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Los Gatos Weekly-Times file photograph
This aerial view of Los Gatos High School in the 1940s shows a portion of the roomy, ever-popular front lawn.
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Picture from the Past
Spacious front lawn is one of LGHS's best-loved attributes
Tightwads fought a sod battle
By John S. Baggerly
Los Gatos' beloved Sunday afternoon concert series, Music in the Plaza, is back on schedule after giving its July 4 date to the San Jose Wind Symphony for the annual patriotic engagement on Los Gatos High School's grassy front lawn.
Musicians played under a tent-like cover west of the central walkway to the school's front door, and much of the audience was shaded under six palm trees. Other picnicking music lovers sat under the shady oak trees that stand in various opportune spots around the front of the school and the lawn. The festive Fourth of July music was again punctuated with cannon fire at the appropriate moments.
Future Music in the Plaza genres include country and western, Celtic/folk, blues, rhythm and blues, big band, Broadway show tunes and mariachi music of Mexico. All remaining concerts take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Town Plaza Park at the corner of S. Santa Cruz Avenue and W. Main Street.
Many locals may take LGHS' spacious front for granted, but the sod did not come easy. When the main building was about to be built in 1924, there was a battle between groups called the Tightwads and the Spendthrifts. The former wanted to build the school forward on the property near Main Street. The Spendthrifts fought for a setback to the spot in today's photograph.
The Spendthrifts eventually won, which gave Los Gatos a national and even international reputation for beauty. Local travelers bring home stories of meeting people who said, "I passed through Los Gatos and that is the most beautiful high school I ever saw." Some have even mistaken it for a college.
Few schools or colleges have such a beautiful venue for graduations. In her first year as principal, Trudy McCulloch saw family as well as students totally seated. Another of LGHS's attributes is its auditorium. Some 802 friends each contributed $l00 or more to create the current Prentiss Brown Auditorium, which boasts theater seats, improved stage and great lighting and acoustics.
Perhaps the greatest gift to LGHS came when an oil company selected the school as the location to build an eight-lane, all-weather track around the Helm Field football turf. The company apparently wanted a school in a college-like town because athletic directors could be flown into San Jose Airport and driven to Los Gatos Lodge--walking distance to the athletic fields and track.
At mid-century, when the state claimed its right of eminent domain to build Highway 17, the town's creekside swimming pool was sacrificed. Money received for the pool was turned over for the building of the LGHS swimming-pool complex. The Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation, with Bob Best in charge, uses the facility for swimming lessons and throughout the year. Along with the annual Fourth of July concert, the school's front lawn is also used for local carnivals, vintage-car displays and other special events.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
