Santa Clara County History Digest

Political wonks in California, Florida and maybe a few states in between, will be glued to their screens Thursday night to watch Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron Desantis square off in a highly-anticipated Blue vs. Red State debate that’s been brewing since the summer.

Mountain View's Ristorante Don Giovanni served up plates of turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes on Thursday, much to the delight of patrons who lined up outside the front door to celebrate the annual tradition.

The pain for Indigenous tribes in Santa Clara County is generational, dating back hundreds of years. The county's Muwekma Ohlone people, once a population of 30,000, now number at about 600.

Frances Dias, who served as Palo Alto's first female mayor during one the city's most politically turbulent periods, died on Nov. 9, according to her family. She was 100.

Hundreds of people are expected at Alcatraz on Thanksgiving morning to commemorate Native Americans occupying the island from 1969-71. The event is known as the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Gathering.

As part of a push for more housing, Palo Alto relaxed height, density and parking rules in several sections on the city. One casualty of the change? The city's 50-foot height limit, which has long been seen as sacrosanct.

Palo Alto's contentious effort to update its historic registry kicked off when the Historical Resources Board considered more than 30 buildings for listings. But faced with opposition, it delayed reviews for about 30 others.

For the first time in San Jose's history, the city will align its mayoral race with the presidential election — a move championed by labor leaders to boost turnout and elect a progressive mayor.

The Safeway on Stevens Creek Boulevard next to Westfield Valley Fair closed its doors after more than two-thirds of a century serving the Santa Clara community.

A statue of Miwok elder William J. Franklin has been installed on California State Capitol grounds. The monument replaces a statue of Father Junípero Serra, which protestors toppled in 2020.

The Palo Alto Historic Resources Board is trying to preserve houses that represent important architectural styles, but the implications for homeowners aren’t clear.

Tribes like the Muwekma Ohlone have been asking UC Berkeley for decades to give back ancestral remains from burial sites around the Bay Area. The school is in the process of repatriating 4,400 remains and 25,000 tribal items.

Robert Irwin, an artist and MacArthur genius grant recipient, died in San Diego at 95 on Oct. 25. Michael Govan, who heads the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, offers a colorful retrospective on Irwin's work.

During her three-time battle with metastatic breast cancer, former Santa Clara Mayor Patricia Mahan never let her illness stand in the way of living a full life.

As Palo Alto prepares to add dozens of homes to the local historical registry, it is facing concerns from homeowners who fear the move will lower their property values and make future renovation a hassle.

Former Santa Clara Mayor and Councilmember Patricia Mahan, age 71, died from liver, kidney and heart failure.

Walking into Menlo Clock Works, the walls are lined with clocks ranging from tall grandfather clocks to neon wall clocks.

Camille Dixon, the announcer for Disney California Adventure, and her husband, Bill Rogers, the voice of Disneyland, are moving on from this work. They have been at the parks for more than 40 years combined.

Santa Clara City Council members agreed to allow for the rezoning of two parcels in the city's historic downtown, in addition to hearing a report from Police Chief Pat Nikolai about security at Levi's Stadium.

Los Altos Hills City Council members voted unanimously to remove 12871 Atherton Ct. from the town’s “inventory of historic sites and structures,” after current owner Anthony Scott told the council he could not sell the 1910-era house otherwise.

Redwood City's Elco Yards development is the site of an ancient Native American burial ground. Skeletal remains, some thousands of years old, were uncovered while excavating for an underground parking structure.

Despite recognizing the cultural significance of the old cannery on Portage Avenue, Palo Alto is poised to reject a request to designate it as a historical property, a move that would complicate a proposed redevelopment of the site.

A downtown San Jose church is on the cusp of becoming a historic landmark, potentially ending a yearslong battle to shield the 1940s-era building from redevelopment.

More than 300 people filled the Los Altos Community Center to celebrate the life of former mayor Roy Lave. Lave, who died June 22, began his longtime community involvement as a two-term council member in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Milpitas location of An-Jan Feed & Pet Supply put the word out that it will be closing, ending a decades-long run as Milpitas’ premier supplier of pet food and supplies.  The store’s long history can be traced back to 1969.

The grandson of the Chinese American pioneer whose century-old cannery building has drawn much debate in Palo Alto wants remnants from the property saved if the structure itself can’t be preserved.

California wildfires every year emit as much carbon as almost 2 million cars, posing a threat to efforts to battle climate change.

The First Church of Christ Scientist building is at risk of further deterioration after the tarps and scaffolding that have surrounded it for years were suddenly removed.

From the 1850s to the 1970s, Santa Clara Valley was the center of apricot production. Today, city-owned heritage apricot orchards are remnants of a history that has been preserved.

As Palo Alto prepares to decide on the redevelopment of the former Fry's site, a resident has petitioned to designate the 1918 cannery building constructed by Chinese entrepreneur Thomas Foon Chew as a historic resource.

The co-founder of Adobe and a pioneer of computer software, Los Altos resident John Warnock died Aug. 19, surrounded by his family.

In a new study published Aug. 17 in the journal Science, fossil records at La Brea Tar Pits indicate that the disappearance of California’s sabertooth cats, dire wolves and other large mammals nearly 13,000 years ago was linked to rising temperatures and fire activity spurred by people.