I remember Vasona Lake in Los Gatos, California before it became a Park. There was a lot of Bamboo and Cattail swamps. We went swimming off the Dam... We Fed the Ducks...

  • Later, when it was a Park I went sailing with Barry Hill in a Homemade "El Toro" Boat that his Dad, Robert, Made out of a Kit... The Last time I was driving around with My Dad, they tried to get $5.00 admission to the Park and I refused... We drove to Apollo Heights behind Saratoga instead... That is a Epic View. Looking down on the Paul Masson Mountaintop Winery... and Los Gatos, Moffett Field, San Francisco... Our house on Bruce Ave. was able to get San Francisco TV Stations if you pointed the Antenna in the Exact Right Direction. We owned a Radio Shack Antenna with a Rotator Box... and we did NOT climb up on the roof ourselves to install it. MOM insisted that we stop climbing up on the roof and Hire People to do stuff like that... and that worked! We never fell off the roof! That house has vanished... the new owners had it torn down so they could build a McMansion and Reap a Profit... I wonder what happened to the Redwood Deck that Mom, Dad and Grandpa built themselves? That wood is still valuable 60 years later.
  • and then the People on the Facebook Group "Things I Remember Growing Up in Los Gatos" said: 

  • Terry Kirby I remember too...We hung out and swam in that slimy water behind the dam...Good times..👍
  • Brian Glenn The swimming area in the late 50s was at oak meadow park in los Gatos but I swam at the dam in the60s I remember a hundred people laying on towels on the dam and swimming all day
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    • Terry Kirby Brian Glenn We swam behind the dam and hung out all day. I think I remember it was the early 60s? And part of it was slimy. Not all of it. LOL Fun times❤️I lived right down the street. Oak Meadow was too far for me.
  • Sheila Brown I remember sailing with Joel Place in his El Toro on Vasona lake
  • Leslie J Montague I remember swimming behind the dam too, but it wasn't slimy. You could swim across the lake and in the middle it was shallow over building foundations. Dangerous to walk because of basement holes.
    • Tødd Frederick Sounds like the danger of swimming in quarries with steep dropoffs, dark water, obstructions like construction equipment abandoned in the middle of the water, and a dangerously low water temp. 

      Swimming off a dam is something of the past. These days we have cut out all those childhood risks.
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  • Gregory Laan I was really impressed that a person could build a boat... In his Garage... That's a skill my family does not have... and then, a friend of my Dad's Built a BIG BOAT in his basement way up on Black Road... and had to Partially Dismantle the House to get it out...
  • Gregory Laan Looking at Los Gatos from Apollo Heights
    Image may contain: mountain, sky, outdoor and nature
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    • Amy Kirk Od Gregory Laan I lived in the house on the left with the blue tile roof. Great view! We also lived below the dam in LG.
    • David Brock Amy Kirk Od Was that the house your dad built way up on the ridge above Montalvo. Worked with Matt and Ed all on that house all Summer before going off to college.
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  • Victor Koman I remember taking advantage of all the wonderful boyhood adventures Los Gatos offered not NEARLY enough! I don't think I ever stuck a toe in Lake Vasona or even got near the dam. I mostly biked and walked around the park and downtown LG — mostly alone — and had a good time doing so.
  • Lisa McGowan I love your reminiscences.
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  • Linda Woodworth We had a town swimming pool off of East Main. So much fun. Lost it to the Freeway (17). Also had avTeen Center on East Main across from the high school. Donations and sweat built that Center. Among the financial contributors was a famous violinist that lived in our area. Lots of dances after football games. So much fun. It was torn down and replaced with a Senior Center.
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    • Randy Southwick Linda Woodworth Yehudi Menuhin.
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    • Lynn Woolard Merrill He used to come in my dad's cleaning plant. He would come in the back door usually dressed in shorts and sandals with socks and a Hawaiian shirt. He would light the place up. The park that we lost the Highway 17 was one of the prettiest parks I've ever seen anywhere. I loved going there. I learned to swim in that pool.
    • Gail Frey Collie Love to see any photos. Any one have any?
    • Gail Frey Collie We moved here in 56. Did I miss it?
    Write a reply...

  • Fred Capp Next time you want to go to Vasona, do what I do. Park on Garden Hill, or along the creek somewhere, and walk in.
  • Aaron Crumpton Ranger Rick was a D—k
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  • Jeff Crosby WOW! I am getting old. I remember Vasona in the 1950s as a gravel pit and no highway 17. Farley Road crossed it. You could drive from across Farley from Blossom Hill Manor—through the gravel bed—across Los Gatos Creek—and back on to Farley to reach Winchester. The creek was usually shallow enough to drive through it. 😎
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    • Debi Thompson-Boring You mean the Farley Rd that ends at Flintridge Dr.? (my old street) Wow! So it went all the way across where Hwy 17 is? Wow! Did not know that!)
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    • Carrie Gray Jeff Crosby I remember the gravel pit also. It belonged to my great grandfather. My Dad worked there also then the county wanted it. Immeniet domain action.
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  • ToddRene Patterson I lovef floating threw the tubes on the "Rapids " at vasona. So much fun 40 years ago that was.
  • Bill Chrisman In 1960 Vasona was just a rock quarry. We used to swim in the ponds that they used to was the gravel with. Water came from LG creek.
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  • Terry Laucher The Vasona Park gravel pit was owned by Lark Shrader. When it got taken out and replaced with Highway 17, Lark ave was created. His children went to LGHS. One was in my class of '60. I think his son got one of the first Edsel Fords as was seen in the…See More
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    • Russ Hanson Kid was Randy Schrader. He was in my HS class. THey had an angus ranch some where else. He used to show the angus steers at the fair (FFA).
    • Lynn Woolard Merrill Terry Laucher I remember when 17 was just about ready to be paved. It was the best bike coasting, flexi flyer riding hill ever. I remember the Schrader kids too. Anita Schrader was in my class. We were living off Roberts Road and the construction of th…See More
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    • Terry Laucher Roberts Rd was the funky, winding Rd where Blossom Hill comes through today, I believe. I think John Mercer's family live off there somewhere. How did your family go about getting a house designed and built? And where? Deanna Shrader was in my class. So sweet.
    Write a reply...

