Cover: Culture Crash
Artists are fleeing the high cost of living in Santa Cruz. Is the area facing a period of cultural decline?

News: Nüz
Hard-working legislator Bruce McPherson presents a bill to create an official state tartan.

Bruce Bratton: Questions about proposed widening of Highway 1; Planned Oblates parking lot threatens monarch butterflies; this week's movies.

Work: Cult of Jamie.

Sights & Sounds: There's no love lost between Sophie B. Hawkins and Sony Records, as the singer is quick to explain in performance.

Mano a Manuel's: Once a landmark, always a landmark--that's the story at the Mexican mecca that is Manuel's in Seacliff.

Word of Mouth: Wine lovers can sample the wares of multiple mountain wineries this weekend.

Shed a McTeer: 'Songcatcher' can't contain Janet McTeer's powerful but flawed performance.

Sweet Jests: Shakespeare Santa Cruz's masterful 'Midsummer Night's Dream' restores balance to the lives of fairies and mortals.

The Prodigal Duck: Cabrillo Stage's 20th anniversary show dishes up a feast of barnyard puns.