Repair funding sought for Memorial Building
Registered historical landmark for veterans run by nonprofit falling into disrepair amid lack of community awareness, organizers say
SANTA CRUZ » It’s the first year since 2011 one of Spencer Smoot’s former fellow soldiers have not died outside of combat.
For Smoot, a 30-yearold UC Santa Cruz student and former Army medic, this and every Memorial Day is a time to honor men and women killed in action and fallen veterans traumatized by tours of duty.
Unlike Veterans Day, which commends all who served honorably, Memorial Day is an observance for “comrades who died in defense of their country,” according to Veterans Affairs.
“Memorial Day, to civilians, is like, ‘We’re honoring heroes,’ ” Smoot said. “But Memorial Day, to veterans, is different: We’re honoring our friends.”
And never say “Happy Memorial Day,” Smoot said.
He was sitting in a fluorescent-lit, concrete-walled office in the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building at 846 Front St. The registered historical landmark, with its 400-capacity auditorium, commercial-grade, ground-floor kitchen and two wood-floored rental rooms upstairs, is falling into disrepair amid lack of funding and community awareness, organizers say.
The building’s fading allure is something the independent nonprofit’s four employees want to change. Smoot, one of the employees, has found catharsis from his immersion in the project.
Smoot was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after combat tours in Iraq about nine years ago. He left the Army in 2011. While attending the University of Maine, he began to battle feelings of isolation and depression and transferred to UC Santa Cruz. Once he reached the Central Coast about a year ago, he decided he wanted “to get better.” But progress wasn’t immediate. His stress and suicidal thoughts led to him seeking veterans’ services at the Memorial Building.
“The Memorial Building has saved my life at least once,” Smoot said. The healing accelerated when he communicated with building Operations Manager Julia McDermott and learned about a need for staffing and renovations.
In a second-floor room resembling a dance studio with vintage windows above Front Street, an unfinished mural depicts two scantily clad Southeast Asian women. The mural needs to be removed, Smoot said, glancing at cracks in the plaster walls as he walked the creaking, scuffed floors.
Downstairs, a musky odor filled office spaces laden with stained commercial carpet that recently was cleaned, McDermott said.
McDermott, whose father served in the Korean War, sat in one of the offices and read from a list of improvements needed.
“We really need about $152,000 in building equipment,” McDermott said.
That expense includes almost $15,000 to fit the venue with new chairs and tables.
The building needs repairs to its heating and air-conditioning system, auditorium stage, mezzanine, sound room, auditorium ceiling and floors and “desperately needs” upgraded security cameras, office equipment, cellphone amplifiers, Wi-Fi access points, carpet, folding tables and chairs, sump pumps, phones, toilets, sinks and courtyard furnishings, McDermott said.
“All of these building expenditures will help the Vets Hall serve our veteran community by increasing our rental facility revenue,” McDermott said.
The Chris G. Matthews Hall auditorium downstairs is a performance venue with a professional sound and light system suitable for theater, lectures, receptions, operas and meetings, she said. That room can be rented for $75 to $200 hourly, she said. A 49-person room upstairs, which she said is perfect for dance, yoga or meetings, is available for $45 to $85 hourly. The second upstairs room, which has walls lined with mirrors and accommodates 49 people as well, is offered for $40 to $75 per hour, McDermott said.
Saturday, volunteer Scott Laird was installing new rigging above the large stage in the Vets Hall auditorium.
Laird, who has worked in theater for 34 years, said the old venue has the potential to be the best in town.
“The size is perfect,” Laird said. The auditorium, with its capacity for 400 people, is bigger than the Louden Nelson Community Center yet smaller
than the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. He and other volunteers described the venue’s former legendary status as a punk-rock hub. Smoot and McDermott said there are no plans to revive such a loud legacy at the site.
“We have a rocking sound system,” Laird said.
Some upgrades will make the venue marketable in today’s economy, Laird said, such as increasing the backstage area by extending the stage. That should be done by July, he said.
The nonprofit receives county funding, but more is needed, McDermott said. The group plans to renovate the facility to bolster rentals. A more marketable venue would generate more revenue later on, but McDermott said the group is asking the community for donations and services to help the effort.
Among the kickoff events will be First Friday 5:30 to 9 p.m. June 1 at the Vets Hall. Photographer and veteran J. William Kraintz II will showcase “We Are Still Here,” a photo exhibit of 1 percent of the county’s veteran population to generate awareness about veterans in the area.
For Smoot and other veterans, Memorial Day is not a “happy day” and it isn’t just the unofficial start of summer, he said.
“It is a day of reflection,” Smoot said. “It is a day of looking back.”
Santa Cruz County has lost 463 veterans serving in active duty in combat, according to a Roll of Honor posted at the hall.
The county lost 246 service members in World War II and 76 in the Vietnam War.
Ron Petty, chaplain of Veterans of Foreign Wars Tres Pueblos Post No. 7263 in Santa Cruz, served in the Army during the Vietnam War.
Saturday, he pointed to a box of potatoes that would become 40 pounds of potato salad in the Vets Hall kitchen, which has undergone upgrades in the basement in recent years: A new stove, commercialgrade sinks, among other improvements, have helped the kitchen feed veterans weekly.
“This here operation is for the living,” Petty said.
On Memorial Day, however, his thoughts will return to his fallen comrades who did not return from Southeast Asia.
“It’s the one day that I get to remember them,” Petty said.
For information about the Vets Hall, visit veteranshall.org. McDermott said check donations are accepted at P.O. Box 1303, Santa Cruz, 95061.