The highly appreciated Los Gatos Historic Homes Tour will be returning on November 7 - 8, 2009, 10am to 4pm each day. Seven beautiful Los Gatos homes will be on display, with docents at each home to point out special aspects of the home.
Not only are the homes lovely to see, but it's a fabulous way to get a taste of the history of Los Gatos. I highly recommend this event, particularly to folks new to the town!
Tickets are $35 per person. Learn more at www.MuseumsOfLosGatos.org. Proceeds go to support the towns two museums (one a history museum, the other an art museum).
Would you like to volunteer to help put it on? You can do that and enjoy a free pass to the homes on tour.
Halloween is fast approaching, but there are still a few more events in and near Los Gatos to get you into the spirit!
At Oak Meadow Park, once again the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce is putting on the Haunted Halloween Forest and Goblyn's Glen (to benefit the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad and more). For tickets and more information, please call 408-395-7433 or visit Website. Next two events are Friday and Saturday of this week, from 7 - 10pm.
There are many, many more Halloween events the rest of this week posted on Craigslist. If you click on the link below, it will take you to an extensive collection of Halloween events in Siicon Valley. Scroll down to
October 26 - 31
South Bay:
and there you'll find 22 items listed in San Jose, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Los Altos and all over the south bay.
The St. Mary's Country Fair in downtown Los Gatos is back through Sunday the 11th at 5pm.
This year the fair is a little more kid-centric and there are more inflated play structures. Things are not all where they were in the past, but the best of the best is all still there: great food, live entertainment, games, rides, and goods to purchase. (Jim and I just got back in from enjoying supper and a 2.5 hour stint overseeing the Obstacle Course - part playhouse, part inflated balloon attraction).
Everyone's welcome. The fair's proceeds are split between the school and the parish, and helps to support outreach work in the community too. Please stop on by! The fair can be accessed off of West Main Street and Lyndon Avenue or off of Bean Avenue near Tait. There's no entry fee!
Once a month or so, the highly talented band, Full Spectrum Jazz, performs at the Los Gatos Lodge. Over the summer they played at Jazz on the Plazz in Los Gatos, so you may be familiar with them already. This is a local group, and a few members are even residents of the town of Los Gatos. Their next performance there will be in the evening of October 15th (please check the schedules online at the band's website and the Lodge's website).
Full Spectrum Jazz plays a variety of jazz styles, and at times also employ a vocalist. When we were there in mid-September, Duane Lawrence joined them for part of each set. Duane has a beautiful voice & is an enthusiastic singer - the two complimented each other very well.
Below are some photos I took in mid-September. Unfortunately the lighting was such that members to the far left and far right were not too well illuminated, so my apologies that a number of band members and Duane Lawrence are not in these pics (they just didn't turn out). Come check them out for yourself two weeks from now! (There's no cover charge and drinks & munchies are reasonably priced.)
The Los Gatos Lodge is located at 50 Los Gatos - Saratoga Road, Los Gatos, California. (Los Gatos-Saratoga Road is also known as Highway 9) It is just east of Highway 17, between the freeway and Los Gatos Boulevard. There's plenty of parking too.
Overall, we have enjoyed a milder summer here in Los Gatos this year. We didn't have quite so many days that broke a hundred degrees. Just as well, since there were more "staycations" here too!
As the summer begins edging toward fall, perhaps you're not feeling relaxed and energiezed - maybe you've been all work, no play. But even if you're not going on a trip, you can still indulge in a little local R & R, and much of it's at no cost. Need a couple of ideas?
San Jose State also has a great, free music concert series called the Summer Pops Music Series that just began on Aug 22nd and the San Jose Music in the Park has one more event left. Please visit the San Jose Metblogs page for the schedule (which includes both) - there are four more to come, including one later today)
Are you "music'd out"? Need something else to do? Few more ideas:
Testarossa's Wine & Cheese Weekend is happening now! Today from noon to four pm, visit the Testarossa tasting room and for $10 per person, sample five cheeses along with their delicious wines. (Also note Sept 6th, "Music on the Patio". See site for more info.)
Los Gatos enjoys two museums (one art, one history) plus a museum gallery. Events and museum access are low cost to free - please see the museums' events page online for details
For a list of more venues, from the RIngling Brothers Circus to Mountain Winery events, please visit the Merc's events page online - loads of local events in San Jose, Saratoga, Campbell and all over Silicon Valley
Got a favorite local event? Feel free to post it in a comment below. Although normally I delete "ads" that seem like spam, this time I'll make an exception - feel free to promote YOUR favorite local South Bay event here on Live in Los Gatos!
