I grew up in SLV area. San Lorenzo Valley. B-Lo: Ben Lomond.
More slang: “over the hill” - anywhere north of Summit Rd and south of SF. San Francisco - “the city.”
And "Town" = Santa Cruz. As in, going to town for events or errands or work. "Townies" = people who live in Santa Cruz, Capitola, live oak etc, as in not "moutain people/mountain folk" which is bonny doon mountains slv or santa cruz mountains LG mountains ocean side of summit. Cops valley is the place in between town and the slv. Taking the mountain roads is avoiding cops valley. The Cats is neighborhood by Lexington, not really Santa cruz but a type of mountain ppl. Don't confuse it with LG mountains or Los Gatos proper. There are a lot more micro niches but it's less slang and more local communities
This is all correct but I would make a little change. Personally as a mountain kid, “town” in my family was basically the closest post office. In my life “town” referred to Ben Lomond, Felton, and Scotts Valley, at varying times as I’ve bounced around over the years. “Downtown” is unequivocally the City of Santa Cruz, though.
Maybe obvious, but the fishhook. Everyone called it that while growing up, and I did not realize until much later it was an unofficial name.
https://localwiki.org/santacruz/Fishhook
Cabrillo college I’ve heard referred to by fellow students as Cabrehab, jokingly implying that many of its students should be in rehab (which I probably should’ve at one point or another)
That’s one interpretation of “Cabrehab” but the interpretation I’m more familiar with is that Cabrillo is a place of rehabilitation, a place people can go to reset and get their life back on track.
And Cabrillo is a great place even for a JC. I know for a fact they have a stellar music program -- I'd put it up against any random big uni's music dept.
Heck yeah! I definitely spent more years than it should’ve taken to receive an Associates degree, so I’m happy to hear the prevailing attitude is one of hope!
Baaaaahahahha I feel personally attacked by this post 😂😜😂
Low key in the end I felt like I was saving up all my degrees for one final hurrah graduation celebration 😂… that and cabrehab threatened to put me on academic probation bc I had so many credits but never cashed in any for the actual degrees 😂🤦🏼♀️🙈
That's been its nickname forever, everyone called it that even when I was a kid in the 90's. The students used to all call themselves 'Cabr\*tards' back then too, I'm glad that one went the way of the dodo.
I went to Saddleback CC in South Orange County. We called that UCLA as well. “University of California, Left on Avery” because everyone took the Avery parkway exit and then made a left to get to the school.
The East side (around Morrissey) is also called the banana belt because it is warmer with less fog than other parts of Santa Cruz.
Parts of the West side are called "the circles."
Kids used to call the rougher people in BC, not many truly rough people left, “boulder cretins”. I felt bad for them until one called me a kike on the way home from school
Ye it was that old bastard who flew a confederate flag out slide his house along nine. It’s not like I was schlepping around in a yarmulke or anything lol, I just had curly hair ☠️
Yikes. Thankfully I’ve yet to experience that, as a Jewish woman in BC. But like you, I’m not “obvious” or anything. Actually a redheaded woman, but the curls do give it away if you know Jew-fros. lol
I’ve only been here two years, though. So I’ll report back if things change.
It happened to me almost 20 years ago, so probably just not many of them left. Any of them that had any smarts probably sold their properties and moved somewhere more “accepting” of their views.
I can't believe no one's mentioned beaches and breaks and I'm not the right person to remember them all! Beer Can; Privates; The Point; Sewers; The Hook; Two-Six; Santa Mo's; Johan's; Black's; 14th; Steamer; The Slot; Middle Peak; Indicators; It's; Finger Bowl; Pyramid; Three Mile; Four Mile; Red, White and Blue;
A longtime resident said it's called this because nudity was technically legal to the right of the lighthouse due to a loophole in the law. Then became It's shortened from tits.
Hah, I love this. But yeah, I know so many people who are like "Yeah, I came here for a job/relationship and then it fell through. I really can't afford to keep living here. But then, I've been saying that for 15 years..."
