Tom Lehrer and Santa Cruz: the trail of one of America's premier satirists(lookout.co)
lookout.co
Tom Lehrer and Santa Cruz: the trail of one of America's premier satirists
https://lookout.co/tom-lehrer-and-santa-cruz-sleuthing-the-trail-of-one-of-americas-premier-satirists/
28 comments
I've always thought that Santa Cruz is a great place to spend three months and a terrible place to spend three years. The place has a certain energy and but you can get sucked into the vortex and spend every day bicycling to the local surf break and back without doing realizing that you have none little else for the past 6 months. Makes you appreciate how lively San Francisco is and how nicely it balances the more sensuous aspects of Santa Cruz's culture while having some sense of grandeur and purpose beyond sitting in a hot tub.
I think you're basically saying that you want to live in a big city longer term--which, for all its problems, SF is a pretty good example. I almost certainly find Santa Cruz more attractive than most of Silicon Valley generally.
Maybe. San Francisco is unique among major American cities in a number of ways and it has a special charm to it. I don't think that a generic substitution of Santa Cruz vs ($BIG_CITY) would favor the likes of Seattle or Houston or Philadelphia to Santa Cruz.
I would agree that Santa Cruz is nicer than anywhere in Santa Clara or San Mateo counties, and there is probably good reason so many people put up with the commute over the 17. The real issue with Santa Cruz (if it is even an issue) is that the whole town is on a perpetual summer vacation (especially the college students!). Boudrillard has some very choice observations of Santa Cruz in the 80's that more or less ring true to today. And Santa Cruz is full of interesting characters and it is quite cosmopolitan for a place its size, it also feels as if everything has gone to seed.
I don't disagree although the list of arguments against living in SF seems to continue to grow--though you avoid some of them (though not cost) depending upon where you live in the city. I'd actually argue that Seattle and Portland, OR have at least some of characteristics that make SF attractive. Of course, there are other cities in the US that are attractive as well but they're very different from SF, e.g. Denver/Boulder, NYC, Boston...
I've lived there long enough to consider it a home, but not long enough to become a local. From my point of view, the words that best describe Santa Cruz are "a missed opportunity".
You see a place that could be nice but isn't. It's rough, there are too many cars everywhere, and the locals don't care. (Or they pretend they care, but they don't bother making things work.)
And because it's a small city, you can't avoid facing how remote California is. Pretty much everyone else is at least three time zones away.
You see a place that could be nice but isn't. It's rough, there are too many cars everywhere, and the locals don't care. (Or they pretend they care, but they don't bother making things work.)
And because it's a small city, you can't avoid facing how remote California is. Pretty much everyone else is at least three time zones away.
> how remote California is. Pretty much everyone else is at least three time zones away
Remote from what? California is one of the most populous states. Just within the same time zone there are tens of millions of people.
Remote from what? California is one of the most populous states. Just within the same time zone there are tens of millions of people.
Remote from the rest of the world. Apart from the people who live near me, few people I interact with are in the same or nearby time zones. And when I travel somewhere, the flight is almost always long. Compared to something like East Coast, Europe + Middle East, or East Asia, California feels remote and small.
If you don't want big city life but don't want to be really rural, Santa Cruz is certainly one place that seems really attractive.
CROSS at UCSC is also very involved with open source in the UC system generally.
CROSS at UCSC is also very involved with open source in the UC system generally.
Also, in the winter, it's not full of tourists from the other side of the hill.
Santa Cruz: where the 60's never died.
Santa Cruz: where the 60's never died.
I'm from here and still live in the mountains. The 60s spirit has waned. I wouldn't say SC has hippy vibes anymore. Just take a walk down pacific avenue and look around, compared to 20 years ago.
Having grown up in Santa Cruz, the place kind of died for me after the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The Santa Cruz downtown merchants/city council really screwed up with the rebuild. Took the beautiful Roy Rydell botanical mall and turned it in to little San Jose...
As a resident of nearby Capitola (and not far from Pleasure Point where Tom Lehrer bought a home), I absolutely love the winter in Santa Cruz County. I can enjoy the natural scenery and many of the tourist attractions without dealing with the crowds and the traffic.
I’ve been living in Santa Cruz County for 12 out of the past 14 years; 1 year living in graduate housing at UCSC, 4 years in Capitola, two years away in the East Bay, and then the past 7 years in Capitola again. UC Santa Cruz brought me to the county, but even after graduating I stuck around for quite a while. I enjoy the tranquility of Capitola, and I feel it’s a nice retreat from Silicon Valley while being close for meetings and events. Hybrid work helps a lot; I wouldn’t want to drive over Highway 17 every day, though.
I’m going to miss living here; I’m preparing for a move back to the East Bay since I will start a full-time tenure-track teaching position at Ohlone College in Fremont. No more hybrid work; I will be in the classroom at least four days per week. I’m looking forward to finally engaging in my passion for teaching full time after nine years in industry, but I can’t do Highway 17 every day, so I’m going to need to move from Capitola. I’m sad I’ll have to give up the nice weather and the soothing morning coastal fog, but I will always have great memories.
