View Finder: Live Oak Scenery

Smooshed between Santa Cruz and Capitola is a strip of town vaguely referred to as the "East Side" or Live Oak. Void of malls or major shopping centers, Live Oak is quaint, but hardly boring.

At the end of the 19th century, Live Oak was an expanse of flower fields (tulips and begonias, especially) and poultry farms. Today, a few vast fields are left in Live Oak, and many houses sit on larger plots of lands that were subdivided after WWII when the flower crops floundered. For those interested in learning more about Live Oak's history, consider taking one of five walking tours, put together by Norm Potevin. You can pick up brochures of these tours at the Deli-Licious Cafe in the East Cliff Plaza. 

Live Oak's quiet neighborhoods make for pleasant bike rides, and the East Cliff Plaza is a good pit stop for coffee, lunch, Mexican pastries or tamales at Panadería Rosal (the only Mexican bakery in town). Or for some cheap entertainment, poke around the Dollar Tree.

Of course, the most happening time to visit the plaza is on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., when the Live Oak Farmers Market takes over the parking lot.

The snapshots that appear in this week's View Finder were taken on a bike ride down East Cliff, then deeper into Live Oak, down 17th Avenue and Brommer Street.