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UNITED STATES | Santa Cruz, California Travel Guide
Thursday, December 26, 2024
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Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Beaches
Santa Cruz Boardwalk
In order to capture the true flavor of Santa Cruz, it is necessary, first of all, to go to the waterfront, where there are four beautiful, white-sand beaches, some splendid ocean walks, a municipal wharf that has open-air fish markets and a string of seafood restaurants, and, best of all, a vintage boardwalk where there is a Coney Island-type amusement park. The Boardwalk is actually the premier attraction of Santa Cruz. originally built in 1907 and believed to be the only such seaside amusement park on the West Coast. Here you will find game arcades, food concessions, souvenir shops, and twenty most thrilling rides, including a half-mile-long roller-coaster, the Giant Dipper, which is built entirely from wood, utilizing some 327,000 board feet of lumber (nearly half that required to build a small town!).
Adjacent to the Boardwalk is the grand old Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, the last remaining Victorian-style ballroom in Northern California, where big bands still play to thrill the young-at-heart. The ballroom was built about the same time as the Boardwalk, in 1907. A highlight of the Cocoanut Grove is its dome-topped restaurant, the Sun Room, which features an out-sized movable glass roof that can be opened for outdoor dining.
Santa Cruz Beaches
The mile-long sandy beach at the Boardwalk is the Santa Cruz Beach, the most popular of them all, stretching from the mouth of the San Lorenzo River to the Municipal Pier farther west. beyond which lies the smaller but equally attractive Cowell Beach. Both beaches offer good swimming, surfing and sunbathing, and have volleyball courts and lifeguards.
Two other beaches, Natural Bridges State Beach and Twin Lakes State Beach, lie to the west and east of the Santa Cruz Beach, respectively. Natural Bridges is about a mile from the Boardwalk, and close to it is the Long Marine Laboratory, part of the research facility of the University of California, Santa Cruz. The laboratory offers public tours of its aquarium and other marine exhibits, as well as a display of a skeleton of an 85-foot California blue whale. Alsoof interest is the West Cliff Lighthouse at Lighthouse Point on West Cliff Drive, more or less midway between the Boardwalk and Natural Bridges Beach. It houses a surfing museum, filled with surfing memorabilia, including old, wooden surfboards and vintage photographs of well-known surfers from previous decades.
Last updated February 12, 2012
Posted in United States | Santa Cruz
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