Most days, for more than a decade, Tom Scribner could be spotted down on Pacific Avenue in his trademark red suspenders and bowler hat, legs crossed, head bent over his saw, coaxing eerie melodies into the lively swirl of downtown Santa Cruz. A logger and labor organizer--and a Wobbly at that, committed to extending union protection to unskilled workers--Scribner brought a populist sensibility to town that just fit. Even his musical instrument of choice was a workman's tool.

The Santa Cruz that has sprouted up around the spot where old Scribner used to play is naturally a different place from the one he knew. Cities, like businesses and species, must grow and change or else fade away. Santa Cruz is changing, no doubt, but it's carrying into the future something from its past: the DNA of a true original. In its artists, chefs, winemakers, musicians and creative businesses, it remains one of a kind. This is our annual salute to our hate- and nuclear-free zone, where the pedestrian is king, the scenery rocks, buying local is a way of life and the public art honors not generals on horseback but frail men of a musical bent who wanted to make the world a better place for everyone. Here's to our home by the sea and all the originals who've made it what it is.

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