Aptos

Aptos is the only place in Santa Cruz County that retains its original name. Thousands of years old, Aptos is Ohlone for "the people." That is exactly what makes this place so special: the people. There is a tranquility to life in Aptos. This small, sleepy town, formerly home to saloons and a notorious site for bootleggers, changed forever in 1931 when Seacliff became one of the first California State Beaches. Now Seacliff is synonymous with "cement ship," a WWI invention that has lived at the wharf for a hundred years. But the concrete is as misleading as the morning fog—this is place of genuine community and warmth.