Tonight my husband, our daughter and I enjoyed a wonderful performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor, one of three shows now running at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos, courtesy of the 8th annual Los Gatos Shakespeare Festival. As with other shows we've attended in past years, this one was playing to a full house.
The other offerings this year are A Midsummer Night's Dream and Jungle Book. I haven't seen them, but it is the same, strong cast (the Festival Theater Ensemble).
What is a little amazing to me is to realize that several of the ensemble members act in all three shows, which are running concurrantly. So for instance, Friday they performed in A Midsummer Night's Dream, tonight was The Merry Wives of Windsor, and tomorrow night will be The Jungle Book. Although my own experience performing onstage is very limited, it seems to me that doing three shows at once is a lot like trying to study Italian, Spanish and French in the same semester: it is probably very challenging to do it gracefully, not stumble or get confused.
But to watch them tonight, you'd never know that there was any other show to perform this week. All of the acting was good, with particularly stellar jobs done by Todd Wright (playing Falstaff) and Rachael Bakker (as Mistress Margaret Page). The lighting, sound, costumes, sets and everything that backs up good acting was right on target too.
Congratulations to the cast, crew, directors, producers and gazillion volunteers on another very successful run! Thanks to all of you who make this festival the newer tradition that we appreciate so much.
Some practical stuff for attending the shows:
Shows are at 8pm and last 2 hrs, 40 minutes with intermission. They do take credit cards and checks. If you want to attend all three shows, buy them as a bundle and save some money (see website for details).
Other stuff: Nice looking fleece sweaters and tshirts, as well as caps and other goodies, can be purchased and coffee, tea and cookies are available during the intermission for whatever donation you'd care to make.
Parking at the Oak Meadow lot can be iffy when the summer evenings are pleasant, as they were tonight (apparently it was foggy and cold last night!). Street parking is always a choice but it may take a little time. So to get the best seats (as you can probably tell from the photo, we were in the top row) and better parking, arrive 20 or 30 minutes early (not the 7 or 8 we did.)
And - I cannot stress this enough - dress in layers! The temperature drops considerably once the sun goes down. Bring your jacket, bring a blanket. You'll be glad you did.
In recent years, the town of Los Gatos has enjoyed a historic walking tour, "A Walk in and Out of the Past". The date moves around a bit but I didn't see it on any schedule and was wondering what happened to it as it's truly a delightful way to reconnect with the town's past.
As it turns out, Carol Gruetzner (who is in charge of the walk and created the concept) is recovering from some ankle surgery, so no walk is planned for this calendar year. However, the familiar cast of historical characters from the wild west days of Los Gatos are returning this Sunday, July 19th, 2009 - they will just be in one place this time rather than scattered around several blocks of the downtown.
The Vine to Wine exhibit is equally historical and will include the favorites from the last few years, and it will be a free event (unlike the walk) located at the Los Gatos history museum (Forbes Mill). Stop by the history museum at Forbes Mill (75 Church Street, near Los Gatos high and tucked away off the main drag) on Sunday afternoon between 1 and 4 pm for the exhibit, and between 1:15 and 3 for the visit of historic characters.
Congregation Shir Hadash formed a Re-employment group in February of 2009 to provide skill building programs and mutual support for the local South Bay Jewish community and is welcoming the wider community to participate. Meetings are every other Wednesday from 10:30 to 11:30am. Dave Slesnick, an HR professional and congregant, is coordinating the group.
For more information, please contact Rabbi Melanie Aron at 358-1751 x 4 or RabbiAron@ShirHadash.org. On Linked In? Log in, search for the group "Congregation Shir Hadash Re-Employment Group" and request to join it. If you have job leads to share, please write to jobs@ShirHadash.org.
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
Luxor Real Estate Group
Mailing Address for Mary: PO Box 440 Los Gatos, CA 95031-0440
877 397-5391 (office/toll-free)
Halloween is fast approaching, but there are still a few more events in and near Los Gatos to get you into the spirit!.jpg)
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Tonight my husband, our daughter and I enjoyed a wonderful performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor, one of three shows now running at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos, courtesy of the 8th annual 
But to watch them tonight, you'd never know that there was any other show to perform this week. All of the acting was good, with particularly stellar jobs done by Todd Wright (playing Falstaff) and Rachael Bakker (as Mistress Margaret Page). The lighting, sound, costumes, sets and everything that backs up good acting was right on target too.
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