CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SANTA CRUZ : Historical Status Gets an Aftershock

More than two years after an earthquake devastated downtown Santa Cruz, a state commission dealt an aftershock to the district’s historical status. The State Historical Resources Commission on Friday recommended that Santa Cruz’s landmark Pacific Garden Mall lose its place on the prestigious National Registry of Historic Places. Commission members said they had little choice because the district is too decimated to qualify for the list. Nineteen of 36 buildings that qualified a six-block downtown area for the register in 1987 either collapsed or were demolished after the October, 1989, quake. The buildings had been cited as excellent examples of 1890-1929 architecture. A final decision will be made by the National Park Service. But the agency, which administers the register, usually approves recommendations from state governments. Santa Cruz would be the first historic district in California to be removed from the register since it was created in 1966.