A small wooden figure of Jolly Captain Briggs sits next to the front door; the sign that hangs above reads "Memorabilia."

Although the store may seem small and out of place, its outside appearance is deceiving. Memorabilia's owner, Leonard McKay, and his store belong in San Jose more than anywhere else.

Inside, the small shop represents more than 150 years of San Jose and Santa Clara County history. It contains more than 6,300 old photographs and several paintings created by artists from San Jose and Santa Clara County, including Andrew P. Hill and Charles Harmon. The art, antiques and artifacts in display cases give the shop the feeling of a mini museum.

Even McKay, nicknamed "Mr. San Jose" from speaking on a radio show, seems to know more about history than you could find in a textbook.

McKay, who has been a resident of San Jose for almost 50 years, lived in Willow Glen from 1953—when he returned from World War II—until 1972.

Customers come to his store, which specializes in rebinding old books and bibles, to see old photographs or have questions answered about the history of San Jose.

But for once, McKay hasn't been called to tell stories about San Jose—he has been selected by the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association (WGNA) as the grand marshal for Willow Glen's Founder's Day 75th anniversary celebration and parade Sept. 8.

"It's really an honor," said McKay. "I guess they expect me to ride in the parade and wave to the people," he said. Then he laughed, "As much as I got real bad arthritis, I don't know how long my arm will stay up."

"It's a ceremonial post, an honor to be grand marshal," said WGNA President John Gibbs. "He was a great choice because our theme was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Willow Glen. It's going to be based around history, and Leonard is known as Mr. San Jose, with his vast knowledge of the history of San Jose. He was our most logical choice."

Born and raised in San Jose and Los Gatos, McKay graduated from Los Gatos High School. He served in the army for three years during World War II, working as a liaison pilot in Germany for artillery observation.

He then returned to the United States and graduated from Santa Clara University before he worked for three years for Pan American Airways in the Pacific.

He returned home to San Jose in 1953, and ran his family business, Smith & McKay Printing Company, for 30 years. His son has now taken over the business, which faces Almaden Boulevard and shares a wall with Memorabilia.

In 1983, McKay assisted Clyde Arbuckle in finishing a book called History of San Jose. Copies of the book were printed in the United States, but McKay had a few copies specially bound in England in 1986.

"It's in Moroccan leather—that's goat skin—stamped in 22 carat gold, with gold leaf all the way around," he said as he proudly displayed the book from England. The first few pages were colorfully designed with a method called marbling, and each page was carefully hand-painted.

McKay closed the book and held the pages as if he was about to fan through them. "This is what makes the book different from everything else," he said. In place of the gold edge of the pages is a beautiful painting of San Jose. "It's called hidden four-edge painting," he said.

The books bound in England are now worth about $1,000 each. Several of the ones he sent overseas were never returned.

"Some of them totally disappeared," McKay said, "and now they're showing up on the Internet, one at a time."

McKay opened Memorabilia to sell his used book inventory while he worked with Arbuckle on the book.

Now most of the old books have been sold off, and only a small bookcase of them remains at the shop.

"What we do mostly now is answer questions," McKay said. Customers visit the shop to have their questions about San Jose answered and have their old books rebound. Bibles are a big part of his rebinding business.

"There's nobody else around this area that does this kind of work anymore," he said. "I do some of the work here, and some I send out. It depends on how much work I have and how complicated the job is."

On top of his duties running a shop and being named as grand marshal for Founder's Day, he has served as president for the Historic Landmarks Commission, historian and president of the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County, and historian for the San Jose Rotary Club.

He has also written several books, including Early Day San Jose, Wheels of the West, A Postcard History of San Jose, San Jose Rotary History—75 years and San Jose Police and Fire Department, 1901.

McKay also holds a teaching credential in California history and gives lectures and speaks on the radio about local history.

After keeping his shop open for 30 years, McKay said the San Jose Redevelopment Agency may be taking away the land his shop stands on to build a parking garage.

"I don't know what is going to happen. It will be extremely difficult to work here. Not so much my business, but my son's business next door does real precision printing," said McKay. With the noise and vibrations from construction, "it would almost be impossible to work."

"It depends on what Redevelopment does," said McKay. "If they decide to take our property, they probably will move the print shop, and at that time I'll probably just close up."

McKay hopes to finish writing his book, The Seamy Side of San Jose, a collaboration of funny stories about San Jose citizens he has collected over the years.

For questions about the history of San Jose, visit McKay at Memorabilia or just look for him on Founder's Day. He says he will be dressed in a bright red shirt and jeans, with a colorful top hat, waving cheerfully at the crowd.

"This is my home," said McKay. "I've always been very interested in San Jose, and I've always tried to do whatever I can to get involved and protect San Jose. I've lived in the Orient and in Europe. I think it's the best place to live in the world—right here."