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 and the museum opened in the old, refurbished adobe firehouse on Taft Avenue and Main Street, housing both an art museum and history museum in the 1854 Forbes Mills Flour Annex. In 2015, the museum was rebranded New Museum Los Gatos and relocated to a 6,000 square-foot space in Los Gatos Civic Center Plaza, next to the Los Gatos Library.
NUMU celebrates its 60th anniversary and revisits its inaugural year with a new exhibit, “I Know a Place,” which runs January 23 through May 24. The collection’s nearly 20 art works, photographs, maps, clothing, momentos and other objects are taken from residents who both lived and worked in the area in the 1960s.
“These are people who were living in Los Gatos in the ‘60s and had things to share from their families, their personal experience of the ‘60s, their business life and their work as artists at the time,” says exhibit curator Allison Railo.
Last year, museum staff hosted two “I Know a Place: Roadshow” events where they asked community members to donate personal items to be included in the show, which is inspired by singer Petula Clark’s 1965 hit song, “I Know a Place.”
“It felt like a good way of saying, ‘Hey, I know a place. It’s Los Gatos,’” says Railo. “It’s something catchy and it’s a call back to the music of that time.”
The exhibit is organized in the Mike & Alyce Parsons Reception gallery, named after the philanthropists and long-time museum donors. Mike served on the museum’s board of directors and as board president in 2012, and together with his wife they established the Mike and Alyce Parsons Art Endowment.
“We have our title wall with a map that puts you in that location and time,” says Railo. “We have a section for fashion, a section for the artist community, and what brought people to Los Gatos in those days. It’s sprinkled with these images of Los Gatos, and talks a lot about the transition from the farming economy in Los Gatos to the population boom and transition into Silicon Valley.”
The display features Alyce’s prom dress and Pendleton wool sweater and plaid skirt, as well as renderings of costumes from a 1969 production of Twelfth Night held at the Old Town Theater. A mixed-media sculpture of Neptune by local artist Tony Cristallo, culled from the museum’s permanent collection, is also on view.
Another highlight is hand-drawn illustrations by Rick Guidice that were used as advertisements for restaurants in Campbell and San Francisco. Born in San Jose and living in Los Gatos, Guidice was the subject of a NUMU exhibit in 2015 that explored his 15-year relationship with NASA, especially his paintings of space missions for the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View in the 1970s.
Railo hopes the exhibit will appeal to both viewers who’ve lived in Los Gatos for a long time and can reminisce about the region in the context of the 1960s and people who are new here.
“Anybody who comes in and doesn’t know much about the town will be able to learn more about its history,” says Railo. “They’ll be able to learn about its changes and what it was like in the ‘60s compared to now. There’s an interesting arc of development and growth here.”
“I Know a Place” runs Jan. 23-May 24. Tickets are $10. New Museum Los Gatos, 106 E. Main St.
For more information visit numulosgatos.org.
