FOOD & DRINK

Last month, Firefly Tavern in downtown Santa Cruz winked out after just one year in business. In its place, CT Lights Lounge opened in mid-June, with Noel Cardona as the new owner. Cardona, a former commercial pilot, explains that the restaurant’s new name is a re-spelling of “city” lights, one...

Get ready to groove with an exciting lineup of live music events in Santa Cruz! Whether you’re a fan of intimate acoustic performances or high-energy shows, our local venues are hosting an array of musical acts that cater to every taste. From open-mic nights to live performances by The Joint Chiefs and The Philharmonik, there’s something for everyone.

WATSONVILLE, CA - Blueberries were the star of the show during California Giant Berry Farms’ inaugural California Giant Chef Invitational Academy. The unique program was designed to empower and inspire the grower’s past Chef Invitational winners while elevating blueberries on menus. "We designed the Chef Invitational Academy to...

CAPITOLA, CALIF. (KION-TV)- Capitola City council meeting on Thursday to decide on dog regulations across the city’s parks and beaches. Dog laws vary in the city of Capitola, Ozzi Dog Parks is the only Capitola city park that allows dogs off leash. “You never know what a dog‘s gonna...

Dominique Teixiera has a good reason for raggin’ on. Photo courtesy of Karolina Kaboompics. Mathilde Rand: December of 2008, I became part of the First Person Singular Team at KUSP (at that point we were five). During the last months of KUSP in 2016, I was the last hold-out. Now I am providing the same 2-minute program at KSQD, Community Radio, because I wholeheartedly believe in giving community members a voice. I am also the treasurer at KSQD. LAURIE CORN: I am attracted to the process of reducing a meaningful story or opinion to 90 seconds. I am a writer, so editing and honing a piece is a special love of mine. I have joined Mathilde Rand as co-producer of First Person Singular, and I encourage you to share your commentary on the air. This is community radio at its best.

The staff of English Ales Brewery in Marina does its best to make visitors feel like locals. Incredibly, the large bar feels relaxing despite the packed house. It’s 5:20 p.m. on a Friday with sports on television and tourists and locals alike gathering to finish off the week with a beer and a meal.

For its Plastic Free July campaign, the City of Santa Cruz is highlighting locally owned businesses that support and embody sustainability. As co-owners of Café Delmarette, we are proud to be highlighted for our environmentally conscious business practices and commitment to sustainability. As this campaign comes to a close, I was encouraged to share with our community some of the history and background behind our waste reduction practices and hopefully inspire others to join us in these efforts year-round.

Welp, if you like your dark irony served piping hot, there’s this: Last Sunday broke the record for the single hottest day ever recorded across the globe in human history. And then, Monday broke that record. Meanwhile, the most popular movie of the summer is a movie about extreme weather that never mentions climate change. We’re all on the same bus here, people. But apparently, Thelma and Louise are driving it.

The community is invited to join Mayor Marie Blankley for coffee and conversation about economic development in Gilroy, including an update on Sharks Ice and other new businesses opening throughout our town. Conversation and Coffee will take place on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at 9:30 AM in Council Chambers, located...

Welcome to Lily Belli on Food, a weekly food-focused newsletter from Lookout’s food and drink correspondent, Lily Belli. Keep reading for the latest local food news for Santa Cruz County – plus a few fun odds and ends from my own life and around the web. Stay in...

In Thursday’s (7/18) I Care If You Listen, Esteban Meneses writes, “The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, a new-music enthusiast’s dream destination in Santa Cruz, Calif., for 62 years has distinguished itself among summer festivals for its exclusive focus on living composers. [Bora] Yoon is returning to Cabrillo this year, which runs July 29 to August 11, as one of 15 composers in residence working with Cristian Măcelaru, the festival’s music director since 2017. Her new piece PARHELION, one of four world premieres, was commissioned for Cabrillo’s inaugural Creative Lab, an initiative designed to give creative independence to the composer…. Cabrillo 2024 also includes the world premiere of Casting the Dice by Iván Enrique Rodríguez … The August 3 program includes the world premiere of Nathaniel Heyder’s unbound: Phase 1, a short piece commissioned by Cabrillo…. The fourth Cabrillo world premiere, on the August 2 program, is Karim Al-Zand’s Al Hakawati, which consists of fragments from an opera still in progress … Between Heyder and Rodríguez comes the West Coast premiere of Lembit Beecher’s Tell Me Again, a cello concerto for his wife, Karen Ouzounian.” Other West Coast premieres include works by Helen Grime, Errollyn Wallen, Vivian Fung, Clarice Assad, Daniel Kellogg, Nina C. Young, and Wynton Marsalis, as well as recent works by Pierre Jalbert and Juan Pablo Contreras.