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29 Years and Our First Kiss

Last weekend, we celebrated our 29th anniversary in the charming town of Los Gatos. Let me tell you, if you’re looking for a night to eat out in this community, Sunday is it.

On Saturdays, the streets fill with young people, families with strollers, and pedestrians walking dogs, but by Sunday evening, most of the shops are closed. We had a terrific time. This time last year, we were in Italy, something that’s hard to top, but we enjoyed dining at a new-to-us family-owned Italian restaurant recommended by my friend Mary.

The Italian Brothers are relatively new to the area. It’s completely staffed and operated by a family from Sicily. You can read their story on the linked website.

Mike, My favorite Italian, outside of the restaurant

After a tasty meal of Caprese, bruschetta, pasta, and dessert, we walked around the downtown area, enjoying what I’ve always loved about Los Gatos: flowers and plants in shop doorways, redwood trees in unexpected places, interesting shop windows, and sandwich boards announcing wares along the sidewalks. The town is full of charm.

We also had our first kiss over thirty years ago in Los Gatos. I remember it clearly

“Los Gatos is one of Santa Clara County’s oldest communities. In 1840, the Mexican government granted a land patent for a 6,600-acre rancho to Sebastian Peralta and Jose Hernandez.  Los Gatos was originally named La Rinconada de Los Gatos (Cat’s Corner) by early settlers due to the screams of mountain lions prowling in the night.  In 1868, 100 acres of the rancho was selected as a town site. The town was incorporated in 1887, and by 1890, the town’s population had grown to 1,652. When the first General Plan was adopted in 1963, the town had grown to an area of approximately 4,000 acres, or 6.3 square miles, with a population in excess of 11,750.  

At the time the first General Plan was revised in 1971, the town had grown to an area of 9 square miles with a population of 24,350. In 1984, Los Gatos covered ap­proximately 10 square miles and had a population of 27,820 persons. Today, the Town population is estimated to be 33,529 in a 14 square-mile area. While most of the growth through the 1970s was due to new development, most of the growth in the 1980s and 1990s was due to annexations, in-fill development, and changing demographics.”

 Source

It’s fun posing for pictures among the local landmarks. It’s also funny to note the imports (like the famous red telephone box designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, a well-known British architect)

and this Victorian-era house, not imported per se, but the last one standing on the boulevard.

The house was built as a home in 1891, then sold to Alexander Place, which operated a funeral home in the Queen Anne mansion until 1971.

Several restaurants followed, with some locals refusing to eat there fearing the haunted house rumours. The mansion recently reopened as “Gardenia: a French Asian fusion coffee shop and cuisine,” since I don’t believe in ghosts, we will happily give it a go.

You’ll never guess what we spotted as we made our way back to the car: Gardenia had a wine barrel along the walkway stamped Wente Brothers.

Mike and I were married at Wente Brother’s in Livermore, 29 years ago.

Wedding day kiss

36 thoughts on “29 Years and Our First Kiss”

  4. You and Mike are adorable, as always. Thanks for sharing your adventures and great photos with us. Happy Anniversary! I thought your rememberance of your first kiss was amazing and I would never remember mine. Then I realized that Buddy and I had our first kiss 29 years ago and I remember every detail. Even now, when I think of it, I get all fluttery. Thanks to for inspiring the memory for me

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  9. Congratulations Alys and Mike! Looks like a lovely town and it must have brought back memories… 😁 I bet there aren’t many towns left like that that haven’t expanded more.

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  11. Happy anniversary to the lovely couple! And wishing you many more years of happiness and celebrations. I can’t believe I haven’t been aware, till now, of a place in the US called Los Gatos. I’d fit right in!

    Also, I didn’t know about the style of house named after Queen Anne till we went to Ottawa 8 years ago – it’s not a style I’m familiar with in the UK but I love the turrets, so pretty and romantic.

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    • Thank you for your well wishes. It’s fun discovering new things. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed some of the details of my post. This was fun to write. By the by, my father was born in the UK and my mother in Canada. We were raised in London, Ontario, not that far from Ottawa. I have a friend that lives there. I love our small world.

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  13. Congratulations Alys – your last photo is very special.

    The telephone box looks so well kept, unlike the one in our village which has weeds growing through it. I keep meaning to nudge the local council into doing something with it, like installing a free library or, as some places have done, a defibrillator.

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    • Thank you, Lynn! I had forgotten that photo and was actually looking for another one when I found it. It’s perfect for this post.

      I’ve been reading about the different uses for these retired red boxes. Who could have dreamed that a pay phone would one day be obsolete?

      I think of you often. xo

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    • Thank you, Laura! There have been many changes to the downtown area, some of it prompted by Covid. Many of the restaurants now have outdoor, street-side seating. The park is still there, but the shops and restaurants have changed hands. Are you still living in California?

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  15. I love all of this! I’m so happy for you both. What a wonderful place to celebrate. How we change as time passes as well as the structures with which we are familiar. But the love and the joy you share with each other never changes. We can see it in your eyes. Congratulations on 29 years.

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