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Covello & Covello Historical Photo Collection Historic Emily's Bakery: This was taken May 2, 1962, and naturally it's the corner of Mission and Laurel streets. Note the 31.9 cents per gal. You can't see them in this reproduction but all the houses and businesses have TV antennas on the roofs. This was before Teleprompter installed cable and had all the connections mounted in old mailboxes nailed high up the power poles. I remember the mailboxes because Ted Giubini bought 'em and sold them in the lot behind Eastside Hardware. Bruce Bratton VOTING ON TAXES. The voting to repeal our county utility tax last week reminded attorney Mitchell Page of Alexis de Tocqueville's statement in his book about his views on America, saying that the future of any government that is allowed to vote on its own taxes is in serious trouble. I tried to find the exact quote, but you get the drift. DUMP THAT SIGN. I talked with Randy Swanson, owner of Toucan Crane Co. He said sure, his offer to remove the River Street sign for free in about half a day is good. He hasn't heard anything from City Hall yet. His idea is to have something about fishing, logging or even a roller coaster there instead. Let's just get that sign down for free and quickly. GOING TO BERLIN. I'm going to Berlin for three weeks in April to cover the Wagner Festival. Daniel Barenboim is conducting all 10 of the old devil's finest operas in chronological order, starting with The Flying Dutchman, and ending two weeks later with Parsifal. I'm mentioning this because rooms or even pension rents are both scarce and expensive. Any Berlin contacts or great ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm emailing columns back from one of those Internet cafes that I hear are catching on nowadays. DARK PLEASURES. The monsters from the future in The Time Machine look like the results of a cross between Jack Palance and Jar Jar Binks; they're that bad. The future world in Time Machine looks like a place where only Robin Williams and Kevin Costner could live in herbal vegetarian happiness drinking fair-trade coffee. There are a lot of really bad mainstream Hollywood films out now, and they aren't worth discussing. One of them is All About the Benjamins, which features the latest stereotype, sort of an armed Steppin' Fetchit. However, there are two new films that truly demonstrate the power and art of films. Iris and Last Orders. Iris, staring Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent, will touch just about every emotion you've ever felt and simply amaze you with the acting. Don't miss it, starting Friday at the Nickelodeon. Last Orders opens Friday at the Del Mar and is a nearly perfect film. The stars, Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Tom Courtney, Helen Mirren and David Hemmings, couldn't do a bad job of acting if they tried and this film puts them to the test--it's that good. Don't miss it--you'll be sorry if you do. DOUG RAND ACTION FUND. The deadline for groups or individuals who want seed money for environmental, peace or social justice projects is March 23. Every year funds are awarded in May, so call 458.9042 for information. Doug Rand, like most peace activists, both angered and enchanted many people. I personally miss him very much. MORE ABOUT NAMES. I'm sure UCSC isn't anywhere near accepting names for three new colleges: 8, 9 and 10. I've heard that they are thinking of doing like UCSD and naming them after historical figures like Earl Warren or John Muir. They used to name colleges after money was donated, in the case of Kresge, Porter, Crown and Cowell. So some of us think it would be a very cool gesture to name new colleges that relate to the community. We could get it right and name one after London Nelson. Better yet, historian and map freak Stan Stevans suggested Francisco L. Alzina, a native of Spain who sailed with Admiral Faragutt and later was elected our first Santa Cruz County sheriff. Stan also suggested looking into the Chinese physician Dr. Ah Sue, who died and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in November 1900. He had many white friends at the ceremony, according to the Santa Cruz Surf. Geoff Dunn suggested Cottardo Stagnaro, dating back around 1870 as a founder of the local Italian community. Geoff told me that there was a movement to name College 7 after Malcolm X but "Oakes" won out. Naming a college would be so simple, and it would do so much to make that town-gown connection a bit more sincere. Stay tuned. DON'T MISS THINGS. The exotic classical Indian music concert will be beautiful. It's Saturday, March 16, at 7:30pm at the Pacific Cultural Center on Seabright. Deepak Ram, bansuri flutist, and Sujata Ghanekar, classical Indian vocalist, are performing as a benefit for a medical clinic in rural northern India. Tickets at Gateways Bookstore, 1031 Pacific Ave., downtown Santa Cruz, or call 427.0787. UCSC Arts & Lectures is presenting the Collective: Unconscious work, Charlie Victor Romeo, on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 26 and 27. Visit www.charlievictorromeo.com to get a real idea of what this is. UCSC Arts & Lectures is also presenting the Gyuto Monks of Tibet on Wednesday and Thursday, March 27 and 28, at the UCSC Music Center recital hall. This is the monks' only West Coast tour, so get tickets for both or either ASAP at 459.2159. SURFER NAMES. Remember how we were thinking about what to call groups of surfers? Well, Janet Hoover thinks Mavericks type surfers should be called Tsurfers. One anonymous friend suggested calling all surfers water pollution. He calmed down enough to add that surfers on the water's surface are a slick of surfers; surfers making it to shore a spill of surfers; surfers standing around their cars a sludge of surfers; and surfers in their low-slung swimsuits a crack of surfers. As I said, that emailer must remain very anonymous in this town. Bruce critiques films every other Thursday on KUSP-FM (88.9). Reach Bruce at [email protected] or 457.5814, ext. 400. [ Santa Cruz | Metroactive Central | Archives ]