Next on the list is The Bank, at 14421 Big Basin Way, with a sign designating it an Irish pub. It's on the list as a Classic Revival style building, dating back to 1913. It was Saratoga's first bank, managed by a local group. In 1917 it became the Garden City Bank and later the American Trust Co. By 1937 it was a Bank of America branch, which it remained until 1958.

The year 1937 is of special significance because in September of that year it was the target for a couple of bank robbers. These weren't civilized, note-passing types; these were gun-toting--and aiming--bandits. Lewis Scott was the one-man staff at the time and, having very few options, he handed over some cash. When the robbers fled to their car and sped away, Scott dashed outside with his own gun and fired a couple of shots after them. One shot hit the grease rack at the Shell service station on the northeast corner of the Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road intersection. Another hit the doorpost of the car, a discovery made when the robbers were subsequently captured near Fullerton.

There are a couple of angles here worth special mention. One was that in 1937, Saratoga seems to have been the kind of place where you could fire a gun down the main street and not hit anyone. The other angle had to do with an interview I had with erstwhile teller Scott many years later, when he was living over on the coast. What stuck in my mind was when he said that if he'd had his own gun at the time, he would have nailed those bandits.

I didn't go into detail with him, but it sounded as if the bank issued weapons to its employees. This isn't the kind of thing I'd bring up today in idle chitchat with a teller while I'm doing business there, but it's my surmise that guns aren't standard issue. Anyway, a surveillance camera could be more effective.

Next landmark on the list is the Memorial Arch in Blaney Plaza. This structure, designed by noted landscape architect Bruce Porter, has had an interesting history. It was built in 1919 as a memorial to Saratogans who died in World War I. Originally, the flower bed at its base was a fish pond, and I can remember from early childhood in the 1920s seeing goldfish swimming in there.

There were some tense moments involving the arch when the highway through town was straightened, eliminating some of the plaza. There was even talk of tearing the arch down, a prospect that stirred widespread concern. Fortunately, public opinion prevailed, and the arch was moved across the street to be next to the old firehouse.

In 2003, the arch was moved back to the plaza to make room for the new fire station. It now is close to its original location. Fittingly, it is where the annual Memorial Day services begin, to be continued at Madronia Cemetery.

In the immediate vicinity, in front of the new fire station, is the old Saratoga fire bell, which hung from a steel tower on Fourth Street, next to the old town jail. It was used to summon volunteer firemen, who pulled the man-powered hose cart. After its retirement with the advent of the fire siren, the bell lay at the base of the tower undisturbed for years. I remember seeing it as I walked to school from our house at the end of Marion Avenue (a.k.a. Road) until we moved to Orchard Road in February 1932.

The interesting thing to me, in retrospect, is the fact that no one bothered this bell or tried to steal it. It just lay there. In 1949, the volunteer department built Firemen's Hall on Oak Street, just above the library, now Book-Go-Round, and they put the bell in a suitable mounting, where it stayed until being moved to its present location.

There are only three more buildings on the historical walking tour; but they are worthy of considerable space in their descriptions. I'm referring to the old Methodist-Episcopal Church, now a bridal shop, at 20490 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road; the Federated Church, at 20390 Park Place; and the Saratoga Foothill Club at 20399 Park Place.

By the time this appears, Christmas will be over and we'll be on the threshold of 2006 (I thought they'd run out of numbers before this). Anyway, I'd like to wish my readers, both of them, the happiest of New Years.