Select Page
Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk

Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk

Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk 2015Save the date! The Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk takes place this weekend, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, from  1 – 4 pm, in downtown Los Gatos. Over 30 wineries will be participating!

Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk tickets are on sale now. Buy your tickets here.

Tickets are less in advance (more at the event, but it usually sells out). Loads of info on the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce’s website, including the long list of participants. Prices will be updated once published.

Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk Details

All the details will be on the Chamber of Commerce’s website.

https://www.losgatoschamber.com/wine-walk

If you’ve never attended, this is the location:

Downtown Los Gatos, N. Santa Cruz Avenue & Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030

 

Los Gatos Fall Wine Walk

Los Gatos Spring Wine Walk

Los Gatos Spring Wine WalkThe Los Gatos Spring Wine Walk will take place on Saturday, April 22, 2023 from 1 pm to 4 pm- rain or shine!

Los Gatos Spring Wine Walk Tickets

Tickets went on sale March first. They can sell out fast, so get yours today! Cost is $50 advance, or $55 day of the event – same price as last year.

For more details and info on how to register, please see the Los Gatos Chamber’s website. Cheers!

Buy tickets online here. No refunds for inclement weather.

 

The location will be

Downtown Los Gatos
N. Santa Cruz Avenue & Main Street
Los Gatos, CA 95030

 

Love Los Gatos events? Here are some other happenings around town:

Los Gatos High School’s Spring Musical (post on this site)

Los Gatos Cat’s Hill Classic annual cycling event

Black Cat Hats

One of my favorite shops in downtown Los Gatos is Black Cat Hats, which features all kinds of accessories in addition to hats for men and women. The folks there are friendly and knowledgeable and take a personal interest in helping customers to find just the right item they want or need.

 

2021-07-28 Black Cat Hats in Los Gatos

 

Over the last week, we’ve been there twice – first for a hat for me, and then a couple for my better half. Both times we got what we needed quickly.

 

2021-07-28 Hats for Men at Black Cat Hats

 

We were impressed by the nice selection among the men’s hats. Truthfully, I hadn’t paid much attention to them previously, but there was a good variety of styles, colors, and sizes.

 

Hats on display at Black Cat Hats

(more…)

The historic Broadway area neighborhood in Los Gatos

The historic Broadway area neighborhood in Los Gatos

Broadway and El Sereno The very first subdivision or planned neighborhood in Los Gatos was along Broadway and nearby (Clifton Avenue, Broadway Extension and Wood Road), now the Historic Broadway Area (or Neighborhood or District).  There had already been quite a few houses built at that time in Los Gatos, but none were planned areas per se. The Town of Los Gatos has called this the first residential street of Los Gatos! John Lyndon was the developer and he bought the land and created 48 parcels which were sold in September 1881 – a good six years before the far larger Almond Grove district was created and 6 years before the town was incorporated, too. A few homes in this area may already have been present, though, and seem to predate the 1881 date.

No doubt, Mr. Lyndon’s real estate buying decision was at least partially influenced by the location of his Lyndon Hotel, a whose bar was a popular hangout for the likes of John Steinbeck and Charlie Chaplain, which was located at the corner of Santa Cruz Avenue and Broadway, and now is the Lyndon Plaza (since sadly the hotel was torn down in the 1960s).

What was once a fairly quiet end of town is today mostly in the heart of it. The area closest to the post office enjoys a wide road (if desperately in need of repair), a good variety of Victorian and mostly older, historic homes, and is very uniformly well kept. Because it is either “in town” or “close to town”, the road is lined with cars most days – perhaps also because these houses of course pre-dated garages.

Historic Broadway Area Photos

 

Where is the Broadway Historic District in Los Gatos?

The Town of Los Gatos has a Historic Districts Map – have a look:

Town of Los Gatos Historic Districts Map

 

Broadway neighborhood of Los Gatos real estate information

(more…)

The Almond Grove neighborhood in Los Gatos, a scenic and historic district

Map of the Almond Grove historic district in Los GatosThe Town of Los Gatos is home to many lovely neighborhoods with historic homes (Broadway Area Historic District, Fairview Plaza and others), but perhaps none is so quaint or popular as the Almond Grove neighborhood. (See video drive through this neighborhood near the bottom of this article.)

Location, location, location: the Almond Grove’s got it

The location itself could be very compelling alone as the Almond Grove neighborhood is as much “in town” as “walk to town” with so many activities and opportunities happening along North Santa Cruz Avenue, Main Street and University Avenue – all a stone’s throw away. Quite vibrant, downtown Los Gatos enjoys an inordinate amount of restaurants, shops, coffee houses, bars, places to dine , taste wine, stroll or take in a film. It’s also home to free musical concerts in the summer, a parade in December, a gorgeous new public library, a Farmer’s Market every weekend and many other events year round. Finally, the Almond Grove is set near two parks, Bachman Park and the Los Gatos Town Plaza, so there’s a good amount of open space nearby too. There’s something for everyone!

Traditionally designed neighborhood with good community results

105 Tait Ave Los Gatos (Almond Grove district) built appx 1890The allure of the Almond Grove is more than convenience, though. There’s an old time friendliness that seems to come with the big, welcoming front porches on so many of the older houses. Dwellings are also set closer together than one might find in suburbia, too. Rather than live so much in the privacy of the backyard, there’s an invitation implicit with this combination of close neighbors and a front porch that seems to underscore that residents are part of the neighborhood community and a bit less secluded.

The Almond Grove displays that sense of community from October to January especially, when it steps out as the best decorated corner of Los Gatos with a huge percentage of participation in the effort. Halloween is a great example. People’s enthusiasm is evident in by the beginning of October as props come out for the spookiest day of the year. Sometimes even in September, “Land of the Giant” sized spiders begin to appear, life-sized ghosts start to swing from porches and trees, the normally tidy and trim picket fences become smudged with spider webs, and every manner of Halloween decor drapes the district. On Halloween night, the Almond Grove district becomes positively overrun with enthusiastic kids from all over Los Gatos. I’ve been told that some homes get as many as 1,000 trick-or-treaters on Halloween night there. (more…)