
Note to self:
Avoid lip gloss, high winds and long hair. Not a good combination.

There were sea lions down there
And while I'm not a huge fan of Run DMC, my initials are DMC, hence the shirt. I'm awesome like that.

Tori's looking for her youth
I'm mocking it from the sidelines.

What the hell kind of posture is that?
I'll blame it on the bag and no sleep.

Tori needs her cigarette breaks
Or she gets cranky.

Sarah taking a picture of me taking a picture of probably the Boardwalk
It's like those endless mirrors, but without the psychotic clowns

Note to self:
Stop doing that pose. It looks like I have absolutely no grace.

Where there once was a sign . . .
Is now a tree.

I need the step stool to see over the fence
Taken at Lighthouse Point

How many Lost Boys fans does it take to park a car?
Aren't we supposed to be on the other side of that?

My stomach is still crying
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Sarah is happy
I wish we could have hung from the sign or something.

Me on the live train tracks
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Sarah's all sorts of tough on the trestle
That's, like, 10 feet, at most, over the icky San Lorenzo.

The awkward suburn of pain
Literally, this was the only part of my leg that was burned.

I'm convinced I'm a half-vampire
There's no other explanation for that level of purple in that burn.

Walking in the redwoods
I got me some balance, too.

More redwoods walking.
I feel short.

That lean is just not natural
And it made me want to throw up a little. Taken at the Mystery Spot in the Santa Cruz redwoods.

No strings attached
Although the support would have been nice.

Spiderman, Spiderman
I don't know the rest of the song.

The uphill battle to Grandpa's house
Will gelatinous Chinese food in hand.

Official Friends of Lost Boys
Courtesy of Joe Ferrara.

Tori hangs ten
With a piece of Grandpa's house.

Sarah poses in front of Grandpa's porchless house
And right next to the pool.

Sarah points to Grandpa's house behind her
Still porchless.

Tori has a thing for chain link fences
Don't tell her I told you.

Vangie from behind
I'm sure she'd so appreciate this picture!

I look a little too enthusiastic here
Like I belong in a deodorant commercial or something.

Sarah goes contemplative on the carousel
Because we didn't ride it enough times?

Sarah goes Star-With-A-Spine on the coursel
She gives the girl some edge.

Sarah reclaims Star's spot on the stairs
We wish we were there.

Sailboat and the Boardwalk
Now this it something you'd like to wake up to in the morning. I know I would.

Lighthouse from afar
It was really bright, hence the haziness.

Casino at the Boardwalk
I love it.

The Giant Dipper
From the municipal wharf.

The Sign Curve
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, this is where the 'Welcome to Santa Carla' sign was placed.

The Municipal Wharf and the Boardwalk
From West Cliff Drive

West Cliff Drive
Purdy.

Miss Sarah aka Cat Lady
Playing in the Pacific on West Cliff Drive

The Lighthouse/Surf Museum
From the same beach on West Cliff

Waves
We don't get these in Connecticut

Archway rock formations
Don't have these in Connecticut either.

Archway rock formation
Same as the last, just from further down West Cliff Drive.

Beach Street (Avenue?)
Runs right along the back of the Boardwalk.

The Municipal Wharf
It's as stable as it looks. And yes, you can drive on it. Parking is $1 an hour.

More Wharf
This one on some zoom.

Main entrance to the Boardwalk
No, no fancy neon sign.

Me at the main entrance
There were motorcycles there . . .

Me at the "meeting spot"
Those weren't the bikes I had in mind . . .

Boardwalk Ticket Booth
I should have taken pictures of the prices. They're nuts!

"The" Carousel
Behind glass . . . yes, it was behind glass then, too. Go watch . . .

Carousel Sign
Makes you all nostalgic, right?

More carousel
Sarah was good. She even knew which horses were which. I thought I paid attention.

Original boards from the original Boardwalk
Yes, it used to be made out of wood. Damn old, too.

Pretty carousel tiles
When you're obsessed, you take pictures of everything.

Cool Boardwalk shot
There's a better one . . .

The original Haunted Castle
Chock full o' cheese.

Giant Dipper Sign
Actually, the 100 year anniversary was last year.

Giant Dipper Information
For all your obsession needs.

Cavewoman in the Skyglider
She had the day off when the Boardwalk was actually open. I think her and the Caveman got a divorce. He was nowhere to be found.

Giant Dipper Dip o' Doom
Remind me not to wear the bra of death next time.

