Old Riverview Historic District

Along the banks of Soquel Creek in Capitola, this district contains 66 properties, of which 54 contribute to its character. Most are modest one- and two-family wood-frame homes, originally built as summer cottages between about 1925 and 1930. Their styles mix Bungalow, Craftsman and vernacular forms, with several showing Spanish Colonial Revival influence. Low-pitched roofs, exposed rafter ends and simple bargeboards are common. A tall wooden Southern Pacific Railroad trestle rises about 100 feet above the creek and dominates the area. A narrow public walkway follows the creek's eastern bank, and many homes open onto it with porches and gardens. The neighborhood's origins reach back to the early 1890s, when cottages began replacing tent sites at the Capitola resort, and several cottages from the c. 1905 Huana Place development survive. Most buildings remain relatively intact, and newer infill is largely compatible with the beach cottage character, so the district conveys the feel of an early twentieth-century summer colony.