LosGatosObserver.com

Business Sun, March 14, 2010

• Who Are the Tourists Who Come to Santa Cruz?

  Mar 12, 2010, by Danny Wool Business
  

  Santa Cruz is definitely a tourist city. But what do we know about the people who visit here? This was the subject of a study conducted by the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council with the goal of gaining insights into how to better market to tourists and increase visits to the area, especially in the off season.

• Westside Coffee Shop Goes Unplugged

  Mar 09, 2010, by Staff Business
  

  Who can forget Eric Clapton’s stellar performance on MTV’s “Unplugged” series, or the doleful sounds of Kurt Cobain with only an acoustic guitar? Anger transformed into angst. As the late, great Elliot Smith once said, “If you play acoustic guitar you’re the depressed, sensitive guy.” And that could be just what the Abbey Coffee lounge on Mission needs.

• Santa Cruz Going to the Dogs?

  Mar 08, 2010, by Danny Wool Business
  

  Dogs may be returning to downtown Santa Cruz as the board of the Downtown Association prepares to vote on whether to ask the city to repeal its longtime ban on dogs along Pacific Avenue. Until now dog owners have been forced to take their pets to more canine-friendly spots on the Westside and the Harbor.

• Downtown Santa Cruz Businesses Slowly Picking Up

  Mar 05, 2010, by Staff Business
  

  There’s good news for businesses in downtown Santa Cruz. After two and a half years of recession— National Bureau of Economic Research claims that the downward trended started in December 2007—things are finally looking up. Downtown has suffered significantly in that time not only from the recession but also because of a negative image as a center for gang members and the homeless.

• Synergy Clothing Comes Home to Santa Cruz

  Mar 04, 2010, by Jessica Lussenhop Business
  

  A lot has changed since Kate Fisher locked eyes with Henry Schwab at a Phish concert in 1997. She was a Deadhead peddling Indian textiles; he was a Greenpeace activist touring with Phish’s nonprofit arm the Waterwheel Foundation. And yeah, yeah—they grew up, got married and had kids, but Fisher’s clothing line Synergy grew up with them, culminating with her new downtown Santa Cruz storefront, Synergy Clothing, which opened in January.

• In Downtown Santa Cruz, Designer Handbags Galore

  Mar 03, 2010, by Traci Hukill Business
  

  When Lara Marotta decided to open Twist last summer, “with no money and Facebook,” it was all about the clothes. In the Pacific Avenue storefront where she used to run Galla Cabana before selling it several years ago, her concept for a high-end consignment store stocked with designer labels began to take shape. Sophisticated Ralph Lauren dresses and Gucci jackets would hang next to playful Free People sweaters and shimmering Bebe halter tops, carefully chosen fashion pieces at a fraction of the original price. With slide show.

• Animal Hospital Closes Doors for Good

  Mar 01, 2010, by Staff Business
  

  After 35 years serving local pets, the Adobe Animal Hospital in Santa Cruz will shut down for good today. A staff member explained that business has been suffering because of the recession;  fewer pet owners can afford to bring their animals to the vet.
  The Adobe Animal Hospital was especially popular because it offered low-cost veterinary services to its clients. These included not only cats and dogs. The clinic once did a brisk business treating horses, but fewer people are keeping horses these days because of the steep costs involved.

• Big Ideas Head to Santa Cruz

  Feb 17, 2010, by Traci Hukill Business
  

  Peter Meehan remembers when the only two companies making organic chocolate were Newman’s Own Organics, the company he co-founded in Aptos with his business partner Nell Newman, and the Switzerland-based Rapunzel. In what some might consider an unfortunate if principled decision, Rapunzel was sweetening its chocolate with molasses rather than refined sugar. “It was a very challenging piece of chocolate to eat,” Meehan recalls.

• Fluoridation Could Be Coming to Watsonville

  Feb 15, 2010, by Danny Wool Business
  

  Back in 2002, Watsonville’s city council voted against the fluoridation of its local tap water.

• Buddha Bags Sold

  Feb 15, 2010, by Danny Wool Business
  

  Santa Cruz-based Big Buddha, Inc., the maker of Buddha Bags, was sold to Steve Madden Ltd., it was announced last Friday. The eco-friendly bag company, founded by Jeremy Bassan, had a reported $13 million in sales last year. It was sold for $11 million. Read more at the

• Fancy Cars Santa Cruz-Bound

  Feb 12, 2010, by Traci Hukill Business
  

  Car lovers, hang on to your driving caps: this Labor Day weekend, Surf City will play host to the first Santa Cruz Concours d’Elegance at Chaminade, drawing gorgeous luxury automobiles and muscle cars from all over the Bay Area like a giant magnet of cool and giving Pebble Beach one less thing to lord over everyone else.

