Santa Cruz Seaside CompanyThe Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk: A Century by the Sea

love the whole book.. c enjoyed reading it as well as absorbingthe pictures.

I know I've talked about it here before (I mean, I took a nice big long trip there a year ago) but I can't express enough how much I love Santa Cruz, California and it's Boardwalk. There's just something about it that keeps drawing me in and even now, I have a craving for Santa Cruz. It's been a year. I need to go again.I was lucky enough to be in Santa Cruz in 2007 when they had their official centennial (it was also my first trip there) and I've been back nearly every year since and they continue to celebrate a century strong by the sea. While the Boardwalk and Municipal Wharf have kept up with the times, there's just this feeling in the air that keeps it all anchored in history. If you can appreciate that nostalgic feeling, then not only would you love Santa Cruz, you'd love this book as well, even if you've never been there.The Lost Boys was what first introduced me to the Boardwalk and my love of seaside amusement parks blossomed from there. I've done research on a much closer seaside park, Coney Island, from it's beginnings until it's current state (unlike Santa Cruz, unfortunately, Coney Island is being eaten up by developers and slowly dismantled). So of course, why wouldn't I dive into Santa Cruz's history as well?While A CENTURY BY THE SEA doesn't go into great detail about the Boardwalk's past, it offers enough of a glimpse into history to get a feel for what the area used to be. It shares not only company stories (the Seaside Company, that is) but stories from locals as well and it just roots you further in the nostalgia. And they're told as if someone were sitting across from you just talking about history. Nothing pretentious or showy about it. It just is what it is. The photos only add to all that is awesome about this book, bringing to life the past and showcasing how the Boardwalk morphed into what I've seen these last few years.It's evident that The Santa Cruz Seaside Company takes great care in preserving the history of the Boardwalk. There is an unabashed pride simmering in the pages that's almost tangible. You can grab hold of it and actually feel the history of the Boardwalk. As someone non-local that has been there, I can root the history to its current map but even if you haven't, and you have a love of history, you'd be able to appreciate, and maybe even love, the fun times that this book relives.If you have any interest in boardwalks or seaside towns, or want it to feel like summer no matter what time of the year it is, pick up A CENTURY BY THE SEA and relive the history of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and roll around in its present. Then book your vacation because after reading this, if you've never gone, you'll want to remedy that as soon as humanly possibly. Just an FYI, there's a Chili Cook-off in October and a Clam Chowder Cook-off in February. Just saying.

Plenty of historical stories and pictures.

Love this book with all the history

The problem that the effort has is that the SC Seaside Company does not seem to elaborate with more of the details that they had available to them, but make this a little guide to give you just the facade of what the history of the Boardwalk is.

This was such a fun read, with great photos, of the history of Santa Cruz, CA's most famous landmark, the Beach Boardwalk. While not being complete (due to politics and copyrights) this book does it's best at giving a full historical picture of what the Boardwalk began as, and later became. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is iconic around the world. Really an entertaining book.

My Gr. grandfather was a lead journeyman finish carpenter on this project. Loved seeing his photo that I gave to the history team at Beach Boardwalk!

This is a very high quality book concerning the Santa Cruz Beach. Lots of wonderful color photos. This is by far the best book on this area that I have seen. Will bring fond memories for a long time.Shipping was a little slower than expected but it still arrived in a somewhat timely manner.Would buy and highly recommend this seller.