Get to know Mission Hill as it is today and as it was over 100 years ago.
Get your exercise for the day with this sixteen stop walking tour uncovering hidden treasured stairways within the nooks of Mission Hill. With each step of this one-mile walking tour, you’ll be exploring Santa Cruz history and relics of the time. It’s all fairly easy terrain save the four (and a half) staircases you need to climb!
We highlight a few stops below but the rest can be read in blog form at the bottom of this page or in our free app, Mobile Ranger Guides.The tour was created by local history researcher Linda Rosewood.
Walk in the steps of, Elihu Anthony, a lucky pioneer who created his own empire.
See the artifacts and feel the echos of the Spanish mission. Find out what happened to Father Quintana.
Learn about Loudon Nelson, a black man who in the 1860s left all he had to Santa Cruz’s school children. And what’s his real first name: Loudon or London?
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Until 1920, the Upper and Lower Plazas of Mission Hill in Santa Cruz, California were both the town center and a popular neighborhood. Schools, businesses ...
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Today's Chestnut Street in downtown Santa Cruz, California is a quiet residential street, with the occasional passing of Roaring Camp's Santa Cruz Beach T ...
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Today's City Hall at 809 Center Street, is located in the two blocks along Church Street between Chestnut and Cedar Streets. In the late 1800s however, th ...
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Today's Red Restaurant, at 200 Locust Street, is in the old Santa Cruz Hotel building, built in 1877. The restaurant on the lower level was known througho ...
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At the end of Rincon Street in Santa Cruz, California, is a small park which today looks mostly like a landscaped median strip. But in the late 1880s, nei ...
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This retaining wall and stairs are one of the distinctive features of Walnut Avenue. The Pratchner family lived at the top of these stairs and George Prat ...
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Before it was subdivided in the 1940s, the broad street now known as “Chrystal Terrace” was just narrow “Christal Lane” running from Mission Street to a f ...
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There have been stairs going up Mission Hill from here for over 100 years. The stairs here today were built after 1964. The retaining wall, however, is co ...
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Many of present-day parks established at the Spanish missions feature a chapel, cloistered buildings, and gardens around a central plaza. Nearby Missions ...
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Santa Cruz’s Town Clock is a beloved landmark, the symbol of the downtown neighborhood and a frequent gathering spot. But it hasn't always been where you ...
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Mission Hill was home to many of Santa Cruz's early schools. One of the earliest, Mission Hill School, was at what is today's 133 Mission Street. In the 1 ...
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Before the automobile age everyone—rich and poor—walked to work, to school, to church, to the movie house. The little town of Santa Cruz grew along a rive ...