• The Cheetah’s Spot

  Feb 11, 2010, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  WHEN IT COMES to the business of cheating, Noel Biderman is boss. His website AshleyMadison.com—named, he says, after the two most popular monikers for baby girls—functions like any other dating site, with profiles, searches, messages and photos. But at Biderman’s site, the dating pool comes with baggage: namely girlfriends, boyfriends, wives and husbands.

• Charcuterie for Santa Cruz

  Feb 04, 2010, by Traci Hukill Business
  

  When Chris La Veque was still working at restaurants, he’d go in on his days off and practice his newfound hobby of making sausages, mixing meat with herbs and spices as inspiration led him. “I wasn’t even clocking in because I love doing it so much,” he says. “It’s my passion.”

• No Cheers for Gym Closing

  Feb 03, 2010, by Staff Business

  In the four years since it opened, the Majestic All-Stars Cheer Gym in Watsonville has become a local institution.

• How Many Jobs Can Santa Cruz Get for $106 Million?

  Feb 02, 2010, by Danny Wool Business
  

  Officially, 150 jobs were added to Santa Cruz over 2009, with 86 of them in the final quarter.  County officials are more optimistic, saying that as many as 362 jobs were either created or saved last year through the county’s departments alone—and that this doesn’t count small businesses that benefited.

• Cafe Gabriella: I’m Not Dead Yet

  Feb 01, 2010, by Dan Pulcrano Business
  

  Owner Paul Cocking announced Gabriella’s would close over the weekend, but now things are looking up.

• The Bike Dojo: Taking Santa Cruz For A Ride

  Jan 26, 2010, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  Rob Mylls is a stocky, wisecracking 42-year-old who is most often found behind a set of carbon fiber handlebars. Last July, after his boss at Hewlett-Packard said goodbye with a handshake and a pink slip, Mylls decided to skip the job hunt to chase a dream. The result is the Bike Dojo, “A Cycling Community.” And for anyone who joins, Mylls and his partner Delfina Gimeno promise a year-round ticket to gorgeous scenery, better fitness and maybe even some new friends. With slide show.

• “Turn of a Friendly Card” for SC Company

  Jan 25, 2010, by Staff Business
  

  There’s an “Eye in the Sky” looking out for Keyfax NewMedia on Santa Cruz’s Eastside. The company recently hired legendary recording guru Alan Parsons for its new project, The Art and Science of Recording Sound, to be available on broadband.

• The San Jose Sentinel News?

  Jan 19, 2010, by Traci Hukill Business

  MediaNews watchers, take note: more mergers are on the way for the conglomerate that owns the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the San Jose Mercury News and dozens of other papers.

• Sentinel Parent Company to File Chapter 11

  Jan 18, 2010, by Staff Business

  MediaNews Group, publisher of the Santa Cruz Sentinel and the San Jose Mercury News, has announced it plans to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

• Santa Cruz’s Strange Brew

  Jan 07, 2010, by Alastair Bland Business
  

  Alec Stefansky learned to make beer in his UC-Santa Cruz dorm room, where he hid five-gallon batches from campus authorities and shared home-brewed pints among his roommates. It was a common enough way to begin. But today the 31-year-old is a professional brewer quickly ascending into the ranks of West Coast weird-beer stardom.

• A Bamboost From Santa Cruz

  Dec 23, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  Ibrahim Nyampong is a 32-year-old entrepreneur who lives in Accra, the capital city of Ghana on Africa’s west coast, where the average annual per capita income is $600. About two years ago, nationally renowned bicycle designer and Santa Cruz County native Craig Calfee taught him how to build bicycle frames from locally grown bamboo. Today, Nyampong earns about $150 for every frame he builds, shipping the completed frames—some a milky caramel color, others a deep mocha—to Calfee’s La Selva Beach manufacturing shop. (includes slide show)

• Good News for Local Businesses

  Dec 22, 2009, by Staff Business
  

  Santa Cruz downtown buisness owners say that holiday sales are off to a good start.

• Good News for Small Businesses Next Year

  Dec 21, 2009, by Staff Business

  After a very difficult 2009, there is some good news on the horizon for small businesses in Santa Cruz.

