​The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2014. A series of four videos were created in commemoration of this event. In these videos, we take a look at the history of the history of the Santa Cruz Chamber and what it meant for the community.

​“The Chamber plays a vital role in advocating for those businesses. If you look around, the Chamber been involved for 125 years and it’s made a significant difference in the way that our city has become.”​ - Eric Summers, President, 2014 Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce​

In this first video, we take a look at how the city of Santa Cruz has changed over 125 years and how the Chamber has supported this change. ​

​In 1950s, the Chamber studied the issue of sheltered harbor, to protect against wave action, and came up with strategies to address and implement. The second of the four videos show the impact of the Chamber’s work today at the harbor.

​The Santa Cruz Area Chamber played a pivotal role in convincing the Regents into putting a campus in Santa Cruz. In this video, we look at the Chambers avocation for higher education in County and the many achievements in research that followed.

​“There was a need for a coming together of many organizations and the chamber was one of the organizations that came to the forefront and helped with the vision of what this downtown should become.” – Ceil Cirillo, Former Redevelopment Agency Director
​
​In this last video, we take a look at the aftermath of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which left downtown Santa Cruz in ruins. The Chamber was crucial in the rebuilding and maintaining downtown businesses immediately after the earthquake and the years ahead.