That Laurel hill ledge spot is gnarly. I lived next to it for years and only ever tried to skate it once or twice. I lived in Santa Cruz for a few years up until a week or so ago, so here's my recommendations. Be warned, they're all on the more mellow side lol:
Really close to the Laurel ledge is Santa Cruz High, which has some sick spots out front and littered inside the school. The front has a two stair ledge you can skate either direction, a bunch of downhill two stairs you can get creative on, and some tall curved ledges that need to be waxed. If you want to hop the fence and get inside there's some other stuff too, but the best part of it (a stage manual pad) is under construction and not skateable for now.
My favorite spot in town is the Chase Bank curbs on Ocean st. Best curbs you'll ever skate and there's a lot of them. Also has some manny pads and a weird tiny 3 stair hubba that's fun to mess around on. Don't try to skate it during business hours though, and be respectful of the spot since no one wants it to become a bust.
My second favorite best spot in town is in the back of this business park up the street from Natural Bridges beach. There's a kinked ledge in front and in the back there's some curbs and a super low ledge that's very buttery. You can skate down to the beach too, which is always a good time. It's also super close to Derby, so you can easily hit both.
If you go towards the Boardwalk there's a traffic divider really close to it that you can skate as a slappy curb and as a natural hip/boob. It's in the middle of the street so it's best on a weekday since it gets super busy around there on weekends. Close to there are a bunch of weird little banks that are fun to mess around on. They're all a little hard to skate but that's half of the fun!
UCSC also has a ton of spots, but they're all spread out. It's worth the trip if you have a car and like nature, since the school is built in a redwood forest. The water treatment plant and the science and engineering buildings have the best spots, like some mellow ledges, ride on grinds, curbs, and these crazy metal benches that are perfect for wallies.
I would never skate them but there's also a ton of skateparks in and around the town too. Mike Fox is the one that's central and most recognizable. Felt Street is my favorite, but it's hard to skate if there's more than 5 people there. The ones that are further south are all pretty new and look sick, but skateparks have never been my thing.
Hope that helps dude! Feel free to DM me if there's anything specific you're looking for, if there's any other recommendations you want, or if you want exact locations for some of this stuff. Santa Cruz doesn't have the greatest spots but it's a sick lil beach town that I'll miss living in <3
Topic: Santa Cruz (Read 339 times)