Everyone needs a hot dog on a stick
I think my arteries died a little that day. Sarah has the picture of the fried Twinkie we attempted to eat.

Giant Dipper Main Dip
Seriously, bra straps embedded in my back. The *straps*. Those flimsy pieces of fabric.

Giant Dipper Swinging Dip
I think this was where my hip slammed into the side of the car while the hook and eyes of my bra shoved themselves into my spine.

Giant Dipper Swinging Dip from the back
Despite the pain, we rode it twice and then purchased keychains with my screaming face and Sarah's diabolical eyes on it.

Roaring Camp Railroad Tracks
Runs from the redwoods in Felton down to these tracks behind the Boardwalk.

Train trestle next to the Boardwalk
This is the direction the boys drive off after first seeing Michael. Obviously it was just for show.

I can balance
Being a former gymnast helps. But it doesn't help the burn.

Main Boardwalk parking lot
A little bit in the distance is where Big Ed gets eaten.

Freak out
This is me spazzing out because when I got far enough out I realized you can see right down to the river through the planks. I'm acrophobic. That was fun.

Giant Dipper tracks
Have to get creative with my point and shoot.

More Giant Dipper creativity
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Smaller Giant Dipper dips
And I *heart* palm trees.

Entrance to the Giant Dipper
And more slight wash out brightness. Hence the purple burn.

So I rode an 88 year old roller coaster?
Really? I *heart* building codes.

100th Anniversary Compass
Not the best shot but I wanted the whole thing in the frame.

Opening to the Casino at the Boardwalk
Motorcycle juju.

Strike a pose
Wow that sucks.

Where the deuce did I learn how to pose?
I do know how to dance . . .

Pardon my vanity . . .
I hate my non-waist.

While it's a nice picture . . .
There is a purpose. That's where Michael tries to go all "Ima kick ur butt" on the boys. *snerk* Dork.

The exit for Lost in the Shadows
This would be the set of stairs the motorcycles take onto the beach.

Neptune's Kingdom Boardwalk entrance
You can see this marque in the boys' background a few times. And that's Sarah taking a picture of Laffing Sal (freaky ass clown thing).

The Lost in the Shadows stairs
The stairs from the beach. Do they look a little off? They should. The beach is eating them. Take a look at the railings. You can't even see the ends of them (you could last year). There are at least 4 stairs buried.

Me on the stairs
Seriously, why is the beach digesting the stairs? They're down at least a whole on in the last year.

Pre-Boardwalk Boardwalk info
At least I find it interesting.

Me on the stairs
Again

Skyglider and Co.
From the beach, it looks like. Hey, I had a lot of sun that week.

Inside Neptune's Kingdom
It's a pirate-themed mini-golf course.

Casino at the Boardwalk
Main entrance

Neptune's Kingdom
Main entrance

All the sailboats were out
From the Boardwalk beach. The day before the down carved out a mini river in the middle of the bridge for the San Lorenzo overflow. That dark line was filled with water.

The wharf from the Boardwalk beach
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Archway entrance to the Casino at the Boardwalk
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Anthoner Casino entrance shot
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Gotta ride the pirate ship
Hear that Jamison?

Yes, that is an iPod
Yes, Sarah and I were walking around the Boardwalk at dusk with ear buds stretched between us listening to the Lost Boys soundtrack. Yes, we are dorks.

Funky benches
They're all painted something nifty like this.

Seahorses on top of the carousel building
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Skulls on the original haunted house
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Skull clock on the original haunted house
I want one of these.

Giant Dipper sign in the sunset light
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A mishmash . . .
Of the Dipper tracks and waiting house thing

Far end of the Boardwalk beach
And remnants of the San Lorenzo overflow

This is the better one
This is probably my favorite picture. Mood setting, isn't it?

Flapping flags in the breeze
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Imbedded in the Boardwalk
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Giant Dipper from the outside
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Facing towards the main part of the Boardwalk
The main parking lot is behind me

From just outside the main parking lot
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Just a neat mural across the street from the Boardwalk
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The book mentions sealions . . .
Here they are!

They *heart* high tide.
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Dogs of the Sea
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A lone sailboat
I can't remember if this is from the wharf or the Boardwalk. One of the two.

From the wharf
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More clustering sealions
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Even more clustering sealions
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Top of the carousel
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A mural underneath the Giant Dipper
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Part of the same mural
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Skyglider in the setting sun
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Laffing Sal
Creepy ass thing . . .

The original welcome sign
This is the mural that inspired the Welcome to Santa Carla sign in the opening credits of the movie.

