You can view larger scans of this panorama here: Left 2 panels, Right 2 panels.

This picture of Santa Cruz in the summer of 1906 seems to have insight into the spirit of the place. It is not a typical promotional or resort picture of sun and surf, as you can see from the overcast sky and the mists. It shows a small community captured between the mountains and the curve of the ocean. Almost half of the picture is the ocean itself, to help show the natural environment of Santa Cruz. It may be a profound picture of Santa Cruz, perhaps even a spiritual photograph of Santa Cruz.

You can see that in 1906 ocean front property wasn't yet crowded real estate. Most people chose to live near each other and near services and other supplies, closer to downtown. It is sobering to think that the people who lived in the landscape in this picture probably took what we see here as pretty stable and settled, the way things were. Yet less than a century later, much has changed. What we take for granted today may also look very different in another century in 2106.

Here are some comments on buildings and places in the photo, numbered on the key. Most of my information on the two wharves and the pier in the picture comes from an article by Ross Eric Gibson in the July 19, 1994 issue of the Mercury News. And I was able to get more information on other properties in the picture during a visit with Ross twelve years later on July 27, 2006. Key to numbers are indicated on the photos.

(Click to enlarge and open in a new window)

(Click to enlarge and open in a new window)

1. Epworth-by-the-Sea: large house built 1887, once owned by Bishop Warren, a Methodist Bishop. Small cottage right behind in back, with a chimney, has also survived. The rectangular grove of trees on this side of Epworth-by-the-Sea is Hearst Grove, owned by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of William Randolph Hearst (newspaper publisher). She never built on this property, and instead donated the first building, the Administration building, at the Asilomar conference center in Pacific Grove in 1913.

   The closest plot of land along the coast is part of the Cliff Manor property, owned by William Dingee, who developed the cement plant in Davenport, and who was known as the Cement King. He also had an estate in Redwood City, but his home there was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Although there was an increased demand for cement after the quake Dingee had business problems, and didn’t have the resources to rebuild the Redwood City home. And he wasn’t able to build a planned home on this property either.

2. 421 Lighthouse Ave.: may be under construction in this picture, roof seems new, perhaps not finished yet. House next to it on Monterey St. is gone today.

3. 507 and 511 Lighthouse Ave.: pair of twin houses still there today.

4. 523 Lighthouse Ave.: longer corner house, front of house obscured in photo by a tree no longer there. Vacant lot between 511 and 523 Lighthouse Ave. is still a vacant lot today.

5. 603 Laguna St.: one story high in the photograph, but now two stories with a ground floor added beneath.

6. Neary's Lagoon: very much a lagoon, in its wild state then, but also some areas in the back fenced and drained for pasture.

7. High school site: a level terrace, where Santa Cruz High is located now. The old High School building, which burned down in 1914, is visible there with its tower. The large residential building with a pointed turret, to the right of the high school on this side of Walnut Ave., is the Weeks house, which was covered with ornate wooden trim. When the high school was rebuilt in 1915, the Weeks house was moved to its present location at 724 California St. Houses were often moved for blocks at a time in Santa Cruz during this period.

8. High St.: line of trees marks gradual ascent of High St., toward the Cowell Ranch to the left. The large dark grove of trees above High St. on the left side of the picture marks the Cowell ranch house, now the Cardiff House UCSC Women’s Center. The entry gate on High St. is also historic.

9. Highland Ave.: steep diagonal slash traces Highland Ave., following the route of the present pedestrian path. Modern Highland Ave. zigzags up this hill with a switchback.

10. Judge Logan's house: Judge Logan developed the loganberry here, but his house was neglected and was torn down in the 1940’s.

11. San Lorenzo valley: you can see the canyon of the San Lorenzo river.

12. Pasatiempo: broad hill pretty easy to identify, site of golf course today.

13. the 1877 Lynch House, at 174 West Cliff Dr., built by Sedgwick J. Lynch, an early Santa Cruz builder, called “finest residence in Santa Cruz” in 1877.

14. Railroad yard: for over a century this was a working railroad yard. Note the steam plume from an engine heading out of the yard north towards Felton. Now a city park, Depot Park. As now, the railroad tracks north pass up Chestnut St. At the intersection of Chestnut and Lincoln St., where Chestnut curves to the right, the outlines of four of the five Lincoln St. row houses at 412-420 Lincoln are visible on the photo, although blurred by the mists of time. The last house of the group on the right isn’t in the picture, presumably cropped out as was Holy Cross Church. Often these large panoramas were cut up just to fit library filing cabinets.

15. West Cliff RR overpass: was a working bridge in 1906, then rebuilt after the 1989 earthquake and now in use again.

16. Jordan and Davis Wharf: this was the first wharf in Santa Cruz, originally built at this location by Elihu Anthony in 1849. In 1906 it was owned by the Henry Cowell Limeworks, but it collapsed in a storm a year later, in 1907. The pier is an extension of Bay St., which was an important commercial route then, to avoid hauling lumber, lime, and other heavy cargo through downtown. In this picture you can see a wagon train, with perhaps three pairs of horses pulling two large wagons, crossing the small bridge on Bay St. in front of the lagoon.

17. Sea Beach Hotel: great location, but it burned down to the ground a few years later, on June 12th, 1912. A century ago fires were constantly changing neighborhoods, and the downtown area too experienced major fires. If you follow the street on the far side of the hotel straight back from the ocean, it ends in front of a large house with a turret on the left side, which is Golden Gate Villa, well preserved there today.

