Boulevard business moves to office on N. Santa Cruz

By Don Callahan

The eyes have it--Dr. Tracy A. Miller, doing business as All About Eyes, Optometry, on Jan. 10 moved her office from the Boulevard to 654 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Ste. A, near the corner of Blossom Hill Road. Dr. Miller opened her practice in September 1993 and provides general eye care with an emphasis in eye health, refractive surgery consultation and care, computer vision syndrome and contact lenses. She is a graduate of UC-Davis and UC-Berkeley with bachelor of science degrees from both; she received her doctorate from UC-Berkeley in 1991. She has served on the board of directors of the Santa Clara County Optometric Society. In 1998, she was honored by her colleagues with the distinguished award of Young Optometrist of the Year for Santa Clara County. Shortly thereafter, Miller received the same recognition from the California Optometric Association for the State of California.

In addition to caring for her local patients, Dr. Miller uses her eye-care expertise for charity relief work. She founded and is coordinating (with Rotary International, The Flying Doctors-South Bay Chapter, the Santa Clara County Optometric Society and the government of Chihuahua, Mexico) a multi-year project to bring badly needed eye and dental care to a remote, impoverished population of Indians in Chihuahua.

Joining Dr. Miller at her new office will be Dr. Khanh-Linh Vo Dang. Dr. Dang is a native Californian raised in the Bay Area and is a graduate of UC-Berkeley School of Optometry. New telephone number is 408.399.3909 (fax: 408.399.2600).

Honors for 1999--The Los Gatos Athletic Club at 285 E. Main St. was honored as the Large Club of the Year for 1999 by the California Clubs of Distinction. This prestigious organization includes more than 175 athletic and fitness clubs throughout California. It serves as a forum for all aspects of the industry and is the most respected in the nation. Once a year, the organization secretly visits member clubs to evaluate business practices, judge member satisfaction and select the honorees for the Club of the Year. Los Gatans Ed and Shirley Burke opened the club on March 4, 1981. Their daughters, Anne (now an English teacher at Los Gatos High School) and Claire (an artist), both worked with their parents as they grew up, before moving on to their present occupations.

Ed Burke, who served as the flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic Team during the 23rd Olympic Games in 1984 and participated as a hammer thrower, was recently honored by the U.S. Olympic Committee with his appointment to be the assistant chef d'mission with the U.S. Olympic Delegation at the 27th Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia this year.

New owners, same name--George Stewart Jewelers at 290 N. Santa Cruz Ave. has been bought by Modesto Briseno and Jeffrey Howard. Both partners are considered "bench jewelers," doing one-of-a-kind custom design as well as redesign work in their in-house facility, which is located in the little shopping area fronted by Trent Pottery. Briseno, who has 20 years of experience, and Howard, who has 15, have worked as jeweler's jewelers--that is, they manufactured jewelry for other jewelers. Briseno served his apprenticeship under Bourke Hollinca, a master jeweler from Holland. The mediums used by these artists are platinum, 14k gold and silver. According to Briseno, "Los Gatos is becoming the Carmel of Silicon Valley with the increase in the number of art galleries, jewelry stores and the like, so we felt this is the place to be. We are in the process of remodeling the facility so that when our customers enter the store they will not only be able to see our display of fine jewelry, they will also be able to watch us in the process of manufacturing our pieces."

Local business, international flair--Thomas Neighbored, president of Global Business Communications Inc., on Jan. 3 moved his company from San Jose to 236 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Suite 100. The reason? "I just like Los Gatos. It has that small-town friendly atmosphere that suits me just fine," Neighbored says. His company's objectives are to offer high-tech firms, from manufacturing to Internet companies, a reliable high-quality service in addition to their in-house resources for business development, public relations and channel/OEM sales development on an international scale.

The company specializes in providing high-level expertise in international high-tech business development, distribution strategies and marketing of high-tech products. The focus is on start-up and mid-sized technology companies looking to increase their market share on a global scale, establish sales channels and maximize market visibility. This may all be accomplished from 236 N. Santa Cruz Ave.

The Farwell Building--"Built and owned by the Farwell Family, the new building at 223-227 W. Main St. is now complete and filled with tenants," according to Sue Farwell, spokeswoman for the family. The second floor has four apartments, and the first floor has four office suites. Suites B & C are occupied by Tripwire Security, a Portland-based software-development company specializing in system security and policy compliance applications. Tripwire software was originally developed at Purdue University by world-renowned computer expert, Dr. Eugene Spafford, and Tripwire's Chief Technology Officer, Gene Kim.

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Got a business news tip for Don Callahan? Email him at decallahan@home.com or fax at 408.354.8763.

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