And another one
In case you're into twins.

The lighthosue/Surf Museum
Another landmark that can be seen in the opening credits.

I *heart* murals
Even if they are on electricity meters. This one is on Pacific Avenue at the "start" of downtown Santa Cruz.

Just a cinema
Nothing special, really. I just wanted a picture of the Santa Cruz sign.

The clock tower
This is the focal point of downtown Santa Cruz.

You know what this is . . .
And you're freaking out now, aren't you?

Vampires Everywhere!
If you can believe it, this is all there is to the comic aside from the cover. All they did was paste these hand drawn pages into an already exist comic and go on their merry filming way.

And the cover
Joe likes it handled as little as possible because of it's rarity. It stays in the sleeve up on the way that you need a ladder to reach. I don't blame him.

Friends of Atlantis Fantasy World and The Lost Boys
From left to right, Joe Ferrara, myself, Sarah, Tori, Vangie and dear god I'm horrible with names but she works at the comic shop. You might remember Joe from The Lost Boys. He was the guy playing the pinball machine in the background when Sam visits the comic shop during the day. It was his shop. This one isn't in the original location. The original building was ruined in the 1989 earthquake and now is nothing more than a vacant, overgrown lot on the parallel Pacific Avenue.

Atlantis Fantasy World storefront
Located on Cedar Street in Santa Cruz

Pogonip Clubhouse
AKA Grandpa's house. This is one of the sides.

The front yard
With the dying palm tree

No diving
Wondering WTF? Grandpa's garage was built over a filled in swimming pool that used to be used at the clubhouse. I have no idea which was way the deep end from here.

The garage
Or where it would have been. Or the filled in swimming pool. And that would be our stuff and our Chinese food picnic. Yes. We're that dorky. And my just-off General Tso's was just this side of gelatinous.

The back of the house
Not as exciting nor recognizable but equally as creepy.

More of the back
And Tori and Sarah in the distance

A cool-looking boarded up window in back
I wish the owners would decide what to do with the thing already. It's falling apart. Literally.

OMFG what I would give for a view like this from my front yard
If you look just in the middle of the horizon, you can actually see the crest of the Giant Dipper.

A tip of the hat to Pogonip's founder
Without her, we'd be left wanting.

I'm sure that fence is in the movie
At least I think I remember seeing it.

Another view shot
You think if I bid enough I could obtain the property?

The "back" field
The way the house is set on the property, the front looks out into this field which you get glimpses of in the movie. But, the back of the house in the movie looks out into an equally large field. Really, the house doesn't have much of a back yard as you might be able to tell from the other pictures. The trail wraps around there and maybe 30 feet back are woods. Deceptive, Hollywood is!

More front yard
Kind of hard without the stuff from Grandpa's house as points of reference.

So I tried to climb the fence
What's it to you?

The driveway
This is the driveway that leads up to Grandpa's house. You can only drive your car up to the bottom of it and walk the rest of the way--a rather sizeable yet gradual grade up. Thanks, Tori! I would have preferred the two and a half mile hike each way across the preserve.

The timer on my camera gets its first use
As do my sprinting skills.

Our best Lost Boys poses
Hey, I had all of a nanosecond to pose after mad dashing from the camera to the group.

Does it look different?
It should. It's missing a rather large portion of it's front. Don't believe me? Look at my pictures from the 07 trip. No porch. I had a 'where the hell am I?' moment walking up to it. I thought we were walking up to the back because the porch missing was a little disorienting. Didn't take too long to realize what was wrong with the picture. Then we went back and forth wondering of the porch was behind the covering or if it was removed completely. Unfortunately, it's gone.

The posters are quivering
And they should be.

They're about to mee thier maker
Toasty.

Fire!
We destroyed the sequel evidence in batches.

Burn baby, burn!
This should be the quintessential picture for anti Tribe TLB fans.

And then it was consumed
What a sweet sight it was.

Sarah on the coursel
Yes, THAT carousel. We rode it at least three times.

A sign in the Giant Dipper waiting area
How cool is that?

The entrance into Neverland
Never find your stomach again Land.

Look familiar?
The boys walked against this very wall in the carousel scene. But it's been painted since last year. Take a look at the 07 pictures and those will still be that rather repugnant orange color.

Me on the carousel guard rail
If you sit on the outside set of horses, you get to grab rings from this thing hanging down and then you hurl them into a clown's mouth to try and make it light up. Makes your hands nice and black. And I had to wear the light shirt, right?

