EAST CLIFF DRIVE NEAR SEABRIGHT. CIRCA 1911. Carolyn Swift of the Capitola City Museum tells us that this photo was taken by Alfred Sutton and the folks in the photo are headed to downtown Santa Cruz. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

WELCOME WARRIORS AND THE RITTENHOUSE BUILDING.

Lou Cavigilia of Louis’ Cajun Kitchen & Bourbon Bar (Clouds) said, in an unusual FB note, that I was out of touch and should spend as much time downtown as I did back in the day. He’s gloating here about the San Francisco Warriors defeating our City Council and the Beach Hill Neighbors…and defeat they did. But Louie should know that I now spend way MORE time around downtown, collecting news, gossip and an occasional fact. It’s just that Louis hangs with the sports crowd in his bar and I hang with environmentalists, and that ilk at Lulu’s Coffee House. Louie (then owner of Clouds) and I also disagreed over the Rittenhouse Building. Along with many, many friends I waged a long battle to have that vacant corner turned into a small park-like “Plaza” with tiny little gazebos and businesses, and a performing arts space with lots of benches and grassy knolls. Louis and the City Council won that battle too, and now we have the Rittenhouse Building staring at us. What victories!!! What City Councils!!!

UNIONS & THE BASKETBALL ARENA. Judi Grunstra emails to add, ” I watched several hours of the City Council meeting (on TV) at which they discussed the Warriors proposal. As you mentioned in your column, why didn’t local unions weigh in on their role (or lack of) in this? Did it have anything to do with the fact that the structure is only a temporary one? Unions were certainly very much involved in the proposed La Bahia project. Do you have any idea of why they didn’t speak up this time? There are so many issues, large and small, that have a potential downside, from the neighborhood issues to the junk food that will probably be sold at the concessions, to the security at the games, etc. (the council mentioned inspecting backpacks, but what about metal detectors, security cameras?) And in peace-loving Santa Cruz, a team called the Warriors. Oh the irony!” Judi Grunstra. She’s right, how long will it be before the police need more money to cover the extra patrolling the nights after the basketball games let out? Could we have a contest to see if there is any structure in the world uglier than the Kaiser Permanente Tent? Then too Ryan Coonerty who used out of town promoters to win his elections, and who helped bring the “out of town” Warriors D team here, who has opened his private business branches “out of town”, had the unmitigated gall to criticize Beach Hill Neighbors for using an “out of town” attorney?? Wait too, isn’t John Barisone Capitola’s Out of Town Attorney?? Remember back in the day when the Santa Cruz City Council worked very hard to actually represent the citizens of Santa Cruz? Now it’s rare on any land use issue that the citizens don’t have to fight the City Council…and none of the new or old candidates are much, if any, better.

ERIC HAMMER GETS SIERRA CLUB ENDORSEMENT. Here’s what Eric’s endorsement by the Sierra Club says, “Thank you for your efforts in seeking our endorsement for this year’s Election. Many factors are taken into account as described in Club guidelines. In addition to having well thought out pro-environmental positions on a variety of issues facing our county, other factors including electability, community involvement, enthusiasm and vision are considered in making endorsements. We do not take making endorsements lightly and purposely set the bar rather high. The Santa Cruz Group of the Ventana Chapter has chosen to endorse you for the seat of District 5 Supervisor in Santa Cruz County for the June 2012 election. This endorsement has just been authorized by the California State Sierra Club organization. You are now permitted to list our endorsement and the official Sierra club seal of endorsement logo on your campaign materials”. Ask McPherson about how he supported a Nuclear Power Plant in Davenport, the 12, 000 home development in Wilder Ranch, the condos on Lighthouse Point…just ask him.

HISTORICAL PHOTO DATA CORRECTION. Stanley Stevens author, editor, historian states “The photo for last week’s column (Thursday, September 13, 2012), labeled “ca. 1867” is about 10 years off. My research shows that the Santa Cruz City Hall, the building to the left of the site of the 1882 Octagon building, was built in 1877, by Architect William Henry Burrows. Burrows also did the Smith Opera House in Santa Cruz, 1877 and the City Hall, on the West side of Front Street (at site of MAH), Santa Cruz, 1877. Architect of the City Hose Cart, Santa Cruz, 1877. Architect of the Katie Hihn Cope House, Walnut Av. at Chestnut St., Santa Cruz, 1877.Architect of the Nathaniel Manson House, Walnut Av., Santa Cruz, 1877. Architect of the Murdock Young’s Candy Store, Ice Cream Saloon, & Candy Manufactory, Pacific Av., Santa Cruz, 1877-78. Stan Stevens closes with… “Also, the method of keeping the dust abated was by driving a horse-drawn wagon with a tank loaded with water. Known as “sprinkling”, this was used until the streets were macadamized”.

