Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show March 10 2011

“When Irish Eyes are Smiling” was the theme of the day, to be completed by a corned beef and cabbage menu next week, promised President DENNIS as he opened the meeting on time, as always.

PE MONA smiled her way up to the microphone to gush about her exciting, but exhausting weekend at PETS (President-Elect Training Seminars).  She is eager to share all she learned.  She was delighted to see the prominence of our club with two booths promoting our projects: Child AIDS Prevention, manned by MARLENE COWAN, ALLAN VARNI, MARY MARLEY, and MONIQUE KANE of Mt. View RC. The second booth on Water, Health, Hunger, Solar (emphasis on solar as the energy provider for all the other parts) was manned by ALLART LIGTENBERG, MIKE ABRAMS and ALLAN VARNI. Both booths had prominent positions flanking the main door into the main banquet room.

No visiting Rotarians were in the audience today, but MONA aims to reinstate our prior custom of greeting the visiting Rotarians with, “Hi (name)!” We’ll practice that next week. Guests were introduced by ABBY AHRENS (VP of Torrey Pines Bank sponsoring our Fine Art Show as well as Abby’s future hotel manager), STEVE SHEPHERD, and MONA.  Next week’s program will be Barbara Larson, CEO of the Red Cross Silicon Valley.

DAVID SMITH invited all to attend the Los Altos/Los Altos Hills Community Expo for 50+ on Saturday, April 2 from 9:30 am – 2:00 pm at the Los Altos Youth Center.  It will be an opportunity to hear Kenneth Smith from the Stanford Center on Longevity speak on “Become an Entrepreneur of Your Life”, enjoy free breakfast and lunch, and volunteer for a “twofer” by which both the community and yourself benefit from your volunteer activities. Register at losaltosrecreation.org using Activity Number 645518-09 or simply phone 650-947-2797.

KENDRA “Party Animal”GJERSETH invites us to the District Assembly April 9.  She calls it “Your Rotary University” for which LARC pays your tuition, and it actually is an excellent place to learn about Rotary projects.  Sign up online using Club Runner (or see KENDRA).

CAMMIE BRODIE announced three LARC members who will be honored at the 8th annual Gardner Community Building Awards with the Annual Community Service Award presentation to Pinky Whelan. Your club honorees are JOHN SYLVESTER (nominated by the Bus Barn Stage Company), MARGE SENTOUS (nominated by JustREAD), along with CINDY and DAVE LUEDTKE (nominated by the Los Altos Community Foundation).

BAIDRA PROCHNOW MURPHY reminded Red Badgers to attend the meeting at 6 pm tonight at First Republic Bank.  Actually, all are welcome.

STEVE POMEROY announced that today is the last chance to confirm your prior Art Show jobs again for this year.  You can select different jobs soon, probably Monday.

CHUCK LINDAUER is helping KAREN FOX to find the 8 host homes needed for Russian educators April 8-16. Hosts simply provide a private bedroom, breakfasts, 2 dinners, and transport to the meeting place in Los Altos. This will be your chance to establish friendship with a well-educated, English-speaking Russian educator.

JULIE ROSE invites all to hear Lewis H. Lapham, longtime Editor of Harper’s Magazine, speak on “The Pleasures of Reading” on March 25, 7:30 – 9:00 pm at the Los Altos Main Library. It’s a free event.

Rotarian of the Month recognition was awarded last week to JACK KELLY for his tireless efforts to produce the Speech Contest in our club and also in Area 9.  JACK is a Toastmaster extraordinaire for having won the top prize in their Humorous Speech contest.

Finemaster DAN HOLDEN had questions on extraordinary facts to quiz us, and he was able to extract money from most.

• However, the first volunteer to pay was KURT HUEG who wondered why he hadn’t yet been fined after all his own Finemaster duties.  He volunteered $50 with more promised in the future.
• FRANK VERLOT offered $20 to announce his next trip to Texas.
• KATHY LERA paid to praise the cioppino feed to which she had invited the wife of one of the original cooks.
• DUDE ANGIUS offered $60 in absentia for his 60th wedding anniversary to his lovely bride, Barbara.
• STEVE POMEROY was nicked $20 (no discount there).
• KAREN FOX announced her Fox Family Reunion with her 3rd and 9th cousins.
• MARLIS MCALISTER was asked to name the #1 college in the world per US News and World Report, which she figured was either the University of Redlands where her son attends or Occidental College where she studied, but, alas, the correct answer was the University of Cambridge.
• GEORGE STAFFORD had to guess the location of the tallest building in the world. Answer: Dubai.
• DAVID SMITH had to guess the 5th best college in the nation.  Answer: Stanford.
• LOU FRASER couldn’t guess the deepest lake in the world.  Answer: someplace in the Russian hinterland at 5,000 feet deep.
• CLYDE NOEL suggested fining the Finemaster himself for the slow pace of the contest.
• BONNIE BURDETT got her “come-uppance” for last week’s fine she had extracted from DAN when she had to name the top two public universities in the US. Answer: UCB and UCLA (not Stanford!).
• RAE HOLT also was fined for the same tough question. Guess we should all have read US News and World Report this week.

