Santa Cruz History ~ Huzzah! (Part 1)

from Santa Cruz Public Libraries

I've lived in Santa Cruz for more than 4 years now, and never bothered to research anything about any of the local history. But now I am in a play - which has one performance left next Sunday! - written by a local playwright, Dana Bagshaw, about real people who lived in Santa Cruz in the late 1800s. The play, La Boheme Santa Cruz , follows the life (and death) of opera singer Henry Thompson, featuring historical characters that greatly contributed to the artistic and political scene in Santa Cruz. We're performing the work at the Carmelita Cottages, where the real people the characters are based off of actually lived! You can still attend the last performance, on August 29th, 2021 at 4pm. Until then, I have decided to organize all of the research I've done for myself during the rehearsal process on these characters and publish it here in a five part series! 

I took this photo don't come at me

Stay tuned for my followup articles on some of the specific owners at Carmelita Cottages, but here I want to give a brief overview of some of the land owners as written in Rick Hyman's "History of the Carmelita Cottages".

What I found very interesting about the various owners of the Carmelita Cottages throughout the years of their existence is the diversity and constant shifting of ownership. Several of the well-known cottage owners were sea captains, women, and possibly even a pimp!

The first sea captain to purchase the land in 1858, on which the cottages would later be built, was Joseph Roberts. In 1859, Roberts sold his Beach Hill land to another captain, Captain Timothy Dame, who pulled-off an exchange with another landowner, resulting in his ownership of the entire land block. A link will be available on Captain Dame's name in the upcoming days, when I publish my article specifically dedicated to him. Throughout his life, Captain Dame experienced many hardships, both monetary and familial, resulting in him temporarily losing his land lot. He would reclaim it back only in 1868.

Also in 1868, George Tait, yet another seaman, bought a large portion of what is now the Carmelita Cottages. In 1870, Tait occupied the house he built on the land with his wife and four children, as well as another sea captain with his wife and child. This didn't last long, however, because in the summer of the same year, the house burned down. That same November, Tait sold the remains of his land to Thomas Varley Johnson (possibly a pimp?), who arrived in Santa Cruz in the late 1860s. In 1873, Thomas Varley Johnson married a young woman named Mary Anne Hutchinson (born around 1839 in Monstrevan, Ireland).  The couple lived in the re-built two story house at the front of the cottages - which still stands to this day - until 1903, when Thomas Varley Johnson died. After his death, his wife Mary became the sole owner of the house.   

this is my photo

Backtracking a bit to Captain Timothy Herbert Dame's re-purchase of his property.  In 1868, Captain Dame purchased the property he once owned - opposite now Thomas Varley Johnson's property - and which he would reside in until the end of his life. In 1881, Captain Dame married Ellen Hutchinson Thomson, who was Thomas Varley Johnson's wife's sister. Ellen Hutchinson Thomson was a widow from New York, who came to Santa Cruz with her daughter Lottie, who would later become Henry Thompson's wife and a character in Dana Bagshaw's historical play, with one performance left at the Carmelita Cottages on Sunday, August 29th, at 4pm. Ellen purchased Captain Dame's property from him on the day of their wedding, and their marriage only lasted five years because of Captain Dame's death in 1886. In 1889, Ellen deeded 1/2 interest of that property to her daughter, Lottie. "This transaction marked the beginning of the longest single ownership tenure of the Carmelita Cottages."

Please stick around for my next posts on here - PART 2 - about the Carmelita Cottages, and a closer look at the people who are portrayed in La Boheme Santa Cruz! All my sources are linked under the green highlights. 

Santa Cruz was incorporated as a town under California state laws in 1866, and received its first charter as a city in 1876. The two front houses of the Carmelita Cottages were built around 1872, making them some of the oldest buildings on beach hill and one of the first buildings built with the official incorporation of Santa Cruz as a Californian town. The Carmelita Cottages are currently an operating hostel business, where you can stay overnight in one of the historical houses! 

Part 1: Introduction to Carmelita Cottages and Dana Bagshaw's play, "La Boheme Santa Cruz" (you're reading it now!)

Part 2: Captain Dame 

Part 3: Lottie Thompson Sly

Part 4: Henry Thompson

Part 5: Conclusion