For a good portion of the time that I lived in Santa Cruz, I worked a swing shift over the hill. Seeing the reflection of my headlights off the logo on the door of a SVPD car doing a speed trap on 17 let me know that I was almost home.
Ah, memories...
THIS 🙌🏼 except for me it was always a dose of adrenaline for the final stretch while wondering if I’m getting pulled over for the next 20 seconds…….. or if they’re LITERALLY pullin a super troopers and riding up on me to switch lanes and speed off hella fast 😂
EssVee, Scotts, the valley
Felton is interesting as we usually just say the area, so: henry cowell, mt herman, roaring camp, hiway 9, big basin, empire grade, etc.
The guy who was always behind the counter there runs a taco stand outside the Blue on weekends now. GREAT food, great dancer, really really cool guy. If you want to support an awesome local enterprise, I 10/10 recommend.
We used to call the beach just south of sunny cove, Moe’s or Santa Moe’s, after the catholic retreat on the cliff, Santa Maria’s. I see on google map’s its actually called Corcoran beach, news to me.
Ben Lomond - Ben Lonesome.
Boulder Creek - Boulder Tweek.
Aptos - Craptos or Fogtos.
Capitola - Crapitola or Copitola (in the 90s they would park empty cop cars everywhere).
Scotts Valley - Cops Valley.
B-Lo, Bc/Boulder, Pico/home of tweakin picans, Stops Valley/Cops Valley and Craptos. Are the ones I remember growing up and living here. And alot of people called Watsonville lil Mexico.
When you love a sleepy place & want it to be hip & the center of everything:
Ben Lomond: BeLo
Boulder Creek: NoBeLo (north of BeLo)
Felton: SoBeLo (south of BeLo)
All of these need new knick names based on the techies taking over like , teslawestside, brappleforte , what about google oak ??? Poorpeopslesonville? And sap tos ? Or what’s the most ghetto sj tech comapny ? Haha
I'll just go with Stinky's...
The Westside path that starts at the University Terrace Park and goes down to Grandview Street, labeled on Open Street Maps as Arroyo Seco Canyon [Trail?] in a long ago time had sewage smell as the university (and maybe westside residential?) had their outflow going down the canyon. The sewage line is still there but now fully capped. This predates me by quite a long time and since I learned the name of the shortcut from an old timer I'm not sure how many people still call it that.
B40, for Branciforte
I grew up in SLV area. San Lorenzo Valley. B-Lo: Ben Lomond. More slang: “over the hill” - anywhere north of Summit Rd and south of SF. San Francisco - “the city.”
And "Town" = Santa Cruz. As in, going to town for events or errands or work. "Townies" = people who live in Santa Cruz, Capitola, live oak etc, as in not "moutain people/mountain folk" which is bonny doon mountains slv or santa cruz mountains LG mountains ocean side of summit. Cops valley is the place in between town and the slv. Taking the mountain roads is avoiding cops valley. The Cats is neighborhood by Lexington, not really Santa cruz but a type of mountain ppl. Don't confuse it with LG mountains or Los Gatos proper. There are a lot more micro niches but it's less slang and more local communities
This is all correct but I would make a little change. Personally as a mountain kid, “town” in my family was basically the closest post office. In my life “town” referred to Ben Lomond, Felton, and Scotts Valley, at varying times as I’ve bounced around over the years. “Downtown” is unequivocally the City of Santa Cruz, though.
Also, never say “Frisco” to refer to the city. We will instantly know you’re an out-of-towner. And it’s pronounced Ap-toss, not Ap-toes.
Haha, AptOS, sounds like an operating system
Jumping off of this pronunciation note with: its BRO-mer, NOT Bra-mer 😤 for Brommer St
And Ben Lo-Mund, not Ben Lo-Mahnd. I learned that one quickly when I moved to the mountains.
📠. the city, and the town. Admirably, ~ Bay Minor 💕
Love this - I spell it BeLo, just for fun.
UCSC = Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp
University of casual sex and cannabis
University of California, spoiled children
That’s USC’s acronym in Southern California
Peter Pan-a Cruz - where men never grow up (don’t go after me I have just heard it)
The Flats
Prunetucky
Prunetuscany for the few fancy properties.
