Saratoga Sampler
Arts magazine highlights Old Grandview Ranch
By Mary Ann Cook
ART & ANTIQUES: The summer issue of the glossy Art & Antiques magazine highlights a Saratoga estate, the home of Donald Head, art collector extraordinaire and for 25 years professor of 19th-century literature at San Jose State University.
The Head estate is called variously Old Grandview Ranch, (for its grand view of Santa Clara Valley), Pike Estate (for the original owner, Fluor Corporation's Percy H. Pike) or Hearst Castle North. Because of his art treasures, this last is perhaps the most apt.
Head owns a world-class collection of California impressionists. These were loaned to the San Jose Museum of Art for a show last year. His collection of oil paintings are representative of different centuries and may be his favorite category, founded on a lifelong affection.
There are also sculpture, magnificent glasswork, Japanese screens, antique furniture and silver and tapestries. Sculptures range from 16th-century Italian to present day Glenna Goodacre. Her Puddlejumpers--six youngsters, holding hands, cavorting--is displayed on the front lawn.
A recent acquisition is a Siberian cave lion skeleton, said to be 100,000 years old and one of only two in the world. Carmel gallery director Patrick Kraft credits Head with a superb aesthetic sense, saying he is unmatched in the time, effort and money he has invested in his collection.
The collection has provided the impetus for most of the 25-acre estate's rehabilitation. When Head bought it in the late '60s it had been neglected: wild animals roamed the outbuildings, windows were broken. He rejuvenated the 22-room mansion and its environs into a stunning showcase worthy of his collections.
Head is generous in sharing his bounty with museums and offering Grandview for fundraising efforts. He reluctantly admits he has the ability to spot talented people, invest in them and thereby reap the benefits. He also invested in real estate at a propitious time.
The estate includes two art galleries, a studio, two swimming pools, a pool house, a prize-winning camellia garden and acres of fruit orchards. "A once dilapidated California estate shines again as an art showcase," trumpets a heading in the Art & Antiques article.
Original owner Percy Pike spared no expense when he built his summer house; Head spares no aesthetic in furnishing his estate.
PARISIAN TAPE: That famous former Saratogan Olivia de Havilland sent my columnist compadre John Baggerly a video tape entitled The American Cathedral in Paris for which she provides the introduction. Yes, it's a plea for funds for maintaining the 100-year-old structure, but it's also a moving portrait of the role the church plays in the lives of its parishioners.
The stately De Havilland says she's been a member for 25 years. Though services, mainly Episcopalian, are held in English, the cathedral is a home for many nationalities and creeds.
The church holds a Christmas program put on by the children, Eucharist services, Bible studies and sponsors 24 cultural events per year.
The cathedral is the repository of many outstanding artworks, including 600 handmade needlepoint works, 50 of which symbolize each of the states. Research appraised one gift of a panel painting from the 1400s to be extremely valuable. The cathedral is at 23 Avenue George V.
FAMILY NIGHT: Family Night at the Southwest YMCA on Quito Road will be on July 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. The evening will include an Olympics Torch relay, a barbecue and jump houses for the agile--of all ages?
In other Y news, summer camps are in full swing and the buzz this year is about the physability program, in which children and adults with disabilities are integrated in all Y activities. Though traditional programs for the disabled were specially designed and had segregated them from the able-bodied, the new thinking is for inclusion.
Coordinator Dalia Nir says that, above all, the Y is a place for acceptance and understanding, and that pursuing sports and games together will bring new skills and friendships to the disabled, and increase appreciation and sensitivity by the able-bodied.
OSCAR WINNER: Dan Jinks, producer of the Academy Award winning film American Beauty, will speak to the Commonwealth Club on Aug. 7, at 6:30 p.m. at Camera 3 in San Jose. A reception at 5:30 p.m. will precede the talk. Jinks is the son of Larry and Claire Jinks and attended to Los Gatos High School.
REUNION: The sixth Saratoga Alumni reunion picnic will be held on July 29, from noon to 5 p.m. at Wildwood Park. Cost is $15 per person. Last year $1,800 was donated to the Saratoga School Library, thanks to proceeds from the picnic.
Committee members are Les Landin, Dorothy Van Arsdale Stamper, Willys Peck, Patti Wyant Reschar, Adrienne Reynaud Zimmerman, Norman Zimmerman, Henry Clarke, Mary Lou Teeple Butera, Jenny Taylor, Lea Ann Hernandez, Susan Ruzak Schwartz and Rick Bonetti.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