• Cayuga Halt: Santa Cruz Loses Longtime Concert Venue

  Dec 02, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  The Cayuga Vault, midtown’s funky, internationally inclined concert hall is throwing its last bash Dec. 20 and shutting its doors for good at the end of the month. Chalk up another victim to the recession.

• A Sustainable Biz Model for Santa Cruz Clothier

  Dec 01, 2009, by Rula al-Nasrawi Business
  

  In November 2008, Jaylyn Brendlen finally decided to live her dream and start her own clothing company. There was just one problem: how to do it without exploiting children, women or the people of a third world country. So she decided to begin her own venture and do things differently. Doja—which stands for Defining Our Jobs as Americans—is a clothing company based on a sustainable model, using materials grown and produced in the United States as well as American labor, with the goal of supporting the economy and improving manufacturing standards in the clothing industry.

• Another Media Company Takes on Google

  Nov 26, 2009, by Danny Wool Business

  Just two days ago SanJose.com reported that Murdoch and Microsoft are planning to take on Google. They could be joined by the Denver-based MediaNews Group.

• NextSpace Eyes Tannery Location

  Nov 25, 2009, by Danny Wool Business

  Santa Cruz’s historic Salz Tannery is latest recipient of federal stimulus funding. About $4.7 million will be used to renovate the Beam House and Tanyard Center, and convert them into a high tech incubator for local digital media companies. The total cost of the project is $6.7 million, covered largely by a $1.9 million grant from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. A performing arts center is also scheduled to be built on the site, which already has 100 affordable housing and working units.

• Almar Safeway Is Prototype for a New Kind of Store

  Nov 13, 2009, by Staff Business

  Generally, the opening of a new Safeway is no big deal. But the company’s top brass turned up in Santa Cruz this week to check out the mammoth new Safeway at the Almar shopping center.

• Santa Cruz’s Northern Exposure

  Nov 12, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  Softening regulations on what kinds of businesses can occupy downtown buildings took little consideration by city leaders. From 2007 to 2009, vacant office space downtown tripled from about 60,000 square feet to more than 180,000 square feet. Vacant space equals dwindling sales and property taxes for city coffers, and at 2030 North Pacific, Santa Cruz city leaders have an especially high stake in seeing business begin to boom.

• Geogad Offers New Tour of Santa Cruz Coast

  Nov 09, 2009, by Danny Wool Business
  

  Thousands of tourists flock to Santa Cruz every day to visit the coast and take in the sights. But unless they know exactly where to look, they are likely to miss some of the lesser known attractions, like the Surfing Museum or the mansion that inspired Hitchcock’s film Psycho. Until now, of course.

• The Smoker’s Tour of Santa Cruz

  Nov 07, 2009, by Austin Sardella Business
  

  Santa Cruz nightlife does offer a spark of relief in these post-apocalyptic times for smokers. There are several secret hovels every black-lung should know if he or she is going to survive in this brave new world, but discretion being the better part of pallor, this cloak-and-dagger guide is based on hidden clues. Read carefully and be rewarded with a bourbon and a Camel.

• It’s a Café, Not an Internet Café

  Oct 19, 2009, by Staff Business
  

  The internet has become a drain on business at Lulu Carpenter’s. According to cafe owner Manthri Srinath, patrons plug their laptops into wall outlets and then spend hours sitting at the tables, but this prevents other customers from finding a seat. As one customer explained, “If you spend $10 and sit for three hours, you are preventing three customers from each spending $10 and only sitting for one hour.” To avoid this, Srinath covered the outlets on one of the walls and turned off the power on the other walls.

• Habitat for Humanity Starts 33rd Home in Santa Cruz County

  Oct 12, 2009, by Staff Business

  Board members and volunteers with Santa Cruz County Habitat for Humanity converged on Dawn Lane in Soquel yesterday armed with a golden shovel.

• Santa Cruz Credit Unions In Hot Water

  Oct 07, 2009, by Staff Business

  Five of the six credit unions serving Santa Cruz County reported steep losses this past quarter. According to J. Stewart Fulle, President of the Monterey Credit Union, “These are the highest loan losses we’ve ever seen.”

• Santa Cruz Road Contractors Play Market Limbo

  Oct 07, 2009, by Staff Business

  With the economy in a downturn, road contractors are ready to do whatever it takes to find work, even if it means reducing their profits. Throughout Santa Cruz County, the cost of large public projects have dropped far beyond anticipated costs, saving the county money and getting more essential work done.

