Lately I've had a lot of appointments, long work days, and not much rest. I haven't had a day off in almost three weeks. These are the times when I tend to sleep too little, exercize not enough and eat more than I'd care to admit.
It's time for salad! (Oh, and yes, a day off!!) Yesterday I took three gals who work at my office, Intero, to lunch - it was Administrative Assistant Day (aka Secretary's Day). Most of us had lettuce in one form or another as the main course. And I got some input from them on other on great places for the same, so I want to share those with you.
Steamer's Grillhouse is a place where I like to take people for a drink, but I'm told their mixed green salad and house dressing is incredibly good too. Greens come with entertainment at Campo di Bocce as you can play or watch folks doing Bocce Ball (Italian Lawn Bowling - only no lawn here, it's nicely paved courts, indoors and outdoors). Good, classy salads can also be had at Viva, Crimson, The Wine Cellar, California Cafe, and Tapestry. Today I enjoyed a delicious BBQ Chicken Salad at the Los Gatos Brewing Company. Yum.
If you'd like something a little different, my absolute favorite place for Chinese Chicken Salad is Jasmine Chinese Cuisine. Or if you're hunkering for Mexican, you'll find great food at Andale's and also Pedro's.
Eating lunch at your desk, trying to miss the keyboard? Been there, made a mess of that. An alternative is the salad-bar-pay-and-go approach. Whole Foods has a really good salad bar - but it's not what you could call a bargain price. (And the ambiance for eating it there is seriously lacking.) Butthe selection is really good, so I have to admit I usually get 2-3 of my lunches there each month, despite the pricing, grumble grumble.
There are a bunch of places I haven't tried yet, some just aren't opened for lunch and some I simply haven't gotten around to visiting for the greens. So this list may not be complete. Got a place you think I should suggest? Send it along and I'll amend this post! There are other restaurants that I know serve great food, but I'm just not sure about their salads - they include I Gatti (can't find a website), Valeriano's, and a few others.
As for those others? Perhaps it's time to just make a reservation and find out!
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.
At the Heart of Los Gatos: Vasona and Oak Meadow Parks
Something is always happening at the big and beautiful, 150 acre Vasona Lake County Park and adjacent 12 acre Oak Meadow Park (belonging to the Town). These sister parks are connected and share the Los Gatos Creek, meandering trails, the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, and visitors to the Carousel at Oak Meadow. The parks enjoy beautiful scenery, both within the many acres and also looking up at the coastal range that separates this valley from the Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
It's a wonderful place for a family or company picnic and is often the site for beginning races, walk-a-thons, and other charitable causes, and it's also the location for many cultural festivals throughtout the year. Most recently, there was an enormous, two day Iranian/Persian New Year's Festival called Norouz that drew several thousand people from all over Silicon Valley. The San Jose Mercury News covered it and had a great little video on their website on this event, take a look! As you can see, Vasona and Oak Meadow aren't just a couple of nice parks, they're places for the community to gather, enjoy themselves and nature and to do it in a gorgeous spot.
Here are some of the regularly scheduled, annual events at Oak Meadow and Vasona that invite us to enjoy some recreation time there:
June & July: Vasona Vibrations (free concerts Saturdays 5-7pm)
July & August: Shakespeare in the Park
August: In the Park After Dark Movie Week
September: Screen on the Green
October: Halloween Train Rides (Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad)
December: Fantasy of Lights
And because these are parks, there are great learning opportunities and classes available there too. The Parks and Recreation Department offers sailing lessons - as you can see from the pic, my kids enjoyed these a few years ago (and may teach there this summer too). Paddleboats can be rented in summer as well. A hands-on approach to introducing kids to nature is provided by the extremely popular Youth Science Institute, which recently enjoyed an expansion at Vasona.
Historically, these parks are interesting too and there are some things you might not know about them.
(1) Vasona and the Founding of Los Gatos: The founders of this town were two brothers-in-law, Sebastian Hernandez and Jose Peralta. In 1839, they were near or in present-day Vasona Park, trying to find the right spot to claim when they heard two moutain lions fighting. The sound of the cats alerted them that water had to be nearby (it was - the LG Creek). They found the creek by following the cougar screetches and hence they determined that the location was good. Having heard the puma fighting, Hernandez and Peralta named their land grant La Rinconada de los Gatos, the Corner of the Cats. These gentleman received 6631 acres of land and in exchange, they did not need to pay any money at all. They only needed to agree to live on the land! You can read about the founding of Los Gatos on Wikipedia, which explains that the founders' first adobe house was located where Vasona Park is today.