I’ve been living in Santa Cruz County for 12 out of the past 14 years; 1 year living in graduate housing at UCSC, 4 years in Capitola, two years away in the East Bay, and then the past 7 years in Capitola again. UC Santa Cruz brought me to the county, but even after graduating I stuck around for quite a while. I enjoy the tranquility of Capitola, and I feel it’s a nice retreat from Silicon Valley while being close for meetings and events. Hybrid work helps a lot; I wouldn’t want to drive over Highway 17 every day, though.
I’m going to miss living here; I’m preparing for a move back to the East Bay since I will start a full-time tenure-track teaching position at Ohlone College in Fremont. No more hybrid work; I will be in the classroom at least four days per week. I’m looking forward to finally engaging in my passion for teaching full time after nine years in industry, but I can’t do Highway 17 every day, so I’m going to need to move from Capitola. I’m sad I’ll have to give up the nice weather and the soothing morning coastal fog, but I will always have great memories.
Any idea of where his house was? "just south of Pleasure Point" is odd for a "house on the beach". There are a bunch of houses on the low cliffs looking directly out at Pleasure Point, then the O'Neill house, then the house bordering perverts perch by the Hook and then it's opal cliffs cliff houses down to Capitola. A bunch of cliff houses in back of Depot Hill and down Grove Lane and then you are on New Brighton Beach and a little down from there are the first real "houses on the beach". Seems a bit far for "just south of Pleasure Point". There are beaches below the cliffs but tiny unless it's low tide. But then I grew up in a Santa Cruz beach house so maybe I'm jaded and his description more metaphorical than literal...
I did my CS degree at Santa Cruz with both UC Davis and UC Irvine as choices, and it was simply the redwoods that drew me in. I’m doing well in the field among people with much more “prestigious” college résumés.
Obviously an undergraduate experience vs academia is a different conversation.
Obviously an undergraduate experience vs academia is a different conversation.
There was a TV miniseries/movie a few years ago called "DEVS" that was shot in part at UCSC - science hill and the engineering library emerging from the mist was unmistakable. (Not defending or promoting the show.) That coastal morning fog...
I loved listening to Lehrer on Dr Demento when I was growing up so I jumped at the opportunity to take his class, "Nature of Math", when I was an undergrad at UCSC. It was great- I learned a bunch of interesting things about math (cantor diagonal proof, pigeonhole principle), all delivered by a witty fellow. Alas, he never sang for us in class.
The other math classes I took were History of Math by Ralph Abraham (a chaos mathematician), which was held in the quad (basically an old stone quarry turned into an amphitheatre), making it a lot like hearing a lecture in ancient greece. And Cybernetics with David Huffman, which kicked my ass but I never forgot the lessons I learned.
The other math classes I took were History of Math by Ralph Abraham (a chaos mathematician), which was held in the quad (basically an old stone quarry turned into an amphitheatre), making it a lot like hearing a lecture in ancient greece. And Cybernetics with David Huffman, which kicked my ass but I never forgot the lessons I learned.
Landless Theatre in DC is doing a show right now called "Tom Lehrer Is Alive And Well And Has Given Away All Rights To His Music". Definitely the best title of any show at Capital Fringe this year. Reviews are very positive.
https://capitalfringe.org/events/tom-lehrer-is-alive-and-wel...
https://capitalfringe.org/events/tom-lehrer-is-alive-and-wel...
We had a Lehrer thread just a couple months ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40439810) but this one's pretty interesting too.
(Lots more at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40459107)
(Lots more at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40459107)
I grew up listening to Tom Lehrer. My father (a physicist, taught at UC Berkeley) loved listening to Tom Lehrer so my whole family got to enjoy such classics as “Sliding Down the Razor Blade of Life” and many other very funny songs.
BTW, search for “Tom Lehrer” on YouTube Music - they have a lot of his stuff.
BTW, search for “Tom Lehrer” on YouTube Music - they have a lot of his stuff.
> “Sliding Down the Razor Blade of Life” and many other very funny songs.
"Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life" is a lyric from "Bright College Days", rather than a song of its own. I'm not sure that you intended to imply it was a song, but it was unclear.
> BTW, search for “Tom Lehrer” on YouTube Music - they have a lot of his stuff.
(And/)or check out his website, with all of his music (which he's placed in the public domain): https://tomlehrersongs.com/
"Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life" is a lyric from "Bright College Days", rather than a song of its own. I'm not sure that you intended to imply it was a song, but it was unclear.
> BTW, search for “Tom Lehrer” on YouTube Music - they have a lot of his stuff.
(And/)or check out his website, with all of his music (which he's placed in the public domain): https://tomlehrersongs.com/
You are correct! That was a lyric in a song. Thanks for correcting.
A key rule in show business is:
Always leave 'em wanting more.
Imagine if he'd stuck around and gotten repetitive, like Weird Al.
Always leave 'em wanting more.
Imagine if he'd stuck around and gotten repetitive, like Weird Al.
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Santa Cruz is one of the most beautiful places in the world. If you visit, it's easy to understand his decision. While the university itself is pretty good, it's no MIT. Totally worth the tradeoff ;)