• Keeley Talks Taxes

  Oct 07, 2009, by Jessica Lussenhop Business

  The Santa Cruz County Treasurer helps demystify a bandied-about phrase: the business net receipts tax.

• Chefs Aim High During Santa Cruz Restaurant Week

  Oct 02, 2009, by Traci Hukill Business
  

  It was just a matter of time before Santa Cruz joined the ranks of cities across the country celebrating local culinary talent with Restaurant Week. In New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Diego, chefs were joining together for a week each year to entice diners out of their routines and into cosmopolitan restaurants where they might discover exotic new flavors and textures. And those cities are not the cradle of sustainable produce or home to unique viticultural appellations.

• Holiday Inn Proposed for Watsonville

  Oct 02, 2009, by Staff Business

  San Jose-based company moves quickly after Fairfield Inn approval in Santa Cruz.

• Santa Cruz Takes LEED Further

  Oct 02, 2009, by Austin Sardella EnvironmentBusiness
  

  The LEED certification system (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is expanding from single buildings to neighborhoods, and Santa Cruz is in the vanguard. Twenty acres on the western end of Delaware Avenue, dubbed the Delaware Addition, have met approval to become a LEED Neighborhood Development-one of the first 25 in the nation.

• The Guide To Cheap Santa Cruz Wireless

  Sep 26, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

• Local GDP Slips

  Sep 25, 2009, by Staff Business

  Santa Cruz is feeling the recession. Numbers released yesterday by the by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show that the county’s per capita GDP was $32,887, down from $33,674 in 2006.

• Goodbye, Wachovia! Hello, Bank of the West!

  Sep 25, 2009, by Staff Business

  San Francisco-based Bank of the West announced that it has purchased the Pacific Avenue branch of Wachovia Bank for an undisclosed price.

• Propping Up Capitola

  Sep 24, 2009, by Staff Business

  Once, 41st Avenue was the pride of Capitola. In the past 10 years, however, this has all changed, and taxable sales have dropped 24 percent.

• Local Home Prices Begin to Drop

  Sep 18, 2009, by Staff Business

  The median home price in Santa Cruz county has begun to dip, after rising steadily since February.

• City to Reconsider Fairfield Inn on Westside

  Sep 17, 2009, by Staff Business

  This summer, when Santa Cruz planning commissioners rejected plans to build a new Fairfield Inn on the Westside, off Highway 1, they said that the design was “cheap” and “ugly,” hardly the way they wanted to greet tourists about to enter Surf City. But at least one councilmember is considering approval over planning commissioners’ objections.

• Community Foundation Breaks Ground on New Center

  Sep 14, 2009, by Staff Business

  The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County has broken ground on its new $9.3 million center in Aptos. When completed in 2010, the 10,000-square-foot center will be a hub for philanthropic activity throughout the region.

• Santa Cruz Cyclists Light Up The Roads

  Sep 07, 2009, by Staff Business

  It’s a simple idea but it solves a major problem. Even when bicycles have a light for night riding, motorists coming toward them from the side often have a hard time noticing them. Three Santa Cruz cyclists found the perfect solution.

• The Freelance Mystique

  Sep 07, 2009, by Traci Hukill Business
  

  Not every freelancer is bubbling over with entrepreneurial zeal. Some do it because their industry has steadily shaved off staffers and outsourced tasks in order to save money. For others, child care or similar work-life considerations are at the root of the decision to freelance—blurring the line over whether freelancing, with its sporadic pay and other associated brutalities, is a matter of choice or necessity.

• A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Freelancers

  Sep 03, 2009, by Jessica Lussenhop Business
  

  You’d think the easiest way to find out about the effectiveness of “coworking”—the phenomenon whereby work-at-homers, freelancers and other indie business strangers elect to set up shop in a building and find out what happens—is to ask the coworkers (not to be confused with the tradition-bound drones known as “co-workers”) themselves. Trouble is, they’re all too busy working.

• Self-Employment Gets A Grip in Santa Cruz

  Sep 03, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  They’ve come from around the country and the world to gather on the bare concrete floor of an empty office building and talk shop. A sea of laptop-clutching writers, photographers, graphic designers, IT specialists, engineers, public relations officials and advertisement representatives with one thing in common: they never want to work for another boss again.

