Retirements force changes in composition of the town
By Don Callahan
Family business, 65 years ... Kirk & Bob's Drive-in Pharmacy closed its doors last month. The business was started when Clyde (Kirk) Kirkendall was admitted to ownership of the Los Gatos Pharmacy by Bill Vowells in 1935. That pharmacy was located at 47 W. Main St. where the Move It Fitness Studio is now. Next door, to the west, was the City Hall Market. Kirkendall's father was a butcher and taught the trade to his son.
During the second World War, the owner of the market joined the military and left the management of the grocery store to Kirkendall. He cut a doorway between the two stores and, because his father was a butcher and taught his son how to cut meat, Kirkendall would cut meat at the butcher department and then return to be the pharmacist at the drugstore.
His son, Bob, graduated from Los Gatos High School in 1953 and, upon graduating from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Oregon, he joined his father at the Los Gatos Pharmacy. In 1958, Kirkendall and his son built a building and opened Kirk & Bob's Drive-in Pharmacy at 310 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, the front part of the family residence property.
In the mid-1960s, Kirk sold the Los Gatos Pharmacy and joined his son on a full-time basis. Kirkendall's last day as a pharmacist was on his 80th birthday in 1984. When his dad passed away in 1992, Bob took over and continued operating the drive-in pharmacy until last month, when he shut down the pharmacy and leased the building to a French laundry and cleaning company known as Penninou. More about Penninou next month.
Another family business, 62 years ... Two things happened in 1938; John Sorenson was born and his father, Leslie Sorenson, started Sorenson Plumbing. John was born in the old O'Connor Hospital on the corner of Race and San Carlos streets in San Jose and raised in Los Gatos. He worked for his dad for as long as he can remember and took over the business when his father passed away.
Recently, Sorenson said, "That's a lot of years in one business. Now it is time to retire, so I'm closing down the plumbing shop, selling the building at 21 W. Main Street and just going to relax for a month. Who knows where we go from here? I'm going to play it by ear. My wife, Amelia, will be retiring from Lucero Cables Inc. in September after 21-plus years. So maybe we and our son, Jack, will just rest awhile." He added, "With this real estate market as it is, I received 13 offers on the building. I have two good tenants; one has been with me for 20 years and the other for 14. Good tenants mean an awful lot."
Los Gatos startup ... "Search engines have made it easy for computer users to navigate the web. MobileID Inc. wants to do the same for cellphone users," according to David Hayden, MobileID's founder and chief executive. He continues, "Consumers who click on to a MobileID page on their cellphones will be able to use it to search for 200,000 other web pages that will have been adapted to appear on small-phone displays.
For instance, a phone user walking down the street could call up a selection of restaurant listings and local events, which, based on the user's preferences, is tailored to reduce pages and keystrokes. A big step for us is an alliance that became effective on Aug.1, with leading wireless carrier Nextel Communications." Hayden, a former analyst and 16-year veteran in the mobile and wireless industry, started his company in Los Gatos at 236 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Suite 213 last January.
Number 2 ... The second of three businesses which recently moved into 214 N. Santa Cruz Ave. is Rebecca's Well Design & Remodeling. Last month, Kitchen Studio Los Gatos. Next month, Austin Design. Rebecca Dunn Rivera started as an interior designer in Texas in 1985. Moving to Danville in 1993 and Campbell in 1996, Rivera has found her way to Los Gatos. Rivera states, "With all the talk about a parking problem here, I left Campbell because of the real lack of parking there. I had no reserved parking there and here I not only have reserved parking for me, I have reserved parking for my clients." Rivera received her bachelor's degree in interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and environmental design & planning from the University of Colorado. She is an allied member of the American Society of Interior Designers and a member of the board of directors of the International Federation of Design Architects. She has run the Design Market Sale in San Francisco for both the spring and fall sales and has worked on the San Jose Symphony Showcase Houses.
Apology... Zucconis not Cucconi. Landlord Gary Zucconis, praised last month by his tenant, Backdoor Boutique, was the victim of my misspelling his name. One email told me, " ... I was shocked to see you've (because I am an old-time Los Gatan, Senior Grade-per John Baggerly) forgotten the old-time Los Gatos family, the Zucconis. Remember Gary? Class of '54. Gary grew up in the little house second from the corner of Harding and Los Gatos Boulevard. We need to preserve our Old- timers (they are us) as long as we can!!!!" Maybe that is why Zucconis is such a wonderful landlord. Gary, my apology!
Got a tip for Don Callahan's monthly business column? Email him at decallahan@home.com, or fax him at 408.354.3917.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