    To the left of Golden Gate villa, on the edge of the street below, is another large home, Sunshine Villa. It was the home of James Smith, who beginning in 1895 helped promote an annual Venetian Water Carnival on the San Lorenzo river. Later the building became the McCray hotel, and inspired the Bates mansion in Hitchcock’s movie Psycho. Today it is called Sunshine Villa again, an assisted living retirement center.

18. Cowell Beach: exactly where it is today, no surprise here.

19. Railroad Wharf: just to the west of the present Municipal Wharf (which was itself built in 1914, eight years after this picture). David Gharkey built the original wharf here in 1856, which became the Railroad Wharf after the South Pacific Coast Railroad bought it in 1875. The railroad tracks ran all the way out to the end of this wharf, which was torn down in 1922.

20. Boardwalk casino site: the old Boardwalk Casino building, with turrets in Moorish style, burned down on June 22, 1906. But already on June 25 work began on a new wooden floor on top of the pilings of the old Casino. And on June 30, the Boardwalk began erecting a tent over that floor as a temporary structure for the summer (per Bonnie Minford, Boardwalk archivist). Here in this picture we can see the charred pilings along the beach, this side of the Pleasure Pier, and possibly the new floor, at the far rear corner. So probably the picture was taken on or about June 25, 1906, give or take one day. And perhaps George Lawrence was motivated to come over to Santa Cruz by the news of the Casino fire, just as the S.F. earthquake and fire brought him out from Chicago.

    The Tent City to the left of the Casino site was built as tent cabins, on wooden floors, to house visitors. Later the tents were replaced by all wood structures, simple cottages. Along Beach St. there were various heated saltwater bath houses, where visitors could enjoy the health benefits of bathing in saltwater without going out into the chilly ocean.

21. Pleasure Pier: this pier at the Boardwalk was built in 1904 with a pipeline carrying seawater to the indoor pool in the plunge building. First called the Electric Pier, because it was lighted at night, it was demolished in 1965, when the plunge was converted to a miniature golf course.

22. Pacific Ave.: only the lower end of the street is visible in this picture, but you can see how the buildings line both sides of the street further up. Street trolley tracks visible along the street too, and at least one trolley car. First street to the left of Pacific Ave. is Cedar St. At the upper end of Cedar St., beyond where the street disappears among the houses, is a prominent white tower with a roof line that is raised in the middle. That may be the tower on top of Frederick Hihn’s house at 75 Church St., a landmark then, and now the site of the Santa Cruz City Hall.

23. Chinatown: the Old Chinatown was between Pacific Ave. and the river, on the near side of this bridge.

24. Holy Cross church: a puzzle, doesn't seem to appear in the photo. Perhaps it fell into the space between two frames, the separate frames don't match exactly.

25. Branciforte Ave. neighborhood: there were only three pueblos, or towns, in colonial California, and one of the three was Branciforte, right here. Oldest home still in use in Santa Cruz is an adobe building at north end of Branciforte Ave. The residents of Branciforte were apparently mostly ex-convicts, who used Branciforte Ave. as a horse racing track, to the scandal of the missionaries across the river. Perhaps that's why their settlement never quite rivaled San Jose or Los Angeles, the other two pueblos.

26. Loma Prieta: very distinctive outline of this mountain was clear in 1906, it wasn't flattened at the top only for the radio and microwave towers there today. Bare clear cut hills are everywhere in the picture, the result of the first wave of logging in the Santa Cruz mountains.

27. San Lorenzo river RR bridge: probably the same bridge as now. But the river is in its original natural state, meandering through the town, before the Corps of Engineers tamed it in the 1950’s. The island near the river mouth was called Opera Island, used to stage performances for audiences on the river banks.

28. Seacliff Beach: a very narrow strip of beach in 1906, and neighborhood inland quite undeveloped.

29. Yacht harbor: just a lagoon back then, Wood’s Lagoon. Along the coast to the right the next indent in the coastline is Schwan Lake, now part of Twin Lakes State Beach. In this picture you can see the streetcar trestle that crossed over Schwan Lake by the ocean, as well as a second trestle further inland for the railroad. The pilings of the streetcar trestle can be seen now often at low tides off Twin Lakes beach. To the right of Schwan Lake is Black’s Point, the small rocky point jutting out from the coastline. On this side of the point is Black’s Beach, there today at the end of 13th Ave.

30. Eaton Ave. bridge: there was a railroad bridge at this location, but not as high as the modern bridge.

31. Capitola: you can't see the town in the picture, it’s hidden behind the cliff on this side.

The Library of Congress has four other panoramic photographs of Santa Cruz from the same period. To see them, follow this path:

• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/panoramic_photo

• Search for ‘Santa Cruz California’

In the results list, the first picture is this 1906 panorama, just click on the index picture to see the available downloads. The fourth picture is a good 1909 panorama of the Mission and neighborhoods to the west of the Mission, taken from just below Judge Logan's house on the Highland Ave. hill. And unlike the Lighthouse Pt. panorama, it does show Holy Cross Church.

The other three Santa Cruz panoramas in this section are all close up panoramas of crowds at the Boardwalk, with the new Casino (which is the present day Casino, the building that replaced the one destroyed in that 1906 fire). Interesting pictures too, although they do not have the same social and historical and cultural and architectural and planning and economic content as George Lawrence’s 1906 panorama of the city. And they may not have the same insight into the spirit of Santa Cruz.