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| In this Living Room... My Parents had a SNCC fundraiser during the 1960s. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. A Black Man gave a speech about The Civil Rights Movement and we sold admission tickets. Many people attended and the house was packed. In general, my parents were opposed to racism. Los Gatos had VERY few Black people but Many Mexican Americans and Orientals. |
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| Grandpa Malek worked as a carpenter (general contractor). He would build entire houses. Mom's family would live in the houses while they were being built and then move on to the next house when grandpa sold it. Our family house on Hedding Street in San Jose was built by grandpa. We had to move because it was under the flight path for airplanes to the San Jose Airport and the entire neighborhood became uninhabitable when JET airplanes were invented. We moved to Los Gatos and the house was put onto a truck and moved to Almaden. The house was valuable enough to justify moving it instead of simply tearing it down. Grandpa became a carpenter right after the 1906 earthquake. He was living in Oregon when the call went out for all able bodied men to go work rebuilding the city of San Francisco. He also built a house on "The 17 Mile Drive" a neighborhood of palatial mansions in Carmel. Mom, Dad and Grandpa built a Redwood Deck on the back of our house in Los Gatos in 1960. |
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| Of Course, I COULD Have Just Lived in The Bruce Ave House After My Father Died BUT... I Had Built an Excellent Life in Eureka, CA with a Job, Friends, Cool and Rainy Weather (no Danger from Wildfires) - Small Town (safe) Culture... Six Miles from Arcata, Ground Zero for Marijuana Farming in the USA... Humboldt State University (My Alma Mater - Class of 2005) and and and Los Gatos Just Fails to Compare... "It's a Quality of Life Thing" said My Friend Jesse, The Leader of the Band Womama That Played Positive World-Beat Music for Free in Central Park... So We Sold The House in Los Gatos and Kept The Money... Bought a House in Eureka for 1/5th the Price and Continued to Love Life Behind the Redwood Curtain... Sometimes It's Difficult To Believe the Outside World Really Exists... Why Are Those People Over There is So Much Trouble All the Time? I Don't Know BUT... Don't Come Here With Your Failed Culture and Crazy Beliefs... |
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| I remember buying a slice of Redwood Burl at That Store/Gallery on Highway 9 directly across the Street from San Lorenzo High School. We were taking a Stained Glass Window Making Class at West Valley Junior College Night School. I made a Red Rose Framed by that Burl... and it hung in the Window of my Father's House for decades... and... I noticed the ERROR I made in the construction of that window... and it bugged me for about 10 seconds every time I saw it... I also made a Clock from a slice of Burl... and It hung in the Living Room... The School was right next door to a drive in Movie Theater and at Night we could walk over and see the movies without paying. Saw "Carrie" there... My Father Bought a Stained Glass Window for His Office from Mike Coolie... a Business Expense and Fully Tax Deductible because it Had the Name J.D.Vanderlaan - Realtor Etched into the window... |
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| At The Engineer's Club Picnic, Mom Won the Hammering a Nail Contest for Women . Grandpa worker as a Carpenter and He Taught Mom. They Built a Redwood Deck on the Bruce Ave House. Mom worked as a Librarian at Fisher Junior High School. Marguerite Vanderlaan... |
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| On the Left is a Fantastic Fabric Art Hanging Made by My Mom... |
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| In the 1990's I often drove around with my Dad. One time we were cruising down Vista Ave near our home and he said "At least I raised you right, that man's son became a "Merry Prankster"...and he pointed to a neighbor's house. I have forgotten who the boy was but I'm sure he was older than me... more like my big brother's age. And definitely NOT Neal Cassady. He lived in a Different part of Los Gatos. |
| I was living in Willow Glen at that time and Working at Radio Shack and he would often come over an we would get a cup of coffee and sit on a sunshiny bus stop and "solve the problems of the world". He often wrote letters to the editor and they usually got published in the San Jose Mercury News. One letter recommended putting a stop light on Almaden Expressway at a dangerous intersection and soon the city installed one there. Saved some lives... My mom's family lived in "The Heart of the Willows" and I remember going to Christmas Parties there. My uncle made apricot white lightning and I would eat an apricot, get drunk and then dance with my cousin. The adults thought it was funny to have small children experience sexual desire before puberty... HA HA! The way he made the liquor was to fill a mason jar with pitted apricots and rock candy (sugar) then pour in vodka. Set that jar on a shelf for a year and the liquid was nearly 100% alcohol. He also went to a bar named "Chick Letty's" during prohibition. Willow Glen was an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County just outside the border of San Jose. The laws were not enthusiastically enforced in the County... Decades later I went to the same bar and purchased illegal marijuana in the parking lot. SO, nothing has really changed... He bought illegal booze and I bought illegal reefer... Mom's grade school has been recycled as a Senior Center and Dad went there to participate in their bus trips to Eureka. It was a voyage to the Bear River Casino in Lolita but he just used it as a handy way to travel to see me. |
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| Dia de Los Muertos Celebration at Work... I Just Printed a Grateful Dead Album Cover and Cut out the Eye Holes on the Skull... Wore it as a Mask. |
Halloween Costumes at the Office.
We Were a TV Game Show. Deal or No Deal
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| Our House 17830 Bruce Ave Los Gatos CA 95030 The New Owners Tore Down My Father's Custom Built House and Built a McMansion... Then they Blurred Out Google Street View So No One Can See What They Did... But They Didn't Blur Out The Satellite View. Two Houses to the Left is Victor Koman's House. |
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Photos of Loma Ave in Eureka, CA - When we sold Dad's House We Bought This Home for Victoria and I...
From the Living Room we can see the Humboldt Bay - the South and North Jetties that form the Entrance Channel and the Pacific Ocean... The Sun Sets into the Ocean at a Different Location depending on the Season... Farther to the Right in the Summer and Farther to the Left in the Winter... It's amazing when Science is Verified by Reality.
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| Where I Live Now. 7117 Main Ave Orangevale, CA Near Sacramento |
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Picture of Victoria's Sister Beth, Our Home in the Redwood Forest and a Tower of Jewels Plant.
in Cutten California near Eureka.
 My Truck and The Magic Bus Kinetic Sculpture |
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I Found 15 Photographs of Our House on Realtor Dot Com... I Guess that when we were trying to sell the House they Built an Advertisement Online... So People Could See What They Were Getting... These were Taken by a Professional Real Estate Photographer and Most Look The Same As The Ones I Took... Except the One With the Front Door and Back Door Open at the Same Time... That's Excellent...
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