Surf Travel 4

The city of Santa Cruz, originally named San Lorenzo, was discovered in 1769 by the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà. The city continued to expand and eventually became known as Santa Cruz, meaning "Holy Cross", in honour of the local mission. By the 1820s Mexico had assumed control of the area and Americans began to arrive in great numbers over the next thirty years. California became a state in 1850, and Santa Cruz County was created as one of the twenty-seven original counties.