Santa Cruz County History - Tourism

Photographs of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Area: Visitor Accommodations

 

Tent City was located on Beach Street, opposite the Casino. It provided less expensive accommodations than those available at the nearby luxurious Sea Beach Hotel. Each of the 200 tents in Tent City had a wooden floor, lights, and water. It was destroyed along with the Casino in the 1906 fire. By 1907, cottages had replaced the tents and became known as Cottage City.

 

One Person	$.75 to $1.00 Per Night	$5.00 to $7.00 Per Week
Two Persons	$1.50 to $2.50 Per Night	$9.00 to $15.00 Per Week
Four Persons	$2.50 to $3.50 Per Night	$15.00 to $28.00 Per Week
Eight Persons		$40.00 Per Week

 

The Casa del Rey Hotel was built in 1911 on site of the Cottage City. The photograph on the right shows the laying of the foundation. The one below shows the hotel on July 29, 1911.

 

 

The advertisement below appeared in the "Program of Events" for the Santa Cruz Marine Pageant of 1912. Note the number of automobiles the 1912 garage could accommodate.

Swanton's company went bankrupt in 1912. The boardwalk facilities were closed until 1915 when a new company--The Santa Cruz Seaside Company-- took over. To learn more about the Boardwalk area, read about its beginnings in A First in Hot Bathing, and about its later history in Survival of the Funnest.

---

Boardwalk, hotels, tourism

Disclaimer:

It is our continuing goal to make available a selection of articles on various subjects and places in Santa Cruz County. Certain topics, however, have yet to be researched. In other cases, we were not granted permission to use articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history information. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the Webmaster.