Fighting Fire With ... Wine

About three and a half years ago, I joined Intero Real Estate Services in Los Gatos. My manager, Brian Crane, knew that in life before real estate, I was a teacher (secondary religious education, to be precise). Figuring that I wasn't afraid of public speaking, and knowing that I live in town and am a Santa Clara Valley native, Brian asked me to occassionally share a little "local history" at office meetings.  So I did some research, collected some stories, and began doing short talks on the history of the area from time to time. 

One of my favorite stories, or series of stories, was of mountain vintners who fought fire with wine.

That's right. The as the fires raged, water ran out, so they used the wine to fight the fires.

That might seem shocking initially  - after all, it's the loss of a year's work. But if the vines were consumed by fire, it could take 20 years to get them back to their previous level of productivity.

And can you imagine how the townsfolk felt when the Los Gatos Creek ran red from Cabernet or Merlot or Claret? They probably thought it was the end of the world!

I think it is in line with the entrepenurial spirit of our valley that even in fighting fires, these folks were truly thinking outside the box.  They were willing to try something offbeat to protect the future. 

Last Sunday was Earth Day.  And it got me to thinking about what we can do. . . .

I know that we in Los Gatos can help create innovative solutions to ecological problems.  Sometimes the answer is right in front of us and we only have to be thinking differently to recognize it.  The townsfolk care about solar energy and other conservation approaches.  "Fighting fire with wine" was a great concept that worked - twice.   I think it's time for the creativity of Los Gatos to emerge to help solve the problems of the land in a new era.  What are the solutions to today's environmental crises that are at our fingertips but we're just not recognizing yet? 

Los Gatos Events

The Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce has a very, very long list of neat things going on all of this year. Please bookmark its site!! I can't repeat it all here but there's tons going on and I think their info is the best for current happenings.

Regarding one of the current events...

Before Jim and I had kids, we lived for a few years in Santa Cruz, not far from the beach. We enjoyed a great view of Neary's Lagoon (photo) and saw all kinds of strange and wonderful waterfowl - literally in our own back yard. I became a convert.  First I bought a birding book.  Then Jim gave me binoculars for Christmas one year. And then we were spending Saturdays  going to Elkhorn Slough to go birdwatching. (As I say,  it was "before kids".)

It can happen to anyone.  It could happen to you!

This Saturday, from 11-3, there's an event at Vasona for young and old: "A Salute to Vasona's Great Blue Herons at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos".  Before you yawn and say "no thanks", let me explain that these birds are HUGE - we're talking 4' long and a 7' wingspan!!   When they fly you wonder if the albatross is this big. OK maybe you don't wonder that...   Maybe you just say "GEEZE that is a huge, huge bird!"

A lot clamors for your attention on a lovely Saturday in April. But if you have never seen a Great Blue Heron, now's the time to change that.  These birds are fairly rare and definitely majestic.  The adults are enormous and will make you say "wow".

I don't think I've ever seen a nest.  Saturdays in spring tend to be pretty busy for us real estate types. But if I can create a little window, I  I'll be there, camera in hand.  Great Blue Herons are worth making a pause in your day to see.

And imagine, they are right here, in our very own Los Gatos. With babies, no less.

See you at the park!

Almost 107 and Going Strong

For 150 years, Spring has meant "yardwork" in the lush Santa Clara Valley, as agriculture was - and still is - important.

But the garden has some natural enemies.  Roses can get rust.  Trees can get infections and weep sap. And below ground, gophers can terrorize a garden.

My grandparents, Michael and Eleanor Buckley, lived just over "the hill" in Pasatiempo near Santa Cruz in their retirement years, where my grandfather presided over a half-acre brimming with lawn, shrubs, roses and fruit trees. He composted (and they recycled) back in the 60's, before it was fashionable, and the yard was the richer for the effort. Love for the garden was only just behind faith, family, country,  duty, and education.  And I remember granddad's language turning a little ugly when his yard became a habitat for gophers. He became a warrior against the burrows.