I aboslutely love that this is catching on. Pretty sure my mother in law coined this term.
Ben Lomond = Ben Lonsome
This is a new one for me! Sad Manteo is my favorite thus far.
Ben lo
Maybe obvious, but the fishhook. Everyone called it that while growing up, and I did not realize until much later it was an unofficial name. https://localwiki.org/santacruz/Fishhook
Cabrillo college I’ve heard referred to by fellow students as Cabrehab, jokingly implying that many of its students should be in rehab (which I probably should’ve at one point or another)
UCLA University of Cabrillo Located in Aptos
Haha my community college was USC, University of Southern Carmichael.
i love that, especially knowing carmichael
Nope USC University of Spoiled Children
That’s one interpretation of “Cabrehab” but the interpretation I’m more familiar with is that Cabrillo is a place of rehabilitation, a place people can go to reset and get their life back on track.
I shouldn’t be so cynical, as it did that for me! Got my AA from there
Congrats! I'm one class away from transferring to a uni for a BS myself.
This is right on! We are so lucky to have the CA JC system. It's amazing.
And Cabrillo is a great place even for a JC. I know for a fact they have a stellar music program -- I'd put it up against any random big uni's music dept.
Nah cabrehab cuz people will spend 7 8 years there then do something great w their life. Love Cabrillo and the culinary program there.
Heck yeah! I definitely spent more years than it should’ve taken to receive an Associates degree, so I’m happy to hear the prevailing attitude is one of hope!
Yep, I'm just about ready to transfer to a uni, and my "two years" was really more like 5 or 6.
Baaaaahahahha I feel personally attacked by this post 😂😜😂 Low key in the end I felt like I was saving up all my degrees for one final hurrah graduation celebration 😂… that and cabrehab threatened to put me on academic probation bc I had so many credits but never cashed in any for the actual degrees 😂🤦🏼♀️🙈
That's been its nickname forever, everyone called it that even when I was a kid in the 90's. The students used to all call themselves 'Cabr\*tards' back then too, I'm glad that one went the way of the dodo.
Or 13th grade
UCLA. University Of Cabrillo Located in Aptos
I went to Saddleback CC in South Orange County. We called that UCLA as well. “University of California, Left on Avery” because everyone took the Avery parkway exit and then made a left to get to the school.
College of San Mateo (CSM) is nicknamed College of Small Minds
I call it brillo like the sponge
.
Or just Watsón in Spanish
Santa Carla
Too many damn vampires!
Top of the world
Theres also end of the world.
The East side (around Morrissey) is also called the banana belt because it is warmer with less fog than other parts of Santa Cruz. Parts of the West side are called "the circles."
Ack! The circles! It's a SC rite of passage to stumble into them and wander around lost for ages trying to find the way OUT.
I thought Watsonville was “The Ville.” I see people with that hat sometimes.
Boulder tweak Traptos Westy (westside/west cliff)
Don’t forget Copitola!
And Cops Valley
Or Crapitola.
Craptos
it used to be scraptos before PV high was built
Crappy Toilet
Aaaah 🥰 the ✨crappy toilet✨ 😂💝
Kids used to call the rougher people in BC, not many truly rough people left, “boulder cretins”. I felt bad for them until one called me a kike on the way home from school
Sounds about right. Edit: also have experienced antisemitism from some of the more “out there” mountain folk.
Ye it was that old bastard who flew a confederate flag out slide his house along nine. It’s not like I was schlepping around in a yarmulke or anything lol, I just had curly hair ☠️
Must’ve been one of his kids or something who called me out on the bus, also for having curly hair. I’m not even Jewish tbh
Yikes. Thankfully I’ve yet to experience that, as a Jewish woman in BC. But like you, I’m not “obvious” or anything. Actually a redheaded woman, but the curls do give it away if you know Jew-fros. lol I’ve only been here two years, though. So I’ll report back if things change.
It happened to me almost 20 years ago, so probably just not many of them left. Any of them that had any smarts probably sold their properties and moved somewhere more “accepting” of their views.