(2) How Did Vasona Get Its Name? In 1887, the town was incorporated and a gentleman named Albert August Vollmer (a descendant of the Donner Party) settled on a prune ranch at the Vasona Park location. It was not yet called Vasona, though. When he was able to get the Southern Pacific Railroad to make a flag stop at his ranch so that his daughter, Agnes, could commute to downtown San Jose for work (without having to take a buggy ride to the downtown LG train station to catch a ride), he named it Vasona, after a pony he'd had as a child. And the name stuck. I think it's a funny irony that the train stop was named Vasona, after a pony, and today (after so many changes), there's still a train at Vasona (though for fun) and that there's a carousel full of beautifully painted wooden horses there too. The 57 acre lake is fun for kids on paddleboats or sailboats as well. So what started as probably something of a lark actually comes full circle - named after a childhood attachment, today the park is making childhood attachments of its own.
(3) You'd Probably Rather Not Know This, But... Oak Meadow's got a bit of a stinky background. Are you aware of what the land was used for before the it became locally known as The Airplane Park by children (on account of the fighter jet, a USAF T-33 Jet that kids can climb on)? Oak Meadow was actually a sewer farm. No, I'm not kidding. There are fabulous stories in the link about the history, so take a moment to read it!
Vasona and Oak Meadow Parks are a great place to visit year round, whether you are looking to appreciate history, science, nature, music, theater, companionship, scenic beauty, cutural events, or just a quiet place to be alone or alone with your loved ones. See you there!
In my house, if you ask the question "do you want to take a walk?" outloud, you'd better be prepared to make a quick exit, leash in hand.
Our family dog, Bella, will begin to jump and run to convey her response: "yes! yes! yes, I want to go on a walk and I want to go right now!" So like with small children and words like "candy", in our home, sometimes we have to spell out the word or use code to see if other non-dogs under the roof want to come along. "Do you have time for a 'W'?" usually works, although I suspect that Bella is catching on - just like kids who learn to spell "candy" before anything else.
The main attraction is Belgatos Park (330 Belgatos Lane, Los Gatos), which offers a few entrances, including one on our street just about 3 blocks from our front door. Like most parks, Belgatos has a playground, picnic areas, large grassy areas for frisbee throwing and other games, and benches. It also has a public restroom and a parking lot. Beyond the useful spots at the main entrance that are fairly common to most parks, though, there lie many many forested and grassy trails stretching up the hill - a full 17 acres plus connections to huge open space preserves and trails as well (those being the Heinz Open Space Preserve, reached off Regent Drive, and the Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve, accessed from either the top of Harwood Road or off Santa Rosa Drive or Madera along the ridge of the hill). I can't tell where the park ends and the open space begins - but the combined acreage is enormous and it's a delight to explore.
Belgatos Park is where nature meets suburbia. The base looks like any city park but with a backdrop (the rising hill and winding paths) that beckons: come and see what you can find.
And it also seems to work the other way, too. The park is a bit of a conduit for nature to find its way into east Los Gatos too. You don't always need to go far to find it.
In a tall eucalyptus tree in the parking lot (as you enter the park, it's on your left side), there's a large hawk's nest. Depending on the time of day, and perhaps the bird's mood or appetite, you may hear repeated screetches coming from this tree or another nearby. The hawk is lovely to watch and it will be fun when the little ones hatch.
Late in the afternoons or early in the mornings, particularly in winter, deer are seen nibbling on the bright green grass close to the same small parking lot too. There's a little cluster of trees and bushes down by a neighbor's fence, perhaps 15 feet from the pavement, and you sometimes find an entire family of deer enjoying pre-prandials.
Not wild, but fun for kids, are the goats which belong to the homeowner living to the right of Belgatos Park. Walk up the hill on the asphalt path and you will hear them, and then, most likely, you will smell them. They are cute! You can't touch the two goats, but it's always a delight to see something so unusual a stone's throw from a regular neighborhood.
Continue up the hill on the paved path and you will see the usual assortment of small creatures - squirrels, birds, lizards, and possibly more. Possum and racoons abound. My husband, who hikes there frequently, saw a bobcat close to the playground on the trail there. We've seen deer many, many times. Jim has seen coyotes as well. Watch for poison oak, rattle snakes, ticks and black widow spiders: these are a part of nature you want to know about, but not encounter first-hand. Ditto that for the mountain lions who inhabit this land and have been known to walk down past Belwood and into Cambrian Park too. Pay attention.
