The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap Croon In Tune: Garden City chorus members say the group has the camraderie of a fraternity. Jack Steck of Willow Glen (left) joins Dick Jenkins (right) and Jeff Snyder (center) in song. 1998: The Year in Review It may no longer be its own city, but the Glen is still its own place February Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza Chops Down its Willow Tree When Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza axed the willow tree by its restaurant on Jan. 22, manager Tim Littlefield never expected such a controversy. During the week following the tree's demise, Willow Street Pizza's phone rang off the hook with callers demanding an explanation. Sure the city arborist had labeled the tree a safety hazard, but why didn't the restaurant consult the community for an alternative? "That tree was part of the character of this community, and it seems a shame that we didn't get an opportunity to have some debate about this," said Willow Glen resident Scott Billets. "We're talking about Willow Glen, on Willow Street. Maybe we could have tried to put in some funds to make sure [the tree] was saved by bracing it up." The restaurant was alerted that the willow tree was so sick it could keel over at any time by an arborist customer. Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza did not remain without a willow tree for long--the restaurant immediately announced plans for a replacement willow tree of the same species, salix eabylonica. Barbecue Vendors in Willow Glen Temporarily Cool Their Grills Be careful what you ask for in Willow Glen. When a neighbor complained during a Nov 19 planning director's hearing of eye-reddening barbecue smoke billowing from La Villa, the deli had to cool its grill for a few weeks. Two other restaurants in the community--Plaza Inn and The Glen--emerged as nefarious barbecue culprits too. None possessed permits to grill burgers, and compliance orders were sent out by the code enforcement department to those businesses, ordering them to obtain a permit or stop barbecuing. After the criminal barbecuing had been exposed, La Villa Delicatessen decided to become legal, obtaining a permit to re-light its barbecue at a Feb. 11 planning director's hearing. La Villa's new permit allowed the restaurant to barbecue as long as the grill was locked inside at the end of the day. March Willow Glen's 'Gay ZIP code' and the Angry Aftermath After an article in The Resident reported that Willow Glen has one of the largest gay populations in the county, letters of outrage poured into the newspaper's office. The community buzzed that Willow Glen had been labeled "the gay ZIP code." Certain residents exclaimed that the article had branded Willow Glen as "gay" when only a small portion of the residents identified themselves as homosexual. Others thought The Resident placed too great of an emphasis on the gay and lesbian community, following the appointment of Ralph Serpe--an openly gay man--to the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association's board of directors. Many people whispered about a statement made by Barbara Jones, a lesbian who described her experience looking for a home in Silicon Valley. "Everybody kept saying, 'Oh, you have to live in Willow Glen,' so this is where we started looking," Jones said. "[People] referred to it as 'the gay ZIP code.' They said a lot of gay and lesbian people live in Willow Glen, and it's a pretty comfortable neighborhood." April Willow Glen and Hillsboro, Kansas: What's the Connection? The small community of Willow Glen has a twin in Hillsboro, Kansas. When Bruce and Sherry Kunkel moved to the famed Midwestern state after 16 years on Cherry Avenue, they bought a plot of land and built a replica of their former community. The development consists of homes built in the arts and crafts style of the bungalow, like homes found in Willow Glen. And the development has been aptly named Willow Glen. The idea came from Bruce's father, Eldred Kunkel, who took pictures of homes in Willow Glen to help his son with the project's architecture. Willow Glen Makes National News Thanks to a Statue's Missing Link Vandalism rarely merits much media attention, unless of course it was inflicted upon the statue of David displayed in front of Victorian House Antiques in Willow Glen. In early August, vandals carefully removed the statues' genitals, covering their handiwork with a single Bandaid. The news media went wild. In a matter of days, the salacious event had been covered by KRON-TV, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, the National Enquirer, the San Jose Mercury News and, yes, the Willow Glen Resident. Store owner Patrick Mormon said that during all his years in business, he never, ever received such media attention. Mormon soon found an artist to reconstruct the missing link, and David now stands in all his former glory. The cement genitals will hopefully stay put, thanks to a surveillance camera that Mormon installed. May Beanie Babies Invade Willow Glen They don't talk, wet themselves or transform into tanks. They're your average stuffed animal, only smaller and filled with beans. Early in 1997, Beanie Babies arrived in droves on Lincoln Avenue. Tammi Karnes, manager of the Dodads store, reported in a panic that 50 people were lined up outside her store waiting to buy "Erin," the newest bundle of beans. One man had even plunked himself outside her store in a lawn chair at 4 a.m., Karnes said. Karnes and her mother, Cathi, who owns the store, said they had no idea what the hype was about, but Tammi bashfully admitted that they'd been roped in themselves. "We all have them at home now," Tammi laughed. "They all have birthdays and names." "I wouldn't do [this] for any Beanie Baby," said one Glenite in line, who declined to give her name. "But I was particularly interested in the Erin because its birthday is near my birthday." Erin is a green bear about the size of a stapler, with a clover on the right side of her (or its) chest. She (or it) was born March 17, 1997, and was in high demand. September They Can't Say Why, But Glenites Like to Party Each year, Willow Glen residents proudly celebrate their short period of independence from the city of San Jose. Sixteen-year-old Janie Demkowski and her friends have lived in Willow Glen their entire lives. Each year they excitedly await Founders Day, but they bashfully admitted that they're not exactly sure when Willow Glen was founded. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, December 30, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.