The House of Good Spirits

96 Riverside Avenue, Santa Cruz, California

1865-1906
The Lot

• Annie Ward
• The Campbells
• Shafter and Wright

1906-1931
The Nethertons

• Santa Cruz in 1911
• Interview with Haswell Leask
• Samuel Leask, Santa Cruz, and the people he knew.
• The High School site controversy 1911
• SC Carnegie Library

1931-1976
The Duplex

1976-1984
The Eudemons

1984-1993
The Boutelles

1993-1995
The Friends

1995-present
The Rosewoods

The Neighborhood

This is the story of a house and the people who lived in it. If you saw the house from the street, you might think it a nice house, but not too extraordinary for Santa Cruz. Yet within its walls have lived extraordinary people, with creative and attainable dreams for happy homelife and financial independence. This is a history of Santa Cruz, as lived from one location. Like many stories, the details are unique while the themes are universal.

I decided to publish what materials I have, although I have much research ahead of me. I'd like to finish by the house's 100th birthday. The Lot, The Nethertons, The Friends, and The Neighborhood are the most complete, and The Nethertons most of all.

If you have every lived or visited the house and have a story to share, or pictures to loan, please contact me. I'm also, of course, interesting in hearing from other local historians who have information about any of the people in the history.

A note about the address: 96 Riverside currently has a different house number, but it was built as number ninety-six, so I decided to use this as the address. Most people who have lived at the house since the 1970s call the house by its current number, "707."

Linda Rosewood