THOSE who enjoyed last year's tour of Los Gatos Victorian homes sponsored by the Museum Association, and those who missed it, too, will be interested to know of the five beautiful homes selected for the 1996 Historic Homes Tour on the weekend of Nov. 16-17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The homes are at 130 Hernandez Ave., 49 Los Gatos Blvd., 179 Loma Alta Ave., 206 Loma Alta Ave. and 142 Johnson Ave.
Tea will be available throughout the tour at the 130 Hernandez location. Visitors are invited to dress in vintage costume, if they feel inclined. Tickets to enjoy some of the charm and grace of old Los Gatos are $12.50 in advance and $15 on tour days. Call 395-7375 or 354-2646.
LOS GATOS Lions Club member Reg Hughes celebrated his 84th birthday Oct. 15. Hughes, in the investment business, still goes to his office three days a week. A few weeks ago, the Lions presented him with a pin for 55 years of perfect attendance. Reg and his wife Virgil celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary in October. Among other honors, he wears 50-year pins from Ben-Ali Shrine of Sacramento, from the Masonic order and the Scioto organization. Besides, he's a life member of the Los Gatos Camel Herders, who always take part in the Christmas Parade. That's some record!
LION George Neukam was the top seller for the Lions Club's White Cane Days, followed by Lions Reed Graham and Jeanne Palma. Lion Jeff Lochner was the one who snared this writer for his usual limited donation.
VASONA Lake wasn't looking quite its normal self last week. The Santa Clara Valley Water District lowered the water of the reservoir so workers could replace the dam's radial arm gates, which had become corroded. The water pouring from a pipe at the base of the dam went into Los Gatos Creek, then flowed to the Campbell percolation ponds. The work is expected to take the rest of the year. Meantime, there's a ring of mud around the remaining water.
THE JOHN Steinbeck Research Center at San Jose State University reaped a financial bonanza from the appearance of Bruce Springsteen at the San Jose State Events Center Oct. 26. Among many numbers, Springsteen sang songs from his newest album The Ghost of Tom Joad and read passages from The Grapes of Wrath. The author's widow, Elaine Steinbeck, presented the entertainer with the Steinbeck"Souls of the People" Award at a post-concert reception. The research center's director Susan Shillinglaw, of Los Gatos, organized the successful affair.
SOME motorists heading northward from Santa Cruz are complaining that drivers turning onto Highway 17 from the new Lexington Reservoir overpass cause morning and evening commutes to back up. Some want metering lights at the new on-ramp. Mountain residents who must turn onto 17, of course, may have another point of view.
BRUNI, the artist who specializes in portraits of jazz performers like the great Duke Ellington, will have an exhibit of her paintings at the Los Gatos Museum Art Gallery; but it probably won't be until November 1997. Mark Gray, her associate at Old Town Gallery, will also exhibit his work in a separate exhibit.
LOS GATOS watercolor artist Jolene Anderson, who designs cards, sweatshirts, ties and other items, recently returned from China, where she studied at the Beijing Institute of Traditional Art. She works in her home studio.
STACKS of pumpkins in front of markets, the second Haunted Forest at Oak Meadow Park and the usual parade of ghosts and goblins holding out sacks at our doors weren't the only Halloween season events. Los Gatos Rotary Club members hosted their annual pumpkin carving day for school youngsters Oct. 29 at Vasona Park, moving indoors to escape rain.
RIDERS on the Phantom Express during the second annual Haunted Forest at Oak Meadow Park were "assaulted" by blue-faced warriors from Braveheart, a UFO from Independence Day, a Chain Saw Massacre fiend and "flying specters," among alarming sights and sounds. But so far as we know, all passengers survived. The Halloween-season Haunted Forest benefited Los Gatos Police volunteers.
LOS GATOS political contests weren't always conducted as nicely and courteously (relatively speaking) as is the case today. "Feelings ran high and vocal before the election," wrote historian George Bruntz of the election of 1905 over the question of petitions calling for a vote on "whether or not the Board of Trustees shall license the sale of intoxicating liquor." Many felt the town had too many saloons.
The "wets" contended prohibition would cut tax revenues, while the "drys" appealed to emotions ("Think of husbands, brothers and sons sinking into drunkards' graves.") Mass meetings were held. Stanford president David Starr Jordan lectured at the Opera House on behalf of the "dry" forces. Voters favored a dry town 199 to 169. Los Gatos was the second town after Palo Alto to go dry under local option. But later, the Town Board began granting some liquor licenses in exchange for a $1,000 fee, which caused another uproar.
ANY members of Los Gatos Kiwanis Club who may not make it to Paris this year at least heard about the City of Lights from attorney Floyd Frisch, who spoke Oct. 31 on "Paris then and now."
IT was Don and Rose Arnaudo of Monte Sereno who received a Kiwanis Club family award; we had Don's first name wrong in a recent column.
CHEERING news for merchants arrives in the form of a national survey of 1,000 consumers, made by an accounting firm on behalf of the National Retail Federation. The firm predicted average spending of about $764 by holiday gift shoppers; last year's average was $685. (My gift recipients may still get a necktie, socks or a small fruitcake.)
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 6, 1996.
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