If You Go: Santa Cruz

A guide to surfing, dining and getting there

October 9, 2010 at 4:46PM

IF YOU GO

SURFING

At Santa Cruz Surf School, a two-hour lesson as one of four students, with one instructor, is $80, which includes a wetsuit and surfboard (1-831-345-8875; www. santacruzsurfschool.com).

Club Ed trucks equipment right to Cowell's Beach near the wharf and offers group, private and semi-private classes, as well as rentals. Charismatic Ed Guzman, a lifelong surfer, runs the place (1-831-464-0177; www.club-ed.com).

DINING

Soif combines wine bar, wine shop and soothing, polished bistro under one roof. You can order three dozen wines by the 2-ounce taste, glass or bottle (1-831-423-2020; www.soifwine.com).

Cellar Door Cafe: Winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard hired Charlie Parker from Manresa, a two-star Michelin restaurant in nearby Los Gatos, to run the local-ingredients, communal-dining cafe, which packs them in most nights with a $35 prix fixe menu (1-831-425-6771).

Verve, a premium coffee roaster, has a great little retail outlet with art, pastries, Wi-Fi and lots of locals (816 41st Av., 1-831-475-7776).

GETTING THERE

From San Francisco, take Interstate 280 south to Hwy. 92, which curves down to Half Moon Bay. The drive from there along Pacific Coast Hwy. 1 is exceptionally scenic, with very little development and many photo opportunities. Takes about 90 minutes if traffic is light.

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Claude Peck

Former Senior Metro Editor

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In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

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