This weekend I had the distinct pleasure of celebrating not one, but two engagements over appetizers and wine.  There was lots of talk of weddings and babies, but—best of all—the parties were great for seeing old friends and reminiscing, which is right up the Single Gal’s alley.  I spent the earlier part of the evening in a gorgeous house in Willow Glen with civilized people and cosmos, while the second half of the evening was spent in a cute condo in Los Gatos having nice glasses of wine. (Don’t worry—Single Gal wasn’t over her legal limit when driving.)

Old Joe’s Steam Beer— “It’s pure that’s sure!”  Have you ever heard of this beer or this slogan?

Joe Hartman was a 49er who came to California in 1852 from Germany to make his fortune finding gold nuggets. That didn’t work out as only one in five of the gold seekers ever made expenses.  So Joe came to San Jose and, in 1853, started the Eagle Brewery in a shack on South Market Street.  Joe made steam beer—a brewing process that takes only a month rather than the four months that lager beer requires.  Joe had a good delivery system; if a saloon needed a keg of beer, Joe put the keg in his wheelbarrow and delivered it himself.  But his personal delivery service didn’t last long as there was tremendous demand for his product and the brewery expanded rapidly. 

Must Spend Weekend in Detention

During a charity fundraiser at Palo Alto High School on Saturday night, Supervisor Liz Kniss took to the dance floor with her husband and starting “freaking” to the horror of school officials and anyone within sight of the spectacle.

Just before the hockey season started in September, I appeared on a televised “NHL Preview” show and boldly predicted that the Ottawa Senators would meet the San Jose Sharks in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. Now that we’re a little past the halfway point of the schedule, lets see how I’m doing. 

The city council has an opportunity to make the right decision and appoint Les White interim city manager. He is a man of integrity and competence, and he has served the city well in the past.  Although their options may be limited, choosing White would be a smart and very popular move by the council. 

Where is a Single Gal to go if she wants to walk and shop?  I know we are a suburb—with malls and mini-malls galore—but where is our downtown shopping?  Where is our Union Square?  They have bums and homeless people there too, but they also have big-time shops and street performers and it all works together in one place.  Why don’t we try to create something like that now in San Jose?

Let’s get back to the man in charge of change—A.P. “Dutch” Hamann.  He graduated from the University of Santa Clara during the early stages of the great depression.  Although his name was Anthony P. Hamann, everyone I’ve ever known called him “Dutch,” a nickname derived from his German heritage.  Dutch was the alumni director of the University when I first knew him prior to World War II.  When the war broke out, Santa Clara became practically deserted as the priests, students, faculty and administrators were called to military duty.  Dutch joined the Navy where he rose to the rank of Lt. Commander.  After the war he returned to Santa Clara as business manager, but after a few years he left to join General Motors as division manager in Oakland. 

Proof of Nuclear Program Has City Imposing Sanctions

Immediately after city inspectors stumbled upon uranium enrichment equipment in an underground bunker at the county fairgrounds, the city accused county supervisors of trying to produce weapons of mass destruction, which they say would be used as a threat to influence future negotiations.

Nine Events that Changed San Jose and Environs

From “the day the mayor killed the music” to the banning of parrots at art and wine festivals… read the list of events that changed the city.

There are many things that must be done to change the ethical culture in City Hall.  The mayor alone cannot make the changes necessary.  It will take a collaborative effort between the mayor, the council and the professional staff. 

I think we have to be concerned when the only major grocery store in the downtown core closes. Albertson’s is now gone.  It comes hot on the heels of the closing of San Jose Hospital. The proper question is: what is going on?

Friday night ended up being “Girls Night Out,” so we decided to go grab dinner and drinks in Santana Row for a change.  And, I gotta say, it’s always a big change.  Every time I visit Santana Row I wonder: what is it about this suburban mini-mall that has the secret formula that downtown cannot figure out?

In more than two hundred years of San Jose’s history, who changed the city the most?  Actually there were two politicians, each of whom had a profound effect and each of whom I have been privileged to call friend.  One increased the population from a small town of 95,000 people and an area of 17 square miles to a metropolis of over 500,000 people and a city sprawled over 137 square miles.

Gonzales Vows to Get Rid of Unnecessary Cops

After much criticism from the Mercury News over his unusual number and frequency of security detail for political and business trips, Mayor Gonzales has pledged to cut back on his taxpayer supported “posse” by hiring a single bodyguard—Kevin Costner.

Have your say…

Even though I am in Boston trying to concentrate on watching Joe Thornton (briefly) and the Sharks make a triumphant return to Beantown,  the council’s recent comments on the censure of the mayor were quite incredible and his action to remove “himself” even more bizarre. The council members seem not to understand the gravity of the issue by the tone of their comments, or in some of their cases, non-comments; Mr. Gonzales does.