sack full of slices. Remember to share with the homeless kids downtown though.nI think that about covers it. I’m sure you’ll see there are a lot of things to do on both sides of the legality coin. Dont forget the City of Santa Cruz unofficial slogan:n”Come on vacation, leave on probation.”nHave fun.

On your way up the coast stop by the Davenport Jail/Museum. It is open the first Sunday of the months June, July, Aug and Sept. 11am to 4pm. The docents will give you a tour of the tiny two cell jail and tell the story of the small town. It is located right behind the Art Gallery which is also a delight to see.

Mushroom hunting in the oak woodland forests of the San Lorenzo Valley.

Mystery Spot is quirky fun with the kids & grandkids.

Awesome hiking…Nisene Marks, Henry Cowell, Pogonip, andu00a0Fall Creek (and that’s just the local stomping grounds)!