Formerly known as Metro Santa Cruz, the alternative weekly covered news, people, culture and entertainment in Santa Cruz County, a coastal area that includes Capitola, Aptos, Boulder Creek, Scotts Valley and Watsonville.

The editors stated that they selected the name because they were tired of being confused with the local public transit system of the same name, as well as to throw down a stake for newspapers following the shutdowns of several daily newspapers in early 2009, including the Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

[5] The Santa Cruz Weekly's logo was drawn by noted Northern California typeface designer Jim Parkinson.

The publication was affiliated with the SantaCruz.com community web portal, operated by a sister company, Boulevards New Media.

In a decidedly 2009 twist, its Twitter and Facebook pages went live in advance of the print edition, a launch strategy that established social media presence before papers hit the street.