Photograph courtesy of Bill Wulf

Turn-of-the-century Los Gatans, looking westward on Main Street, took in the sights of a very small town.

Picture from the Past

Historian Bill Wulf looks at
the turn of another century

By John S. Baggerly

With the turning of a new century, this Old-Timer, Senior Grade, thought it fitting to devote a column to the Los Gatos of 100 years ago. The following dispatch comes from "Los Gatos 1900," an essay by local historian William A. "Bill" Wulf:

Los Gatos at the turn of the last century was still a small rural and rustic community, with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. A visitor arriving on the narrow-gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad would see a sign on the depot proclaiming, "Tickets to the East and Europe," while clicking of the Postal Telegraph was heard in the background.

Across Santa Cruz Avenue was the new Hotel Lyndon, rebuilt after the fire of 1899, which is the year the first horseless carriage appeared. Just up the dirt road, past the old toll house was a sign forbidding "Automobilists from driving to Santa Cruz," lest the horses and oxen would be frightened.

On the northwest corner of Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street was the Hostra Block with A. Skinkle Jr.'s Corner Drug Store. The business district extended north, along Santa Cruz Avenue, to Los Gatos Cannery--where the Los Gatos Cinema is today--where in the summertime one could smell plums, apricots and peaches being canned and hear the bell and whistle of the South Pacific Coast Railroad locomotive shoving a string of boxcars into the cannery.

Across the railroad tracks, on Main Street, Los Gatos was still a town built out of wood, at least before the fire of 1901 that burned everything from Los Gatos Creek to the railroad tracks. Walking down the north side of the street, one could smell the sweet aroma of chocolate and candy being made at Crall's Palace of Sweets, home of the Opera House. Street lamps burned gas provided by Los Gatos Gas Co. on Elm Street, while power poles carried electricity from the Pelton Water Wheels, which powered the generators of Los Gatos Power and Ice Co. at Forbes' Mill. Los Gatos also had telephone service through Los Gatos Telephone Co.

Stepping off the wooden plank sidewalk at University Avenue, one might encounter a team of horses pulling a wagon loaded with limestone to be burnt at Los Gatos Lime Co., behind the former University Avenue Grammar School--where Old Town stands today. People strolling the sidewalks were careful to avoid "road apples" (an early term for horse manure) in the street as they walked to Lundy Lane, where the tall wooden fire bell tower and Los Gatos Hose Cart No. 2 was located.

Across Main Street, on Park Avenue, was Bunker Hill Park, formerly Shore's Grove on Los Gatos Creek, south of the 1882 single-span wooden Main Street bridge. From the bridge one could see children swimming in the "Boo Gang," a local name for their swimming hole made by the quarrying of stone from Forbes Mill. Located below the Main Street Bridge were the shanties, wash houses and cooking areas of the railroad workers. Down Los Gatos Creek Canyon came the smells of the Santa Cruz Mountains, pierced with the shrill whistle of the South Pacific Coast Railroad locomotives hauling trains over the mountains.

This is only a brief glimpse into Los Gatos of 100 years ago; maybe it was a better time in some ways, but I would not trade the improvements of today for the hard life of 100 years ago.

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