A look at Santa Cruz, Calif., where two police detectives were shot and killed Tuesday while interviewing a man suspected of a misdemeanor sexual assault.

-POPULATION: 61,955

-LOCATION: About 75 miles south of San Francisco. A beach town on the Pacific Ocean and the northern end of Monterey Bay. Surrounded by mountains and large stands of redwood trees. Major industries include tourism and education.

-CLAIM TO FAME: The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the oldest surviving amusement park in California and one of only a few seaside amusement parks on the West Coast. Two of its rides, a 1911 carousel and a wooden roller coaster built in 1924, have been designated national historic landmarks.

-TRIVIA: Santa Cruz has a long-running feud with Huntington Beach in Southern California over which city can claim the Beach Boys-inspired title of "Surf City, USA."

-NOTABLE CURRENT AND FORMER RESIDENTS: Political activist Angela Davis, poet Adrienne Rich, big wave surfer Darryl "Flea" Virotsko, NFL players Obafemi and Brendon Ayanbadejo, wetsuit inventor Jack O'Neill, author Jonathan Franzen.

-TITLES: Kiplinger's Magazine ranked Santa Cruz No. 3 on its 2012 list of the 10 best American cities to be single. In 2011, The Atlantic gave Santa Cruz and neighboring Watsonville the No. 5 spot on its list of America's most artistic cities.