The Town of Los Gatos was incorporated 120 years ago today, August 10, 1887, with 1 square mile (100 acres) on either side of the Los Gatos Creek. Today the town includes about 12 square miles.
Other Happenings in 1887 (though not August 10th)
That was a busy year, and a significant one, for Los Gatos. Also in 1887 the Almond Grove District was created with 170 lots - 121 of which were all auctioned off in one day!
And again in that same year, Albert Vollmer settled on a prune ranch in what is now known as Vasona Park. Vollmer is the one responsible for the name Vasona. As a child, he had a pony by that name, When he later arranged for a whistle stop at his ranch (so that his daughter could commute by rail to her job in San Jose), he dubbed the stop "Vasona".
When people hear the phrase "the wild west", Los Gatos doesn't tend to be the first thing to pop to mind. But truth be told, this was the wild west, complete with horse theiving, bandits of every kind, grizzly bear attacks, scary stagecoach rides, the danger of fire with only a bucket brigade, and every other advantage and disadvantage you can imagine in the 1800s.
Transportation was a challenge back then. The road to Santa Cruz was dirt, narrow, and frought with danger. Hairpin turns could be lethal if another stagecoach was coming your way and you didn't hear it in time. Just as now you might toot your horn on a narrow, blind mountain turn, the stagecoach drivers would use a loud whistle to announce their presence to avoid catastrophe.
One of the teamsters who ran the stage between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz was a character named Charley Parkhurst ("Parkie"). Initially hailing from the east coast, Charley was an exceptionally adept driver. Having survived a grizzly bear attack but losing an eye in the process, Charley sported a black patch over the empty socket. Rough times! For about 20 years, Parkie or "one eyed Charley", traversed the hill (from about 1854 to about 1874). Charley eventually had to slow down and retire to his home in Aptos. There he died in late 1879.
That's when the surprise came: it was discovered that he was actually a she! Apparently an orphan, Charlotte escaped the orphanage dressed as a boy...and simply continued on that way.
Interesting fact about this colorful figure:
Charley Parkhurst voted on November 3, 1868 when Ulysses Grant was running for president of the United States. This makes her the first woman to have voted both in the state of California or anywhere in the US
Charley Parkhurst is sometimes confused with "Mountain Charley" (Charles McKiernan), who also suffered the wrath of a grizzley. But they are not the same people - they just happened to both live and work nearby during the same timeframe.
Long-time Bay Area reporter Brian Hackney is the host for Eye on the Bay as the focus is Highway 17, the weavy windy road connecting Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. With snippets of colorful local history and some of the equally colorful current mountain residents, this video is a must-see. Enjoy!
In California, name places often reflect the historical ties to the early Spanish missionaries and the influence of the Spanish language. Even today, there are many connections between this state and the countries to our south - so Spanish is a very popular second language for students here, even if there is no ethnic connection to Spanish speaking countries. It's a practical language to know.
So for many of us, pronouncing Los Gatos isn't hard. Yesterday I was giving an order over the phone to someone, and once we got past my baffeling street name (a long Italian name), the poor clerk struggled over my town name. Perhaps a word on how to say it would be helpful.
"Los Gatos" means "the cats" in Spanish.An earlier post here described the origin of the name. The correct pronunciation, the Spanish version, is "lohs GAH tos". However, despite years of Spanish classes, the predominent way it's spoken is a badly botched "las gaddis". Either one will work. (San Jose fares no better and has the same issue: real pronunciation is something like "sahn HO zay", but locals call it "sahn NO-ZZAY")
If you can remember that the name means The Cats (and don't think about gates) you will probably come close enough!
Long-time Los Gatos residents might know an interesting old nickname for the town that most of us have never heard of.
What is it?
"Gem City of the Foothills"
Only recently did I hear this moniker while attending May's Second Annual History Walk in Los Gatos. That day, I heard about the Gem City Laundry, for instance.
The nickname came from the Southern Pacific Railroad, of all places. Apparently it was trying to drum up traffic out our way back in 1924 when it put out quite the PR piece to boost ticket sales!
A fascinating, but little known fact of Los Gatos history is that our quaint town has been the setting for quite a few movies over the years. This was especially true in 1910 and 1911, when the Essanay Film Production Company ("S" and "A" for the initials of the founders) took up residence in the Lyndon Hotel (see image and floorplan) for a few months.
Prolific to the extreme, Essanay cranked out a film a week - sometimes more. In 1911, for instance, they produced 99 silent films! Not all of these were in Los Gatos, however. (This is the same firm that a little later produced so many movies in the Niles Canyon area of Fremont too.)