The Almond Grove District of Los Gatos was once an almond orchard, and it, too, was threatened by gophers from time to time.   In fact, the cute critters (have you ever seen them? they are, actually, quite adorable - even as they eradicate your prized plants like something out of a bad slapstick cartoon) nearly destroyed the Almond Grove orchards more than once.

With "necessity being the mother of invention" in all times, Zephyr Albert Macabee invented and patented an effective gopher trap in October of 1900 and built it at his home at 110 Loma Alta Avenue, Los Gatos.  The Z.A. Macabee Gopher Trap Company was enormously successful, producing as many as 4,000 traps a week.

What is amazing, with all the developments of technology since then, is that the same trap is still being manufactured and sold today.  And the descendents of Zeph Macabee are involved with it.  And even more, that very same trap is still being manufactured today at the same address.  Just like in 1900.

was written just before the company's 100th anniversary (with photos).  And if you'd like to order the trap, contact Ron Fink at (408) 354-4158.

At our house, we do have fruit trees and we have rose bushes.  So far, we haven't needed to order the gopher trap, thanks to our black lab, Bella. Each time she sees a squirrel or bird in the yard, she nearly crashes through the glass.  So I think that for now, the gophers know better.  And if that changes, I know where I can go to get some help....

Guest Blog:
Jim Handy Discusses Harwood Road & Meridian

Do you like maps?  My better half, Jim Handy, is crazy about them. And when he learned that the road just on the other side of the house next door is actually a meridian, he got pretty excited. I think it's the engineer in him - that beautiful, inner geek - that loves the analysis of it all. Today's blog entry, then, is a Guest Post by my map enthusiast (and volunteer parks commissioner), Jim Handy. Thanks honey, for giving me a day off!

Many think of Harwood Road as the far eastern boundary of Los Gatos, which it is, but there's much more to this humble road than that.  Travel uphill to the top of the road and you can see views of the entire valley and get into beautiful Belgatos Park and Santa Rosa Open Space, but the majority of the street, the straight part of Harwood Road, has the distinction of following the Mount Diablo Meridian.

 

What's the Mount Diablo Meridian?

 

Back in California's early days, great tracts of land known as Ranchos or Spanish Land Grants were defined by features that sometimes changed: they might run north to the edge of a creek, east to a tree, south to a boulder,  etc.  Some of  these landmarks could move a bit over time, but when you're dealing with a tract of thousands of acres, these alterations are very small overall.

 

When the Gold Rush hit, and California's population roughly doubled between 1848 to 1850 (with land values in San Francisco multiplying 9-10 times). Land needed to be divided into smaller portions, and these smaller sections needed better defined boundaries.  With this in mind, the new state's legislature devised a rectangular survey system, with each land line reconciled to a base point.  The first base point chosen for California was the peak of Mt. Diablo (photo), the tall mountain that you can see from the Bay Area as well as from points west of Sacramento on the way home from Tahoe.  The line running north and south of this peak (at longitude 121:54:49 West) is called the Mt.Diablo Meridian, and the line running east-west of the peak is called the Mount Diablo Baseline.  This was established in 1851.  [Later on, when other parts of California started to develop, those lands that could not easily be measured from the Mt. Diablo Baseline were reconciled in the south to the San Bernardino Baseline (Based on Mt. San Bernardino in 1852) and later to the Humbolt baseline (the far north, based on Mt. Pierre in Humbolt County in 1853).]

 

The Mt. Diablo Meridian was the first benchmark established in the state to measure land in rectangular coordinates.  Interestingly enough, Harwood Road runs along that line - but Harwood is not the only road that runs this line.

 

Travel 3 miles north of the intersection of Harwood and Blossom Hill (the far northeast corner of Los Gatos) and you happen upon the south end of the aptly-named Meridian Avenue in San Jose.  Although much of Meridian Avenue runs straight along the Mt. Diablo Meridian, the southern portion, starting at about Curtner Avenue, veers off to the east, which allows Harwood to take over as the road that follows the Mt. Diablo Meridian.

 

The northern end of Meridian Avenue ends at Park Avenue in downtown San Jose.  Is that the end of the story?  It certainly is not!

