Lookout food & drink correspondent Lily Belli highlights top events happening around Santa Cruz County in the coming week, plus more listings from Lookout’s BOLO events calendar.
Westside / Downtown
Posted inFood & Drink
This Boulder Creek hot dog stand serves the only true Chicago dog in Santa Cruz County
The owners of River Dogs of Boulder Creek had to attend Vienna Beef’s Hot Dog University before the famed Chicago company would allow them to sell its all-beef hot dogs. But it was worth it, say Paul Faraone and Chris McCann, who now sell the only “real deal” Chicago dog in Central California. Last week, River Dogs established a satellite location for the summer at Humble Sea Brewing’s beer garden on the Santa Cruz Wharf.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Weekender: A landmark First Friday, Art on Wheels in Watsonville, Juneteenth coming and Castro Adobe’s closeup
Get the scoop on all things Santa Cruz County arts and entertainment from Wallace Baine ahead of the upcoming weekend.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Baine’s Nine: Nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead in Santa Cruz County arts & entertainment, June 6-13
With the weekend nearly here, get your B9 shot in the form of Baine’s Nine, Wallace Baine’s recommendations for things to do around Santa Cruz County via Lookout’s BOLO events calendar.
Posted inHousing & Development
Clocktower developer: ‘It’s not possible’ for politics to stop housing project that could rise to nearly 200 feet
Local developer Workbench formally introduced its ambitious proposal for the Clocktower Center to the community in a virtual meeting Wednesday. The 16-story, 260-unit vision for the project would reset the potential development intensity in Santa Cruz County.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Motion Pacific dance studio struggles to find new home
Motion Pacific will have to be out of its Front Street studio space — its home since 2011 — by Sept. 30. The building’s owner is Santa Cruz Seaside Co., the parent company of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Seaside spokesperson Kris Reyes said, “Our plan is to use the space to support Boardwalk operations.”
Posted inBusiness & Technology
After years of holdups, luxury La Bahia hotel project moves closer to spring 2025 debut
“We don’t just want to be another luxury hotel on the California coast; we want to be Santa Cruz’s luxury hotel,” says an exec at one of the companies spearheading the La Bahia Hotel & Spa along Beach Street on the Santa Cruz waterfront. La Bahia will include 155 guest rooms, as well as four restaurants and bars.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We need to keep our eyes on Palestine and support student protesters
UC Santa Cruz alumna Rachel Raiyani supports students protesting the Gaza war and is against the use of U.S. tax money to buy weapons. She didn’t attend the protests at UCSC, but watched them unfolding live on Instagram. “I watched as police roughhoused and arrested my fellow classmates and friends,” she writes. “I sat in pain and felt perturbed that anyone would see this as protecting students.” The police action, arrests and restrictions that ban some students from campus have, she says, obliterated any hope of shared governance.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: One-way on West Cliff is short-sighted
In a letter to the editor, a Westside Santa Cruz resident takes issue with a recent op-ed contending that West Cliff Drive should remain a two-way street.
Posted inEducation
Facing backlash, UCSC chancellor defends police raid on protesters as ‘necessary decision’
UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive defended her decision to call in police to clear a pro-Palestine encampment, saying it was necessary to maintain campus safety even as she faces a backlash from some of the school’s faculty and students.