*Updated at 12:44am Nov 28
On Thanksgiving night, a car crashed through the front of Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Co. in Los Gatos along West Main Street at University Avenue. The injured driver was sent to hospital for medical attention but didn’t seem to be severely hurt, according to the founder of the cafe.
The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department received the call at 9:02pm, and by 10:30pm, a couple dozen people—some in blankets and parka due to the cool temperatures—had assembled around caution tape as a Bob’s Towing driver worked to extract the black Volvo from the damaged structure.
“I’m completely traumatized, but I’m thankful no one was in the building at the time,” said Teri Hope, LGCRC’ founder and co-owner. “I got a call from the police department about five minutes after it happened. It took me two minutes to get here. I’ve been an owner for 44 years and I was absolutely floored. I could have never imagined something like this happening. I understand it was a senior man.”
The driver was transported to Valley Medical Center, but the condition of the man is unknown at the time, said Hope.
“I am heartbroken and I am devastated. I hope the person in the car survives,” she said, adding the shop won’t be open tomorrow for Black Friday—but could see a partial reopening on Saturday.
Her son in-law, Scott Nelson, who is a local to Los Gatos, described what turned out to be quite an unconventional family holiday.
“We were all having Thanksgiving together, and then we got a call and we drove down together,” he said.
Daughter of Teri Hope, Renee Nelson, says this brings back childhood memories, since her first job growing up was working at the coffee shop.
Owner of Palala Lounge, Karen Jensen, says that, 10 minutes before the accident happened, she drove through town with her family—before she got home and took her trash out when she says she heard a big “bang.”
Moments later, Jensen says one of her employees texted her that there was an accident across the street. So, she drove down with her family.
Her husband, Paul Jensen, called it an “historic” incident.
“I’ve lived here for over 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Paul, who is the head of Palo Alto Foods. “We supply milk for the Los Gatos Roasting Company.”
Jason Farwell, the owner of the Vermont Building, which houses LGCRC, was also at the scene.
“A single occupant in a car was driving 80-100 miles an hour, southbound on University, and never hit his brakes and went straight through the building,” he said. “There was one bystandar witness that saw the car go by.”
He told the Los Gatan he was working to secure the building by ensuring the vehicle was removed and that the gas and water was shut off.
“If it was last night or tomorrow night, there would have been fatalities. I’m just glad nobody died,” he said.
Artist John Eichinger said luckily his string mandala art pieces—the result of at least 40 hours of work—were in the side of the coffee shop that wasn’t damaged.
Eichinger is a major fan of the coffee shop who volunteers his time to promote their weekend shows on Facebook
“Am I gonna sit home on a Friday night? I go down to the coffee shop. And I video the music concerts,” he said. “It helps the coffee shop.”
Guitarist Colby Pollard was supposed to play there Friday night.
“Any other Thursday night there’d be dead people in that coffee shop,” Eichinger said, noting Thursday is typically the bluegrass jam session.
Town Manager Chris Constantin also showed up to show his support and evaluate the damage.
“I wanted to check in the business owner because I know this is a gathering spot for our community,” he said. “I just happened to have the opportunity to come down here.”
He said Town officials will work with the coffee shop as it pursues its next steps.
“I said ‘I’m sorry this has happened to your business. Let me know if there’s anything that I can do,'” he said, recalling his conversation with Hope.
*With files from Drew Penner
