Deceased as of October 2006. RIP.
Playing In Sand was a charasmatic cluster of creative people sequestered in the Squid Row Alley downtown, operating two spaces that functioned as a community hub, offering 'open studio' art space, art classes/workshops, a basement room that hosted shows and open-mic's, a plethora of communal art-supplies, a book library and an infoshop corner with books and zines. It was rather unbelievable how despite the sheer quantity of crap that was meticulously crammed in to the living-room sized Werkshop Museum, it remained a warm, inviting, and highly-usable epicenter. Next door to the Werkshop, "The Galley" was a DIY gallery that showcased the work of local artists, selling pieces to passers-by to try and pay the monthly bill.
This was another thriving Santa Cruz community anti-business destroyed by high rent and the transience of the people behind it. The Werkshop and Galley represented spaces that could merge the arts, anarchist anti-politics, and free education. It was a place where your grandmother might share jasmine tea with odoriforous forest squatters and misfit highschool students after figure drawing class. These spaces will be sorely missed.