Weird & unusual things to do in Santa Cruz
The genuinely offbeat side of Santa Cruz: 39 hand-vetted hidden spots — oddity shops, hidden bars, haunted history, sound baths, weird outdoor finds — built for an unusual date night, a weird afternoon, or showing a visitor a side of the city they'd never find alone. Like Chris Johnson Glass (Studio Zayante), Middleof (The Puppetry Institute), Annieglass Craftbar. Local secrets even locals miss — you didn't hear it from us.
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Chris Johnson Glass (Studio Zayante)
A working hot shop tucked into the tiny, one-block historic village of Davenport, 11 miles up the coast — gla…
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Middleof (The Puppetry Institute)
A local puppet-arts nonprofit took over a dead anchor-store space at Capitola Mall and built a 5,000-square-f…
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Annieglass Craftbar
Inside the bright-orange Annieglass factory building on the edge of Watsonville's ag fields, the famous slump…
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The Perfumer's Apprentice
What began in 2004 as a small perfumery-supply shop in a Santa Cruz loft grew into a professional fragrance-i…
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Air and Fire, A Mystical Bazaar
A redwood-shadowed mystical bazaar that calls itself "the pagan occult shop" of the San Lorenzo Valley — skul…
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Evergreen Cemetery
One of California's oldest public cemeteries (burials from the 1850s), Evergreen fell into ruin after the cat…
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Ulterior
A hidden second-floor speakeasy tucked in Pearl Alley, stacked directly above the Motiv nightclub — the bar b…
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Court of Mysteries (Kitchen Brothers' Yogi Temple)
Brothers Kenneth and Raymond Kitchen hand-laid this brick 'yogi temple' in the 1930s-40s, reportedly working…
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Land of Medicine Buddha
A 108-acre Tibetan Buddhist retreat carved into redwood hillside at the end of a narrow winding road, where f…
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Indexical
A Brooklyn-founded experimental sound-art nonprofit relocated into a converted leather-tannery unit; a recent…
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Sculpture IS: In the Garden (Sierra Azul Nursery)
A retail plant nursery specializing in Mediterranean-climate species turns its two-acre demonstration garden…
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Kiss My Glass
A cluttered, decades-old shopfront on 7th Avenue — the Facebook page puts it at 43 years in business — stacke…
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Fremont Peak Observatory
A 30-inch Challenger reflector telescope — built and hauled up the mountain by volunteers — sits inside a dom…
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Mountain Spirit
A metaphysical rock shop tucked into the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains, in business over two decades —…
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Moon Kissed (formerly Serpent's Kiss)
Owner Susan Diamond stocks this Pacific Avenue storefront with conjure products, ritual tools, and spiritual…
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Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park (Neary-Rodriguez Adobe)
The last surviving building of Mission Santa Cruz — and the only known Native Californian family housing stil…
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Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery
Out at the end of the working wharf, past the sea-lion smell and the fish markets, a nautical-tiki groggery h…
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Sunset Beach Bowls at Moran Lake Beach
No studio walls involved: sound healer Kim Molloy hauls quartz crystal bowls and a harp onto the sand at Mora…
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World of Stones and Mystics
A small, dense Front Street shop stacked with polished, rough, and faceted semi-precious stones plus metaphys…
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Go Ask Alice
An organic herb-and-apothecary storefront on Pacific Ave selling loose herbs, house tinctures, and oddly name…
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Avalon Visions Center for Creative Spirituality
A vintage Soquel building housing psychic and tarot readings, aura photography with chakra analysis, an ion f…
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Rispin Mansion Community Park
Built in 1921 not as a home but as a 22-room real-estate showroom to lure Depression-era investors, Henry Ris…
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Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History
Housed in a historic Carnegie library building across from Seabright Beach, this small city museum's taxiderm…
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Tea House Spa
A Japanese-garden-style courtyard a block off Pacific Ave has rented out private redwood hot-tub-and-sauna ro…
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New Brighton State Beach (site of China Beach village)
Long before it was a campground, this cove was called China Beach — a Chinese fishing village that supplied l…
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Byrne-Milliron Forest — Jeff Helmer's Hidden Trail Sculptures
For 25-plus years, caretaker Jeff Helmer stewarded this 402-acre redwood forest and quietly tucked his own fo…
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Blue Water Ventures Bioluminescence Night Kayaking
A Santa Cruz outfitter paddles you out onto Elkhorn Slough after dark for what they bill as 'a sparkling nigh…
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Botánica San Pedro
A working botánica on Freedom Blvd serving Watsonville's Latino community with saint candles, herbs, and folk…
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Seacliff State Beach — SS Palo Alto wreck
A WWI concrete tanker too late for the war was towed here in 1930 and refitted as a floating ballroom-and-caf…
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Holy City Art Glass
A working glassblowing studio operates inside the crumbling remains of Holy City, a 1919 celibate cult compou…
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The River Run at Brookdale Lodge
This 100-plus-year-old redwood-forest lodge is famous for its shuttered Brook Room, where a real creek runs d…
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Del Mar Theatre
A 1936 art deco triplex on Pacific Avenue — restored in 2002 and now run by Landmark Theatres — still runs we…
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Blue Lagoon
A dive bar on Pacific Avenue that flips from daytime happy-hour spot ($4 well drinks, pints of Anchor Steam)…
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The Mystery Spot
A 1940s-vintage "gravity hill" on a steep redwood hillside where balls roll uphill, people stand at impossibl…
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Enriquita Mine
Established in the 1850s, the Enriquita Mine was a productive cinnabar mine that supplied mercury to the Cali…
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Senator Mine
Opened in 1863, the Senator Mine (historically spelled Senador) was a highly productive cinnabar mine that su…
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Pier 90 Grain Silos
Built in 1918, this massive 190-foot-tall concrete grain terminal on San Francisco's southern waterfront once…
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Pogonip Historic Lime Kiln
Dating back to the late 19th century, these massive stone kilns were built by industrialist Henry Cowell's wo…
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Old Lime Kiln Ruins
Tucked away in the redwood forest of the Fall Creek Unit of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, these moss-cove…
Unusual things to do in Santa Cruz — FAQ
What are some unusual things to do in Santa Cruz?
39 hand-vetted weird spots — like Chris Johnson Glass (Studio Zayante), Middleof (The Puppetry Institute), Annieglass Craftbar — plus oddity shops, hidden bars, haunted history, sound baths, and offbeat outdoor finds. Every one is real and sourced, not a top-ten landmark.
Where can you go for a weird date night in Santa Cruz?
Try Chris Johnson Glass (Studio Zayante), Middleof (The Puppetry Institute), Annieglass Craftbar — strange-but-real spots that make a memorable date. Filter by neighborhood, vibe, or how far you'll drive: in town, nearby, or a day trip.
What's a weird thing to do in Santa Cruz tonight or this weekend?
For tonight, filter to "in town" and low-key picks; for the weekend, the day-trip ring opens up genuinely strange spots a short drive out. Start with Chris Johnson Glass (Studio Zayante), Middleof (The Puppetry Institute), Annieglass Craftbar — and sort by how far you're willing to go.
Are there free or cheap weird things to do in Santa Cruz?
Yes — 12 Santa Cruz spots are free or low-cost, like Court of Mysteries (Kitchen Brothers' Yogi Temple), Land of Medicine Buddha, Fremont Peak Observatory. Roadside oddities, public art, and outdoor curiosities usually cost nothing.
How is this different from the usual Santa Cruz tourist lists?
We skip the landmarks everyone knows. An agentic research system digs up the genuinely hidden, offbeat spots — the local secrets even locals miss — and verifies each against real sources before it makes the list.