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Picture from the Past
Gymkhana grounds once was home to horse events
By John S. Baggerly
It was a pleasant surprise and a plus for Los Gatos history when George and Nadine Caperton offered the use of photographs of Los Gatos' short-lived Gymkhana--short-lived because the 1950s saw a through-town freeway, better known as Highway 17, utilize part of the Gymkhana grounds.
The Capertons were natives of Missouri and Arkansas. Locally, George ran a building business from his home and served as a county building inspector.
On Gymkhana days, horsemen paraded along N. Santa Cruz Avenue, turned right at Saratoga Avenue and descended to the arena. A woman rider bearing the American flag and a male rider carrying the Gymkhana flag lead the parade. Today part of the grounds is occupied by the Town Corporation Yard.
For today's photo, the Capertons aimed their camera eastward from the seating area and picked up two horsemen in the foreground. The riders appear to be officers of the Gymkhana. On the far side of the area are more riders and structures for administration of events. Gymkhana events included various forms of horsemanship, such as riding and stunts.
Initial officers of the Gymkhana were Ralph Phillips, president; Leo Frank, vice president; Carl Hubbell, secretary; and Stanley Hopper, treasurer. The group formed in 1940 with 23 members and, thanks to fundraisers, constructed an arena at the east end of Saratoga Avenue, just past University Avenue and bordering Los Gatos Creek.
Phillips was a longtime chief of police; Frank, a member of a pioneer mountain family who taught riding at Montezuma School for Boys and boxed professionally at San Jose's old Foreman's Arena. Hubbell, an attorney, had a leg disability and so rode a gentle-gaited Tennessee walking horse, a breed developed by Southern planters on which to view their extensive lands. Hopper was owner and manager of a local Chevrolet agency.
The above officers organized a meeting in November 1940 with some 19 additional horse enthusiasts at Town Hall to organize the Los Gatos Gymkhana Association.
To raise money, the group held monthly dances at the old Armory on Lyndon Avenue. After local dance teacher Paul Curtis began using the Armory as his dance studio, the building became a part of the campus of St. Mary's School.
A PG&E substation, located immediately south of what today is Forbes Mill Museum, was sold and moved to the Gymkhana grounds. Together with Highway 17's intrusion, this left the horsemen without a venue for showing their equines. Afterwards, many members joined the Red Shirts, a group of horsemen and horse enthusiasts who had a large arena in the Almaden area of San Jose.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