• YouTube + Philanthropy = Santa Cruz Startup

  Aug 26, 2009, by Staff Business

  Laika Grant Mann’s Worldflix offers potential donors an opportunity to watch interviews with the people who would benefit from their largesse.

• The Astroturf Is Always Greener

  Aug 19, 2009, by Staff Business

  Faced with severe water shortages, parks and playing fields in Santa Cruz County have begun to replace their grass with synthetic Astroturf.

• Lockheed to Cut Jobs

  Aug 18, 2009, by Staff Business

  Lockheed’s facilities in Santa Cruz County have been all over the news lately because of the Lockheed Fire. What has barely made the news is the fact that the firm is planning to lay off as many as 800 employees throughout the Bay Area.

• Valero Employees Sue for Overtime

  Aug 11, 2009, by Staff Business

  Three people from Santa Cruz who worked or still work at the Valero convenience store chain are seeking as much as $100 million dollars in lost wages and damages in what they hope will become a class-action lawsuit.

• Summertime Leaves Santa Cruz Starved for Rock & Roll

  Aug 09, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  At Deer Tick’s sold-out indie rock show at the Crepe Place not long ago, one hipster was heard saying to another, “Man, I’m just glad someone still has shows in the summertime.” The observation, it seems, is rooted in what’s looking like another bone-dry schedule of summer sounds from a few of Santa Cruz’s most famous venues. During the spring and fall, places like the Catalyst, Rio Theatre and Cayuga Vault are well known for bringing huge names in rock, reggae, indie, folk and hip-hop to the local stage. Yet each summer, in a pattern stretching back as far as most care to remember, the hot months mark a cold front in the live music output of all three concert halls.

• Santa Cruz Commission Slams Proposed Marriott

  Aug 07, 2009, by Traci Hukill Business

  The Santa Cruz Planning Commission roundly rejected the prospect of a three-story, 86-room Fairfield Inn to announce the northern entrance to Santa Cruz, citing inappropriate design,  concerns about signage and distance from amenities like restaurants.

• New Hotel for Santa Cruz?

  Aug 05, 2009, by Staff Business

  When the city’s Planning Commission meets this Thursday, it will decide whether to approve construction of a new hotel off Mission Street on the far west side of town, beyond Western Drive.

• City Votes to Host Amgen Tour Stage

  Jul 30, 2009, by Staff Business
  

  It may be the most prestigious bicycle race in the United States. Even Lance Armstrong participated in it this year. But let’s face it. The Amgen Tour is no Tour de France, and despite its high profile thanks to Armstrong, it is not a major spectator sport, especially when races can last for days on end. Nevertheless, Santa Cruz City Council voted to host a stage of the Amgen Tour again this year.

• Santa Cruz County Bank on the Mend

  Jul 23, 2009, by Staff Business

  Santa Cruz County Bank announced that its second quarter net income had improved significantly from Q1, but that it was still only one-third of what it was in Q2 of 2008.

• Downtown Sex Shop Certified Green

  Jul 20, 2009, by Staff Business
  

  Doing the nasty has never been so clean – Pure Pleasure in downtown Santa Cruz has just earned its stripes from the Department of Public Works as the only Green Certified sex toy shop in the entire Monterey Bay area.

• ‘Shop Capitola’ Campaign Taking Shape

  Jul 17, 2009, by Kat Lynch Business

  Following the example of Santa Cruz’s Think Local First campaign, the city of Capitola is now urging citizens to “Shop Capitola” and support local businesses. Shoppers should expect to see the emblem of a red and white life preserver popping up all around the city.

• Raspberries Make up for Strawberries’ Decline

  Jul 17, 2009, by Staff Business
  

  Strawberries are still Santa Cruz County’s biggest crop. Valued at over $160 million, they account for over one-third of the county’s total agricultural production. But with a drop in prices and crop rotation between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, their value has dropped by $36 million since 2007. Farmers aren’t worried though, because raspberries have picked up the slack, increasing in value by $35 million.

• Tourism Agency’s Fate Lies in the Balance

  Jul 14, 2009, by Staff Business

  With Santa Cruz facing a $9.2 million deficit, Santa Cruz municipal lawmakers are considering cutting funding to the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council.

• NextSpace Lets Local Startups Stay in Santa Cruz

  Jul 06, 2009, by Staff report Business

  It’s well known in Santa Cruz that many firms that were launched here would rather stay local than make the move up north or across the country. Now that’s becoming more common. NextSpace co-founder Ryan Coonerty, who also serves on City Council, says that over 40 businesses have been drawn to downtown Santa Cruz through the co-working center he started with former economic development director Jeremy Neuner.

