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Main Street This anniversary deserved three-month celebrationBy Mary Ann Cook
THE BIG FIVE-OH: Jim and Kik Sugai's official wedding anniversary is Jan. 30. But this year the celebrations began earlier and continue still. It's their 50th, so it's quite a milestone, and it kicked off with a party at Chaminade at the end of December, hosted by their children.
Some 70 friends and family members turned out, including grandchildren and the original wedding party. The senior Sugais spent the night at Chaminade, but Kik doesn't think they were ensconced in the honeymoon suite. That might be going too far.
And in March comes another highlight--a trip to Hawaii--also courtesy of their children. They'll rendezvous with son George and his wife. George, a Los Gatos High School grad of '69, is a professor of special education at the University of Oregon, where he teaches potential teachers.
But U.O. has a contract tie-in with Hawaii, so for George it'll be a working holiday. Daughter Linda, LGHS '71, is the secretary at Capri School in Campbell. She and Kik took a Hawaii trek five years ago when the San Jose Buddhist Church Junior Choir was invited there.
Two granddaughters are in the choir. Jim Sugai is a well-known figure in Los Gatos, having been superintendent of Los Gatos Parks and Recreation for many years before his retirement in '83. Kik worked in the accounting department of Becton-Dickinson.
Between the Chaminade festivities and the Hawaiian vacation came an open house hosted by the Sugais for those who didn't get over the hill to Santa Cruz. And, following that, a slew of invitations to dine with friends. "But Hawaii will be our last big swing," say the Sugais, normally a low-profile pair.
"We've been celebrating ever since December," says Kik. At Chaminade there were 1,001 golden origami cranes strung together (handmade by daughter and granddaughters). They are the symbol for good fortune. May we (symbolically) add another golden crane or two to toast the Sugais.
SCREENWRITERS AWARD: Scott Frank, a '79 LGHS grad, won the Screenwriters' Guild Award recently for best adapted screenplay. His script for Out of Sight was adapted from an Elmore Leonard book. Could this be an Oscar portent?
His mother, Carole Frank, says she never suspected Scott would become an award-winning screenwriter, but that he always had an active imagination and was an avid moviegoer. The elder Franks were babysitting for Scott's youngsters when the award was announced.
PEARLS TO CHINA: String of Pearls, a Bay Area swing and jazz band is in China for a 10-day performing tour which began March 6 and will include a concert in Beijing. The eight-member swing group was founded in 1991 by Don Conway and his wife Connie Anne, who is singer/manager/pianist of the group.
Los Gatan Jim Witzel plays guitar for the group. He teaches jazz guitar, theory, improvisation and jazz combos at San Francisco State University, where he earned his B.A. He won an NEA grant for study in New York in 1979.
Witzel has recorded five albums and been a featured player at the summer jazz concert series at Stanford, San Jose and Monterey. And, he composes as well as performs.
String of Pearls became interested in a trip to China after its terrific reception playing for Chinese-American groups in the Bay Area. The China trip is co-sponsored by Beijing's Jin Li Cultural Development Center and International Cultural Exchange Agency. Other Pearls are Vern Holme, bass; Wilson Winner, trombone; Walter Cross, tenor sax; Josh Schneck, trumpet; and Matt Vander Ende, drums. Their album Makin' Whoopee! is available by calling (650) 326-0726.
CHINESE NEW YEAR: AAUW celebrated Chinese New Year with a scholarship fundraiser dinner at Hong's in Saratoga. After the multicourse meal, the assembled learned about the "Americanization of the Chinese Dragon," from guest speaker Rose Marie Twu.
The dragon is found in Kelly Park, and is part of the resurgence of interest in the history of San Jose, including its Chinese enclave. People of all backgrounds worked on recreating the Chinese Temple, which stood close to where the Fairmont Hotel is located now.
And the Chinese dragon is one of the artifacts recreated there. Only the head and tail of the dragon were still extant, having been found in the home of Dave Thomas. (Not the Wendy's Dave Thomas, however.) Thomas was one of the hardest-working volunteers on the dragon's re-creation.
And the Kelly Park dragon is one of the most hard-working in the Bay Area. Most dragons are only paraded out during Chinese New Year, but the Kelly Park dragon is on display outside its home nearly weekly, reports Twu. Here's another Chinese tie-in with the Valley of Heart's Delight: Santa Clara Valley's nickname P.S. (Pre-Silicon) is dim sum--which in Chinese means point to the heart.
DINNER MEETING: The Los Gatos Kiwanis Club will have a special dinner meeting this month. It's March 9 at 6 p.m. at Los Gatos Lodge. The speaker will be newest Town Council member Joe Pirzynski, talking about his fledgling months in office.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
