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Electrician Jordan Cianciaredo gets a lift to reach the ceiling of the fountain area of the Santa Cruz Clock Tower while replacing the interior’s LED fixture. Cianciaredo and Dominic Papagni of Phil Allegri Electric completed the job when the old fixture malfunctioned. The tower’s clock – which initially cost $1,000 to build – was first installed atop Pacific Avenue’s Odd Fellows fraternity building. In 1894, it narrowly escaped a fire that almost entirely leveled the surrounding block and shortly thereafter the fire of 1899 set downtown ablaze yet again and severely damaged the clock. Within a year, the clock was rebuilt on its post atop the IOOF building, where it sat for the next 65 years. In 1964, the clock was removed from the building after a remodel and was stored until 1974. At that time, the clock got a new lease on life when biochemist and clock enthusiast Eugene Corridon volunteered to repair it. The Citizens Committee on Community Improvement got to work fundraising to build a tower for the clock and was installed as a United States Bicentennial Project on July 4, 1976 at its current location at the corner of North Pacific Avenue and Water Street. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

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