Guest Columnist

The next workshop will take place at the Rio Sands Hotel Conference Room at 116 Aptos Beach Drive in Aptos (Rio Del Mar). It will be held March 24 from 1-2 p.m. (English) and 2:30-3:30 p.m. (Spanish).

“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth,” was famously said by boxing legend, Mike Tyson. On March 16 our two businesses, Oceanside Supported Living and Safe at Home Senior Care, received a Mike Tyson size punch square in the mouth...

Across Santa Cruz County, inventory and sales volume is down from a year ago.

A couple of months ago we wrote about some of the major changes taking place with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act last December. However, this month we wanted to focus on two aspects in particular and how you may be able to utilize some of the changes for your benefit.

A community is defined by the people who take a leadership role. In the 20th century, Paul Johnston was constantly involved in the development of Aptos Village for more than 100 years.

Spring is in the air and inventory is picking up. Since Jan. 1, 203 homes have come on the market across the county and 41 homes have been listed in Aptos. The highest new listing is 383 Beach Drive at $5,200,000. The lowest new listing is 1260 Trout Gulch Road at $599,000. The market snapshot as of March 9 shows 39 Active Listings in Aptos (34 SFR, 3 TH, 2 Condo).

The industrialization of Aptos as a lumber town and competition from new hotels in Santa Cruz, Capitola and Monterey, caused Spreckels to close his Aptos Hotel. In 1896, Spreckels tore down the Aptos Hotel and used the materials to build the factory and town of Spreckels near Salinas. He moved several whole buildings from Aptos to Spreckels.

The holiday season is upon us! 2017 has flown by and we are only weeks away from Thanksgiving. Friday, Nov. 24 means a mad dash to be the first in line at your favorite store for Black Friday shopping, or maybe you shop from the convenience of your living room on Cyber Monday. Either way, the holiday season can turn into a stressful time of juggling family obligations, parties, and last minute to do’s before you ring in the New Year. However, the holiday season can also be an opportune time to teach your kids lessons about giving and basic financial literacy. Below are a couple of ideas to consider.

Raising children can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life. It is also very costly.

There are a lot of colorful names to describe suppliers of illegal booze: Rum runners (self-explanatory), moonshiners, bootleggers. What is a bootlegger? In the late 1800s, it was illegal to give Native American Indians whiskey, so traders would conceal flasks of liquor in their boot tops. Previously, we learned how prohibition helped to fund organized crime, and how otherwise law-abiding people developed a thirst for "medicinal" Scotch whiskey. But, Scotch alone does not make a well stocked bar, and not all alcohol was smuggled into the county. Gin was actually the most common liquor consumed during prohibition and much of it was produced locally.