Willow Glen Resident
News
New book on Willow Glen will be unveiled on Founders Day
By Mayra Flores De Marcotte
The Willow Glen landscape continues to evolve as old homes are torn down to make way for new developments. But each tear-down means history is turned into rubble. To prevent those neighborhoods from becoming a distant memory, one group of residents is making sure the past is captured in print.
The Willow Glen Neighborhood Association's Touring Historic Willow Glen--10 Walking Tours, will be unveiled at the Willow Glen Founders Day Celebration, Sept. 29-30. This is the third revision of the book, first published in 1992 and revised in 2000.
The book, published by the neighborhood association's historic committee in conjunction with the Preservation Action Council of San Jose, is a collection of self-guided walking tours throughout the Willow Glen community that includes history and personal stories about the homes and the people who lived in them.
The previous editions had walking loops, mainly between Willow Street and Pine Avenue. This edition will include those neighborhoods plus Willow Ranch, Eichler homes south of Curtner Avenue, and North Willow Glen loops. The last loop takes residents through the eastern part of Willow Glen, where important structures and buildings that were once part of the area's history no longer exist. This section of the book contains information about the American Indians who lived in the area, and the importance of preserving historical resources.
"We hope that people that read the book gain an appreciation of Willow Glen's history," says Palm Haven resident and committee chairwoman Joan Bohnett. "We hope they will see its varied architectural styles, layered decade upon decade, and gain a sense of how infill developments can also become a vital part of the historic community."
Bohnett, along with a committee that includes Larry and Liv Ames, Patsy Brown, Jean Dresden, Ken Eklund, Cindy and Dan Erceg, Judi Henderson, Gerri Hodson, Catherine Kilkenny, Anna Menuz, Paulette Ornellas, Jan Paull, Jim Zetterquist and the late Jim Arbuckle spent countless hours putting the book together. Their work began in July 2006.
"There was a great deal of research done," Bohnett says.
The group spent time at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, the San Jose Martin Luther King Jr. Library's California room, within the archives at History San Jose and at the city clerk's office.
"We've interviewed people, verified old stories and included new ones," Bohnett says. "We're including corrections from the previous edition and many more historic and new photos."
Some of the homes photographed in 2006 have been re-photographed this year because changes had been made, she says. "That's why this book is so important."
Features new to this 140-page edition include an index, an extensive bibliography, a list of the historic homes in Willow Glen that are on the historic inventory, a list of the heritage trees in Willow Glen, and a section where residents can learn how to get started on researching and preserving their own homes.
"We hope the book will point out how we live with our history," Bohnett says, "and how it surrounds us."
Illustrating and putting to words what makes buildings historic and important is key to preservation, says Zetterquist, a Willow Glen resident and Preservation Action Council of San Jose board member.
"First of all, knowledge is power and history is our future. The more we know and understand about our community, the better we can make decisions about its future," he said.
Bohnett invited Zetterquist to be part of the latest edition and write the section on his neighborhood, Willow Ranch--a collection of 49 ranch-style homes build in the 1950s along Cottle and Westmont avenues between Husted Avenue and Koch Lane.
"It was a great experience," he says. "I developed new friendships with others that share that passion for history and gained additional knowledge about our community."
'Touring Historic Willow Glen--10 Walking Tours' will be for sale Sept. 29-30 at the Willow Glen Founders Day Celebration at the Garden Theater, 1165 Lincoln Ave. To contact the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association History Committee, e-mail history@wgna.net or call 408.294.WGNA.
