When a
recent article brought to attention
the dire straits that Original Surf
City, California faced in 2009, it
brought to our attention the Tale of Two
Surf Cities, California.
One Surf City is in the north near
the major tourist draw, San Francisco,
and the other Surf City is in the south
near Los Angeles, the other big tourist
destination for California.
A Time magazine article mentioned how
the economic downturn of 2009 has
created a budget deficit for Santa Cruz,
a place where tourism brings in the most
revenue. The article mentioned how
citizens have consistently voted down
projects such as bigger hotels, and now
are facing a limited cash flow, forcing
the shut down of their city's icons such
as a Surfing Museum in a lighthouse next
to famed Steamer Lane, a top surfing
spot.
The concept of keeping a city small
and charming doesn't receive warm
reception in Southern California where
we see the trends toward vertical
development increasing as demand for
that 50-mile radius near an ocean
exists. Somehow Santa Cruz has fought
off the big box projects.
In Huntington Beach, which calls
itself Surf City USA, Walmart proponents
fought vigorously with lobbying efforts
to build a store in the city.
Walmart, like it or not, was approved,
and brings in tax revenue that the city
felt it needed to sustain projects and
programs.
Through approvals to tear down the
old and build resort hotels in
Huntington Beach, the city's revenue has
increased continuously and is on an
upward trend. Demand for hotels along or
near the beach continues to grow and the
City of Huntington Beach has become a
welcome partner in economic development
of the beach front.
Meanwhile Santa Cruz, known for its
university, UC Santa Cruz, lacks luxury
hotel projects that could increase its
tourism numbers. One of our biggest
complaints about Santa Cruz beach
accommodations is the lack of quality
four diamond hotel options on the scenic
waterfront. We often opt for stays in
hotels such as Chaminade or the Hilton
hotel in Scotts Valley just to enjoy the
quality hotel accommodations and bedding
that we find in par with our personal
environment at home. Why should anyone
pay over $100 per night for something
that is lesser than their personal beach
house offerings and lifestyle? For many
of us the answer is you simply don't,
but opt for staying in places where the
accommodations match your lifestyle.
Santa Cruz will have to make some
tough decisions, maybe not this year as
they scrape through another budget, but
in future years, as the needs increase
and the money doesn't. While we like to
think that tourism alone can drive an
economy, it isn't the 2007 - 2009
economic downtown and less hotel
bookings that may be impacting Santa
Cruz, as much as the need for forward
thinking and vision. If you want to
attract people to your destination while
the rest of the coast is building luxury
resort rooms that command higher prices
and offer convention space, you may have
to sacrifice that small town atmosphere
for cool, hard cash.
Faced with a $7 million deficit,
Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation
Society, which is spearheading a
campaign to save the Surf Museum in
Santa Cruz, a 900-square-foot,
free-admission museum, reminds Santa
Cruzans that Santa Cruz was the
first place surfing ever occurred in the
continental United States in 1885.
Several Hawaiian princes rode
waves on redwood boards made from the
local forests, and the craze caught on
with Santa Cruz becoming the
headquarters for surfboard shapers and
wetsuit makers.
The Time articles states that, "The
city even once sued Huntington Beach in
Southern California over the rights to
the name "Surf City." (Both cities
continue to use the nickname.)
No one knows for sure whether Santa Cruz
will be able to remain a quaint surf
town and still pay the bills. But there
is hope thanks to its population of
hearty and headstrong surfers like
Young. "When it gets bigger, we just
paddle harder." "
