I remember the day I dropped in at the Los Gatos Weekly office on Royce Street and introduced myself to young editor-publisher Dan Pulcrano. Fresh out of UC-Santa Cruz, Pulcrano and a partner, Lee May, had rounded up shareholders and started a brand-new Los Gatos newspaper to compete with the Los Gatos Times-Observer. The first edition had come out five or six weeks before the day I stopped by to see if the paper might be interested in a column of general interest about Los Gatos.
I found a hubbub--well, a small hubbub--going on with some desks being moved in, plus the usual controlled chaos of any news office large or small. I was impressed with Dan's youthful friendliness and enthusiasm. Here was a fellow clearly doing what he wanted to do. He liked the idea of a column. I told him how I'd worked for United Press and the Omaha World-Herald, whose readership covered Nebraska, and how for the last 20-odd years I'd turned to magazine writing. A couple of book manuscripts had failed to find a publisher, and I was looking for something else to do.
At first the column ran every two weeks, but it soon became a regular feature. I thought maybe I was being a bit too trivial at times, as when I did a column about how Los Gatos had plenty of boutiques and nail emporiums but I couldn't find "little" things like a bottle of Mucilage or needle and thread. I was happy to write later that the situation had been corrected. Pulcrano liked that type of column, and several readers said they did, too. I gradually swung into the idea of small, but I hoped interesting, items, plus occasional opinionated observations. We named the column "Our Town" after the Thornton Wilder play.
Artist Bob Newick flattered me with a drawing that still graces the column after 15 years.
Peddling pieces of alleged humor to magazines had been one of my fortes. I was soon reminded that there are always a few readers who, unless the jest is labeled "this is meant to be funny," are wont to take it seriously. I soft-pedaled the bright remarks.
John Baggerly and I still represent the Old Guard, having been more or less present at the merger with the Times-Observer, to which John, a scion of Los Gatos journalism, contributed before bringing his photos and texts to the Weekly.
In my memory, others are represented by a parade of eager journalists, some just out of school, others more experienced. Among the editors besides Pulcrano who endured my copy in the early years were Julie Bonds, Corinne Asturias, Carolyn Leal and Kristine Kern.
Marilyn Fitch met the public as the receptionist on Royce Street until the paper moved to then new Lyndon Plaza. After the October 1989 earthquake, the office was moved to the lower level of Old Town. Meantime, the Weekly had been taken over for a time by a group led by Joseph White as publisher, and Irving Shear coming from Southern California as editor.
Romance bloomed more than once in our littered halls. Worldly reporter Coimbra Maher married Jack Sirica, son of Judge "Maximum John" Sirica of Watergate fame. Lauren Holmes and photographer Dan Honda were wed.
From a reporter's view, the business side of a newspaper is usually a dark mystery. Helping dry up red ink were Steve Friedman and Parker Stokes.
I remember how bad we all felt when jolly, likable Marjorie Muttersbach, classified manager in the office at Old Town, died suddenly. Many of us attended the service at St. Mary's.
I couldn't come close to naming all the many folk who've helped the column over the years. Some who come to mind at once are Bill Wulf, Sue LaForge, John Lochner, Mardi Bennett, Ellen Graff, MarLyn Rasmussen, Gladie Rabitz, Emerson Shaw, Ethel Worn, Mary Foster, Jim Grupp, Megan Davidson, Joanne Benjamin, Joanne Rodgers and . . . well, lots more.
Nor would it be possible to name the many interesting people I was privileged to interview: two local women in aviation, for instance--Neta Snook Southern, who taught Amelia Earhart to fly, and Barbara Squire, who was in the WASPS (Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) in WWII; and talented artists, from Los Gatos sculptor Paul Mircea Goreniuc, who designed the symbolic ball on the Civic Center lawn, to Thomas Kinkade, the Monte Sereno painter of lush landscapes.
While I covered only sidelights of major events like the 1982 Fellman murder case and the great Lexington Hills fire of 1985, when 2,000 firefighters converged on the town, I have memories of such happenings, as well as, of course, the big Loma Prieta shaker of 1989.
History was made, quite literally, in 1982 when historic Forbes Mill was restored as a museum, with Alexander Baccardi as the first curator; Eureka Federal Savings backed it before the town took control through the volunteer Los Gatos Museum Association.
While tragically lacking potential as a matinee idol, I've always been interested in theater. I played minor roles in Dark of the Moon and Song of Bernadette, both directed by Lillian Fontaine and Claire Loftus, at Los Gatos High School's auditorium, and in several shows guided by Megan Davidson at Old Town Theater. My greatest accolade came when a visiting British lady saw I Remember Mama and thought I was a real English person, whereas I was imitating Cedric Hardwicke. No actor could ask for more.
It's been a mighty interesting 15 years of the Weekly in Our Town.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, March 5, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.