The carousel from the inside
Sarah's got the horses down pat but it's a little harder for me to recognize them. They're rotated around when they're refurbished and restored.

More horsies
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Up close and personal
I needed a face shot of a horse. I don't know why. Because he was smiling?

I just had to pose
Have I said I'm a dork? This is actually the same day as the previous carousel pictures. We just made a pit stop at the hotel after dinner to change and came back. It pays to be two blocks away.

More of "the wall"
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Can't you see Greg and Shelly sitting in that?
I know I can.

I love these mirrors
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The top of the carousel
There were olde timey pictures up there that I obviously didn't really get.

Posing in Star's spot
These were the stairs Star stood on and danced when she first spotted Michael.

The boardwalk at night
I so heart this picture. It's not as lit up as it can be but it's enough. I had to put my camera down on the pier ledge to get a steady enough shot.

The Casino at night
There are a lot more lights on it in the summer but now it's just the ones underneath, obviously.

More Boardwalk at night
I tried this shot a few times.

I told you.
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I wasn't lying.
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Nighttime sealions
I would need a professional camera to get this shot but I tried. They all clustered around these floating docks next to the wharf and barked. So cute!

More night sealions
And a slightly worse picture

Under the Casino
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Another Casino under shot
I love the touristy shops to the left. Yes. I bought.

One of many benches
They're all painted up all nicely.

Neptune's Kingdom entrance
This is the point where the Boys turn and head down onto the beach on their bikes.

Me on the spot
My camera really prefers using the night setting. Unfortunately that usually requires a tripod.

Me again because the colors were coming out weird
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And again and we both gave up trying
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The Pirate Ship at night
When they were filming, Jamison wouldn't ride this ride. It's a giant swing! He felt he was going against his character a little bit doing that.

The concert stage
Not the original. That one (yes you really could walk under the original) was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake. This is it's replacement. No, this is not where the movie was shown last year. A giant, inflatable screen was erected in the middle of the beach for that.

And again
I was tinkering with the night setting.

And again
The night setting definitely works better, less grainy, if I could keep the camera still while taking the picture.

And again
I'll just say I was going for grabbing every color in the scrolling marque.

Entrance to the Casino Stroll
I have no idea if that's what that portion of the Boardwalk is called. Sounds cool though, right? Right?

Relatively the same shot
It's lighter but blurrier

Ah, this one's the keeper!
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Neptune's Kingdom
This building and the Casino Arcade used to be a public bath house. Really what we would call a public swimming pool. It was filled in with sand and this was placed on top of it. I love the pirate theme.

More pirates
That actually opened up and had a bunch of mechanical seagulls in it. I love it.

This could either me a look out or a light house
Or quite possibly a crow's nest. Or all three bunched together. I'm not sure.

This starts the historical pictures
This looks like the old train that runs along the now Roaring Camp railroad line, from the Boardwalk to the redwoods in Felton.

An old hotel
Used to be right on the beach. I think it caught fire. A lot of Victorian buildings caught fire.

The old Casino
I think I prefer it like this, actually.

Looks like a bumper sticker advertisement thing
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A better shot
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Another shot of the grand Casino
This, not the Boardwalk, was the central focus for the tourists.

And then it burned
I'm sensing a theme.

The newer one all lit up
Still looks a little different than what's there today but closer than the last.

A slightly better shot
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Olde timey shot of the carousel
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A slightly more seeable shot
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The Giant Dipper before it was the Giant Dipper
It was called something else but the name escapes me at the moment.

The Giant Dipper we know and love
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A old shot of the Boardwalk
Looks a little differently, doesn't it?

An even better picture of the olde timey carousel shot
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A really old picture of the original Casino
Or bathing pavilion, as it was called. It was huge and grossly Victorian. I love it. This actually looks more like a drawing than a photo.

East Cliff Drive
It looks like people watching fireworks over Santa Cruz from a perch on East Cliff Drive. That's really the only place in Santa Cruz to get a view like that.

Building the Boardwalk
Doesn't look all that different, really. That sign is still there, obviously.

How I wish I was there for that.
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People Are Strange
Sarah and I were walking back to the hotel after gallivanting at the Boardwalk when we came across this guy just beyond the Casino. He was sitting there with his guitar, singing about having a rabbit on his head. Yes, he really did have a rabbit on his head and one on the table. Yes, they were real. I pet them. This was definitely a cool guy and this is quintessential Santa Cruz. He got a large handful of change from me (way too much in the purse). He definitely deserved it.