The Ruffo home was the first house to be relocated in the section of Willow Glen that would be developed along Newport Avenue between Malone Road and Madrona Avenue. The home, originally purchased by his parents in 1947, was located on Lincoln Avenue near Curtner Avenue. The family had the house moved when the lot was slated for commercial development in 1950.

Because orchards dominated the area, the house took a circuitous route, traveling west on Curtner, north on Cottle Avenue and finally east on Malone Road, settling on Newport Avenue, then known as Washington Avenue. The street name changed to Newport Avenue in 1963.

Moving the family home, Ruffo says, was commonplace at the time. "You could get a house for free if you had a piece of land to put it on," Ruffo says.

The 1,600-square-foot home with its three bedrooms was lifted from its original foundation using screw jacks rather than hydraulics, which are used today. The house was towed behind a truck and took several hours to reach its final destination.

Homes that were not moved to another location were burned by firefighters for training, Ruffo says. In the 1960s, demolishing a house was more costly than moving it.

Once the Ruffos' home relocated to Newport, 73-year-old Ernest spent the rest of his life there. In his younger years, he ran through the orchards with friends, stealing fruit and hiding from farmers in cherry trees. In 1958, he married his wife, Marie, and bought the home from his parents for $8,500. The couple raised four children--Ernest Jr., Frank, Judy and Kirk.

As the decades wore on, the orchards gave way to new homes and neighbors like Dan and Marion Bourbon and their sons Russell and Randy.

Bourbon, 65, is a retired San Jose battlion fire chief who grew up in north San Jose. As a child, traveling from his home to Willow Glen was "a big deal." Even then, Willow Glen had a reputation as a family neighborhood with expensive homes.

Bourbon bought his Newport home, across from the Ruffos, for $30,000 in 1972. The $200 monthly mortgage payment was steep for a man bringing home only $500 a month, he says.

He says the sacrifices were worth it.

"I always thought it was a neat place to live," Bourbon says. "It doesn't change much. That's what's nice about it."

Ruffo agrees, saying the neighborhood has changed little since the housing influx after World War II.

Along this particular stretch of one-story homes on Newport Avenue, yards are still replete with fruit hanging low off the citrus trees. Magnolia and avocado trees, planted decades ago, now shade homes bought by newlyweds after the war. American flags hang proud, and neighbors can be found chatting on the street while playing with their grandchildren.

Still the same

Over the years as the Newport Avenue population aged, some residents died and others too elderly to care for their homes sold to younger homeowners.

Javier Acosta, 32, an officer on the San Jose Police Department's violent crime enforcement team, began searching for a Willow Glen home in 1997. A native of east San Jose, Acosta attended Edwin Markham Junior High School, renamed Willow Glen Middle School.

Acosta says Willow Glen was too expensive--nearly $400,000 for a two-bedroom home in 1997. Instead, he bought a home in Gilroy. By 2002, he tired of the commute, sold his home and moved in with a friend until he found a home in Willow Glen.

What Acosta thought would only be a one- or two-month stay at his friend's house turned into a yearlong home search. "I didn't want to settle," he says.

Acosta finally stumbled upon a house on Newport Avenue and Hermosa Way, next door to the Ruffos. The house had been abandoned for several years before it was bought by William Aviles and refurbished by DeMattei Construction, Acosta says.

In 2003, Aviles was asking a little over $1 million for the house, which Acosta says was too much for his budget. Despite the high cost, Acosta fell in love with the 2,200- square-foot, three-bedroom house.

"I wouldn't live anywhere else," Acosta says.

Acosta was tenacious about pursuing the house, he says, hoping Aviles would lower his asking price. For three months, Acosta drove by the home showing friends. He introduced himself to neighbors and befriended Aviles.

Three months later, Acosta received a call from Aviles, who said he was on a winning streak in Las Vegas. "Sell me your house," Acosta replied.

Within a matter of days, Aviles agreed to sell Acosta the house for $835,000 and Acosta finally became a Willow Glen homeowner.

