News & Events

News: Benito & Azzaro Wins 2018 Readers Choice in the Santa Cruz Sentinel




News: Benito & Azzaro Wins 2017 Excellence in Customer Service Award

Santa Cruz, CA – Benito & Azzaro Funeral Home was presented with the Excellence in Customer Service Award for achieving the highest levels of customer satisfaction in 2017 by the Johnson Consulting Group. The national award recognizes a select few funeral homes who achieve the highest total satisfaction scores from responses to surveys sent to each family they served throughout 2017.

“Benito & Azzaro have been recognized as leaders in delivering exceptional customer service and has raised the standard for other funeral homes nationally to achieve this level of success.” said Jake Johnson, President of Johnson Consulting Group.

Benito & Azzaro have been providing highly-personalized memorial services for nearly 20 years in Santa Cruz County. “Ensuring our families experience the highest level of service is always our number one priority” said Gary Benito and Vince Azzaro, the firm’s two co-founders. “It is truly a privilege to serve our communities in their time of need.”

“The credit for this award goes to our dedicated and outstanding staff” continued Benito. “Their attention to detail and compassion ensures every family we serve can honor their loved one in a way that is both meaningful and healing.”

Benito & Azzaro operate their Pacific Gardens Chapel in the Seabright area of Santa Cruz.

News: Live discussion of COVID-19 impact on funeral business

Click here to listen to the live discussion from KSCO: Good Morning Monterey Bay.


Tales of the World Beyond: Havdalah/Story-Telling

March 7, 2020
7 PM

Chadeish Yameinu - Jewish Renewal of Santa Cruz and Temple Beth El Jewish Community Center Present "Judaism and the mysteries of life, death and the world beyond." A Scholar-in-Residence Shabbaton with Reb Simcha Raphael. 

March 6-7, 2020

Join us at Benito & Azzaro Pacific Gardens Chapel at 1050 Cayuga St, Santa Cruz, CA 95062 on Saturday evening at 7 PM for Havdalah/Story-Telling.

Tales of the World Beyond: Stories of ancient ancestors, wandering spirits and reincarnating souls

As darkness descends, the crack between worlds becomes apparent. Through the story-telling traditions of Jewish folk religion, Midrash and Hasidism we shall enter the invisible worlds populated by ghosts, lost souls, haunting spirits, dybbukim, and heavenly angelic guides, and continue our learning of Jewish teachings on afterlife and the world beyond.