Arts + Entertainment

Writers are often given the time-tested advice, “Write what you know.” For Peggy Townsend, that’s exactly what she does. After 33 years as a journalist covering the cops beat and writing features for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Townsend is well-placed as a crime fiction...

Designed with Japanese aesthetics, Iwasawa Oriental Art is an immersive experience. Taking center stage, a tatami mat is set with tea ceremony utensils. Curated antiques, some several centuries old, are displayed throughout in glass cabinets.  One wall features an impressive collection of abstract paintings by...

Saddled on their chosen steeds, children gleefully wave to their parents amidst the festive sound of a Wurlitzer organ. For some, riding the carousel is a new experience. For others, it’s a cherished childhood memory passed from one generation to the next. Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad...

After becoming friends in their teenage years at Fisher Middle School, Alec Goldberg and Clayton Susick have maintained a friendship and love for film. This led them to premiere their pilot “Soft Boil” at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Their passion for film started...

Scrappy the Los Gatos trash-gato is Lauren Surrette's newest artwork, and it’s creating quite a stir. She started with a turkey for Thanksgiving, and a snowman for Christmas. And now, made from recyclables at home (where she lives with her family), Scrappy the Cat...

Morgan Bricca painted her first mural in Los Gatos in 2018. She’s now completed four. Most recently, Bricca finished one at the Whole Foods Market coming to town on the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Los Gatos Almaden Road. As of a few years...

In 1965, Los Gatos obstetrician Dr. Ethel Dana and a group of locals conceived of the Museums of Los Gatos, believing every town should have a museum that conserves its art and history. Two years later, the Los Gatos Museum Association non-profit was formed...

Anne Martyn had a taste of show business when she graduated from college, scoring a job as a page at Paramount Pictures. But eventually she settled into the pleasant life of a suburban high school teacher at Los Gatos High (she’s Class of ’87 herself),...

Recently I was invited—OK I invited myself—over to the home studio of husband-and-wife artists Susan Jaekel and Rich Guidice. Their home is of 1920s vintage and located just off Santa Cruz Avenue. They have a shared studio on the remodeled second floor. I was not...

Three classic figures—splendor, joy and good cheer—now reside at the front of Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Co., representing the “stronger together” ethos that has been a theme since a devastating car crash shook the building. The artist behind this temporary mural, which went up last...