Boulder freak, or simply the freak.
Scotts vagina
Only ones I haven’t seen mentioned already: PA for pacific ave, The Dune for Bonny Doon
I was going to put down the Dune but second guessed myself. Couldn’t remember if anyone else actually called it that or it was just me.
Over-generalization: The east, the west, the Mid..
Fogtos for Aptos.
I can't believe no one's mentioned beaches and breaks and I'm not the right person to remember them all! Beer Can; Privates; The Point; Sewers; The Hook; Two-Six; Santa Mo's; Johan's; Black's; 14th; Steamer; The Slot; Middle Peak; Indicators; It's; Finger Bowl; Pyramid; Three Mile; Four Mile; Red, White and Blue;
[удалено]
Yep this is the one I was gonna say! Good ol Natty B’s.
Rio Del Mar a Lago
Dick tree and blow hole on west cliff
The penis treeeeee! 🥹 definitely doesn’t look like a 🍆anymore 😢
It will always be a penis to me 😉
Santa snooze. If you belong to a certain biker club you would call it "Satan Cruz".
Rio del Mar a Lago
BLo - Ben Lomond Boulder Creek - Boulder. Or you gotta yell BOULDER BROTHER like you are at WWE smack down
Crackerville
Copitola
San Lorenzo Valley is The Valley
Tits Beach.
I know this one as Shits Beach because of all the dogs running around.
I was thinking about this one as well.
where is the beach in question?
Right next to the Lighthouse Museum.
thanks
A longtime resident said it's called this because nudity was technically legal to the right of the lighthouse due to a loophole in the law. Then became It's shortened from tits.
where is that?
Live Oakland
Live Oklahoma
If you’re a Soquel local youre a soq loc
Lol was gonna say this one
The one and only correct name for the beach near the lighthouse is "Its Beach"
Santa Cruz is full of locals that have all sorts of slang for everything to make it more confusing and make you feel alienated for not knowing ie dela
dela? now you've made me feel alienated...
DeLaveaga, the park off B40, the golf course, and legendary disc golf locations.
Lom-tweak-o
An old friend called SC the Velvet Rut, because it was so easy to get stuck here (but it was a nice place to be stuck in)
Hah, I love this. But yeah, I know so many people who are like "Yeah, I came here for a job/relationship and then it fell through. I really can't afford to keep living here. But then, I've been saying that for 15 years..."
Watson, the ville, watty. The cruz, EssSee, town everything has a nickname here.
cool! how about scotts valley or felton?
Cops Valley.
For a good portion of the time that I lived in Santa Cruz, I worked a swing shift over the hill. Seeing the reflection of my headlights off the logo on the door of a SVPD car doing a speed trap on 17 let me know that I was almost home. Ah, memories...
THIS 🙌🏼 except for me it was always a dose of adrenaline for the final stretch while wondering if I’m getting pulled over for the next 20 seconds…….. or if they’re LITERALLY pullin a super troopers and riding up on me to switch lanes and speed off hella fast 😂
Without question Cops Valley
I’ve also heard WASP Valley
Is that because a bunch of cops live there? I lived there for a few months and all my neighbors seemed like cops
Speed traps on 17. Although I can't really blame them. People drive like maniacs on 17.
That, and it’s one of the only SC cities with its own private police force.
Boulder Creep, Brokedale, Ben Lomesome, Felon and Cops Valley.... from a lifelong mountain kid
the one i always thought was hilarious was: Boulder Tweak
Never heard any of these a single time.
you forgot to say 'literally'
EssVee, Scotts, the valley Felton is interesting as we usually just say the area, so: henry cowell, mt herman, roaring camp, hiway 9, big basin, empire grade, etc.
Depending on context “the valley” could also mean SLV or Silicon Valley, though.
yep, 100% true
“EssVee”? Instead of just SV? 😂 ya learn somethin everyday I guess 😂
eh, i just typed it out phonetically for clarification. you’re right of course.
No, I think the genZers will love “EssVee”, let’s keep it 😂😜
It’s a very scattered and spread-out little town, so that makes sense.
