Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

James L. Lyndon, 88, and Bill Wulf (right) stand at the Lyndon Avenue sign that was named for Lyndon's family, among the first Los Gatos settlers in the 1800s.

Signs of the Past

With a little help from Bill Wulf, the town's history will live on in our street names

By Shari Kaplan

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"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

-- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene ii

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Although Shakespeare's point is well-made in his tale of star-crossed lovers and the family feud that led to their closeted affair and ultimate demise, it is not always applicable outside the setting of "fair Verona." In fair Los Gatos, for example, there is a great deal in the names gracing the signs that mark every town roadway, from busy streets to quiet courts. With each generation of Los Gatans--whether descended from West Valley-area families or from one of the waves of new transplants--the stories and faces behind these signs are falling further and further into the footnotes of local history.

But not if Los Gatos historian Bill Wulf can help it.

Not only did Wulf live here from 1948 through 1991 (he hopes no one minds that he's moved to neighboring San Jose), but he has a memory like an iron trap for people, places and dates. He also has a home office like a vault, full of hundreds of old newspaper clippings, photographs, maps and other historical documents to supplement that memory. These documents include the history of street names.

As if that weren't enough, Wulf himself is responsible for naming many Los Gatos streets. He's even named part of the Santa Cruz Mountains. His main motivation, he says, stems from his love of history--he wants the town's heritage reflected in its place names.

"Even though I'm not Spanish or Catholic," he says, "I like the idea of bringing back some of the original names from the days of the missionaries."

One of his early projects was trying to get State Highway 17--from its junction with Interstate Highway 101 to its termination in Santa Cruz--named Lasuen Freeway after Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen. Lasuen was a Spanish missionary who, in 1791, was the first person to order the first official road to be opened and improved between Mission Santa Cruz and Mission Santa Clara. Rather than take the rambling and out-of-the-way coastal route between these two venues, Lasuen used a "shortcut" through the Santa Cruz Mountains that some of the area's Ohlone Indians shared with him.

Over the centuries, Los Gatos Creek, known to missionaries as Arroyo de Los Gatos, had formed a natural gap through the mountains, which the Indians made into an actual passage. Countless more "white men" used the route after Lasuen, but Wulf thought Lasuen's should be the name gracing the freeway.

Although Wulf asked for and received approval from all cities and towns that would be affected by the name change, the California State Senate voted down the proposal. Wulf's advocacy of Lasuen's name was not for naught, however. A few years ago, a handful of new homes went up in an area of town near Blossom Hill Road and Union Avenue. Their address? Lasuen Court.

Wulf had better luck wading through similar bureaucratic red tape when it came to Cuesta de Los Gatos--Ridge of the Cats--which describes the area through which the creek runs. "I can look up at these mountains and say 'I named those.' How many other people can say that?" he says proudly, but with the humble smile that is typically Wulfian.

He's had other failures, as when he pitched to the Los Gatos Town Council his idea to rename Pepper Tree Lane in Vasona Lake County Park after James Alexander Forbes, the 19th century Scottish immigrant who built and operated a flour mill on Los Gatos Creek.

However, he's also proud of his successes, which include Cuesta de Los Gatos (the street, not the ridge), Ohlone Court, named for the local Native American tribe; Las Uvas Court, named for the wild grapes that once flourished there; and Arroyo de la Borrega, which when translated is "Sheep River." According to Wulf's research, the area once belonged to a Frenchman who owned some 2,500 acres and had tried his hand at sheep ranching.


Photograph courtesy of Bill Wulf

The area of Roberts Road near Los Gatos Creek was once part of the homestead of John J. Roberts. He tore down an old adobe in 1865 to construct this wooden frame house. It was destroyed by a brush fire in 1922.




Along with his love of local history and his desire to share it, Wulf was also inspired by a January 1996 town council agenda report, which stated that the town clerk's office wanted to augment the town's official list of possible future street names from which new home developers could get ideas. Native trees, flowers, birds and animals were some of the suggested ideas, although Wulf has a decided preference for people and places. He keeps a running list to this day.

Although Wulf didn't name Lyndon Avenue, which runs perpendicular to W. Main Street, he does know its namesake. James L. Lyndon, 88, traces his local roots back to his grandfather James H. Lyndon and great-uncle John W. Lyndon, both of whom settled in the Los Gatos area in the mid-1800s. The former served as a local sheriff, mayor and postmaster; the latter settled in the Lexington area and later bought land in the downtown area. Lyndon and Wulf have shared a friendship and an appreciation for local history for more than 35 years.

Some streets got their names long before Wulf or his fellow historian, the late George G. Bruntz--author of The History of Los Gatos--came along. Among the best known of these residential streets bear the last names of John Bean, James Kennedy, Fen Massol, Augustine Nicholson and Magnus Tait.

Although "Old Timers, Senior Grade"--as Los Gatos Weekly Times columnist John Baggerly calls them--may still remember who these individuals were, younger generations of Los Gatans may be surprised to learn that Bean was actually a native of Michigan who moved to Los Gatos in 1883. He developed and patented a high-pressure pest extermination device called the Bean Spray "Magic" Pump, which was a liquid lifeline for the area's many orchardists.

James F. Kennedy was an orchardist himself, who owned property in the Los Gatos hills. He also took money at the tollgate at the south end of town, near where the Toll House hotel stands today on S. Santa Cruz Avenue. If that toll road still existed today, commuters would have to pay the Santa Cruz Turnpike Joint Stock Company in order to leave town.

Although the stock company's name is no longer well-known, Kennedy's is. A road and court in these same hills bear his name, as does the nearby Kennedy Knolls Lane. The area is less rural than it was in Kennedy's mid- to late-1800s, but it's still among the most sylvan surroundings for homes this side of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Massol was a former secretary of the Johnson Opera House Association, which ran the 19th century incarnation of today's Opera House on W. Main Street. He also was a property owner who, along with other benefactors, donated part of his land to the town so that Saratoga Avenue (now Los Gatos-Saratoga Road) could be widened.

Nicholson was also generous to the town, donating 17 1/2 acres for a cemetery to be built on a tract of land near Wheeler and Whitney avenues. The town deeded it back to Nicholson after 210 residents exclaimed the 1889 equivalent of "not in my backyard!"

In the same year, Tait joined the board of directors of the Los Gatos Building and Loan Association as one of several "representative men of Los Gatos," according to Bruntz's book. The organization grew to become an established savings institution; it closed down in the late 1920s.

Los Gatan John Bean helped local orchardists combat pest infestations with his Bean Spray Pump. He also was honored with a namesake street located just off N. Santa Cruz Avenue.

Photograph from 'The History of Los Gatos,' by George G. Bruntz







Other streets went through a series of changes before taking the names by which they are known today. Wulf delights in revealing that Los Gatos Boulevard was originally known as The Road By Way of the Plains and was demarcated by red rags tied conspicuously to trees. This was back in the mid-1850s, of course. After various other monikers, including San Jose Avenue, it was renamed to its present name.

University Avenue was originally called School Street. "I guess they thought that didn't sound grand enough, so they named it University," Wulf says. Winchester Boulevard, renamed after Winchester rifle heiress and Mystery House builder Sarah Winchester, was originally known as The Upper Road, then San Tomas Road and Los Gatos-Santa Clara Road. Later, part of Winchester was renamed after the coastal city toward which its southern end points--Santa Cruz.

Although Bill Wulf fears that local historians are becoming history themselves, he's always eager to hear about any local stones he may have left unturned. He can be reached at 408.297.4947.

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