Effective Nov. 30, The Pajaronian will close its rented office on Brennan Street and join the company’s other Santa Cruz County publications at its Santa Cruz office at 107 Dakota St.
But Pajaronian writers and advertising personnel will continue to work in Watsonville in the field, and the phone number will remain the same.
“It’s no secret that people are spending less time in offices and that virtual tools give greater flexibility,” publisher Jeanie Johnson said. “The money we save on office expenses will be freed up to support our core mission.”
The move came after The Pajaronian’s 2021 bid to purchase and restore the Porter Building was opposed by arts groups, newspaper owner Dan Pulcrano said.
The newspaper’s owners looked at other options in downtown Watsonville, but none turned out to be a fit, he said.
“We were prepared to make a multimillion dollar investment to bring income and tax generating uses to downtown Watsonville, including a multi-media lab, a restaurant and a microhotel. It would have made keeping an independent office here sustainable,” he said. “We believe in the arts, however, and didn’t want to interfere with PV Arts’ plans.”
The Pajaronian has been Watsonville’s newspaper for more than 150 years. The Pajaronian newspaper will still provide the same coverage that began on March 5, 1868, when J.A. Cottle published the first issue of the Weekly Pajaronian newspaper.
Since its inception, the Pajaronian has seen the city through decades of triumph and turmoil.
The paper merged with the Register in 1937, and became the Register-Pajaronian. When Weeklys purchased the company from Rochelle, Ill-based News Media Corp. in 2019, the paper’s original name was restored.
The Pajaronian has called several sites home over the years. It moved from 13 East Lake Ave. to 1000 Main St. at the end of August 1969. It relocated to the Westridge Business Park in March 2005 and remained there, next to Gold’s Gym, for the next 14 years. The paper moved to its most recent physical location at 21 Brennan St. in 2019.
The decision to close the rented office comes after former office manager Alanna Anderson, who was with the paper for nearly two decades, left for another job, and its parent company—Weeklys—consolidated its local offices to the Good Times in Santa Cruz.
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For any questions regarding legal notices, advertising, classified, obituaries, real estate and subscriptions, call 761.7300 and follow the prompts.
To reach a reporter:
Reporter Tarmo Hannula: 761.7330
Reporter Todd Guild: 761.7327
Sports Editor Juan Reyes: 761.7335
Managing Editor Erik Chalhoub: 408.842.9505
The Pajaronian will have a drop-off spot at Studio Judy G, 430 Main St., available Monday-Wednesday, 8am-1pm.