MORE ON SAME PHOTO DATA CORRECTION. W.C. Casey adds and agrees – “this is a great photo.(scroll down) Besides the good view of the 1867 Courthouse, the building on the left is the first City Hall, built in 1877. The Octagon was built in 1882, so the photo was made sometime between those two dates. The building partly visible to the left and behind the Courthouse is the 1873 Odd Fellows building, with its mansard roof. The very top of the clock tower is visible just to the left of the Courthouse tower. The building behind and to the right of the Courthouse was known as the Ely Block No. 1 (built in 1875). On page 161 of John Chase’s Sidewalk Companion, there’s a photo of these same buildings (plus the Octagon) from Pacific Ave.

CHESTNUT STREET CLIFF DESTRUCTION. Every tourist has noticed, every local has wondered, and traffic has been mucked up for weeks…and still no explanation why the huge undertaking and cliff removal on the Chestnut Street cliffs. (between Mission and Locust streets). How much is that costing our City? Who ordered it? Will that one block widening really help the flow of traffic down Chestnut? And once again…where are the experts and authorities who can identify all the remains both human and archeological and preserve them? Who’s in charge there? Who’s supposed to be in charge there? Ask your City Council candidates those questions too.

JOHN STENOVICH SERVICES. The sadness over John Stenovich’s dying won’t go away for years. The services will happen Saturday, October 13^th at 2 p.m. at The First Congregational Church, 900 High Street.

SANTA CRUZ POLICE AND BUMS AND BIKES. Some more questions for all these wanna be City Council candidates…1. What will you do to stop the illegal noise caused by the roaring motorcycles racing around our downtown? How will you force our police to enforce the noise laws against those bikers as equally as they enforce the loitering anti-homeless ordinances? 2. Bums, real bums, are hanging out and sleeping nights in the Public Storage lockers at 1001 River Street across from the Tannery. Why aren’t the cops protecting the neighborhood from these hoods?

TOOTHPASTE COLLECTION. If you head over to MAH between now and November 25 you can see “Santa Cruz Collects“. On the second floor right next to the antique dentist chair is my collection of toothpastes from all over the world. I’ve been collecting for maybe 35 years. About half of 70 or so come from well meaning friends who have enjoyed trying to find “local” toothpastes. I checked out toothpaste collectors online, there’s very, very few and they all apparently collect like “Barbie”, “Spongepants” and American type pastes..not me. Also please note if you can read them that I think every single tube from everywhere contains FLUORIDE!!!

SPEAKING OF TEETH… PORTLAND GOES FOR FLUORIDE. I reported last week that Portland was one of the last large cities in the USA to NOT fluoridate their water… they just decided to do just that!!! Congratulations Portland…we should have a City Council so smart.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about more land use issues in Monterey. He relates the issue of keeping Fort Ord wild or…., then he gives details on the transportation Commission meeting that’s happening. And he says we need to pay more attention to the Garrapata Water System..which seems obvious!!! Read it all here (Gary Patton is “Of Counsel” to the Santa Cruz law firm of Wittwer & Parkin, which specializes in land use and environmental law. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, “Two Worlds / 365” – www.gapatton.net)

ANCHOR IN ANTARCTICA. I emailed Micaela Neus (our voice from Antarctica) because I hadn’t heard from her in a while. I know she’s getting ready to leave, here’s what she wrote, (in merely minutes)…

“I celebrated an anniversary on Monday, a full year on ice, and Antarctica put on her party hat for me: fifty knot winds and a mild blizzard! I felt myself take on that peculiar hunch as I picked my way between buildings, walking the way one does when the ground is too slippery to trust. A few weeks ago, shuffling along in exactly the same posture, I wondered how long we would have to live in these conditions before new muscle memories would erase the old. Perhaps after enough time, our bodies might literally forget how to behave in the rest of the world. Life on another continent would be like hugging a stranger, familiar in basic form yet not entirely comfortable.

I rarely get a chance to celebrate anniversaries, honestly. I began deploying to Antarctica in 2007. I haven’t stayed in one place, relationship, job, or even country for an unbroken year since then, unless time in Antarctica counts. In a sense, Antarctica belongs to each of these categories. It’s a place where I work, distinct from any other nation even though it’s not officially a country. Most significantly, this continent is my long-term relationship. I wake up with her, work with her, plan my life around her. Friends and family became somehow secondary after we met. They have come to understand that plans must bend around the time I choose to spend here, a place they cannot visit.

