Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Village House volunteers (from left) Mary Lou Fuchs, Roberta Savage and Sonja Haws are among the many EMQ Service League members celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Village House.

Village House celebrates its 30 years in business

By Michelle Alaimo

Hidden away at 320 Village Lane is a restaurant that brings a touch of English countryside to downtown Los Gatos and also helps raise funds for Eastfield Ming Quong. The Village House and Garden Restaurant, staffed mostly by volunteers, is gearing up for its 30th anniversary on Nov. 13.

"We like to call ourselves the best-kept secret in Los Gatos because we are so hard to find," says founder Bev Rouse.

The restaurant, which began 30 years ago with a core group of 18 women, now boasts more than 200 volunteers, with a group of 15 staffing the Village House each day and performing duties from hostess to dishwasher.

"Everyone is here because they enjoy being here," Rouse says.

Open to the public Monday through Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Village House offers a unique menu to some 40 daily customers.

The restaurant raises about $35,000 a year for EMQ, a set amount of each month's profits going to the organization. In addition, all tips received by the Village House servers go directly there, says Olive Burger, president of the EMQ Service League.

In addition to serving lunches, the restaurant hosts bridge groups from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. by reservation only. Groups can come in, play bridge, eat lunch and then play more bridge. Burger says the bridge-groups option is very popular; they even have a bridge teacher who comes in every now and then to teach those interested.

Rouse says it's hard to believe it's been 30 years since the restaurant, which she likes to call a club, opened. She explains that the whole idea of the restaurant came about after the Presbyterian Church in San Francisco's Chinatown trimmed funding to what was then Ming Quong. Rouse and 17 others then set out to find a way to raise money for the Ming Quong Children's Center located in Los Gatos.

At first, the founders thought of having a tearoom, but then the idea of a restaurant came about. They then worked on gaining support for their restaurant on a street which at the time was not a busy shopping area.

"Merchants were looking at us and laughing," Rouse says. "They said, 'We are having a hard enough time supporting ourselves.' "

With a lot of persistence, the group was able to raise the $5,000 needed to open in November 1967. Rouse says their fundraising efforts included sock hops and selling $100 bonds with a promise to pay back the money within three years with $3 interest.

The founders lived up to their promise, paying everyone back and buying the building in the early 1970s for some $60,000.

With so much history behind them, Rouse and Burger agree that the volunteers are "just like family." But both say that volunteers are harder to come by these days because so many people are working and don't have the time. Burger says they have a lot of turnover because many of the people who volunteer at the restaurant are retired, and when they get ill, someone is needed to replace them. She says they are always looking for more volunteers, and anyone over age 16 is welcome.

To honor the Service League volunteers, past and present, the Village House will be closed to the public on Nov. 13 for a restaurant birthday luncheon and celebration

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]