Support Santa Cruz’s quirky businesses!
I suppose it’s inevitable that as real estate prices rise, a town becomes less funky and quirky. I saw it happen in Palo Alto in the 80s and 90s. When I arrived, the town boasted a diner with ancient (working) telephones on the tables and a dim sum place where the only thing on the extensive menu that you could actually buy were the potstickers.
Things have changed.
I happened in to Closet Capers (next to the Rio Theater) the other day, having heard that it was closing and they were selling off their merchandise.
I ended up chatting with the owner of the 37-year-old Santa Cruz landmark, Rebecka Hawkins.
“I’m only crying once a day at this point,” she said in describing her feelings about closing what she describes as her “obsession.”
Hawkins has outfitted many of us locals as we attended theme parties, needed an extra prop for a production, or had a last-minute freakout about Halloween. She says one school group has been coming to her for many years to supply costumes for an annual outing and production in Yosemite.
Hawkins says that the store survived so many years through the loving support of her husband and the understanding of her longtime landlord.
But it was her landlord who suggested, gently, that it was time to retire.
The tiny shop with its cavernous ceiling and winding aisles is crammed full of goodies. I went in to do some quirky holiday shopping, and was tantalized by jester hats, beaded dresses, and medieval capes.
Please support Rebecka’s retirement by purchasing one of her lovingly collected items. As I discussed last week on KSQD with the founders of Sellhound.com, a reused item is the greenest of gifts!
If you are an experienced eBay seller and would like to help her sell some of the pricier items, please contact her at 831-251-8700.
Happy Holidays, everyone. Let’s try our best to keep what’s quirky and wonderful alive in Santa Cruz.
Oh no! Thanks for letting us know, Suki!
Thank you Suki! That is a great article, just a note….the “Closet Capers” part of my being in that location for 37 years, has been 33 years, having been flooded out of my previous store, “Rebecka’s Clothes and Collectables” in Soquel in 1982. So I have survived floods, and earthquakes both, and will survive this, having no idea what comes next! Yes I am calling it “retirement”, but am hoping to do SOMETHING with clothing, and or poetry, which has been my passion, since I was 15! I hope to do some of both!!
If there were a storefront with reasonable rent I would be happy to move there! I DO have to be out of this location, on Feb.1st! I was given 6 months notice, which was very reasonable, but now its down to the wire! Thank you again for the “voice”!
Thanks for the corrections, Rebecka! And good luck with what you do next. I love to hear that you are not retiring, just moving on to a new adventure!
Still have fond memories of our Choir kids from Aptos High coming in to get ensembles for the annual Christmas Feast [Old English, Renasissance, knights in armor, etc.] Circa 1995-98.