Capitola
by the sea
As you gaze at the sea, boats rock lazily on their moorings, as people have sailed in for the day or month. The downtown village area has a variety of clothing, crafts and artisan shops and restaurants and is a lovely place to vacation and shop. It has a fishing pier with boat rentals for fishing, and a restaurant at the end. The village has live music at times in a variety of places, such as Margaritaville, Paradise Beach Grill and Zeldas. There a number of restaurants scattered about town, from Sushi, to steak to the venerable Shadowbrook, just up the hill. A more romantic spot locally would be hard to find. If you are looking for a good dinner or drinks on the beach, you will not find a prettier setting locally.
Capitola is an incorporated city and has a thriving economy due to its ownership of the employment tax from the Capitola Mall and its relatively small size, of approximately 10,000 residents. Though Capitola is not rich like some oceanfront cities, it is a city with lots of fun events. Starting around the middle of June until the end of August, there are the Wednesday Night Twilight concerts at the beach. The annual Begonia Festival, which takes place on Soquel Creek with flower-draped floats, is a beautiful sight. During the same August weekend, the sand castle contest is also held and is a great family favorite. A few weeks later there is the Art & Wine Festival in September, which is a great time to sample local wines and see some great local paintings. The surfin' Santa is always a hit around Christmas. Capitola Events Calendar.
The history of Capitola is interesting and tied closely to Soquel. There are some nice local places to stay, from the first condominiums in the state, The Venetians, to local hotels and B&Bs.
Capitola CA Real Estate History
The Old Riverview Avenue Historic District of Capitola is an area that has some interesting places to look at. Most of them are huddled around the train trestle and towards Stockton avenue. This part of Capitola real estate is also part of the Vacation Rental Zone. If you are thinking of buying a Capitola CA home with the intention of renting it out, in this special zone, contact me and I'll help you find the right home. You only have the limitations within the City of Capitola, no where else in the county. In this zone you can rent daily or weekly, not monthly as applies to other parts of the city. Places like the Six Sisters District can be rented out weekly as can much of the downtown area.
Frederick Hihn, a German immigrant and large real estate owner in the area, acquired the land from the Castro Family for the purpose of building a wharf to ship his lumber. He leased the area around it to Samual Hall who started the vacation spot. Later in 1895 he build an enormous 160 room hotel and cottages. The hotel was to burn and many of the cottages later were built into Victorians. Later another fellow tried his luck and built the Rispin Mansion which will soon be another nice B&B like the Depot Hill Inn.
Capitola is Spanish for capital and was apparently first used by Frederick Hihn, a local timber baron of Santa Cruz when he acquired the choice piece of real estate in 1869. The residents of Soquel, then the only town nearby, had offered to let the State of California establish its capital in the upstairs rooms of Ned Porter's local store. The state declined, but the name stuck, having gone under the names of La Playa de Soquel during the Castro family days, to Soquel Landing under American rule.
Soquel, originally its predecessor city across the freeway, was a natural resource rich town. Due to its timber and other resources, there was a need for a port. The port was located in what is now Capitola at the mouth of Soquel Creek. It is thought that Soquel Landing had a small pier prior to 1857 but a new wharf was started that year by Hihn and the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Between 1860-63, it was lengthened from 1,100 to approximately 1,200 feet. Massive amounts of timber were shipped out of this port, some of which was used to rebuild San Francisco after the quake of 1906. The nearby area of Pleasure Point and Opal Cliffs are located in an area, nautically named, Soquel Point.
The beach side resort was a favorite of vacationers from the San Francisco bay area. Here are some nice old photos of the history of Capitola. Initially, before the railway was built 1876 by the Santa Cruz-Watsonville narrow gauge railroad, the arduous journey was made by horse and carriage over the old San Jose road. Once the train arrived, it stopped at the depot on Soquel Landing road. Currently the Inn at Depot Hill is located in it, at the top of Monterey Street and Escalona Drive. Capitola Parking - Strictly enforced |