 

From Mt. Diablo, travel another 27 miles north and you find another Meridian Road near Vacaville (photo).  This road runs north from the landing strip at Travis Air Force Base to Interstate 80, just past the Nut Tree.

 

Go 59 miles further north, and you run into the hamlet of Meridian California.  This town (population, 725) is in Colusa County, and is the smallest town in the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area.

 

Travel another 40 miles north to find yet another Meridian Road, this one 15 miles long, running just west of Chico.  All this in a direct line from our own Harwood Road!

 

There are no other Meridian Roads north of this point.  If you were to follow this road straight north, you would pass through the Shasta National Forest running past the east side of Mt. Shasta, and would eventually run throgh the town of Dorris, on Highway 97 in Siskyou County, 158 miles north of the north end of Chico's Meridian Road, and just 3 miles from the Oregon border.  The border's 334 miles north of Blossom Hill and Harwood.

Mary here again. Jim continued on with this neat piece to tell us how the meridian goes south until it slops into the ocean just past Carmel, and asked what was done about measurements in southern California instead. (Hint: It's the San Bernadino Meridian and Baseline. That's enough info, right?)  Unlike my husband, I'm not graced with either a great love of maps or a great sense of navigation. If I look at the mountains, I know where I am. Otherwise, I rely on my navigation system. Seriously.

Reincarnation of the Haunted Restaurant

115 North Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos is once again a "live" restaurant. The lovely old Queen Anne Victorian house has quite the history.  First it was a residence, later a mortuary, and eventually a restaurant.

I grew up nearby and as a teen, I just could not imagine eating there. We used to joke about the refrigeration system!  Eventually, a wedding reception for dear friends was held within those walls, and in my 30's I broke my vow to never eat in such a creepy place. 

And I didn't even know it was haunted! 

There are many, many ghost stories surrounding the former Chart House. Some of them are even funny - like the ghost at the bar who likes to ring up huge tabs in the middle of the night - drinks they didn't even serve at the place!  (Yes, a party ghost.) 

When dining there one Christmas eve about 5 or 6 years ago, I asked a few of the people working there if they had any stories. I got an earful, but my children got a bit freaked out - and we found that later going to the basement to use the restroom became a hurdle of insurmountable heights. (I have now learned NOT to ask about ghosts in front of my kids, especially if the bathroom is in a particularly remote area. They are teens now but still don't appreciate Mom's hobby.)

Anyway, the Chart House did serve great food, and there was no shortage of ambiance, but it just could not seem to make much of a profit, so after a decade or more, it closed. I do believe it's due to the locals knowing its history.   The next tenant in was also a restaurant, and it was named Chart's. It did not have a very long run, however. It closed and once again the "for lease" sign went up.

I did a quick peek at Google on this spot earlier and discovered that a tourist did a U-Tube Video of the former Chart House between the last tenant and this one. 

So a new chapter begins as the spot once again opens as a restaurant.  I don't know what type of food is served there, but ... I'm dying to find out.

Viva Restaurant Expanding

The Los Gatos Town Council has given permission for Viva Restaurant, an upscale eatery at Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road (near Whole Foods in the Cornerstone Shopping Center), permission to expand into the space formerly occupied by High Tech Burrito, according to the Los Gatos Observer. 

Viva is one of the only restaurants outside of the downtown area which offers great food, fabulous wine selection and live entertainment - and it is one of my favorite places to enjoy a meal out - with or without the musicians.  It's also an excellent place to throw a private party, as one wing can become either one large separate room, or two smaller rooms.  If you want to contact them or visit,  the address is 15970 Los Gatos Blvd., and the telephone is 408-356-4902 or email info@vivalosgatos.com . Enjoy!

Looking for a burrito replacement for High Tech Burrito? My suggestion is to give Una Mas a try (and order the Foghead Burrito - yum!). It's all of a half mile away, at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Los Gatos-Almaden Road (near Nob Hill Grocery and 31 Flavors Ice Cream). Their address is 15724 Los Gatos Blvd, and tel is (408) 358-8680.

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