Santa Cruz County is located on the Pacific coast south of San Francisco and north of Monterey Bay. The county seat and largest city is Santa Cruz.
The county is known for its beautiful beaches, redwood forests, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a popular tourist destination. Other landmarks include the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Mystery Spot, a popular tourist attraction that features strange gravitational anomalies.
Santa Cruz County sits on the ancestral land of the Awaswas Ohlone native people. The county was one of the original counties of California, formed in 1850.
Santa Cruz County has a population of about 270,000 people. The economy of the county is diverse and includes tourism, agriculture, technology, and education.
Major towns in the county include Santa Cruz, Capitola, and Watsonville. The county is also home to several smaller towns and unincorporated areas, including Aptos, Ben Lomond, and Bonny Doon.
Cannabis culture has long been a part of Santa Cruz, due to it's proximity to the counter culture of the Bay Area, university full of forward thinking students, and surfing town atmosphere. Commercial cannabis is legal in Santa Cruz county, with a variety of cultivation styles, as well as many manufacturers and a large amount retailers.