This being a year of anniversaries--centennial of the 1906 earthquake and golden anniversary of Saratoga's incorporation as a city--I'd like to call attention to another one that is of local and regional significance. I'm referring to the 55th anniversary of the court decision that preserved Villa Montalvo as a cultural center open to the public.

The scenario went like this: During his lifetime, Montalvo's progenitor, Sen. James D. Phelan, used his fabulous 1912 villa as a focal point for artistic and cultural activities. It was his intention this kind of use be continued in perpetuity, and so in his will he bequeathed the property to the San Francisco Art Association to be maintained as a center for the arts.

The art association was a natural as Phelan's beneficiary. His roots in that city were deep, and he had even been a reform mayor of San Francisco in the early 1900s. As to his summer home at Montalvo, that was equally dear to his heart, and in leaving the villa and acreage to the art association, along with a $250,000 trust fund for maintenance of the property, he made it clear in his will what the agency was to do with it.

The will stated, in part, "I would like the property ... to be maintained as a public park open to the public under reasonable restrictions ... to be used as far as possible for the development of art, literature, music and architecture by promising students."

Phelan died in the summer of 1930, but it was about nine years before the first resident director, Anne Dodge Bailhache, was appointed. At about this time local residents formed the Montalvo Society, an organization that has evolved into the present nonprofit Montalvo Association that holds title to the property.

The San Francisco Art Association seemed to do what it could to carry out Phelan's wishes for the estate. There were concerts and lectures, and the art association hired high school students to be on hand on weekends to guide visitors around the grounds--but not in the villa--and answer questions. I substituted for my brother doing this duty a few times, and there wouldn't be more than one or two cars on a Sunday afternoon.

Things went along at what might be called a minimum level for almost two decades. There were artists in residence at the guest house, and Saratogans were active in supporting the cultural programs. But the San Francisco Art Association said it was feeling economic pressure in maintaining an adequate level of activity. So was born the 1951 lawsuit the association filed, seeking to break the trust on grounds that it was economically impossible to fulfill the terms. The suit asked that the property be sold and the proceeds split between the art association and Phelan's heirs.

The trial was held in San Francisco Superior Court before Judge Edward Molkenbuhr, and it was an occasion for Saratogans to testify as to what Montalvo had and could mean to them. Looking back, I think of the issue as being somewhat subjective in nature. Different people could look at it and come up with different opinions as to whether the Montalvo organization was really doing what it should and could.

I consider it fortunate that the case had the judge that it did. Molkenbuhr visited Montalvo and went on record as to his opinion of this remarkable place.

"The land at Montalvo, etched by nature itself, is exquisite and something one dreams of or sees in the paintings of creative artists. I shall never forget my visit to Montalvo, nor the walk over the trails on which the senator must have trod during his lifetime ."

The upshot of the trial was that the trust was not broken but the trustee was changed, and neither the heirs nor the San Francisco Art Association got their hoped-for proceeds from the sale of the Montalvo property. Not many cases that come to trial are completely one-sided; this issue could have been decided the other way, and the Montalvo property would have become just another astronomically priced subdivision.

In wedding anniversary terms, the 55th is the emerald. Montalvo is an emerald of incalculable value.