Los Gatos (Spanish for “The Cats”) is a picturesque town of about 30,000 located at the base of the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains, inside the Santa Clara Valley, between coastal Santa Cruz and San Jose. It is a part of Silicon Valley, enjoying a sub-tropical climate & diverse population, and is an immensely popular destination for dining, shopping, wine tasting and strolling. I was born & raised in various parts of the Santa Clara Valley,  but always enjoyed a great deal of time in Los Gatos, and in 1999, we moved here at last.

Where did the name come from?

Once Mexico claimed ownership to California, as Spain had done before, it decided that the best way to cement its hold was to populate the area with settlers (which had also been Spain's strategy). Mexican land grants were issued at no cost except with one provisio: the settlers had to live on the land.

So that is just what two brothers-in-law, Hernandez and Peralta, decided to do. They were in what is now the Vasona Lake County Park area one day when they heard the screech of fighting Mountain Lions.  Realizing that water had to be close by, they knew they would have everything they needed, and decided to make it home.  The two dubbed this region “La Rinconada de Los Gatos” - The Corner of the Cats.  That was in 1778. They got an enormous amount of land, 6631 acres (one and half leagues), that spanned the area from about what is now Lake (it was a creek then) to past Quito Road and into Campbell.

If you’d like a little more history of Los Gatos, please see this page on one of my websites: Los Gatos History.

Thanks,

Mary Pope-Handy
www.PopeHandy.com