The Jeweler's Bench marks its 25th year in the downtown
Salon Los Gatos has moved to N. Santa Cruz Ave.
By Don Callahan
DIAMOND JUBILEE--The Jeweler's Bench at 236 N. Santa Cruz Ave., celebrates its 25th anniversary this week. "We started out in the Little Village on Village Lane and moved to our current location after five years and have been here ever since," according to Bench Jeweler, Karen Parrish.
ON THE MOVE--Salon Los Gatos has moved from 401 Alberto Way to 540-C N. Santa Cruz Ave. Jeanne Denice, stylist and color specialist and a director of the California Cosmetology Association opened her shop on Alberto Way more than 25 years ago. Many of the units are being renovated for office space, so Jeanne and her two associates, Ingrid vanderVeen and Mitzi Yamaji, decided to relocate the shop. When it comes to experience, the three ladies have more than 98 years of hair styling and coloring between them.
SMOG TEST--The Union 76 station that was on the corner of San Benito Avenue and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road has been converted to an auto smog test and brake shop. Convenient for those on the west side of town. The only other auto smog test licensed on this side of town is the Shell station on the corner of Tait and Los Gatos-Saratoga Avenue.
DOTCOM--Founded in 1995, Stardust.com will move from the Pruneyard to 15575 Los Gatos Blvd. in late June. "The tenant improvements are coming right along and we are really delighted with the building owner and Lexmar Development Co., L.L.C., the general contractor. Everything is running so smoothly," according to Karen Milne, co-founder, president and co-CEO. And from the company's website, "Stardust.com makes sense of new Internet stuff for Internet networking professionals. We run multivendor alliances, produce specialized technology conferences and provide comprehensive online information resources--all focused on new Internet technologies." In October 1999, Stardust.com joined Penton Media Inc.'s Internet Media Group.
HEADING NORTH--Roger and Mary Mills have put their Old Town Antiques business up for sale. They are moving to Bellingham, Wash., to be close to their daughter who is attending Western Washington University. The Millses have been in the collectives business in Los Gatos for 10 years. They started out in the Antiques Colony in what is now the Opera House, then they moved to 100 S. Santa Cruz Ave. for three years. For the last six years they have been at 6 University Ave.
SOHO--Small office/home office individuals who already have email but would like to add voice and fax capabilities accessible from the Internet are part of the market for TelePost at 15575 Los Gatos Blvd. The TelePost Message Center uses one mail box for all of your voice, fax and email. It is always available for incoming calls and faxes, Internet retrieval from anywhere, including your cell phone, any browser, a public web-browser terminal or your favorite email program. It is password-protected, and you don't need to change a thing including your phone numbers and e-mail address. According to Bruce M. Runyan, president and COO of TelePost, "This is just one of the many features offered by our company. TelePost was formed in Santa Cruz three years ago and we just recently moved into this brand new building here in Los Gatos. Many of our people live on this side of the mountain and the commute just got too busy."
JAPANESE STYLE--Tsume Nail Salon was recently opened by Sally Nguyen at 318B N. Santa Cruz Ave. Nguyen came from Vietnam 14 years ago with her mother. She was in the manicure business for five years, and Nguyen now is venturing out on her own. She has three employees and is excited about having her own nail salon.
KISS AND MAKEUP--Right next door to Tsume at 322 N. Santa Cruz Ave. is "hers," a studio for clothing and accessories, etc. "Hers" is operated by Noemi and Jaymie, mother and daughter of the owner, Rebecca Sell. Sell stated, "I operated the clothing and accessories store for a couple of years, but I wanted to expand to my first love and opened Kiss and Makeup, a studio for makeup, eyebrows, etc. I worked in San Francisco for nine years as a cosmetologist and esthetician before moving to Los Gatos." She is licensed by the state of California. Kiss and Makeup is located through the revolving door at 130M N. Santa Cruz Ave.
ARCHITECT--Louie Leu, now located at 236 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Suite 210, has focused his architectural work primarily on residential, commercial and public projects. Leu received his bachelor's degree in architecture from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo and is a member of the American Institute of Architects. His experience was gained by working with Cobb & Morton, Architects, in Los Gatos and the Steinberg Group in San Jose. He has done collaborative work with distinguished international architects, Bruno Gemignani in Florence, Italy, and Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico.
Got a business news tip for columnist Don Callahan? Contact him by fax at 408.354.3917 or by email at decallahan@home.com.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
