Main Street

Gutsy grandmother duo includes Claire Jinks

By Mary Ann Cook

CONTENDER: Claire Jinks is usually behind the scenes, what with a highly visible husband and son. (Her husband, Larry, is a former publisher of the San Jose Mercury News and her son Dan won an Oscar for producing the award-winning film American Beauty.) But this time the spotlight is full-bore on Mrs. Jinks. She's a contender on the TV show Amazing Race 2 and, if successful, will win a million bucks. The show airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m., starting March 13.

The idea of the show is for contestants to perform challenging stunts throughout the world. The first challenge is in Las Vegas. Tasks test mental and physical abilities and contestants have limited resources. The team that comes in last each week is eliminated.

The other member of Jinks' team is Peggy Kuhn of Truckee, a close friend, and they call themselves the gutsy grandmothers. There are 10 other teams competing. It's already been filmed, but we won't know for a few months just how creative and gutsy the grandmas are because the results are kept secret.

Jinks was suggested as a contestant for AR2 by CBS, where she had been a finalist for Survivor: Africa, but didn't survive the last cut.

JOHNNY APPLESEED STRIKES AGAIN: Graham Burrows, the volunteer tree-planter for the parks and rec department, is up to his old tricks. He's recently planted a row of 16 good-sized magnolia trees on the hillside where Main Street becomes Los Gatos Boulevard.

As of this writing, Burrows has planted 170 trees in spots throughout the most visible parts of town. But soon he and the town and the Chamber of Commerce's Beautification Committee will start pinpointing neighborhoods for tree placements, says Shirley Henderson, chairwoman of the committee.

Tree planting isn't Burrows' only town contribution: He's a member of Volunteers in Policing and, in addition, volunteers for Our City Forest in San Jose. Incidentally, that hill where the new trees have appeared is named El Monte Hill because a hotel with that name stood there from 1881 until 1909, when it burned down. History notes courtesy of Bill Wulf, natch.

N.Y. FIREFIGHTER FETED: Los Gatos will host two visiting New York firefighters over the coming weekend--Capt. Dan Daly and colleague Joe O'Brien. Los Gatos is one of the few Bay Area towns to sign up for the program, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The program is titled Cities Unite America and Thank NY Firefighters. Nationwide some several hundred firemen will be feted. The two will be quartered at the Toll House and their itinerary, as yet undecided, will be determined by their particular interests.

BENEFIT FOR CANCER: Cancer survivor Georgina Burgess of Saratoga, her daughter Emma Burgess and her niece Ashleigh Coffeng of Los Gatos hosted a dinner at the Chart House recently to raise money for the Avon 3-day walk. The event is a fundraiser for breast cancer research, education and treatment.

Some $5,700 was expected to be raised from the $50 tickets and silent auction for up to 75 people. The Chart House donated the place and staff. The three women and Chart House manager Tom Hess helped serve. Chart House vendors Sysco, Pacific Harvest Seafood and City Meat donated the food.

GATE CRASHING THWARTED: Betty Auchard reports that she and the Traveling Steinbeckians drew a standing room only crowd at a recent reading at Capitola Bookstore. She read a piece she had written about her adventures with former Los Gatos Weekly-Times photographer George Sakkestad, who was filling in on an assignment several weeks ago.

He wanted her pictured in front of Steinbeck's former house, but there were obstacles. A man was there whose "job was to keep people like us from entering the driveway until the electric fence could keep trespassers from doing what we had just done." Even after the attempted trespassing, a photo taken inside Auchard's house was the one used in the layout.

In other Steinbeck news, Susan Shillinglaw will talk about "Writing The Grapes of Wrath: Steinbeck in Los Gatos" March 1 at 7 p.m. in the town council chambers. Shillinglaw will sign copies of the book she co-edited, America and Americans, a collection of Steinbeck's journalism pieces. Shillinglaw, a Los Gatan, is the director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.

HOMELESS BENEFIT: Leslie Pederson's benefit Valentine party to raise money and clothing for area homeless netted $4,700 and 60 bags of clothing. Those bags were 50-gallon-sized so an impressive amount was collected from the 200 guests.

VALENTINE FALLOUT: Another Valentine fallout comes from Bunches: On V-Day it did the best day ever in its history. It's an aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack is the conjecture. Big spending is down, but moderate spending is up and flowers spell comfort.

"We had customers lined up to the door," says Flower Garden owner Bob Hambly. "Our walkup trade was wonderful," adds wife Donna. But overall, last year's take was better. Valentine's is traditionally the best day of the year for florists.

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