  • Stacy Renee I remember taking all those things to and the choo-choo train. I disliked the ducks when they tried to bite my child. That was 32 years ago.
  • Jeffrey Rodgers I grew up within walking distance to Vasona. Lots of fishing, exploring, and sailing El Toro’s and Sunfish. The dog could swim off leash. The water was clear. The ducks were everywhere. Very good memories. We would slide down the big hill on ice blocks on hot summer days.
  • Joyce Erwin The best was Billy Jones train on Dave’s Avenue when he lived there. That little train going around his orchard was so much fun! He had a cement above ground pool that he used to let us swim in. Walt Disney came to see him in the 1950’s for his ideas for the Disneyland trains.
  • Russ Hanson Are "gang" local neighbor kids we used to fish there all the time 50-early 60's. One time a dairy had thrown the bull ball in the lake and they washed ashore. Scared the heck out of us.
  • Debi Thompson-Boring My sister and I use to sneak out (we lived on Flintridge Dr, which is right on 17) and we would literally RUN across 17 to get to Vasona to meet up with my older brother and his friends and slide down the grassy hills on huge ice blocks. Can't believe we never got run over 😁
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  • Ann Parle Thanks Gregory, for the memories, we lived close to the park before it was a park. Spend the summer at the dam, that's when the railroad tracks was still there. Always barefooted the tracks where hot. Raided the apricot trees on the way, nobody cared. Lived near Farley road.
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  • Howie Brooks Used to go to the gravel beds in the late 40s early 50s.
  • Janine Lydon Debbie.. omg..
  • Mark Matthew Schmale Do you remember the peralta adobe before the fire? It used to be in that meadow on the left as you drive in vasona before the old dump where they found live grenades from the war. The lake used to be a quarry im told below the dairy farm that was betwe…See More
  • Laurel Panighetti Blakley I remember walking to oak meadow and vasona and catching frogs in the creek What fun memories
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  • Trina Crosby It used to be a gravel pit. I went there with my Dad to get gravel in our dump truck. Fun times😄💕
  • Esjean Jussenle I go into Vasona for free, with my disabled placard. 
    I can't go on any hikes or anything, but just sitting for a while in the peace is nice.
    All SCC parks have no fee with handicap placard.
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  • Sterling Bates Yes, I remember the Gravel Pit there too, before the lake..
  • Lara Allen Fabans Did you have to take piano lessons from Mrs. Sherman? That's what I remember most on Bruce Ave :-D
  • Terry Laucher I bought an old beat up motor scooter off of Doug Sherbinski, down by Vasona Park area. Cost was $30. Got it home and it never ran again. Where is Doug Sherbinski?
  • Holly Westfall Powers My dad took my brother and me sailing at Vasona in the 60s. While my dad and brother were taking the sails down, I was standing on the dock bending over using a stick I had found to gouge the styrofoam under the dock. I pushed too hard and went head over heels into the water! My clothes were soaking wet when we got home, and my mom was angry with my dad for not watching me better!
  • Holly Russ Smelt Did Barry Hill have a brother named Allan? He was a friend of my brother’s.
  • April Heath My mom use to take me to play on that plane that is still there
  • Mark Dias What year did it become a park ?
  • Mark Dias Same with my house on yeap Bruce Ave too. When the guy who moved in (was the CEO of a small high tech company in Silicon Valley) was building it. I would drop by and he would show me the plans on what he was doing. I told him he should have given my dad tips. My dad sold it for a million. The new house is appraised at well over three million.
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  • Carol Christofferson Hock Nice article Greg, I lived on May's ave.....‼️
  • Sandra Agatha Johnson I have a picture of my daughter at Vasona front page of San Jose Mercury news. She was blowing bubbles on a park bench and I was sitting. 7 months pregnant with her brother. She died in a car accident in Florida at 18 but she made the San Jose Paper and The Minnesota Herald tribune in her short lifetime. She loved that park.
  • Kimberly Van Metre I walked the park, which would be 38 years ago today. It brought on my labor and my sons bday is today!! I will always remember that walk in the park! Can’t sleep now because of the memories.... it’s going to be a wonderful day, 38 years later... so blessed
  • F Krue Krueger I lived at 15983 Rose Ave I put two Los Gatos cats at each side of the driveway.
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