Santa Cruz Has Everything – But You

By Lisa Robinson

In 1926, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported “At last – a Christmas greeting card typical of Santa Cruz!” The cards were devoid of snow or snow-covered holly berries. In fact, the Sentinel pointed out, Santa Cruz was a city “where snowstorms are as scarce as seagull’s teeth.”

View the full Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper clipping below.

Local poet, newspaper man, and summertime Felton resident Frank Robinson Brentlinger, known to his friends and readers as “Brent,” had written a poem entitled Santa Cruz Has Everything – But You which was to be printed in booklet form, with envelopes stating “From Santa Claus and Santa Cruz.” Local sign artist Roy Hammond illustrated the booklet cover. Hammond would go on to become a beloved mayor of Santa Cruz. The holiday greeting booklets could be purchased in local stores and at the offices of the Sentinel.

Brentlinger was congratulated for the title of the poem which was highly praised as a slogan for advertising Santa Cruz County. “The slogan is clever. The poem is beautiful.”

Many Santa Cruzans considered the old slogan of a bathing beauty promenading the boardwalk old-fashioned and not representative of the rich experiences that Santa Cruz County had to offer.

Myron C. Hall, publicity manager for the Seaside Company applauded it saying: “… Brent. ‘Congratulations!’ Good slogans are the hardest thing in the world to write. They are worth thousands of dollars. Santa Cruz Has Everything – But You is one of the best.” The slogan would be used to promote Santa Cruz for many years.

Frank Brentlinger was an active socialist and in 1911 ran for mayor. In the 1910s, he also ran for State Assembly. Carolyn Swift recalls “Santa Cruz more fondly remembered Brentlinger for his poetry than for his political views.” He wrote several verses on the struggles of labor such as I am Labor published in the Sentinel for Labor Day 1926. He worked for the Evening News and later the Sentinel, where in his column Inside and Out he published some of his best poems.

In 1932, he retired to his summer camp named Hideaway “deep in the heart of the redwoods” on Glengarry Road in Felton, about which he wrote a beautiful poem Speaking of Roses in 1926.

On his passing in 1943, it was reported that he was “proudest of his poems about Santa Cruz and the San Lorenzo Valley.” His favorite poem was When It’s Midnight in the Redwoods.

Santa Cruz Has Everything – But You

—Frank R. Brentlinger

Here are mountains—wondrous mountains—
With a thousand tones of green;
Here are canyons—deep, dark gorges—
Lending myst’ry to the scene;
Here are crooked trails a-winding
Up and over through the view—
Santa Cruz has everything—
Everything, but you!

Here’s the ocean—placid ocean—
With its emerald-tinted bay;
Here are breakers—mighty breakers—
Sending heavenward their spray;
Here is boating, here is fishing,
Here are abalones, too—
Santa Cruz has everything—
Everything, but you!

Here are flowers—gorgeous flowers—
Blooms that cheer us all year long;
Here are fruits from every climate,
In a land of smiles and song;
Here are big trees—giant redwoods—
Older than Assyria’s Jew;
Santa Cruz has everything—
Everything, but you!

Here the cold winds—icy winter—
Finds no place to lay its head;
Here the hot winds—sultry summer—
Leaves a cooling breeze instead:
Then comes longing—silent longing—
When the sky’s a golden hue;
Seems like here there’s everything—
Everything, but you!

When It’s Midnight in the Redwoods

—Frank R. Brentlinger

Have you ever seen the moonlight,
When it’s midnight
In the redwoods?
When the silver beams come creepin’
And you’re sleepin’
In the redwoods?

There’s a sacred sort o’ feelin’
Comes a-stealin’
As you lie there dreamin’, schemin’
In the moonlight
When it’s midnight.

Then your heart is all a flutter,
When you speak you only stutter
As the fairies and the angels
Trip from tree to tree.

Not a sound to break the quiet
While the silver light holds riot,
And dances in the parkland
Merry, light and free.

Have you ever seen the moonlight
Come a stealin’ in so quiet
Thro’ the redwoods
When it’s midnight?

To your heart a little tussle,
In the trees a gentle rustle
An’ you rise an’ look about.

Then you’re almost believin’,
Surely it can’t be deceivin’,
Seems like God a-comin’ out.