Looking for the right climate for their outdoors work, Essanay had moved west from Colorado, landing first in San Jose and then moving the 10 miles further west to Los Gatos. They were able to set up their production studio right behind the Lyndon Hotel, where they resided at the time. Additionally, they discovered the hamlet of Alma (which was flooded in 1952, along with the town of Lexington, to create the Lexington Reservoir) just up the hill into the Santa Cruz Mountains, and many of their movies were filmed there too.
Unfortunately for the folks at Essanay, the winter of 1910-1911 appears to have been a particularly bad El Nino year. In one four day period in January, the town received 16 inches of rain. That much water caused countless problems with accessibilty and it convinced the film production company to seek an alternate location after their work ground to a halt for about 5 weeks. So in February of 1911, they left soggy Los Gatos and next went south, toward Los Angeles. Thus ended the brief but prolific history of Los Gatos and the Essanay Film Production Company. They did not stay away from the San Francisco Bay Area for long, though. Later in 1911, Essanay filmed in San Rafael and by 1912 was esconced in Niles.
That was not really the end of the story for Los Gatos, though. A total of 23 films were made here, the most recent of which was just last year, and you can see list by clicking on the link below under more information.
And why should we be surprised? Los Gatos normally has wonderful weather and the beautiful backdrop of the Santa Cruz Mountains (not to mention our lovely older buildings). Imagine how long Essanay might have stayed if it weren't for a bad bout of El Nino!
For more information:
If you'd like to read more about Essanay, I highly recommend a book I gave to my husband last Christmas, Broncho Billy and the Essanay Film Company. The author is David Kiehn and it was written in 2003. You can order it on Amazon and it is available in some bookstores.
Los Gatos is a great place to live, but the early explorers must have been truly thrilled when oil was discovered at Moody Gulch and later in areas that are now part of the Town of Los Gatos. A few weeks ago, this blog covered the topic of the old oil pump that can be seen in a parking lot on Los Gatos Boulevard. My husband, Jim Handy, became intrigued by this topic and once again is providing a guest blog here, this time on the Belwood connection to oil. (Jim's previous contribution was April 22nd, when he posted on Harwood Road being a meridian.)
Oil in Belwood?Guest post by Jim Handy
It may come as a surprise to most of us that there was oil drilling as far north as Los Gatos. After all, that's a southern California phenomenon, isn't it?
Well, the truth is that there were ten oil wells in the Los Gatos area around the turn of the last century, and one of them was right here in the Belwood neighborhod.
A USGS map found in 2000 shows that there was an "old oil well" near the intersection of Harwood and Belridge*. This map was drawn about 100 years ago, and there was oil exploration here as early as the 1860s, so there's no telling when it was drilled. In those days citizens weren't as circumspect about telling the state what they were up to as they are today.
I've looked around that intersection, and have found no trace of the well, but by the time these homes were built it may have been long gone, along with any traces of its existence.
Los Gatos was not much of an oil producer. There is no evidence of any commercial activity except in the Moody Gulch area on the other side of the summit. The USGS says that most wells on this side of the hill were used privately. Still it's interesting to think that a little part of this history happened right here in Belwood!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Note on the map: This map shows railroad lines and trolly car lines that don't now exist, roads with different names then the ones we know today and major thorofares like Blossom Hill Road entirely missing. I have taken the liberty to add a few notes to clarify the spot. Many of the numbers on the map (13, 14, 18) indicate townships and some of the straight black lines are the limits of the township and not streets. Also, the squiggly line running through most of the image is the base of Blossom Hill - the hill for which the major road was named.
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)
Happy Birthday, Los Gatos!!
One of the teamsters who ran the stage between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz was a character named Charley Parkhurst ("Parkie"). Initially hailing from the east coast, Charley was an exceptionally adept driver. Having survived a grizzly bear attack but losing an eye in the process, Charley sported a black patch over the empty socket. Rough times! For about 20 years, Parkie or "one eyed Charley", traversed the hill (from about 1854 to about 1874). Charley eventually had to slow down and retire to his home in Aptos. There he died in late 1879. 
In California, name places often reflect the historical ties to the early Spanish missionaries and the influence of the Spanish language. Even today, there are many connections between this state and the countries to our south - so Spanish is a very popular second language for students here, even if there is no ethnic connection to Spanish speaking countries. It's a practical language to know.
Long-time Los Gatos residents might know an interesting old nickname for the town that most of us have never heard of.
A USGS map found in 2000 shows that there was an "old oil well" near the intersection of Harwood and Belridge*. This map was drawn about 100 years ago, and there was oil exploration here as early as the 1860s, so there's no telling when it was drilled. In those days citizens weren't as circumspect about telling the state what they were up to as they are today.
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