As you climb, the views become increasingly more lovely with knotted oak and manzanita trees shading the trails, sometimes redwoods too, grassy spots emerging from time to time around bends, and glimpses of the valley below peeking through the openings in the skyline. Most days, the sky is a bright blue with only a few clouds dotting the horizon for interest's sake. Some days, though, we have a "heat inversion" and there's a lid of air sitting atop our valley, holding in what would normally blow off with breezes from the San Francisco Bay each afternoon at around 4pm. That lid keeps the heat - and the poor air - trapped. When that happens, the sky turns a disgusting shade of brown or taupe. When you see it, you don't need to hear the advisory that it is a "spare the air" day. Luckily, the air has gotten cleaned up considerably since I was a teenager here in the 70's. In any event, the view won't lie. You'll know, when you get a little elevation, how the environment is doing that day. No need to read about it online or in print. Take a hike, and you'll see for yourself.
Where will you go? Depending on which path you choose, you may end up at the top of Harwood Road or you could be on Santa Rosa Drive. As mentioned, Belgatos Park also connects with the Heinz Open Space Preserve and The Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve so there are a myriad of possibilities. No matter which path you take, it will be scenic. You may run into mountain bikers or folks on horseback. Or you may get up close and personal with some wildlife. I do suggest long pants and shoes, not flip flops - just last week, our daughter came home from a hike with a tick who decided to hitch a ride. Since Belgatos Park touches the suburbs, it's easy to ignore the fact that it is basically untamed land and, as my buddy (a Realtor and fellow blogger) Steve Leung points out, we are then encroaching on their space. So realize where you are and pay attention. I happen to think the park is a very photogenic place, so my other suggestion is bring a camera along too.
Finally, not everyone is up to an uphill hike. If you'd like the views and the ambiance without feeling like you've been inducted into training for a triathalon the first time out, come to the park via automobile on Santa Rosa Drive. There are places to park and walk down a little bit and take in the view, the quiet, the space. From the landing it's not that difficult to get back up to Santa Rosa - it's not like hiking into the Grand Canyon! For those who are not that mobile, my suggestion is a drive to the top of Harwood Road. You are not allowed to stop - there are no parking signs everywhere - but you can cruise slowly down the hill and take in views which are similar (but not quite as pretty) as the ones you'd earn with a hike through Belgatos Park and the adjoining open space preserves.
As I finish this post, I'm looking out at the beginnings of another beautiful day here in The Valley of Heart's Delight. I think it must be time to don my Patriots sweatshirt and grab a leash. Bella is giving me that look. It's time to get outdoors and see what's happening at the park.
The fabulously warm weather - it has been in the 70's here in the last week - has ushered in spring, if unofficially. Los Gatos is a wonderfully diverse place to bring or enjoy a date, or just spend time with your loved ones, whether you're 15 or 105. I remember many teenage dates in this town myself, but this isn't a "true confessions" post :-)
For the young, and the young at heart, a great creative outlet in Los Gatos is Petroglyph, where you can try your hand at pottery designs. We have several momentos from there around our home. It's nice to have useable art too - our daughter made a teapot eons ago that she continues using to this day. This is a fun spot ,and for dates, it can really break the ice to have something to do beyond talking. I recommend it highly as a starting point, especially if this is relatively early on in the relationship.
Parks can be naturally romantic (if there are not a lot of screaming kids, anyway). Los Gatos boasts many, many excellent parks. Oak Meadow Park is usually called "The Airplane Park" by local children as it features an old WWII plane - one of very few left in parks around the nation (it is a decommissioned USAF T-33 Jet). It also offers a neat hand-painted carosal and a small guage railroad, the Billy Joans Wildcat Railroad, which runs from Oak Meadow Park (owned by the town of Los Gatos) into adjoining Vasona Lake County Park. Vasona is really a resevoir but it's sooo pretty and you can rent either sailboats or paddleboats and enjoy the many, many scenic (and romantic) views. So bring your honey to the parks. Walk through Oak Meadow and get nostalgic. Indulge in a ride on the merry-go-round and another on the train. Feel playful. Then go out on the lake - where it's quiet and peaceful and the views are lovely. My first nomination for "Great Places to Kiss" in Los Gatos, then, is out on Vasona Lake, taking in a view of the hills (El Sombroso on the left and El Sereno on the right as you look toward the coastal hills and downtown Los Gatos). By the way, the Parks and Rec department offers sailing lessons in the summers and they are open to kids too. A couple of years ago, Jim and I had Clair and Brian do this class and as their grand finale, they sailed us around the lake. That was a trip. But I digress. Back to romance in the park. Something else about the Vasona - Oak Meadow setting is that there are free concerts in the summer! The series is called Vasona Vibrations and it's every Saturday from 5 - 7pm. So the parks are a fun and scenic date place, but they are also very kid-friendly too. Allow a couple of hours.
