By Mike Marino "People are strange, when you're a stranger..." This classic line from the Doors gives an opening scene punch to "The Lost Boys," a flick with tons of seaside scenes, and voracious vampires that Cory Feldman's character refers to as "the blood sucking Brady Bunch!"
"The Lost Boys" is a cave load of campy vamps who crank up the amps in a cinematic living dead gem filmed largely in the beach blanket bingo seaside town of Santa Cruz, California. Golden beaches, overflowing bikini's, and a lively boardwalk give Santa Cruz chutzpah, and street people who live for kicks, sand and surf! But, Santa Cruz is more than a celluloid Tinseltown of night stalking blood suckers! It's an action filled adrenalin rush, and is one of the reasons I enjoy the left of center offbeat flavor of Santa Cruz. It's gravitational pull is hard to resist, and when I wanted to rev up my escape pod and blast off into orbit from Haight Ashbury, it was the planet Santa Cruz I would head to. Santa Cruzin' is visual, a colorful cacophony of people best described as a technicolor masterpiece of humanity. Tattoo's, surfboards, motorcycles, bikers, panhandlers, and wild-eyed runaways (of which I was one at the age of 15 living on the streets.)
The Boardwalk has a giant carousel; the Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster, and the Double Shot, where riders launch skywards taking in a breathtaking view of the California coast while experiencing negative G force weightlessness for the ultimate thrill ride.
In "The Lost Boys," head vampire Max's video store was on the wharf just minutes from the boardwalk, and is near the restaurant where Max treats Lucy to dinner. The bandstand is no longer there having falling victim to the 1989 earthquake.The Frog Brothers, Edgar and Allen's, comic book store was located at 707 Lower Pacific Avenue, but, had a fake front to make it look "beachy." Max's house is located in Santa Cruz, and grandpa's rustic lodge is on a hill overlooking Santa Cruz, and was built in 1921. Only the exterior of it was shot, interior shots were done elsewhere.
Getting nautical in Santa Cruz is easy at Neptune's Kingdom, an entertainment center with the Buccaneer Bay two-story 18-hole miniature golf course, and the complex is loaded with plenty of pinball and video games, pool tables, air hockey, foosball, ping pong, and food including snacks and beer. The scene where Michael and David challenge each other to a motorcycle race was filmed behind Neptune's Nest miniature golf course, and for sheer terror, the Haunted Castle has 10,000 square feet of "Lost Boys" ambiance. When is the last time you waxed your woody? You can bring your own board, or, if you're not hang ten proficient, attend a surfing school before you ride a curl. Beach bitchin' boys and girls can visit the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, the Smithsonian for the catch-a-wave crowd, that documents 100 years of surfing history. Surfboards on display include redwood "planks" to modern high tech designs, along with a complete gift shop. Notice in the film, vampires do not surf! They may not hang ten catching waves, but they do hang upside down in dark, damp caves. (The cave that was in the film is located in Palos Verdes, former site of Marineland.
Rent a kayak or bike, whale watch, hike or surf. For sedate moments of contemplation visit Santa Cruz Yoga, where they have classes for beginners to advanced. West Coastie wines are famous, and believe it or not, Santa Cruz is not without it's "wine" snob appeal. They can sniff and spit with the best of them. You can vino hike on the Summit to Sea Wine Trail past unique wineries with cliff side views of the Pacific panorama as you wine wend your way down to sea level.
If the redwoods remind you of giant doobies, you'll find plenty of fantasy along the Redwood Canopy Trail that is an eco-adventure in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Put your I-Pod in second gear, crank up the Dead's "Casey Jones" and train hop aboard the Big Tees and Pacific Railway and you'll two rail it into a scenic gorge, through gorgeous forests and ultimately at the end of the line at the Boardwalk.
If you think "people are strange" then visit the Mystery Spot, originally opened in 1940, one of those gyro's gone crazy places located in the Redwoods. The laws of physics and gravity do not apply, law breakers. It's a vortex gone made!! Speculation has it that there is a UFO buried there after it's visits eons ago. You can park it or pitch it at Santa Cruz Redwoods Resort for RV and rustic campers among the redwoods, on the banks of the San Lorenzo River with ample hiking, quiet and a waterfall or two, horseback riding, mountain biking and rock climbing, and of course, the ocean where you can be a real son of a beach! But if you look up to the sky at night, and see Kiefer Sutherland dive bomb flying at you with teeth bared, run like hell! Remember, vampires can live forever, but as David told Michael, "but first we must feed!"