Santa Cruz County History - Places

Photo Gallery of Pacific Avenue: Photographs and post cards from the Santa Cruz Public Libraries' collection.

 

1860

This photo shows the junction of Pacific Avenue and Front Street around 1866. At that time Pacific Avenue was called Willow Street. Front Street was known as Main Street and dead-ended.

 

 

Circa. 1882--1892

Here is a later photograph of junction of Pacific Avenue and Front Street. It is probably between 1882 and 1892. Notice the horsecar tracks running down Pacific Avenue.

 

 

1880s

A parade down Pacific Avenue in the 1880's. The street that you can see intersecting on the right is Soquel Avenue.

 

 

1894

This is how Pacific Avenue looked after the fire of April 14, 1894. A large section of buildings between Pacific and Front Streets were leveled.

 

 

 

Circa 1916

Up the street, on the right, is the I.O.O.F building. At the top of the building is the town clock which now stands at Water Street and North Pacific Avenue.

 

 

1920s

Notice the truck in middle of the street. That odd-looking object on the back is a large model of a toaster. The truck is advertising it by hauling it around town.

 

downtown, Pacific Avenue

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.