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Tom Ralston (center), president of Tom Ralston Concrete share a celebratory moment with Watsonville artist Kathleen Crocetti (right) and her husband and engineer, Bill Lucas, Sunday during the installation of a large mosaic dragon on the San Lorenzo footbridge on Front Street in Santa Cruz. — Tarmo Hannula/The PajaronianAs a crane hoisted four sections of a large mosaic-covered water dragon into place Sunday atop a colorful concrete gateway at an entryway to San Lorenzo Park, new life was pumped into a forgotten chapter of Santa Cruz history.
Renamed the Chinatown Bridge by the Santa Cruz City Council in 2019, the dragon archway, stationed at the Front Street entrance to the popular pedestrian and bike bridge that crosses the San Lorenzo River, was created to recognize and honor the final Chinatown in Santa Cruz that once thrived in what is now San Lorenzo Park.
“I think it looks fabulous,” said George Ow Jr., a major supporter of the project who said he lived in Chinatown as a young boy with his family. “I can hardly take my eyes off it. So many thanks to artist Kathleen Crocetti and concrete artist Tom Ralston. He wrote the book on artistic concrete work. This is truly a great way to show off their talents.”
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Santa Cruz bronze artist Sean Monaghan and concrete virtuoso Tom Ralston install solar-powered bronze lanterns that Monaghan hand-crafted in his Santa Cruz foundry on the “Chinese Arch” at the entrance to the pedestrian bridge over the San Lorenzo River connecting San Lorenzo Park and River Street. A community-driven effort to commemorate the city’s historic Chinese neighborhoods, and actualized by Ralston, Monaghan and mosaic artist Kathleen Croscetti. The arch will honor the city’s Chinatown neighborhood which stood until the middle of the last century on the site where DNA’s Comedy Lab and the Galleria now stand. The project is in part a vision realized with the help of local businessman and philanthropist George Ow Jr., who lived his earliest years, from 1943 to 1948, in the last of Santa Cruz’s four former Chinatown neighborhoods before it was destroyed by flooding in 1955. A mosaic-covered concrete dragon will be installed atop the arch Sunday morning. Ow and Ralston also were behind the creation of a commemorative monument honoring deceased Chinese residents which stands at Evergreen Cemetery. (Shmuel Thaler — Santa Cruz Sentinel)
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This advertisment appeared in the Winter 2019 issue of Santa Cruz Magazine displaying the wonderful monuments Tom Ralston Concrete has been honoured to produce with and for the community. They are:
- The Santa Cruz Wharf Roundabout 2015
- Pleasure Point Park 2012
- Three Princes Plaque Monument 2010
- Indian Burial Memorial 2016
- Chinese Gate Memorial 2014
- Fallen Officer's Memorial 2014
- Cowell Botanical Garden 2012
- Waldemar Memorial 2014
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Tom Ralston’s All Star 15-piece band will be playing at The Rio Theatre on December 1st 2018 at 7pm. Tom will be playing his original songs from each of his 2-CD’s Ruminations and Nomads and Nightingales. In addition the Band will play some songs on the 3rd CD Written in the Stars to be released in 2019.
You can get a good gist of Tom’s music and the fabulous musicians who play with him on Facebook. Follow us!
Background music in this beautiful video courtesy of Tom Ralston.
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(Note: TRC has won 17-national awards in 20-years…just sayin :) )
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Local artist Terra Dawson and Casey Coonerty Protti of Bookshop Santa Cruz cut the ribbon on a new community bench donated by the local bookshop, constructed in San Lorenzo Park by Tom Ralston and painted by local artist Terra Dawson.
DAN COYRO — SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL