Arana Gulch

Arana Gulch is a creek and landform that forms part of the southeastern boundary of the city of Santa Cruz, California. The creek begins in the Santa Cruz Mountains and flows southwest into Monterey Bay into what was once called Woods Lagoon, now the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor.

Arana Gulch is named after Jose Arana, who came to Alta California in 1834 with the Hijar-Padres colonization group. Arana was the grantee of the Rancho Potrero Y Rincon de San Pedro Regalado (now the Potrero and Harvey West neighborhoods of northern Santa Cruz) in the year 1842. Sometime after that date, Arana moved to the area that now bears his name. Prior to California statehood, Arana Creek was the dividing line between lands assigned to the Villa de Branciforte (to the west) and those of Rancho Arroyo del Rodeo.

The Arana Gulch open space parcel is mostly the former Hagemann farm, also called Live Oak Ranch. Frederick Hagemann was an early immigrant to this area from Germany. The Hagemann house (older section dates from 1860s, later addition from 1885) still stands on a remainder parcel adjacent to the open space. Cattle once roamed the pasture and were housed in a large barn, which no longer remains.

The City of Santa Cruz has created a public park from this large parcel that lies mostly on the west side of Arana Gulch, adjacent to and upstream from the Santa Cruz Harbor, and maintains Arana Gulch Open Space as a public open space. The Arana Gulch open space is part of the "greenbelt" established in 1979 to mostly surround the city. The Arana Creek watershed is a groundwater resource for Santa Cruz County.

The open space includes meadows (former farmland), California oak woodland, and the riparian zones along Arana Gulch and Hagemann Gulch. Trails for hikers and bicyclists access the park from the upper harbor parking lot off of Brommer Street and from Mentel Ave. and Agnes St. in Santa Cruz on the north side.

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