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Decorated house on Christmas Tree Lane in Palo Alto

Get in the Christmas Spirit, Christmas Tree Lane, Palo Alto

December 22, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

The whole street is lined with little Christmas trees. The street lights are tinted red. Almost every house on the block is decorated. People walking up and down, pointing and oh-ing, ah-ing. Cars slowing so drivers can catch a glimpse. Here and there you can hear Christmas songs. In front of one house you can listen to “Twas the night before Christmas”.

This is ‘Christmas Tree Lane’ in Palo Alto. Every year since 1940 Fulton Street off Embarcadero lights up for the whole neighborhood to enjoy. Exceptions of this tradition were in 1942 because of the blackouts during World War II, “Dimmed but not silenced” and in 1973 during the Energy Crisis, the trees were decorated with shining red plastic bows.

This year you can enjoy the lights and the atmosphere of Christmas Tree Lane from December 16th to December 31st, 2017 each night from 5pm to 11pm. It is best admired if you park your car in the neighborhood and stroll down Fulton. The architecture of the houses complements the fairy tale look. Whimsical figures are placed everywhere, a Santa on the roof, characters from Dr Seuss on the lawn, the whole crew of the peanuts. Residents of Fulton Street made sure you will have a magical time.

Happy Holidays!

Have you been to Christmas Tree Lane?

Celebrate Christmas in the Park, San José

December 15, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

One thing I miss during Christmas season, besides my family, are the Weihnachtsmarkets in Germany. Always a true sign that Christmas is coming, a great place to buy local gifts and drink some Gluehwein.

A surprising ‘christmassy’ event is Christmas in the Park in San José. This year they broke the world record for most decorated Christmas trees! 600 decorated trees can be seen on Cesar Chavez Plaza.

Some trees are decorated in memory of lost ones, there is a Grinch, and a Dracula advertising the mobile blood drive December 22nd from 12 pm to 5 pm, at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

My favorite trees were the Mentor Trees, showcasing the mentorship program between some colleges and elementary, middle and high schools in the area with some LED ornaments that glowed in different colors and patterns and the Washington Elementary Glasses Club Tree, which has some inspiring reasons why to wear glasses!

The 40 animated displays is probably the reason why there were so many babies and young children during the day.

The one that made me smile the most was the Caribbean Christmas, a bunch of frogs playing a Christmas song in Caribbean tunes.

There is also a community stage and you can go see Santa.

This tradition is open through January 7th, 2018 and free with donations.

How are you decorating your tree?

See the light Throughout the Tunnel, Sonic Runway, San José

December 8, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

This time of the year, when it gets dark early, it is a joy to see all the light installations, private and public.

San Jose partnered with Burning Man in an initiative called ‘Playa to Paseo’ to bring more engaging art downtown. The first of these, the Sonic Runway, is in front of the City Hall on Santa Clara Street from Fourth to Sixth. Everyday from 5pm to 12am thru mid January 2018 the Sonic Runway “is a corridor of lights that visualizes the speed of sound”, according to the official website. I recommend going both ways through the tunnel; one way the sound is coming at you the other way you are in sync with lights and sound.

When I visited, the early visitors were enjoying a stroll thru the tunnel, in both directions. I saw families with kids, but also couples on their way to a night out in town.

A short while later the skaters used a newspaper box as a ramp to perform some jumps and slides inside the tunnel.

I had the feeling the only ones not so thrilled about it are the city hall employees trying to go home at 5pm.

The other light installations in the ‘Illuminating Downtown’ program are:

(http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/03/22/map-interactive-light-displays-downtown-san-jose/)

‘Show Your Stripes’ – Second and San Fernando

You can use a phone code to change the patterns and colors of lights on the building

‘Sensing You’ and ‘Sensing Water’ – Highway 87 underpasses at Santa Clara and San Fernando

Lights responding to movements of passers-by

‘San Jose Semaphore’ – Adobe Tower, Park Ave and Almaden Blvd

Crack the code, an interactive game

‘San Carlos Lantern Relay’ – South side of San Carlos, between Fourth and Market

Eight boxes on poles flash an interactive light show

‘Voxel Cloud’ – Pierce Ave at Market St.

