Bull and Bear Rings - Santa Cruz, CA - E Clampus Vitus Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

"This is the location of one of the last known bull and bear rings in California, where the animals were placed in a wooden stockade and local settlers would bet on the outcome of their fights. Bulls and bear fights were brought to the Santa Cruz by the settlers of Villa de Branciforte, established here in 1797 by the Spanish government of Mexico, Villa de Branciforte, centered on brancforte Avenue in east Santa Cruz, was the last secular settlement in Alta California, as residents of the pueblo were not bound by the catholic mission. Many festivities of the early californios resolved around contests between animals, Branciforte Avenue doubled as a horse racing track where vaqueros tested their horses speed on a course measuring more than a mile long. Bull and bear baiting at this site continued until July 13, 1867. The practice was eventually outlawed but the history lives on in the Wall Street terminology of the bull of bear markets."

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