Community

During a walk along North Santa Cruz Avenue, it is easy to take for granted the stack of newspapers sitting in Los Gatos Roasting Company and in other local coffee houses. In a town like ours, where debate over housing developments, Town Council budgets...

Living in our midst we have some very interesting folks. One of these is Rudy Rucker, living quietly, painting away, in his outdoor studio in the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills. His studio consists of a plastic chair, a table, brushes and paints in a...

The BentPeter seven-piece band cranked things up as the mercury finally began to drop on Sunday. Dedicated Los Gatos music lovers and their families assembled later than usual. It’s no surprise the crowd was thin at first, what with the temperature above 90° around the...

In perfect weather last week The Houserockers kicked off a summer of Music in the Park Sunday concerts at the Civic Center Lawn. This week it was ESTERO—on another gorgeous Sunday afternoon—bringing their psychedelic California-soul and roots-rock project, fronted by Northern California musicians Eric Lindell...

In the 1980s, Lee Baxendall started The Naturist Society with the goals of body positivity and enjoying our place in nature. His efforts have blossomed and borne many fruits, so that today there are many nude beaches and hot springs and hiking trails available...

Folks began setting up their lawn chairs and spreading their blankets on the Civic Center Lawn as early as 11 am on Sunday. By show time, it was packed. Attendees knew that those “The Houserockers” would deliver an enthusiastic performance, and that the lawn...

Pacific Mambo Orchestra is one of the most electrifying Latin bands around today. This Grammy Award-winning big band from San Francisco is a leading force in keeping the unique style of mambo alive. It is intricate and enticing music. Mambo is known to get...

On a beautiful Saturday—that looked straight out of a Pixar or Disney movie—Town residents gathered together at Oak Meadow Park to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. Oak Meadow Park was established and opened to the public in 1958. As you begin digging into its history, you...

Get ready to move and groove. Put on your Gatsby look and those high heel sneakers. The Jazz Sophisticates Dance Orchestra opens up this year's Jazz on the Plazz series at Town Plaza Park. Can you East Coast swing dance? Are you a swinger? This...

The history of the Santa Cruz Mountains is still underneath the soil of the redwoods—until it gets dug out. Millions of years ago, the region was submerged in water, leaving leftovers of marine sediment to molt into the sandstone and limestone we have today....