There was a time once when the only book I imagined writing or editing was my own fantasy series. Santa Cruz was a place, trains were cool but irrelevant, and history was a fun hobby but nothing more. One by one, those dominos fell. In 2003, I shifted my major from Media Communications to History. In 2011, I began writing blog posts about Santa Cruz County’s railroading history. And in 2019, I embarked upon a… Read More »The Memories of Ernest Otto
New book series Our Old Santa Cruz… by Ernest Otto unveils the captivating history of Santa Cruz in the late 1800s SANTA CRUZ, CA, November 15, 2023—Our Old Santa Cruz… is a compelling retrospective book series that gazes into the history of Santa Cruz, California, through the eyes of the late Santa Cruz Sentinel reporter Ernest F. Otto. Each book in this new series paints a vivid picture of the city’s bustling life at the… Read More »Press Release: Our Old Santa Cruz… By Ernest Otto
Thank you to everyone who came to my talk on March 25 at the Felton Branch Library, “Off Track in Scotts Valley: Exploring the curious absence of railroads in Scotts Valley.” It was definitely one of my stranger talks, considering it was actually about why a railroad wasn’t built there rather than the history of a current or former railroad line. A YouTube version of the talk should be available sometime in late June. Most of… Read More »Getting Sidetracked with Santa Cruz Trains
For the past four years, I have been working on editing and publishing Ronald G. Powell’s mostly lost manuscripts into The History of Rancho Soquel Augmentation trilogy. Throughout the course of doing this, I did not forget about my first passion: Santa Cruz Trains. Indeed, editing Parts 2 and 3 reminded me of what I had set aside to finish Powell’s work, but it also gave me inspiration to move beyond what I had originally… Read More »Out of Isolation and Into the World Beyond
The forgotten history of The Forest of Nisene Marks is revealed at last SANTA CRUZ, CA, October 23, 2022—The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park has a long history that has been largely forgotten. But not anymore. The Shadow of Loma Prieta follows the tumultuous history of the areas now known as The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park and the Soquel Demonstration State Forest from the early twentieth century to the present day. Expertly… Read More »Press Release: The Shadow of Loma Prieta
![Holiday Lighting Along Main Street, Watsonville, 1920s [Santa Cruz Public Libraries]](https://zayantepublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Holiday-Lighting-Along-Main-Street.jpg)