12 A Planner Protests!

The menu above is circa 1953-54 and is the property of Lorraine "Lefty" (Folk) Voight, a cheerleader in the SCHS Class of 1954. "Bert" was her high school sweetheart, the late Bert Wagner, Class of '55.
Some 1953-54 prices:
o Hamburger, 35 cents; Hamburger DeLuxe with Potato Salad, 55 cents; Hamburger Deluxe with French Fries, 50 cents; Grilled Cheese, 30 cents; Grilled Hot Dog, 25 Cents; BLT, 45 cents; Grilled Ham and Cheese, 55 cents.
o Milk Shake, 35 cents; Ice Cream Soda, 30 cents; Root Beer Float, 25 cents; Coke, 10 cents; Coffee, 10 cents (refill, 5 cents).
o Dinners: Fried Chicken, $1.55; Grilled Pork Chops, $1.50; Chicken Fried Steak, $1.35; Rainbow Trout, $1.35; Hamburger Steak, $1.20. All dinners included soup, salad, two vegetables, bread and butter, coffee or tea, and dessert.
o Breakfast: Ham/Sausage/Bacon, two eggs, hash brown potatoes, toast and jelly, 85 cents; French Toast, 50 cents; Waffle, 30 cents.

Planner Challenges Findings

A former planner for the City of Santa Cruz is contesting the findings of a consultant hired by the city who ruled that the Cross Roads Drive-In has no significant historical value, either as a unique building representative of an identifiable era or as a singular structure symbolic of a definable culture.
Suzi Aratin, who now works as a planner for the City of Watsonville, reportedly filed her comments May 8, 2002, as a formal response to the draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Depot Park project.
Ms. Aratin partly states in her challenge:
"It appears that the conclusion regarding eligibility for inclusion (of the Cross Roads Drive-In) in the State Register of Historic Places has been misconstrued and misinterpreted by the City of Santa Cruz."
"It is also apparent that the building is eligible for inclusion in the Santa Cruz Historic Building Survey...which would give the building protection under the California Environmental Quality Act."
"It has become obvious, through letters to the Planning Director, the City Council, and the Editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, that there is significant public interest in the preservation of the Cross Roads building, yet the DEIR does not include any consideration for further research to determine the eligibility of this building for inclusion in the local survey."
"Flippant decisions by the City of Santa Cruz regarding historic resources within their jurisdiction is disheartening to see, because once an historic resource is lost, there is no recapturing it."
"The City of Santa Cruz has been charged with stewardship over the city’s historic resources, and to discount the experiences of people who lived in Santa Cruz in the 1950s simply because research into the structures remaining on the Depot Site was not conducted until late in the master planning process is ludicrous."
The EIR on the Cross Roads was prepared by Susan Lehmann, who is on retainer with the city. The city council endorsed the Depot Park plan on Oct. 23, 2001, as reported in the Oct. 24 Sentinel. Ms. Lehmann's report on the Cross Roads is dated Nov. 1, eight days after the council's approval.
The many letters to the editor and to city hall didn't start coming in until approximately Oct. 28 and continued through November and December.

Complete Text of Challenge

City of Santa Cruz
Department of Planning and Community Development
809 Center Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

To Whom It May Concern,
This letter serves as a comment to the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) prepared by Stephanie Strelow for the development of the Depot Park Site as it relates to the Lighthouse Liquors building, also known as Crossroads BBQ.
In reviewing the report compiled by Susan Lehmann, historic preservation consultant, it appears that the conclusion regarding eligibility for inclusion in the State Register of Historic Places has been misconstrued and misinterpreted by the City of Santa Cruz.
Ms. Lehmann's report calls for further historic research in the form of a context statement for the 1950s in Santa Cruz to determine whether the Crossroads building would be a significant contributor as it relates to 1950s' culture in Santa Cruz.
Historic context reports are helpful in assisting preservationists, local governments and laypersons in determining how buildings fit into the historic context of the city. After Ms. Lehmann's report had been published, it has become apparent from the letters that have been sent to the City of Santa Cruz from people expressing interest in the preservation of the Crossroads building that this is an important reminder of the 1950s' culture in Santa Cruz and, therefore, can be considered significant in the context of 1950s' car culture in Santa Cruz. Therefore, it appears that the building would meet Criterion A (an association with events that make a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local, state, or national history) of the California Register of Historic Places. In addition, it is also apparent that the building is eligible for inclusion in the Santa Cruz Historic Building Survey, which follows similar criteria but places more emphasis on local significance, which would give the building protection under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Regarding historic integrity, Ms. Lehmann refers to the lack of original signage and the current murals painted on the building as detriments to the building' integrity. Signage for 1950s' drive-in restaurants and similar structures can be viewed as a character-defining feature when the original signage was more impressive than the architecture of the building on which is sits. When looking at the historic photographs of the Crossroads, the original signage was not a spectacular visage. Paint is a temporary masking device which can be easily removed to reveal the original fabric of the building. As an example, the integrity of the Del Mar Theater was not compromised simply because green stonework had been applied to the front facade and the building had been painted a different color. Both of those were removed during renovation of the theater, and the theater has been determined as a significant resource under CEQA. Moreover, the footprint of the Crossroads building, the slanting front windows, the main entrance, the applied stonework on the front facade are character-defining features that remain intact today.
In the second to last paragraph of Ms. Lehmann’s report, it is stated that if there is public sentiment for the preservation of the Crossroads building, "the City should consider further research and documentation to determine if the structure should be added to its Historic Building Inventory." It has become obvious, through letters to the Planning Director, the City Council, and the Editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, that there is significant public interest in the preservation of the Crossroads building, yet the DEIR does not include any consideration for further research to determine the eligibility of this building for inclusion in the local survey. From reading Ms. Lehmann's report, it appears that the consultant did not come to a final conclusion as to the historic significance of this building. Ms. Lehmann spelled out the need to do more research to determine whether the building is significant. Therefore, further research must be conducted by a qualified historic preservation consultant to determine the level of significance this building carries.
Flippant decisions by the City of Santa Cruz regarding historic resources within their jurisdiction is disheartening to see because once an historic resource is lost, there is no recapturing it. The City of Santa Cruz has been charged with stewardship over the city's historic resources, and to discount the experiences of people who lived in Santa Cruz in the 1950s simply because research into the structures remaining on the Depot Site was not conducted until late in the master planning process is ludicrous. The Crossroads building holds a high level of significance to people who were living in Santa Cruz in the 1950s, and consideration of this constituency and the historic significance of the Crossroads building must not be so easily discounted. Furthermore, preservation of the Crossroads building and the construction of a new Natural History Museum are not mutually exclusive. What better way to fuse the history of the built environment and Santa Cruz culture with a history of our natural environment? Preservation does not mean that the Crossroads building must be frozen in time; it means that there is an opportunity to creatively adapt the building to become an integral part of the new history musuem.
In closing, Susan Lehmann's report regarding the Crossroads BBQ building does not conclusively determine the building's significance, and the city must conduct further research before the EIR can be finalized.
Sincerely,
Suzi Aratin, Capitola, Calif.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FYI: Ms. Aratin, a native Santa Cruzan who graduated from the local Soquel High School in 1991, holds a master's degree in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. Her mother, who graduated from Watsonville, Calif., High School in the late 1950s, apparently was the person who tipped Ms. Aratin to the fact that the liquor store started as a drive-in.

Yahoo Quick Search

This page has been visited times.


Send E-Mail to: len klempnauer
This page created using the webpage creation facilities of Webspawner.
Copyright © 2005 Len Klempnauer. All Rights Reserved