Shop: Unique boutiques, bookstores, restaurants thrive in downtown

Santa Cruz is an outdoorsy kind of destination, even when you’re strolling the downtown area’s many restaurants, clothing and accessory shops, bookstores, gift boutiques and jewelry salons. During certain weekends in the summer and fall, merchants set up special sale displays on the sidewalks, lining the streets with all kinds of unique collectibles. Restaurants and coffee houses also join in the fun with open-air seating.

Tuesdays are another prime time to visit downtown, with $5 movies at Santa Cruz Cinema all day and night. Settle in with a jumbo bucket of buttered popcorn, and catch up with the best new releases.

Here are just a few of the interesting, artsy places to explore in downtown:

FAR WEST FUNGI

It was a natural for the Garrone family to open their mushroom specialty shop in downtown Santa Cruz two years ago. The store is jam-packed with dozens of varieties of fresh mushrooms — some grown on the family’s own farms — mushroom accessories and growyour-own mushroom kits. There’s even a mushroom café, tempting with bites like smoky Black Pearl Oyster mushroom jerky and mushroom avocado toast.

“The Santa Cruz community has historically been a mycophilic community,” said Far West Fungi Farm Coordinator Erin Raser. “The Santa Cruz Fungus Fair draws a huge crowd each year, and the community as a whole has a genuine interest in fungi, foraging, mushroom cuisine and cultivation. It made sense to open a store here because of this community support, and also because our farm is just down the road.”

The company grows 12 varieties of California Certified Organic Farmers approved mushrooms at its farm in Moss Landing (on the coast in northern Monterey County) and San Martin (Santa Clara County), including shiitake; pink, yellow, and blue tree oyster; king trumpet; lion’s mane; wood ear; pioppini; cinnamon cap and reishi, plus various small batch and seasonal mushrooms.

“We actually sell more than 70 varieties of mushrooms throughout the year, though, including wild foraged mushrooms — many of which can’t be cultivated — imported mushrooms from around the world and agaricus mushrooms, which are grown locally at other farms,” Raser said. “We carry typically 20 varieties in-store at a given time.”

The mercantile-inspired storefront is a wonderland of fungi fascination. Dried whole mushrooms and powders beckon — staffers can offer tips on what to do with dried chaga chunks and other delicacies. There is bottled truffle hot sauce, jasmine green tea with chaga and turkey tail mushrooms, caramel infused with sweet candy cap mushrooms, a scientific poster identifying medicinal mushrooms, a “got shrooms?” hoodie, a mushroom hunting knife and valuable French Burgundy truffles offered by the ounce.

If you’re curious about the magical process that is mushroom cultivation, Raser recommends watching Far West Fungi’s recently produced YouTube video (https://bit.ly/3CPhcA5).

Should you want even more mushroom marveling, the next Santa Cruz Fungus Fair takes place Jan. 7 though Jan. 9, 2022, at the London Nelson Community Center. Visit http://ffsc.us/fair.

PACIFIC COOKIE COMPANY

It’s a wonderful world we live in when cookies can be made vegan and/or gluten-free and still taste marvelous. That’s the case with this cheerful shop emblazoned in red, white and blue décor.

You’ll never miss the dairy in the chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and lemon sugar goodies, or the wheat flour in the chocolate chip sea salt and Snickerdoodle bites.

The traditional cookies are mouthwatering, as well, freshbaked all day in 16 flavors with from-scratch recipes featuring Guittard chocolate, sweet cream butter, whole eggs, unbleached flour and pure vanilla extract. And these truly are classics — Pacific Cookie celebrated its 41st anniversary in August. Founded by Larry and Shelly Pearson in 1980 in Carmel, the company still offers its original cookie flavors of chocolate chip, chocolate chip walnut, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter and peanut butter chocolate chip.

Since debuting in Pacific Garden Mall in downtown Santa Cruz, the line-up now also includes newer temptations like Almond Joe loaded with chocolate chips, almonds and toasted coconut; Mint Condition with Guittard semi-sweet chocolate, satiny chocolate syrup, rich cocoa powder and mint chips; and the seasonal Cherry Bomb sugar cookie with fresh-dried tart cherries.

“Hands down, chocolate chip is our bestselling cookie,” said Pacific Cookie president and Larry and Shelly’s daughter Cara Pearson. “There is a claim that 50% of all cookies sold in the U.S. are chocolate chip, and ours is extra yummy with loads of Guittard chocolate chips and an all-butter base.”

Customers also enjoy the Santa Cruz theme gifts, such as the Surf City Sweets Gift Tower of a dozen cookies packed in a retro-look can, or the Santa Cruz Cookie Gift Tin decorated in a quirky flower-spaceship pattern. The custom designs were created by a local graphic designer.

“Our cookie of the month club also is very popular,” Pearson said. “People from all over who have visited Santa Cruz or lived here previously look forward to the fresh cookies.”

Visitors coming directly to the shop do have an advantage, however. The store scoops up 17 flavors of Marianne’s Ice Cream, a local favorite known for its homemade treats since 1958.

The vintage clothing store claims to serve local, national and international customers, with clientele including directors, theater folks, photographers and party planners. Plus, they cater to plenty of people who simply cherish one-of-a-kind clothing, exotic costumes and must-have knick-knacks like an antique,

kitty-design brass door knocker.

For the past 20 years, this groovy shop has been the Santa Cruz go-to for new and used musical equipment. If you speak the rock ‘n’ roll language, you understand how coveted treasures like this are: “This Limited Edition Craviotto Drum Co. 6.5x14-inch Satin Green snare has a phat crack and punch you can only expect from a Craviotto snare. We only have one, so here’s your chance to grab a beautiful collector’s snare!”

If you’re looking to re-home treasures of your own, the store also buys used equipment.

PHOTOS BY LAURA MORTON A fresh batch of cookies is put in the oven at the Pacific Cookie Company, which has been in business for over 40 years. Cookies are baked fresh throughout the day.

Above: Owner Melinda Collis works at Cat’s Meow, a vintage shop in downtown Santa Cruz. Below left: Items for sale are playfully displayed at Cat’s Meow. Below right: A Lobster mushroom is available at Far West Fungi, which has a large selection of mushrooms and cultivation supplies for sale.