3-D light sculpture on top of the apartment building

Have you setup your own Holiday light installation? If you have post a photo on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/untilsuburbia/.

homeless garden project store, Santa Cruz

Shop for Homeless, Homeless Garden Project

December 1, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

It’s the time of the year again when we might soon exchange gifts. I am always on the lookout for something meaningful. Gift giving can be joyful, especially when helping others.

If you are in the same situation, looking for gifts, and find yourself near Santa Cruz, you should stop by the Homeless Garden Project pop-up stores, either in downtown Santa Cruz or Capitola.

The Homeless Garden Project operates a farm, which is on Shaffer Rd in Santa Cruz. This is a great spot to visit in spring and summer, when you can either pick your own vegetables or buy from the farm stand. The 3 acre organic farm provides the materials for the retail goods.

As examples of the bounty you will find in the stores: they offer wreaths uniquely created from dried flowers of the farm, organic jams and baking mixes, bath and body products.

Currently they reside in two locations: one near the MAH, 110 Cooper St, Suite 100G, in the Cooperhouse Breezeway; open daily from 10 am to 8 pm, the other in Capitola on the Esplanade, 222 Esplanade; open Thursday – Saturday 11 am – 7 pm, Sunday 11 am – 4 pm. Both locations are open until 12/24/17.

They are even online, so no more excuses: http://www.homelessgardenproject.org

This is a great project that provides job training, transitional employment, and support services for people who are homeless.

Do you know of other great gifting opportunities?

Unearth Confucius

November 24, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

On a recent trip to San José I decided to check out the Overfelt Gardens. Within this local park is the Chinese Cultural Garden, a piece of land gifted by Frank and Pauline Lowe in 1971, to bring Chinese culture closer to the American people.

It is a very peaceful place with a couple of ponds and the geese population greatly exceeds the human park dwellers. I followed the path to the Chinese Cultural Gardens and was greeted by Confucius himself! I am sure he was meant to be surrounded by water, but the absence of it did not take away from his greatness.

A few more Chinese structures are in the park, but overall it is just a great place to unwind, walk around in some greenery and surround yourself with peacefulness.

Other features of the park are the Amphitheatre, a palm garden and the California garden.

What are your favorite places to unwind?

Feed the Chickens, Emma Prusch, San José

November 17, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

Soon we will celebrate Thanksgiving and I thought it is appropriate to talk about a local farm.

Emma Prusch donated a substantial piece of land to the city of San José to be kept as farmland as the way the Valley of Hearts Delight used to be.

When I first entered the farm it was amazing to me that they have chickens roam around freely in the whole area. In the back there is an animal area where they sell chicken feed for 25 cents. So, make sure you have some quarters if you are entertaining young children. The animal area also has a pot belly pig, bunnies, goats and other fowl.

On Saturday and Sunday the farm offers pony rides ($10 for 10 minutes). Overall this is a great place for little children, with a playground, the animal area, and lots of space to run around.

The true farm experience is offered every first Saturday. The associated Veggielution is a community farm with the mission of connecting people through food and farming. Here you can help farming, cook or just stop by and buy the produce from the farmstand.

Everyone is welcome every Saturday and Wednesday morning to garden at Emma’s Kitchen Garden.

Have you helped on a farm before?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Learn About Inventors, Museum of American History in Palo Alto

November 10, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

So, when you google Menlo Park you will get a lot of results talking about Thomas Edison. Who, it turns out lived in Menlo Park, New Jersey and that development was named after the Californian town.

The Museum of American History in Palo Alto is running a current exhibit titled: Thomas Edison and His Rivals: Bringing Electricity to America.

You can learn about American ingenuity and the rivalries between Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla, until February 18th, 2018. They also show a lot of different inventions from the three tech pioneers.

The subject is not surprising for the Museum of American History, which focuses on inventions and technology from 1750 to 1950.

The permanent exhibit features a 1920s general store, an early 20th century kitchen and outside a replica of an auto-repair-shop, a print shop and the marvelous garden.

It is a great museum to spent some time inside and outside. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $5.

What is your favorite invention?

