Johnson's original 131 acres were subdivided and became the area that now encompasses Loma Alta Avenue, Johnson Avenue, Stacia Street, perpendicular streets such as Cross Way and Johnson Hollow, and parts of Los Gatos Boulevard.

That neighborhood, along with the Almond Grove and Edelen districts, are the roots of the small-town charm and culture that Los Gatos is known for. Those areas once housed the wealthy farmers and businessmen who are now considered the pioneers and visionaries in the town's history. Today, characterized by historic homes on small lots, the neighborhoods are just a short walk from the central business district.

In his book Los Gatos Observed, local architect Alastair Dallas wrote that Johnson, who served as the equivalent of a Los Gatos town councilman from 1888 to 1894, subdivided his property in the 1880s.

According to a town staff report from 1991, however, Johnson's first sale was in 1876. That lot, on what is now 110 Johnson Ave., had a small house that was eventually replaced with the house that the late Los Gatos Weekly-Times columnist John Baggerly lived in for almost all of his 86 years.

Johnson named one of the roads on his property Market Street, Dallas said, "but it never became a commercial center due to its distance from the train depot." Residents petitioned the town council in 1921 and had the street name changed to Loma Alta Avenue.

Bill Goehner was born on the street in 1925, shortly after the name change. Goehner's father purchased a piece of land in 1920, building a house six years later at what is now 121 Loma Alta Ave. Goehner sold the property less than a decade ago.

"I remember when Loma Alta was a dirt road," Goehner recalls fondly. "At those times, there were a lot of open spaces where you could hunt." Goehner and other boys from the neighborhood would often hunt in the foothills and were sometimes paid by local farmers to kill rabbits and other small animals.

Clara Burke, who lived at Los Gatos Boulevard and Johnson Avenue, kept exotic animals on her property, Goehner remembers. "Our neighborhood had its own zoo," Goehner said. Burke's niece was vaudevillian Gracie Allen, who often came to visit with her husband, George Burns. "They were real nice people, real down-to-earth," Goehner said.

Barbara Baggerly moved into the Johnson Avenue home—inherited from her in-laws—57 years ago with her infant daughter, Jeanne, while her husband, John, was in the service. "She and I moved into the house, and when he came back it was very romantic, to have him come in the back door and see his daughter for the first time," Baggerly says.

In those days, Baggerly recalls, the area had a reputation as being the healthiest place in town to live, what with a sanitarium at the top of Loma Alta (now the EMQ Children & Family Services) and the weather reportedly being the least windy in those streets.

"It used to be little cottages. That was the way Los Gatos was," Baggerly says. Now, the Johnson/Loma Alta neighborhood has more "Silicon Valley people" and young families, whereas in the past there were more "old-timers" living in the area, Baggerly says.

Esther Wipfle, a Johnson resident since 1935, agrees. As a high-schooler, Wipfle noticed that most of the houses were "cottage-bungalow types" that were used as summer homes or even unoccupied as a result of the Great Depression. After the Loma Prieta earthquake, many people started moving in and building two-story homes.

Thirty-year Stacia Street resident Gwennie Balcomb says that although there are many new people moving into the area, there are still many families that have been in the neighborhood for decades. Some houses, on Johnson in particular, are family homes that have been handed down through the generations. "Usually the neighborhood gets old, the children move away, but that didn't happen here," Balcomb says.

"The last few years now we've just had a rebirth of the street," Wipfle says. "They're the most wonderful people that you can imagine, the most fantastic neighbors."

And despite the rich history, the storybook-like homes and the immaculate yards, it's the people who live there that set the neighborhood apart.

"It is the greatest place on earth. All of us are friends," says five-year Loma Alta resident Julie Thomas. Thomas says a group of families on her street go on vacation together, drink wine together on a weekly basis and almost trade families.

"Other people reprimand my kids if they see them doing something on the street that they shouldn't," Thomas says, laughing. "You wouldn't talk to very many people who don't just love it here."

Photograph by George Sakkestad Nicolett Kelly, Loma Alta resident, takes her children Amber (left) and Brenden and dog Brandy on a walk through the alley between Johnson and Loma Alta.

"I could leave my house in a moment's notice and buy another one, but I would never leave the neighborhood," says Sharon Litvinoff, who has lived on Johnson for six years. "The neighbors are wonderful, and they would do anything for you. If we need to borrow anything, anybody's door is open."

Jim Lyon, who grew up in the area and has lived in a Johnson Avenue home built in 1890, concurs. "If you see your neighbor's yard needs to be mowed, you just go mow it. There's a really special community spirit here."

Nowhere is that community spirit more evident than in the annual Johnson Avenue Halloween party, which was voted "best community block party" in the 2000 "Best of Los Gatos" issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. For a few hours in the evening, the street is closed off, with picnic tables set up on the road to accommodate potluck dinners. Adults and close to 1,000 children get in the spirit by donning costumes; homeowners get in the spirit by going all out with decorations and displays.

Photograph by George Sakkestad Four-year-old Connor Pfaff proudly squirts some Silly String at the Johnson Avenue Halloween block party.

Neighborhood landmarks, besides historic homes, include the Macabee Gopher Trap Factory at 110 Loma Alta. The company is the oldest business in town, founded in 1900, and is still housed in the Macabee family's original residence.

There's also a bench on Johnson, installed in the memory of the late Hank Wipfle, widely hailed by his neighbors as "the mayor of Johnson Avenue."

According to Esther Wipfle, her husband started walking up and down the street regularly after he retired from Pacific Bell. "He just got in the habit—every morning, every noon, every afternoon—of walking up Johnson Avenue and back." On the way, he would stop and chat with whomever was outside their homes and then return and report to Esther the goings-on in the neighborhood.

"He was just everybody's friend, and everybody loved him," Wipfle says.

A group of residents pitched in for the bench, which includes a plaque honoring Hank Wipfle. Enough money was raised for funds to be donated to some community organizations.

At the top of Loma Alta, there's EMQ Children & Family Services, an agency that provides children's mental health and social services. Balcomb says the children who use EMQ walk through the neighborhood and have never caused any problems for the residents—with one exception.

EMQ used to ask local families to take one of their young clients for a day, just so the youth could get a taste of what it was like to live and interact with a "real" family. "I took a child one afternoon and then couldn't get rid of him," Balcomb says.

Jack, then 7, would show up on the Balcombs' doorstep, even when it wasn't time for his appointed visit. Now an adult, Jack became the first of the Balcombs' foster children. "So that's the only problem we ever had with EMQ," Balcomb recalls with a laugh.

The main problem that faces the entire neighborhood is speeding.

Litvinoff has been the primary activist in getting the town to intervene. Within her first month of living on Johnson, she says, she was knocking on doors and putting together a neighborhood petition. "I don't take no for an answer," Litvinoff says. Several traffic calming measures were explored but never implemented on Johnson, and Litvinoff blames constant shifts in town staff for that.

Finally, the town had consistent personnel and a town council that listened—"Joe Pirzynski, when he was mayor, was wonderful. He really, really, really helped," Litvinoff says. In September, the council approved the installation of temporary speed humps and bulbouts on Johnson, which is slated to take place within the new few weeks.

The speed is "getting progressively worse now," Wipfle says, but the speed humps should deter drivers from going too fast.

Even with the traffic issues, Wipfle still says she feels "just so thankful and blessed to live here."

"I just don't know any other neighborhood. For many, many years I have enjoyed the mountains and the street and everyone," Wipfle says.

"I love it," Balcomb says. "I wouldn't trade it for anything."