My next nomination is really more of an adult venue. Another beautifully romantic spot worthy of kissing is Testarossa Vineyards. Located at the historic Jesuit Novitiate (built in 1888), it is essentially a downtown Los Gatos spot but with some elevation. The building is old, the wine is great and the valley views are timeless! We enjoy bringing visitors there for tasting. The patio with the view is very inviting and feels like something out of a B & B (Los Gatos has no B & Bs, but that's another post). A little wine, a view, and thou: what more could you want?
Many parts of downtown Los Gatos beckon for dates. The town is overflowing with bars, restaurants, and desert shops, among others. You could hardly go wrong to just stroll down Main Street or North Santa Cruz Avenue and see what you find, maybe ending up at Dolce Spazio for some yummy gelato. But I particularly like Old Town on University Avenue. It's a bit bustling, but I'd start at Steamer's for a drink...Then stroll across the street to the older part of Old Town, and just browse (and probably buy) awhile. Both the California Cafe and The Wine Cellar have outdoor seating, if the weather is right and you want to people-watch. Both are great restaurants. The California Cafe has tables near the windows which enjoy a view of the hills - great ambiance. And the Wine Cellar has booths for cozying up ( they aren't nearly as dark as they were 30 years ago, but are still dating material). Personally, I think fondue makes for a romantic meal - and if you think so too, do make it to the Wine Cellar, as their fondue is fantastic. But either way, you really can't go wrong. After the meal, perhaps a stroll through Border's Books is in order. Or not - your choice! If it's not too cool, walk to the back of Old Town. There's a small amphitheater there. Concerts and plays used to happen in that spot, and sometimes now you catch a person just playing a musical instrument there. A pedestrian bridge beyond the amphitheater will take you over the freeway (highway 17) to Forbes Mill (now a museum). There's something nice about just making that little walk, and for some reason it has always struck me as romantic too. So my third nomination for most kissable spots in Los Gatos has to be somewhere on or near this pedestrian bridge linking Old Town and Forbes Mill. One time it might be by the old museum itself, another time at the amphitheater, and maybe another time - I know, a shock - right on the bridge with the whole world seemingly passing underneath.
There are many other nooks and crannies around town which may inspire a romantic moment. The many trees and hills and views, together with some beautiful old architecture and fun shops, can certainly make romance feel imperative in Los Gatos. It's spring. And I think I must be overdue on a "date night". Don't tell my kids! (It's my kids pictured above, in May 1996 just before my sister's wedding in Boston, MA.)
Any time of year, a favorite place of mine to hang out is Old Town Los Gatos. A few years ago it was revamped, and in all honesty, I think it lost a lot of its charm then, but much of it does still remain and despite changes, it's a great place to be and relax. There is a little bit of large topiary that remains - once there was a huge selection of it - and the outdoor theater still invites people to sit around and visit, if not see a show or hear music these days. It's my hope that some of the "old" benefits of lingering at Old Town will one day return.
Some things don't change. The Wine Celler is my favorite restaurant, not just in town, but anywhere. It offers a wonderful menu , including fun things like fondu and cheese boards, a nice variety of wines, and even live music. Additionally there's patio seating upstairs in nice weather, but always a wonderful interior ambiance in the cellar itself. The people who run The Wine Cellar, the Hauck family, are as nice as the food is good.
I began visiting The Wine Cellar as a teenager and pretty much dragged all my friends there, especially on a weekend night if Gritty and Gravel were playing. (Does anyone know whatever happened to those guys?) I was a "regular" and I often asked them to play Desperado. They humored me. And I kept returning with new people week after week. As it turns out, my better half (Jim, now my husband of 21 years) was there many of those nights too. We would not meet until many years later, but now the restaurant is one our kids like too. I guess it was meant to be!
Another wonderful place in Old Town is directly upstairs, and that's the local Border's Books. My family and I are there a lot. I have been joking about buying stock in the place, actually. (I was there yesterday - bought Moving The Chains, a book about my famous cousin that happens to mention both my sister and my brother - and then indulged myself by having a latte in the cafe while skimming through the book for awhile.)
And a nice place to take a friend for a drink after work is Steamer's. This place has a fantastic wine buyer and I'm only sorry that I don't remember his name to give him credit - but he's extremely good at matching the right wine to the right food, he's friendly, and he's fun to talk with. Steamer's has some cool food and a nice atmosphere too.
