The 1007 bar on Soquel is dope. It's not very far from downtown, super mellow, a couple pool tables, darts, shuffleboard, and cool ass bartenders.
If you need kid-friendly shit, then there's basically the boardwalk and and the movie theaters dojasak mentioned.
Or you can just take a long drive up HWY 1, stop at the beaches along the way (which are generally less packed than those in SC. Or go to Ano Nuevo, which is like 20 mins out of town. Also, UCSC is in the forest, so you can take a walk through the woods there, but the smoke from the hills might make that a little less enjoyable.
If you need kid-friendly shit, then there's basically the boardwalk and and the movie theaters dojasak mentioned.
Or you can just take a long drive up HWY 1, stop at the beaches along the way (which are generally less packed than those in SC. Or go to Ano Nuevo, which is like 20 mins out of town. Also, UCSC is in the forest, so you can take a walk through the woods there, but the smoke from the hills might make that a little less enjoyable.