Los Altos Town Crier

News Flash

1/2

A public opening for Neutra House on Hillview Avenue in Los Altos is set for 11 a.m. The opening culminates months of planning, construction – and controversy – for the small structure, which leaders of the Los Altos Community Foundation envision as a place where local groups can rent space for meetings The structure is named for famed architect Richard Neutra, who designed it.

News

Attempted jewel robbery ends in tussle

Main Street jeweler Hadjat Seyedinnoor had a close call last week when a man posing as a shopper drew a gun and demanded he go to the back of the store. Instead of complying, the jeweler tussled with the attempted robber, who fled the Diamond Boutique empty-handed.

Seyedinnoor said that the would-be robber had visited his 129 Main St. shop several days earlier, poking his head in, then leaving immediately.

Cover Story

‘Tracing Tea’ : Director, students share across the globe

Max Lovell-Hoare is on what can only be described as the world’s most ambitious field trip.

The documentary film director and his crew will drive from Darjeeling, India, to London, England, through 18 Asian and European countries, to investigate tea, travel and culture, and they are taking a seventh-grade class from Mountain View’s Graham Middle School along for the ride.

Getting a chance to shine

Sports

Eagles’ experience should go a long way

Jason Kennedy’s first season as a high school head coach wasn’t easy. Taking over a girls volleyball team lacking experience and size, and adjusting to its third coach in as many years, Los Altos High struggled to an 11-23 record in 2007.

Kennedy’s second season shouldn’t be as trying.

Community

AAUW sponsors speech on Silicon Valley families

The Los Altos-Mountain View branch of the American Association of University Women has scheduled Jan English-Lueck, Ph.D. to speak on “Putting the Family to Work in Silicon Valley” 10 a.m. Sept. 13 at Foothills Congregational Church, 461 Orange Ave., Los Altos.

English-Lueck, a professor of anthropology at San Jose State University, co-authored “Busier Than Ever! Why American Families Can’t Slow Down” (Stanford University Press, 2007) and authored “Cultures@SiliconValley” (Stanford University Press, 2002). She will discuss how families reflect the life and times around them and will share results from a study she conducted of 14 dual-career families, offering strategies families use to cope with 21st-century life.

Business

Los Altos Planning Department Applications

K. Kasik, 233 W. Edith. Consideration of tentative map and environmental review to subdivide into three lots. Project Planner: Dahl.

WD Partners, 988 N. San Antonio Road. Design review to redevelop the existing ARCO gas station. Project Planner: Dahl.

Schools

Environmental Volunteers looking to the future

A group of teaching volunteers will add depth to elementary-age natural science programs at four Los Altos schools this year.

The Environmental Volunteers, a Palo Alto-based educational group that uses hands-on presentations and field trips to teach various natural science topics to primary school students, is adjusting its services to concentrate on offering ongoing education – not just one-time events – for the students it serves.

Books

‘Richistan’ tracks life among the elite

In his book “Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich” (Three Rivers Press, 2008), Wall Street Journal wealth columnist Robert Frank describes a parallel America – not a location you could find on a map, but a place you move to as you move up through millionaire or billionairedom.

While the rest of America worries about foreclosure, health-care coverage, gas prices and employment, denizens of Richistan worry about managing household staffs, the size of their neighbor’s house or yacht and who will chair the Red Cross charity ball in Palm Beach.

Spiritual Life

Congregation Beth Am opens preschool enrollment

Gan Ami Early Childhood Education Program enters its second year at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, offering parent-toddler groups and morning classes for 2- and 3-year-olds in collaboration with the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto.

Enrollment is currently open in the Tuesday/Thursday 3-year-old class and in the 2-year-old transition class. The 2-year-old transition class is a special program in which parents participate with their children in the fall and begin dropping them off twice a week in January.