History

Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion for a love story But even though Los Gatos was the setting of a legendary romance that once captivated the nation, the story of Charles Erskine Scott Wood and Sara Bard Field has largely been forgotten by our community. C.E.S....

Spring has finally arrived! As beautiful as it is today, imagine what spring was like when thousands of acres of fruit and nut trees were in full bloom in the “Valley of Heart's Delight.” Did you know that many of those orchards might not...

Early spring is an ideal time to visit Almaden Quicksilver County Park and the adjacent village of New Almaden, for the wildflowers and a reminder of the region's 19th century history. The 4,000-acre park is set against the mountains that mark San Jose’s southern...

Let’s welcome the newest addition to our vibrant downtown dining scene, Heritage Pub & Chop House, with a brief look at the history of their iconic home. With its second-story circular bay window topped by what’s known in architectural circles as a “witch’s hat” roof,...

Earlier this year while tweaking the history section of the Draft General Plan, Los Gatos planning commissioners suggested zooming-out from the previous version, which only told the story of settler expansion, to also share the history of the original inhabitants. What may have seemed, to...

The arrival of Breaking Dawn, the newest restaurant on the Los Gatos dining scene, is the perfect occasion for a story about its historic home. The Renaissance Revival building that Breaking Dawn now occupies on W. Main St. was designed and built for The First...

When I was a child in the 70s, Los Gatos was filled with Italians. I remember seeing the older women walking in town, dragging behind them their wire utility carts filled with groceries down Santa Cruz Avenue. My grandparents, Adam and Albina Contardo, were...

Los Gatos has had a public library since 1898, with the Carnegie Library opening in 1903 and the current library built in 2012, each providing valuable resources and amenities to the community.

Strolling through the Almond Grove neighborhood is a real treat this time of year, when you can see carefully restored Victorian homes adorned with elaborate Halloween decorations. Yet these charming tree-lined streets once faced something even more menacing than ghosts and goblins. Progress. During the...

Part 1 of this series told the story of aspiring railroad barons James “Slippery Jim” Fair and Alfred “Hog” Davis, who founded the South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPCRR) in 1876 to create an extensive rail network throughout the Bay Area and beyond. After the...