LA NOSTRA COSTA BEACH - GULCH RANCH - OFF THE COAST ROAD - 3 MILES N. OF SANTA CRUZ -(PHOTO TAKEN BY GINO CAMPIONI)IVANO SAYS: Surfing the net I came across this book review posted on The Coast Road Blogsite: www.coastroad.wordpress.com This blog has many beautiful photos of the Coast Road along with interesting articles. I invite my "blaggatori" to take a look. Sempre Avanti.
La Nostra Costa, Santa Cruz North CoastIvano Franco Comelli’s La Nostra Costa (our coast) sticks an Italian flag in the coast north of Santa Cruz. Ivano Comelli is “un figlio della costa (son of the coast), born and raised on a brussel sprouts rancio.”
Ivano’s family lived on the Coast Road from 1937 to 1953 amongst other ranceri and amici della costa. “Italians who lived on or near the Coast Road would often say that they lived su per la costa, up the coast.” The family home was located on The Gulch Ranch, Il Golce.
“Our single-story batten and board-house had only about 1,200 square feet of actual living space and was separated from the Coast Road by a small patch of lawn, which in turn was surrounded by three sides by a hedge of tall juniper plants. These thick, woody plants shielded the house, somewhat, from the dusty wind, but did little to mitigate the constant noise that was generated by passing vehicles. There were far fewer vehicles on the road in those days; however, it still had a significant amount of traffic.”
Southbound cement trucks traveling the Coast Road to Santa Cruz from Davenport’s Portland Cement Plant would “descend into the gulch and climb a steep grade on the other side. Our house was located right at the top of the grade where the trucks completed their climb. Many times a truck going by was so noisy that our single wall house literally shook on its foundation. Mercifully, when the highway was rebuilt in the latter part of the 1950s, this particular portion of the gulch was mostly filled with rock and sand. The present roadway has a slight dip, but no longer does it have that steep descent.”
La Nostra Costa provides old photos and tells stories of daily life along the coast ranches and in old Davenport. Some things change, some things remain the same: access to beaches bordered by privately-owned land, nudism and sex on the beach while being spied upon from above by boys on the bluff, automobile accidents on the Coast Road, good food and Localism.
Many of the Italianos along this stretch of coast came to America, before World War II, from the northeastern region of Friuli. During World War II, being immigrants without U.S. Citizenship, these Italians were not allowed west of the Coast Road. “The entire coast from the Oregon border to just below Santa Barbara was declared off-limits to enemy aliens effective February 24, 1942.”
La Nostra Costa may be found at Bookshop Santa Cruz and via a few other venues. Ivano also maintains a blog.
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Posted in History, Literature Tags: Cabrillo Highway, Davenport, Dimeo Lane, Laguna Curve, Pescadero-Santa Cruz Road, Respini Creek, Santa Cruz County, Serafina's, Yellowbank Curve
Posted by: coastroad October 19, 2009 Rincon Causeway – 1912
http://www.coastroad.wordpress.com/
4 comments:
HELLO IVANO....
THANKS FOR THE NICE BLOG FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER AND ALL THE REST.... WAS REALLY INTERESTING. IT MUST TAKE A LOT OF TIME TO GET THAT STUFF ALL TOGETHER.... YOU DO A GREAT JOB. I ENJOY NORMAS WRITING ALSO... I DO NOT KNOW A LOT OF THOSE PEOPLE, AND SURE WISH JOE (Brovia) WAS HERE TO READ AND ENJOY YOUR WRITINGS.... HE WOULD LOVE IT....
HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ENJOY A NICE HOLIDAY SEASON.
Cathy
So nice to hear from you, Cathy. I'm also glad you follow the 'Blagga". I missed you at the last Coast Road Reunion. Yes, Joe would have enjoyed some of the things on the Blagga. I just got "criticized" on the Blagga, for allegedly describing all people from Davenport as being drunkards (totally false). The Brovias, Joe, Pete, Mary, etc. were stalwarts in my book and certainly weren't drunkards. Anyway Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. AND Sempre Avanti. Ivano
Piacevole infine per connettere a voi. Lascimi richiedergli a Mezzaluna un certo giorno e parliamo di più.
Va bene!
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