Well, the scene in Santa Cruz is definitely all punk all the time, it seems like there are dozens of new bands every other week, the problem is most of them are really bad. There was a major straight-edge scene here for a while, which was annoying as fuck, and there is virtually no metal scene to speak of, I have to make the drive up to San Francisco (about 90 mi.) for good shows, like AA. If you can afford to live here, it's great, good weather most of the year (no hurricanes), great surf, but housing costs are through the fucking roof, most people I know that stayed here just got stuck, there are hardly any good-paying jobs, so you get stuck doing something shitty, spend all your money on rent, and never get ahead. That's why I'm getting the fuck out while I can, I've got a work visa to New Zealand, and I'm leaving in three weeks, fuck yeah!