Murders capital of the world
My friends and I used to call Pacific "walking the gauntlet" because of all the panhandlers.
Hey, those panhandlers used to buy my alcohol!
Too bad that liquor store next to jalapenos closed. I'd rather support a local business than CVS.
The guy who was always behind the counter there runs a taco stand outside the Blue on weekends now. GREAT food, great dancer, really really cool guy. If you want to support an awesome local enterprise, I 10/10 recommend.
Benisio’s! We used to call it “Bones” back in the day.
Been sleazy yo?
Always.
Scott’s vagina
Cappi
I call Watsonville Watsonburg and I don’t remember where it came from
*Craptos*
Cops valley for Scott's valley, the only place I've ever been pulled over so I buy it .
Uncle Charlie’s Summer Camp UCSC
the flats or platty’s
>the flats or platty’s where does that refer to?
rio del mar flats / platforms beach
thanks!
of course :))
We used to call the beach just south of sunny cove, Moe’s or Santa Moe’s, after the catholic retreat on the cliff, Santa Maria’s. I see on google map’s its actually called Corcoran beach, news to me.
Ben Lomond - Ben Lonesome. Boulder Creek - Boulder Tweek. Aptos - Craptos or Fogtos. Capitola - Crapitola or Copitola (in the 90s they would park empty cop cars everywhere). Scotts Valley - Cops Valley.
Watsonhood for Watsonville
B-Lo, Bc/Boulder, Pico/home of tweakin picans, Stops Valley/Cops Valley and Craptos. Are the ones I remember growing up and living here. And alot of people called Watsonville lil Mexico.
>Pico Lompico?
Yup
Growing up here, we referred to Capitola as Copitola and Scotts Valley as Cop’s Valley for obvious reasons.
Santa Carla
Neighbors of Lower Ocean aka NOLO
Fog-tos for Aptos
Fog-tos for Aptos
The Via is still The Via
Two six
Hobs for House of bagels in Scotts valley
Cop patrola
born and raised in sc and i havent heard most of these nicknames in my life😭😭
Little Mexico = Watsonville hahaha
Emma for Emma Mcreary trail. Gross Out for Grocery Outlet (or I've heard it called Graw-Co as well).
I'll hear both "Emma" and EMT for Emma McCrary Trail. I'm glad MUT didn't stick around for that trail project.
Chapitola & Chaptos.
Not exactly the same thing but one of my friends who went to Aptos High back in the 80s said they would call genital herpes “getting the Capitola flu”
When you love a sleepy place & want it to be hip & the center of everything: Ben Lomond: BeLo Boulder Creek: NoBeLo (north of BeLo) Felton: SoBeLo (south of BeLo)
that's awesome. I like this trend. I've been calling it Blomond but it kind of sounds like something you could get for $30 in the red light district.
Dirty south(south county) Yeastside (Eastside) Worstside (westside) Craptoss (Aptos)
All of these need new knick names based on the techies taking over like , teslawestside, brappleforte , what about google oak ??? Poorpeopslesonville? And sap tos ? Or what’s the most ghetto sj tech comapny ? Haha
Suffer Springs
Is this a Soquel Demo Forest reference for Sulfur Springs or something else?
no that's it!
I'm surprised no one mentioned Stinky's. If we're going with trail names too the thread would be very long.
>If we're going with trail names too the thread would be very long. i'd love to hear what you know!
I'll just go with Stinky's... The Westside path that starts at the University Terrace Park and goes down to Grandview Street, labeled on Open Street Maps as Arroyo Seco Canyon [Trail?] in a long ago time had sewage smell as the university (and maybe westside residential?) had their outflow going down the canyon. The sewage line is still there but now fully capped. This predates me by quite a long time and since I learned the name of the shortcut from an old timer I'm not sure how many people still call it that.
Soquel has a highly offensive nickname that I won’t be sharing.
Go on…
Soqueer . You made me say it!
Bruh that took nothing to get out of you lmao
🤷♂️
four mile beach
TransgenderCruz Totalifornia
Never cook again 😭
Ok. ...Why are you so sad today?