Other creatures that make their home in the Pogonip include bobcats, coyotes, the endangered Ohlone tiger beetle, the once-endangered white-tailed kite, banana slugs and mountain lions. Periodically hikers and joggers report having seen the big cats in the park—even on high-traffic trails like Spring Street.
Pogonip’s cultural artifacts are worth noting, too. The spooky old clubhouse with its abandoned tennis courts and swimming pool was the vampires’ home in the 1987 film The Lost Boys. It presides over a picturesque meadow that was once the Santa Cruz Golf and Country Club, and which later became a polo field. Local rumor has it that “Pogonip” is a portmanteau derived from the phrase “a place for polo, golf and a nip,” but this Gatsbyesque notion is piffle. “Pogonip” is a Shoshone word meaning “icy fog,” which is kind of an exaggeration in this case, since it rarely freezes in Santa Cruz. We are not holding this against the Pogonip, though. We just love it too much.
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