I miss the outdoor shows in the open air theater. I miss the theater where Borders now stands too. I miss all the topiary that used to grace Old Town. But so much of the old charm remains, and so many wonderful people work the restaurants and shops, that even "progress" did not ruin what may be the very best part of our wonderful town. If you haven't spent time there, please do. Neat shops, neat people, neat place.
Live in Los Gatos:
A blog about Los Gatos real estate, homes, houses, condos, townhomes, housing market, neightborhoods, history, events, businesses, parks, schools, photos, issues, and lifestyle.
Mary Pope-Handy
Realtor, CRS, ABR, SRES, E-PRO
Keller Williams Realty
Mailing Address for Mary: PO Box 440 Los Gatos, CA 95031-0440
877 397-5391 (office/toll-free)
Offfice Address: 20230 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite E Cupertino, CA 95014
Helping Nice Folks to Buy & Sell Homes in Los Gatos, Saratoga, San Jose and all of Silicon Valley Since 1993 www.PopeHandy.com www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com
Lately I've had a lot of appointments, long work days, and not much rest. I haven't had a day off in almost three weeks. These are the times when I tend to sleep too little, exercize not enough and eat more than I'd care to admit. 
The Los Gatos Town Council has given permission for 
expand into the space formerly occupied by High Tech Burrito, according to 
telephone is 408-356-4902 or email 
At the Heart of Los Gatos: Vasona and Oak Meadow Parks
In my house, if you ask the question "do you want to take a walk?" outloud, you'd better be prepared to make a quick exit, leash in hand.
The main attraction is Belgatos Park (330 Belgatos Lane, Los Gatos), which offers a few entrances, including one on our street just about 3 blocks from our front door. Like most parks, Belgatos has a playground, picnic areas, large grassy areas for frisbee throwing and other games, and benches. It also has a public restroom and a parking lot. Beyond the useful spots at the main entrance that are fairly common to most parks, though, there lie many many forested and grassy trails stretching up the hill - a full 17 acres plus connections to huge open space preserves and trails as well (those being the Heinz Open Space Preserve, reached off Regent Drive, and the Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve, accessed from either the top of Harwood Road or off Santa Rosa Drive or Madera along the ridge of the hill). I can't tell where the park ends and the open space begins - but the combined acreage is enormous and it's a delight to explore.
with a backdrop (the rising hill and winding paths) that beckons: come and see what you can find.
Late in the afternoons or early in the mornings, particularly in winter, deer are seen nibbling on the bright green grass close to the same small parking lot too. There's a little cluster of trees and bushes down by a neighbor's fence, perhaps 15 feet from the pavement, and you sometimes find an entire family of deer enjoying pre-prandials. 
Not wild, but fun for kids, are the goats which belong to the homeowner living to the right of Belgatos Park. Walk up the hill on the asphalt path and you will hear them, and then, most likely, you will smell them. They are cute! You can't touch the two goats, but it's always a delight to see something so unusual a stone's throw from a regular neighborhood. 
of nature you want to know about, but not encounter first-hand. Ditto that for the mountain lions who inhabit this land and have been known to walk down past Belwood and into Cambrian Park too. Pay attention. .jpg)
Some days, though, we have a "heat inversion" and there's a lid of air sitting atop our valley, holding in what would normally blow off with breezes from the San Francisco Bay each afternoon at around 4pm. That lid keeps the heat - and the poor air - trapped. When that happens, the sky turns a disgusting shade of brown or taupe. When you see it, you don't need to hear the advisory that it is a "spare the air" day. Luckily, the air has gotten cleaned up considerably since I was a teenager here in the 70's. In any event, the view won't lie. You'll know, when you get a little elevation, how the environment is doing that day. No need to read about it online or in print. Take a hike, and you'll see for yourself.
The Santa Rosa Open Space Preserve so there are a myriad of possibilities. No matter which path you take, it will be scenic. You may run into mountain bikers or folks on horseback. Or you may get up close and personal with some wildlife. I do suggest long pants and shoes, not flip flops - just last week, our daughter came home from a hike with a tick who decided to hitch a ride. Since Belgatos Park touches the suburbs, it's easy to ignore the fact that it is basically untamed land and, as my buddy (a Realtor and fellow blogger) 
It offers a wonderful menu , including fun things like fondu and cheese boards, a nice variety of wines, and even live music. Additionally there's patio seating upstairs in nice weather, but always a wonderful interior ambiance in the cellar itself. The people who run The Wine Cellar, the Hauck family, are as nice as the food is good. 
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