HIPPO TREE LANDMARK
Recently a relative let me know the Good Times awarded the Hippo Tree the weirdest Santa Cruz landmark. … Awesome !!!! I put it together 10 years ago for our grandkids, Big Boy and Mr Kane. I call it a LiBear (cross a mountain lion and bear). I recently brought it back to its original condition. It’s nice to know that our community gets a kick out of it too. Thanx for joining with me in a little weirdness……. Ha !
–Hodge
FOOTLOOSE HERE
We have a swing dance friend, Thorin, who approached the City of SC and the SC Wharf people (not sure who) a couple of years ago to find out about renovating the funky stage/dance area near the end of the wharf, near Ollita’s restaurant. They agreed that if he got a volunteer crew together and provided all the materials to rebuild that old stage, they could use it for events. He and his crew of volunteers did a great job. Thorin has been lugging his equipment out there once a month and teaching free swing dance lessons for a year.
The city decided to rent it for fairly big bucks (I think it may be $60 an hour) to him, and to at least one other group. Everyone who teaches the free lesson and DJs (myself included) do it for the sheer joy of the event, bringing together people of all age groups to dance and chat.
And many people come just to watch. Passersby and tourists always stop to enjoy the event. People often suggest that the dance should be every week!
But it’s all he can do to finance the event once a month. It’s a really great community event, and Thorin mentioned to us that he’d love some publicity. He said the wharf people are 100% behind him and someone in the city has decided about the $.
This stage made no money for the city prior to Thorin’s renovation, and we think at the very least he should get a good discount. For free would be ideal! People sometimes do leave tips, but not nearly enough to finance the actual cost of having the dance and lessons.
–Linda Maxwell and Steve Pitzer
