Cover Stories

Dee Hooker sits at an easel, painting a figure on a dark canvas in a home studio beneath a wooden staircase.

A Three-Week Vision Quest

September 30, 2026

Santa Cruz County’s Open Studios returns for its 41st year with more than 350 artists, three October weekends and a new mobile app. Christina Waters explores the studios, preview exhibits and wearable art of I.B. Bayo.

The Power of Yes

Amber Williams first entered Janus as a 17-year-old mother struggling with addiction. More than two decades later, she leads the Santa Cruz County nonprofit as it celebrates 50 years and prepares for a major expansion in Watsonville.

So Much Sumo

World Elite Sumo brings its first West Coast tournament to Santa Cruz, with 12 international wrestlers, a new women’s competition and 400-pound Power Slap star Makini “Big Mak” Manu.

Silver Anniversary

Jonathan Franzen looks back on 25 years of The Corrections, the Santa Cruz years that helped unlock the novel, his life with longtime partner and writer Kathy Chetkovich, and the coming Netflix adaptation starring Meryl Streep.

A Billion Views

Poet, comedian and filmmaker Joshua Turek has drawn more than a billion views online. Now the Los Angeles transplant is building a new life—and publishing Notes of a New Dad—in Santa Cruz.

From Rockets to Oil Rigs

Richard Stockton traces how SpaceX launches, a new federal review of California’s coastal program and possible offshore oil leasing have converged into a larger fight over who controls California’s coast.

Gravity Wins

Santa Cruz’s Danny Wright believes rainwater harvesting could be the next solar. His nonprofit Gravity Water and startup Cloudwell are turning rooftops into clean-water infrastructure, from schools in Nepal and Vietnam to a vision for cities worldwide.

No Parking at Any Time

UC Santa Cruz students, faculty and staff are pushing back against steep parking fee increases they say will worsen an already difficult mix of high housing costs, long commutes and scarce campus parking.

The Days Between

Three decades after Jerry Garcia’s death, the Grateful Dead’s legacy keeps expanding through musicians, scholars, archivists and generations of Deadheads—with Santa Cruz still caught in the center of its psychedelic orbit.

Fighting Fire

After five years on call day and night, Ryan Masters looks back on the danger, trauma and consuming commitment of serving as a Zayante volunteer firefighter.

We the Dreamers

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music invites audiences to imagine a more expansive future through Philip Glass, Rita Dove, Leilehua Lanzilotti and other visionary artists.

Keeping the Bard Fresh

The directors behind Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth and Fences reveal how collaboration, casting and close attention to the text keep classic plays alive.

The Aging of Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz County has California’s fastest-growing senior population, raising questions about housing, affordability, youth culture and the city’s changing identity.

The Art of Carrying...

Season of Ice

Rock the Porch