''Santa Cruz Weekly'' was a free-circulation weekly newspaper published in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

. It began publishing under its current name on May 6, 2009; publication ceased when operations were merged with the competing

Good Times ''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans (actor), Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was televis ...

weekly on April 2, 2014, with the merged company continuing as Good Times. Formerly known as '' Metro Santa Cruz'', the

alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...

covered news, people, culture and entertainment in Santa Cruz County, a coastal area that includes Capitola, Aptos, Boulder Creek, Scotts Valley and

Watsonville Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self-designated sanctua ...

. Locally based in Santa Cruz, the

was owned by

Metro Newspapers Weeklys, formerly known as Metro Newspapers, is an American media group established in 1985 and based in San Jose, California. It publishes five free alternative weekly newspapers in Northern California: ''Metro Silicon Valley'', '' Good Times ...

, a company started by Santa Cruz publisher Dan Pulcrano. The company also published ''

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

'' in the adjacent

Santa Clara Valley The Santa Clara Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Santa Clara'') is a geologic trough in Northern California that extends south–southeast from San Francisco to Hollister, California, Hollister. The longitudinal valley is bordered ...

, a.k.a.

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

and the ''

North Bay Bohemian The ''North Bay Bohemian'' is a weekly newspaper published in the North Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States. The newspaper is distributed in Sonoma and Napa counties. The newspaper began publication in 1 ...

'' in the Sonoma/Napa/Marin area. In 2014, Metro bought the competing alternative weekly, ''

'', and merged the two papers under the ''Good Times'' banner.

Founded as Metro Santa Cruz

Metro Santa Cruz began publishing in 1994 and continued under that name until it became Santa Cruz Weekly in 2009. The founding editors' stated objective was to continue a local tradition of independent journalism that had included such publications as ''Free Spaghetti Dinner'', ''Sundaze'', ''Santa Cruz Independent'', an unrelated publication in the 1980s called ''Santa Cruz Weekly'', ''Santa Cruz Express'' and ''Santa Cruz Sun''.

Relaunched under new name

The name change remained a secret until the publication hit the streets on May 6, 2009. The design was developed in-house by a team led by Metro Newspapers design director Kara Brown. The first issue featured a black and white illustration by longtime Santa Cruz illustrator Futzie Nutzle and a cover story on the Santa Cruz Film Festival. The editors stated that they selected the name because they were tired of being confused with the local public

transit system Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

of the same name, as well as to throw down a stake for newspapers following the shutdowns of several daily newspapers in early 2009, including the

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...

and

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

. "At a transformative moment in the publishing industry, we've adopted a decidedly newspaper-y name to express our optimism about weekly print," they wrote and suggested that business was rising rather than declining like the rest of the industry. "From a business standpoint, the last two years have been our best ones, which is counterintuitive," the signed editorial stated. The Santa Cruz Weekly's logo was drawn by noted Northern California typeface designer Jim Parkinson.

Web and social media strategy

The publication was affiliated with the SantaCruz.com community web portal, operated by a sister company, Boulevards New Media. In a decidedly 2009 twist, its

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

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pages went live in advance of the print edition, a launch strategy that established social media presence before papers hit the street. "Our goal is to deliver Santa Cruz County's best suite of local information and marketing services to Santa Cruz residents, visitors and businesses," the editors wrote.

Purchase of Good Times

On March 31, 2014, the Weekly's publishers announced that the company had acquired its principal competitor, Good Times, after which the SCW was folded into GT, the combined newspapers continuing under the better-established Good Times name.

Awards

*Alt-Weekly Awards awarded by the Association of Alternative NewsweekliesAAN.org
/ref> *Feature Writing, 2nd Place (Life and Death on The Pajaro River Levee, Jessica Lussenhop), 2010 *Multimedia, 2nd Place (The Aztecas of South Santa Cruz County, Jessica Lussenhop), 2010 *Food Writing, 1st Place (The Jester's Quest, Christina Waters), 2009 *Arts Feature, 3rd Place (Unlock & Roll, Curtis Cartier), 2009 *Editorial Layout, 2nd Place (Kara Brown and Tabi Zarrinnaal), 2007 *Food Writing, 1st Place (Kraut in the Act by Steve Billings), 2005 *Music Criticism, 3rd Place (Steve Palopoli), 2005 *Music Criticism, 2nd Place (David Espinoza), 2001 *Photography, 1st Place (Breadth of Life by George Sakkestad), 2000 *Arts Criticism, 2nd Place (J. Douglas Allen-Taylor), 1999 *Arts Criticism, 1st Place (Power Flick People by Traci Hukill), 1998 *Film Criticism, 1st Place (The Prince of Plots by Richard von Busack), 1998 *Arts Feature, 2nd Place (Mint Condition by Christina Waters), 1997; Photography, 1st Place (Robert Scheer), 1997 *Food Writing, 1st Place: (Waiting For Merlot by Christina Waters), 1996

References

External links

Metropdf.com
Santa Cruz Weekly: PDF edition
SantaCruz.comSantacruzweekly.comBoulevards.comMetronews.com
Metro Newspapers
Santacruzfb.com
Santa Cruz Facebook
Twitter.com
{{Metro Newspapers Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States Weekly newspapers published in California Newspapers established in 2009 Santa Cruz, California