History Archives - San Lorenzo Valley Post

A Glimpse of the Past: County Bank in Felton 1950s

February 12, 2023March 3, 2023 slvpost.com0 comment

By Ronnie Trubek From the image above, can you tell where this bank was located? The Felton branch of the County First Savings Bank (established in 1870 as the Santa Cruz Bank of Savings and Loan) opened in November 1948. The Santa Cruz branch opened the first “Drive-up Teller” in the area in 1953. The name was officially changed in… Read More

History Sports

When the Warriors Played in Santa Cruz

June 16, 2022June 16, 2022 slvpost.com0 comment

By Randall Brown “If you see some extra tall men around the streets of Santa Cruz…don’t be alarmed. They are not from another planet.” Santa Cruz Sentinel April 1962 Wilt Chamberlain had enjoyed a record-breaking season with the Philadelphia Warriors, scoring 4,029 points, including 100 in a single game. Forty-five years later, these numbers have yet to be matched. His… Read More

Columns History

Streetwise: Ben Lomond’s Coon Family

April 28, 2022May 6, 2022 slvpost.com0 comment

By Lisa Robinson When Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Daniel (Dan) Coon returned to Ben Lomond in 1938 it was a “coming home.” Dan Coon had spent the first 17 years of his life in the area. His family’s timber claim, “Coon Heights,” and the road just south of Ben Lomond opposite Glen Arbor were named for them. He recalled helping… Read More

Entertainment History Music Uncategorized

Oganookie Reunion at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center

April 10, 2022April 28, 2022 slvpost.com0 comment

By Julie Horner Guitarist, piano player, and songwriter Jack Bowers talks about it like it was yesterday. “We came to Brookdale in 1970 and set up camp in a big house on the top of Western Drive with an apple orchard.” Dubbed the “Oganookie Farm,” Bowers said it was “14 musicians, a manager, and kids and women living cooperatively.” According… Read More

Columns History

Streetwise: The Community of Zayante

February 21, 2022March 4, 2022 slvpost.com0 comment

East and West Zayante Road, Zayante Creek, and the community of Zayante are named for the Awaswas speaking people, the Sayant, who lived and managed the land prior to Western contact. The area is part of the traditional territory of today's Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Read More

Ben Lomond Fire station vintage photograph

Columns History

Pflueger and Rivera and the Ben Lomond Fire Station

August 19, 2021August 29, 2021 slvpost.com0 comment

By Randall Brown A remarkable event is taking place at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Diego Rivera’s epic mural – “The Marriage of the Artistic Expression of the North and of the South on this Continent” – is being shown to the public for the first time in 80 years. The spectacular fresco – 74 by 22 feet… Read More

Columns History

Building and Rebuilding Sequoia School

July 7, 2021July 16, 2021 slvpost.com0 comment

By Lisa Robinson Tragedy struck twice when the Alba Schoolhouse burned in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire. The lumber from the Sequoia one-room schoolhouse originally built after the second Sequoia School House succumbed during the dreadful 1904 fires, also perished in the blaze. The new third Sequoia Schoolhouse was completed in 1905. It was located on China Grade at the… Read More

Columns History Water

A History of Scotts Valley Water

June 18, 2021July 6, 2021 slvpost.com0 comment

By Randall Brown August 1958. The Scotts Valley Barn was practically empty on the night the residents were invited to learn about the upcoming water election. Engineers, county officials’ consultants, and public-relations men nearly outnumbered the ten interested citizens. There would be one question on the ballot, according to a spokesman: “Do you wish to buy a reserve water supply… Read More

History Local News

Abandoned Bunker in the CZU Burn Zone

May 5, 2021May 15, 2021 slvpost.com3 Comments

What fire uncovers. Within Big Basin Redwoods State Park – post-CZU – an old bunker is revealed. Locals have long speculated what might have been stored within. SLV Museum’s Lisa Robinson provided this comment: “I would have thought it was for road building and/or removing stumps – there are many many reports of removing stumps with dynamite – I’ve written… Read More

Columns History

Streetwise: Kenville Road

April 15, 2021May 5, 2021 slvpost.com0 comment

The Hidden History of SLV Street Names By Lisa Robinson Old Kenville Road, east of Zayante Creek, is the topic of this month’s article. But for whom is it named? There were two early Kenville homesteaders – Joseph Kenville, who with his wife America, came to Santa Cruz County in 1866 and, seemingly unrelated, Solomon Kenville and his wife Edesse… Read More