In his first year, Acosta helped arrange Newport's first block party, which has become an annual event with children's entertainment, a jazz band and barbecue. More than 150 people attend the block parties, a mix of Newport neighbors, their families and residents from neighboring streets.

Besides the block parties, Acosta has befriended many of his neighbors during the past three years on Newport, offering to lend a hand when he can.

"You won't find a better guy," Bourbon says.

Further down Newport, near Sandra Drive, Acosta has also won the affection of Eileen Nicholls, Bee Scholes and Bernice Mattern. Acosta calls the three women his surrogate grandmothers.

Scholes, 88, had been struggling with a rotting fence for several years. Attempts to replace the fence were fruitless, until Acosta moved into the neighborhood. Acosta connected the three women with a friend who installed new fences on their properties. He also came by daily to make sure the work was going as planned.

"He's caring for us," Nicholls says.

It is Acosta's kindness that has made him a welcome addition to the neighborhood that older residents have watched grow and change over the past 50 years.

Post-war families

In the late 1940s, the Nicholls, Scholes and Mattern families settled on the corner of Newport Avenue and Sandra Drive. Each family's arrival told a different story.

Mattern is a Bay Area native who grew up cutting apricots for 25 cents a box. She wed at 18 and moved into her Newport home in June 1947 with her husband, John. Mattern's mother owned the lot next door.

Scholes lived in Kentucky until she was 11, when her family moved to San Jose. Scholes married her husband, Frank, after only six weeks of courtship. Frank was related to the Romani Brothers, contractors who built several homes on Sandra Drive and Curtner Avenue. The brothers encouraged the couple to buy a home on Sandra Drive, which they did in August 1947.

Nicholls says she and her husband, Thomas, settled in San Jose "purely by chance." The English couple had an adventurous streak after Thomas was released from his war duties in Burma and India. Nicholls, originally from Bristol, England, sailed with her husband from England to New York. The couple had planned to visit America and travel on to Australia.

"It was after the war, so we didn't have fear," she says.

From New York, the Nichollses boarded a train bound for Oakland. From Oakland, they took a ferry to San Francisco, and found their way to San Jose.

Before they ever made it to Australia, the Nichollses settled in San Jose. They purchased the property next door to the Matterns in 1948. At that time the homes were still surrounded by cherry orchards, and the Nichollses had a chicken coop next door. Ever resourceful, the Nichollses used manure from the chicken coop to fertilize their garden.

"We've been here ever since," Nicholls says. "It was cheap and a mess, but we fell in love with it."

Soon after they moved in, Nicholls says, Mattern and her family came to their home to welcome them into the neighborhood. Since that time, Nicholls says she's felt "adopted" by the Matterns--finding a friend in Bernice and a protector in John, a retired police officer and lawyer.

"She's absolutely this perfect person who lives next door," Nicholls says of her friend.

However, their friendship with Scholes developed later. In those early years, the women rarely saw Scholes, who was working with her husband at his downtown jewelry store, Frank Scholes Jewelry. Once Scholes retired, however, the women bonded, sharing a love of gardening and conversation.

For Mattern, Newport Avenue was a perfect place to raise her children, who used to walk to Lincoln Glen Elementary School. The site has since been converted into the Willows Senior Center.

Although their piece of Willow Glen has remained unchanged for nearly 30 years, the women have adapted to the changes in downtown Willow Glen. Back in the 1960s, the women frequented Bergmann's Department Store, now Casa Casa and the Garden Theater, a popular movie house that was converted into a mall. Today, they visit Starbucks on Saturdays, and enjoy watching Willow Glen's younger community--young couples with their children and dogs.

But the women always have a glimpse into the valley's past each time they enter Mattern's backyard. Mattern now rents out her mother's home, but has kept a slice of the property for a small orchard filled with cherries, nectarines, plums, peaches, apples and grapes.

Leading a tour through her friends' gardens, Nicholls takes time to point out a white cherry tree or an angel's trumpet. As she opens a gate that leads to Scholes' garden, Nicholls reminisces about moving in 57 years ago.

"We kind of hit the jackpot when we came upon this strange place," Nicholls says.