Pacific Avenue

The main commercial street of downtown Santa Cruz, a pedestrian-friendly strip of independent shops, bookstores, coffee roasters, and restaurants running north-south through the city centre. Pacific Avenue was rebuilt after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed its previous Victorian commercial buildings, and the result is a walkable, lively street that serves both students from UC Santa Cruz and the broader community.

The Bookshop Santa Cruz — an independent bookstore that has occupied the same downtown block for decades — is one of the best general bookstores on the California coast. The Saturday farmers market at the nearby town clock draws a large crowd and an excellent selection of Monterey Bay-area produce. Pacific Avenue is busiest on Friday and Saturday evenings when the restaurants and bars fill up.

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The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed much of Pacific Avenue's original late-Victorian commercial strip. The rebuilding that followed in the 1990s created the current pedestrian-friendly downtown — a rare case of a natural disaster producing better urban design than the street it replaced. The rebuilt blocks are walkable, at a human scale, and mostly occupied by independent businesses rather than chains.

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