Heck, I’m going to grad school in order to better understand her wants and whims! I would not do the same for any living person.

Of course, every relationship has rough patches, demands compromises, etc. The last few months of winter have gotten a bit stifling and the anniversary has forced me to ask the question, Is this Where I See Myself Another Year from Now? The answer is complicated, but I do think we should spend some time apart. Last Sunday I packed my bags which gave me that gut-twisting mixture of regret and relief familiar to everyone who has ever “moved out.” My big red taxi arrives in less than a week, ready to float me back across the Drake Passage, north to the Real World and whatever comes next”.

(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and has been living at Palmer Station, Antarctica from 2007 until October 2012.

VINTAGE DE CINZO. De Cinzo checks out traffic problems…looks more like hwy.17. Scroll below…

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim deals with TRUTH in a searingly honest way…scroll below.

LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul Landau reacts to the Campaigns and writes, “USA and Mexico Best Democracies Money Can Buy”. He says, “Republicans have also tried to limit participation in voting by numerous means, including pushing so-called Voter ID laws that would demand photo identification of all voters. The less the masses vote, the better for the oligarchs. In Ohio, the GOP controls both houses of the Legislature, the governorship, the secretary of state’s office, and the state Supreme Court. Soon after the 2008 election, it imposed a draconian photo ID law designed to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of suspected Democrats, as is being done in other states around the U.S. Since 2009, the Ohio GOP has purged roughly a million citizens from the state’s voter rolls. This accounts for some 15% of the roughly 5.2 million votes counted for president in the state in 2008. The purge focuses on counties that are predominantly urban and Democratic. In addition, electronic voting machines have been installed throughout the state, which are owned, operated, programmed and maintained – and will be tallied – by Republican-connected firms.

Saul continues later and says, “Mexico’s elite still attempts to hide its political hands because their Supreme Court has not yet informed their people that corporate wealth is a form of freedom of expression as Citizens United did for the American public. So there is plenty of proof that U.S. and Mexican super elites have modernized election theft. The old days of stuffed ballot boxes and dead people voting now appear as primitive larceny techniques. The piety of both elites about how they cherish democracy has become downright offensive. Read it all here…

Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.com

LISA JENSEN LINKS. “This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/), meet some obsessed Santa Cruz collectors and their amazing stuff in a new exhibit at the MAH, and feast your eyes on the splendid new film from graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), in live-action and living color. Also, with a certain famous pirate captain poised for a comeback this year, check out my illustrated history of Captain Hook on stage and screen. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.

ARBITRAGE. Richard Gere in many suits, and Susan Sarandon filling in as tricky wife to Gere’s “one percenter”. That’s it, and it does have some Wall Street type tension going for it…no Academy Awards here…but, yet, maybe, it has a certain something that keeps you awake though the entire 108 minutes. That something is a vehicular accident that involves Tim Roth. Any Tim Roth film is usually worth seeing.

CROOKED. The play Crooked produced by The Van Antwerp Theatre Company at the Broadway Playhouse is definitely worth seeing. It’s an intense drama between a 14 year old daughter, her Mother and the daughter’s new girlfriend. Arguing, screaming, exciting, loving, questioning, and touching. One non-stop act with many scenes, it’s playing now though Sept. 29. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer (live only, or sometimes old programs are archived…(see next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Mireya Gomez will talk about the Day Worker Center in Live Oak on Sept. 18, then Rose Sellery and Lisa Litten dish last minute details on their fashionART show. On Sept. 25^th Scott Griffin, Nickelodeon chief operating manager discusses films, digital releases and local movie tastes followed by Jim Emdy from KUSP. He and I will talk about the many area opera season’s. OCTOBER 2nd means the Bi-annual KZSC Pledge Drive with County Supervisor John Leopold returning as special guest co-host. Cathy Pickerrell from Santa Cruz Chamber Players will provide season news on October 9^{th ,}then David Foster discusses the newly opened Re-Store project. October 16^th Grapevine has Catherine Segurson and Rebecca Goldman talking about The Catamaran Literary Reader then Richard Popchak discusses The Ventana Wilderness alliance. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click here http://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

QUOTES. More from Alyce Cadwallader of Redding, CA. formerly Alyce Vestal of Watsonville.

I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.
This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I’d never met herbivore.
I didn’t like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.
When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.
All the toilets in New York’s police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on.
Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.