Photograph by Willys Peck
Willys Peck took this shot in about 1950. In the foreground is Paul Avenue, sparsely populated with homes. Just right of the center is the downtown business district.
Saratoga Stereopticon
Please forgive the bitter tears just one more time
By Willys Peck
Here I am returning to ground previously plowed (funny how the Heritage Orchard metaphor keeps cropping up) to resume discussion of the Village business district. I had written earlier about the sociological benefits of a small-town commercial atmosphere and enlarged on the theme some time later when the Saratoga Drug Store was forced to close.
Now, with the terms "redevelopment agency" and "blight" being bandied about on Big Basin Way, I don't think it amiss to revisit the town of a few generations ago and inquire whether there might be some substance there worthy of reviving, even in modified form.
First off, one could ask: What WAS the true nature of Saratoga? The community might have been described as a suburb of San Jose, despite the intervening 10 miles of orchard. People "went into town (San Jose)" for specialized purchases and entertainment, but Saratoga was its own entity, an agricultural and residential community with an entirely adequate business district serving the needs of residents. You could buy groceries at any one of four markets, which, until World War II, offered free delivery into your kitchen. (When I was a grocery delivery driver in 1941, "tip" was something associated with icebergs.) You could have a prescription filled or get an ice-cream soda at the drug store. Later there was a second pharmacy. Orchardists could get their implements repaired at the blacksmith shop. You could have your car repaired at any one of three garages and you could get a lube job there or at any one of three, later four, service stations.
What might be called frills were not overlooked. There was a very good antique shop in the old Methodist Church building, now the Arthur Mintz photographic studio, and a music store, the Clef House, in one of the historic buildings on Big Basin Way. From mid-1947 until the 1980s there was a movie theater. Other postwar businesses that came and went included a department store, dress shop and hardware and variety stores.
There were a couple of plumbing shops, an electrician, shoe repair shop, barbers and a beauty parlor. And yes, there were real estate offices. The town couldn't boast a restaurant row, but there were places for dining out, including a couple of very fine ones, one being the old Saratoga Inn, famous for its bread pudding dessert. Any business that wasn't going to meet the needs of the town's residents simply was not among those present.
So now, in 2000, we're living in what perhaps could be described as a suburb of that somewhat amorphous entity, Silicon Valley. The town's demographic changes have put what had been a traditional business district into an entirely different focus. It would seem that Saratoga's newer crop of residents, never having had the opportunity to see a real cross-section of businesses here, simply don't bother coming to the Village. Need a prescription filled? Well, there's Argonaut shopping center or Westgate. Need a motor tune-up or a lube job? How far do you want to drive? Need an electrician? Try the Yellow Pages. Need a hardware item? Excuse my bitter tears.
Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, I'm not trying to put the knock on the current business roster. If they can make it, fine. Maybe Saratoga can achieve status as the center of particular kinds of specialty shops. Or as a picturesque collection of stores where visitors just like to browse and spend money. Maybe Ken Carter's Eagle Wing Theater will be the philosopher's stone to transform Saratoga's leaden business atmosphere to gold.
Or, hey, how about a hardware store? Save a trip down to Orchard Supply. And I know just the spot for a drug store; there'd been one there for more than 85 years.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