Climb Mount Umunhum

November 3, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

Ever wondered about the building on top of one of the mountains near Saratoga? You can now hike to the summit (or drive) and learn about the history of this place.

Mount Umunhum one of the highest mountains in the Santa Cruz mountain range (3,486 feet) was once a sacred site of the local Native Americans. In fact, rituals are still performed here today.

The Mountain is easy to spot because of the radar tower on top of it. From 1957 to 1980 this was part of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) defense system. SAGE was a network of computer systems that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it into a single image of the airspace over a wide area.* Back in these days as many as 125 military personnel with their families lived at Mount Umunhum.

There are three parking areas depending on your intentions:

Jacques Ridge parking lot is the closest to the entrance of the park – furthest hike to the summit.
Bald Mountain parking area – from here the hike up to the summit is 3.7 miles
Mt Umunhum Summit parking area – 159 steps to the summit

We only did a short hike, from the Bald Mountain parking lot to the Guadalupe Creek Overlook 1.3 miles each way and then drove to the Summit parking area. But I would like to do the whole summit hike at one point. On the summit itself the views are amazing! We were there on a cloudy day, but on a clear day you can see from the Pacific to the Sierra Nevada.

There is also an audio tour app about the Stories of Mount Umunhum for free in the app store of your choice. You should download the audio tour before you go because there is limited cell service.

What mountains do you like to climb?

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment

Be Alive in Colma

October 29, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

If your favorite Halloween outing is going to a cemetery you might find Colma attractive.

The city’s population of 1792 (2010) has seventeen cemeteries – , including one for pets. Four are listed in the cemetery travel guide! Hence the ratio of alive to dead is 1:1000 and the cities motto:”It’s Great to be Alive in Colma”. Colma was build as a necropolis, after San Francisco in the 1900 outlawed interments and then in 1912 evicted all cemeteries.

I started my exploration of Colma at the local Historical Association (free, but donations are encouraged). They embrace the dead neighbors with interesting knowledge about customs about grief. For example did you know that hair of deceased was made into jewelry? For those of you interested in genealogy the museum also has a reading room.

I can recommend the walkable Italian Cementy next to the museum. A lot of interesting crypts and someone at the museum told me that people like to picnic there on the weekends.

Some famous underground residents of Colma are:

Joe DiMaggio

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery

Wyatt Earp

Hills of Eternity Jewish Cemetery

William Randolph Hearst

Cypress Lawn Cemetery

Levi Strauss

Home of Peace Jewish Cemetery

None of these resting places has a special Halloween offering, but two of them do occasionally offer tours:

Cypress Lawn (http://www.cypresslawnheritagefoundation.org/events/activities-presentations/) and Holy Cross

(http://www.holycrosscemeteries.com/locations/colma.htm).

For a Halloween event in the area you can go to the Annual Halloween Spook Parade and Costume Contest, Tuesday, October 31st from 3 pm – 5:30 pm at the Serramonte Center in Daly City.

What is your favorite passtime on Halloween?

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colma,_California

https://cemeterytravel.com/2013/01/06/colma-before-the-graveyards/

www.findagrave.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/sports/football/the-town-of-colma-where-san-franciscos-dead-live.html

http://usgwtombstones.org/california/sanmateo.html

Shakespeare bust from the Shakespeare Society of America, Moss Landing

Unlock the Shakespearian Treasure Trove

October 21, 2017February 1, 2025Silvia

Sometimes I find the most amazing things without looking for them. I was killing time in Moss Landing last weekend before a beautiful kayak tour and stumbled upon this little gem of a museum: the Shakespeare Society of America and its collection of artifacts, plus a gift shop. The museum is free, but encourages donations. Opening hours are usually from 10 am – 5 pm daily.

When R. Thad Taylor, the founder of the Globe Playhouse in Los Angeles, passed away in 2006, the Shakespeare Society of America had to relocate. In 2008 it moved to Moss Landing.

If you are an admirer of Shakespeare you should check it out. The collection consists of rare books, artwork and other memorabilia. A tour especially for school classes grades 9-12 teaches the work of William Shakespeare.

What is your favorite Shakespeare play?