Changing the landscape

A pre-fabricated building is scheduled to be built at 140 Front Street. It will be home to the Santa Cruz Warriors’ home games during the NBA D-League season. (Provided illustration)

SANTA CRUZ — There are several windows inside the Firefly Coffee House on Front Street and they bring in a good amount of light to the quaint establishment. The colorful building is calm on this Thursday afternoon, with the loudest sound being cars zooming by, presumably heading toward the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk or the downtown district.

Joe Slowik fires up a latte with soymilk and looks out the window. Through the paint that is supposed to attract patrons, he sees a parking lot.

There are only a few cars in that lot, which is reserved for a certain group of people. The sky is a mix of white and blue, the clouds making way to the sun.

Slowik, one of the co-owners, has helped run the coffee shop from this location for the past 5 1/2 years. If things go well, the coffee shop could see a lot more traffic than before.

That desolate parking lot across the street from the coffee house is likely to be the home of the Santa Cruz Warriors, the minor league franchise of the Golden State Warriors, who plan to start playing here this fall.

Imagine 3,500 visitors having watched a Santa Cruz Warriors game leave the venue looking for something to do or somewhere to go.

Someone’s bound to benefit from the Warriors coming here.



For the complete article see the 07-14-2012 issue.

Click here to purchase an electronic version of the 07-14-2012 paper.

Share on Facebook