The Veterans of Foreign Wars is a membership-based fraternal organization for combat veterans. A full bar is open evenings to members. Wednesday night features Thai dinners and dart games. A hall for up to 200 people can be rented out to the public. An outdoor patio, featuring a barbecue area, is a short walk to a newly installed horseshoe pit.
Santa Cruz Toddller Care Center has been established locally since 1976. It is a non-profit child care center. The school offers full or part time care and hot vegetarian meals for children between the ages of one and three years.
The Santa Cruz Portuguese Hall, located in the Harvey West Park area for more than 50 years, is used not only by the local Portuguese community, but is also available for rent for such events as bingo, wedding receptions, and fund-raisers. The hall is clean and well-maintained with a cheerful, creamy yellow exterior and yellow and green awning. The building has different levels and rooms, including an outdoor deck, and there's ample parking available.
Neighborhood Child Care Center is located close to UC-Santa Cruz on the city's west side. A large play area outside includes a play structure with bars to swing on, a garden and a tree with low branches that the children can climb.
Prospective parents are urged to make appointments with the center rather than dropping by. The center says it has a long waiting list, so plan ahead.
The Familia Center, founded in 1983 as a low-cost clinic accessible to the Beach Flats neighborhood, has grown to become a one-stop Latino-based resource center in Santa Cruz. The center provides a host of resources to the Spanish speaking community, offering everything from homework clubs for students in 5th through 10th grades to helping low-income families begin the process of applying for food stamps. In addition, the Familia Center works closely with other community organizations to help people with a variety of issues, including employment, housing, immigration and domestic violence.
The Museum of Art & History is a museum in Santa Cruz. It offers cultural exhibits in art and history relating to the local area. In addition to permanent exhibits such as the Mary and Harry Blanchard Sculpture Garden, the museum offers rotating art exhibitions.
Spring Hill is an independent school for children in Kindergarten through eighth grade. The school, which requires an entrance exam, works with bright, motivated students who are excited about learning. Starting in Kindergarten, students learn Spanish. Latin and French are introduced to students in later grades. The academically rigorous education believes students work at different paces and works to allow the natural creativity and spirit of the student grow at its own pace.
While the school has leased its property from the United Methodist Church on California St., the school is entirely independent with no religious affiliation.
For more than 25 years, the St. Francis Soup Kitchen has served meals to the homeless and hungry of Santa Cruz. The kitchen is located off River Street near the Old Sash Mill and feeds 190 people on a daily basis. The premises also offer showers, which are open two hours a day. An outdoor patio offers a bike parking area. A row of benches lines one wall of the patio.
Established in 1986, Dominican Oaks offers extravagant retirement apartments in Santa Cruz. Benefits of the facility include a wellness program, transportation, spacious one- and two-bedroom apartments, social and cultural activities, as well as housekeeping and laundry services. Additionally, Dominican Oaks offers chef-prepared fine dining along with on-site banking, a beauty salon and European massage therapy.