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Watsonville
September 15, 2025

Carmageddon: Highway 1 closed for 24 hours

The California Highway Patrol closed north and southbound lanes of Highway 1 in Soquel Saturday at 7pm to make way for Granite Construction crews to demolish the 1948 Capitola Avenue bridge above the highway. The closure and carefully crafted detour between Bay/Porter and Park Avenue...

Pedestrian killed in rollover crash on Freedom Boulevard

freedom boulevard woman killed
CORRALITOS—The 25-year-old woman who died Tuesday after an SUV struck her on the 4800 block of Freedom Boulevard has been identified as Stephanie Bell of Aptos, according to Ashley Keehn of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.  California Highway Patrol officer Alyssa Gutierrez said a...

Remembering Loma Prieta: Quake left Watsonville in ruin, united residents

WATSONVILLE—When the Loma Prieta earthquake struck at 5:04 p.m. on Oct. 17, 1989, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Willy Elliott-McCrea was in Watsonville, talking about disaster preparation. It was a strange bit of irony, and it took the presence of then-Watsonville Fire Chief Gary Smith...

Kmart in Watsonville closing doors in August

Kmart watsomville
WATSONVILLE—The Kmart store at 1702 Freedom Blvd. in Watsonville will permanently close its doors on Aug. 22, the company announced through a publicity agency on Tuesday. The store will begin to wrap up business beginning Thursday. The announcement did not contain any further information. Transformco, the...

Two shot in Santa Cruz Harbor

sirens
Two people were shot Thursday night in the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor, and police from several jurisdictions are looking for the suspects. Watsonville police were among several law enforcement agencies on the scene. Santa Cruz Police officers found two victims who had been shot.  Both victims...

End of an era: Yamashita Market closing its doors this summer

yamashita to close watsonville
WATSONVILLE—After more than seven decades in business, Yamashita Market—Santa Cruz County’s only store dedicated to Asian cooking supplies—is set to close its doors for good, likely sometime in July. The store’s owner Goro Yamashita says that business was steadily declining even before Covid-19 forced businesses...

Two injured as remote-controlled plane crashes into party

Two people were injured Saturday night when a remote-controlled plane smashed into their home on Buena Vista Drive, where they had gathered with friends and family to watch the Fire In The Sky Open House show at the nearby Watsonville Municipal Airport. In a Facebook...

Where to get a Covid-19 test in Watsonville

Watsonville covid-19 testing
Health officials throughout the nation have said testing is an essential factor in the battle against the novel coronavirus, and with case numbers rising in communities near and far getting a test is critical to understanding where the virus is and how officials can...

About Town, week of Nov. 18

Nov. 20, 2019 Tarmo Hannula: Someone called 9-1-1 Wednesday morning after they spotted a man prowling around their carport on Harper Street in Live Oak. An SC Sheriff deputy arrived within minutes and located a suspect at 3:40 a.m. When the deputy confronted the man...

Watsonville’s Filipino community invited to share family history

WATSONVILLE—For many residents, January 1930 represents a dark time in the history of Watsonville. For five days, hundreds of armed white men took to the city’s streets, targeting and beating Filipino-American farmworkers who they claimed were stealing their jobs and women. The riots came to a head...
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Motorcyclist dies in Highway 17 crash

A San Jose man died in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 17 early Sunday morning. The California Highway Patrol said an unknown person was driving...