River Street District, Santa Cruz, CA

River Street District is a commercial and light-industrial stretch of Santa Cruz along the San Lorenzo River, closer to a place for tasting rooms, bakeries and workshops than to a street of houses. Residential life is a small piece of it, and most visitors arrive for a drink or a snack and leave again. The buildings are low commercial blocks and workshops, and the streetscape is practical instead of residential. The appeal is the cluster of makers working in a compact area. Craft beverages are the specialty. Uncommon Brewers makes its beers at 303 Potrero Street and welcomes visitors by appointment, and the same company runs a tasting room and kitchen at 415A River Street. Pacific Cookie Company, which bakes its cookies fresh daily, is the sweet stop. The river is the open space. The San Lorenzo Riverwalk follows the water, and San Lorenzo Park sits just across the river, with its lawns, lake and the little Duck Island close by. Daily life here depends on the car or the bus. The district has no grocery of its own, so weekly shopping runs to the Safeways on Mission Street and Morrissey Boulevard, and Santa Cruz Metro runs through the center of town just to the south. The Highway 1 ramps are close. Most places keep ordinary business hours, so River Street District empties out in the evening and offers little for a late walk. If you want a tasting room two blocks from the river and a quick trip to Pacific Avenue, it delivers on both.