The inside story on the booming local kombucha business
and why it’s putting Santa Cruz on the map

Fermented yeast and bacteria. If the soda-slurping generations of yesteryear had been told that a beverage based on that combination would be the fastest growing drink on the market someday, they would’ve laughed, or maybe even made a gagging gesture, and offered you another Dr. Pepper.

But the day is here and the drink is kombucha, a probiotic brew of tea and a multiple culture of yeast and bacteria.

Can quantum physics help explain eerie coincidences?

Local vet Pat Farley sheds light on the untold story of surfers during the war

I am a product of the Vietnam War. Though I’ve jokingly said that for years, it is true. During the war my mother was a Vietnamese civilian working as a translator for the United States Army in Saigon, where my father was stationed as an American helicopter pilot in the Navy. They met there. Just as the North Vietnamese were taking over Saigon on April 29, 1975, my mother fled Vietnam aboard a refugee boat amidst the historical chaos. My father was also on the coast, hovering overhead while commandeering his final mission in Vietnam. They were separated but four months later, my mother would ultimately relocate to San Diego where they reunited and eventually married.

More than 400 artists unite in a stunning county-wide exhibit where assemblage meets collage

To call it an undertaking would be an understatement.

Susan Hillhouse, Theresa Myers and the team at the Museum of Art & History in downtown Santa Cruz have pulled off an undeniably impressive artistic feat. They have launched an inventive, county-wide art show,  “Assemblage + Collage + Construction,” which runs through April. The show features a cornucopia of talented artists from Santa Cruz County and beyond. Fourteen art galleries will showcase the work of about 400 artists, which includes Angelo Grova, Jack Howe, Michael Leeds, Robbie Schoen, Shelby Graham and many others.

Boerefijin strings together creative beauty.

Boerefijn’s ‘connecting tissue’ at the Cabrillo Gallery is nearly indescribable—it’s beautiful and indeed airy—strings of aviary wire sculpted into a pattern, with delicate dangling objects attached that reflect light. Her piece at the MAH is also enormous in size, taking over an entire corner of a gallery room, with doorknob-shaped wire sculptures that connect and hang from the ceiling.

The CrossFit Mystique

There’s a reason why it must be called “CrossFit.” You’re going to get fit, and you won’t be bored—you’ll be zigzagging through all types of fitness regimens, trying something new, in essence a cross section of exercise, every day (or as often as you workout). In Scotts Valley lies one of these updated gym experiences called Santa Cruz North—a CrossFit center. Santa Cruz North co-owner John Larson explains that CrossFit is really a way of exercising that is for all people, all shapes and all sizes.

Bruce Willey's gripping Santa Cruz holiday tale

Verily, verily, I say unto you that when you were young you girt yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another shall gird you and lead you where you would not go.  —John 21:18

With campus expansion in full swing, the UCSC trailer park lives out its years as the quintessential banana slug community

Filmdom’s titan of the unconventional is ready to expose himself to Santa Cruz audiences. We tell you why

A few weeks ago I was a John Waters virgin—pure, untouched, unscathed by the 59-year-old filmmaker. But then we met one day. In one hand I gripped a thin pencil, its eraser head erect, its lead point ready to be unleashed. In the other hand I held firmly on to a giant cup of green tea. I was nervous. I was about to be deflowered by John Waters.

I’d never imagined that sex with John Waters would be like this: Two people thrashing around on a bed, blood spewing, with a chicken between them as they—to use a Johnny vernacular—“fucked.”

Thankfully, my only interaction here was as a voyeur, a bystander watching bestiality on screen—just one sexual moment of many, featured in Waters’ controversial, groundbreaking if not highly praised and criticized 1972 film, Pink Flamingos. I figured I’d get the full service experience with Waters right off the bat. I’d start with his hardest ride.