• Scotts Valley Votes to Foreclose on Target Site

  Jul 02, 2009, by Staff report Business
  

  Plans to bring Target to Scotts Valley hit another snag Wednesday when the town council voted to foreclose the 18-acre property. City Attorney Kirsten Powell informed the council that the development group Title Two still owed $253,000 on the La Madrona Drive property and was not interested in a payment plan. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that no one representing Title Two attended the council.

  Target’s development in Scotts Valley has created concerns over traffic and the size of the store harming the character of Scotts Valley.  The city plans to file the paperwork necessary to sell the land if the court approves the move to foreclose the property.

• Salon to Hold Cut-a-Thon in Memory of Local Stylist

  Jul 02, 2009, by Kat Lynch Business

  On Sunday, July 12, Rumours Salon & Spa will host a cut-a-thon to benefit the family of stylist Raul Heredia, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident on June 23. More than 60 stylists volunteering their time will cut and style hair for $35 donations. Five baskets valued between $200 and $700 will be raffled off for $5 a ticket. Proceeds will go toward supporting Raul’s two children, Julia and Gavin.

• Don Webber’s Crusade to Save La Bahia

  Jun 09, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  It’s a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean from Don Webber’s balcony. A clear shot between the bell tower and Court of the Mariners of the La Bahia Apartments over the warm and busy sands of Main Beach, it’s a postcard-worthy scene by anyone’s standards.

• Santa Cruz Eateries Serve Up The Bargains

  Jun 05, 2009, by Christina Waters Business
  

  Welcome to the world of economic downsizing—yours, mine and everybody’s. One strategy for coping is the masochistic response. You know, buy mega-tubs of overly-processed stuff at Costco and sit at home with Netflix and a box of Kleenex. Another style is to get creative and take advantage of expanded happy hours, early bird specials and weekday dining promotions. We looked around and found a few choice examples.

• UCSC Students Vie for Top Biz Plan

  May 26, 2009, by Jessica Lussenhop Business

  Thirty-four teams have already been fired. Now it’s time to find out who gets hired this Friday on the season final-erhm, rather, at the final dinner and judging portion of the first annual UCSC Business Plan Competition.

• Skydiving Over Santa Cruz

  May 26, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  It’s the most beautiful day I could have picked to jump out of an airplane. Eighty-five degrees at early evening, light breeze out of the west and 13,000 feet between me and the ground.

• City Council Cracks Down on Hookah Parlors

  May 18, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business

  The Santa Cruz City Council is not a fan of hookah parlors. Last Tuesday, city leaders took all of three minutes to discuss and approve a set of tough new restrictions that outlaws hookah parlors from setting up shop near schools and parks, and also caps the number of parlors allowed in city limits at two. The new laws come in addition to previous regulations that keep hookah parlors from serving food or beverages—including water—and from having live music.

• Think Local First Spreads the Money Around

  May 06, 2009, by Curtis Cartier Business
  

  The goal was to turn $500 into $15,000 in local commerce in 30 days. The method was for five local banks to donate $100 apiece to five lucky raffle ticket winners, then for the recipient of each check to spend it at one of TLF’s 150 member businesses, each of which would, in turn, repeat the process. In theory, by keeping the money within the community, each $100 check would be spent dozens of times, thus producing thousands of dollars in revenue for goods and services along the way.

• Watsonville Beauty School Faces Closure

  Apr 29, 2009, by Jessica Lussenhop Business
  

  Teresa Rodriguez brushes an orangey-red polish onto a client’s fingernails and says, “I’ve waited years to go to cosmetology school, and then they opened one in Watsonville. It was a dream come true.

• Santa Cruz Plumbers Do A Little Dance

  Apr 23, 2009, by Traci Hukill Business
  

  Rosenthal Plumbing has struck a blow for legions of plumbers sick of stereotypes. In a video sure to go viral, real plumbers from the Live Oak-based business lip-sync to a pretty decent rap about well-mannered plumbers who wear little booties over their shoes, explain to the customer exactly what they’re doing and how much it will cost and never, ever show even a hint of butt crack.

• Employees Allege Union-Busting

  Apr 22, 2009, by Molly Zapp Business

  Theo Jackson, a former senior case manager who worked at The Camp Recovery Center in Scotts Valley for three years, claims he was fired after leading efforts to unionize workers at the treatment center.