STEVE SHEPHERD introduced our speaker, Laura Bajuk, Executive Director of the Los Altos History Museum.  She showed old photos and traced the history of our downtown triangle, 1907-1950. Laura’s “aha moment” occurred when she realized that museums were a business and an activity she wanted to pursue by studying Art at UCLA and Museum Studies at San Francisco State University.

Los Altos/Hills was developed in the original Fremont Township in the 1850’s (with California statehood); it was a large area encompassing several cities including Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and others.  In the 19th century, only about 100 families inhabited what had been the two large Spanish ranchos: Rancho San Antonio owned by Juan Prado Mesa whose offspring married the children of Juana Briones, who owned Rancho de la Purisima Concepcion.

Later, Sarah Pardee Winchester and her sister Isabelle Pardee Merriman moved from Connecticut to San Jose where Sarah built the now famous Winchester Mystery House. Then in 1886 she bought the Diel Ranch located at the current El Monte Road and San Antonio Avenue for her sister’s family. In 1905, a trolley line and later a railroad line were planned to cut through her ranch, already a triangular shape. She protested this incursion to her attorney, and Isabelle and Louis Merriman went so far as to go out at night pulling up the developers’ stakes. However, being a savvy businesswoman, Sarah finally accepted the coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad and even forced them to purchase her entire 100+ acre ranch instead of just the 5 acres they wanted. Isabelle moved to thriving Palo Alto where she co-founded the ASPCA.

By this time, the interurban trolley tracks were laid parallel to the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks to connect early Los Altos to downtown Palo Alto and Los Gatos. According to a Mr. Johnson from Sacramento, it was his ancestor, not Paul Shoup, who “founded” Los Altos, for D.W. Johnson was the man with the money!  A newspaper clipping from 1909 shows Mr. Johnson’s house as the second most expensive house in new Los Altos, assessed far above Mr. Shoup’s home. (clipping furnished by The History Museum of Los Altos) In 1908, the Los Altos area was promoted by developers as a “new university town” situated between New Santa Clara College and Stanford University, with scenic views and even sidewalks! However, California had a seedy reputation as a wild frontier with not yet enough women to civilize it.

Then, it looked like primarily open space.

The first store in Los Altos was Eschenbruecher Hardware, located where Footwear Etc. now stands on Main Street, and it was only a 5 cents trolley ride to “civilized” Stanford University.  Los Altos was touted as the ideal “country home” for commuters when the new concept of commuting to work took hold in the early 1900s. Train “commutation” was predominant before cars became affordable after World War II. At this time Los Altos was divided by the railroad track, with residences on one side of the track and businesses on the other side. Los Altos clout was already evident in the unique train depot they built and funded by subscription, now occupied by Maria’s Antiques. The Shoup building is now the US Bank on Main Street. By 1950 trucks had absorbed most of the trains’ business across Sarah Winchester’s former ranch and the railroad activity quieted.  For more information on “the good ol’ days”, check out the book, “Early Los Altos and Los Altos Hills” available at the Los Altos History Museum.

Laura Bajuk mentioned the current exhibit - Touching Lives: The Duvenecks of Hidden Villa, which is at the museum until June 26, 2011 and is co-chaired by KATHY LERA and JULIE ROSE.  JANE REED is the Collections and Interpretations Chair at the Museum.  For more local history, you are invited to attend a panel discussion in the Hillview Community Center Multipurpose Room 97 on Wednesday, March 16 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm entitled, “Remembering the Duvenecks of Hidden Villa.”  Panelists will include David Duveneck, grandson of Frank and Josephine Duveneck, former Hidden Villa directors, and former and present Hidden Villa Board of Trustee members.  The Los Altos History Museum will be open from 6:00 – 7:00 pm.
 

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:  March 17

Barb Larson CEO, American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter "Emergency Preparedness"   Barb has been the CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter for nearly two years. Previously, Barb served as Director of Donor Services at Community Foundation Silicon Valley, where she worked with individual high net worth donors and corporations to realize their philanthropic goals. 

Barb has been an American Red Cross volunteer for over 15 years and is a trained Disaster Fundraising Officer. She is a member of American Red Cross Disaster Services Human Resources system having worked on several disasters including Hurricane Katrina, the San Bernardino wildfires, and Hurricane Georges.  She serves on the board of directors for the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Foundation, Kids in Common, Hispanic Foundation Silicon Valley and is an advisory board member of numerous Silicon Valley organizations including: Essex & Drake Fundraising Consultants, Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen, India Community Center and Family Giving Tree. Barb is also a member of San Jose Rotary.  In 2007, Barb received the Outstanding Professional Fundraiser of the Year award presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Silicon Valley.