Magazine

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Anna Iannacone, far left, helps Radha Kanekal, far right, serve Chris Iannacone, in black, and Ajay Lohitsa, in red, as David Head watches during an Aug. 16 Ben Roe Drive block party.

In an era and area where people often seem too busy to know others in their community, there is a street of residents in south Los Altos who have crossed the white picket fence divide between neighbors. 

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Animal control officer William Warrior poses with a dog statue near the Los Altos Police Department

To sum up his nearly four-decade career as an animal control officer, William Warrior turned to poet W.B. Yeats.

Citing Yeats’ “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” Warrior said that a “lonely impulse of delight” drove him to “this tumult in the streets” – playing on the actual poem, which reads “this tumult in the clouds.” 

Courtesy of YMCA of Silicon Valley

Members of the El Camino YMCA on Grant Road in Mountain View take part in a spin class.

When Spa of Los Altos (formerly Lydia Young’s Health Spa) closed nearly a decade ago to make way for the Packard Foundation’s new digs, members scattered. Many had belonged to the women-only club for decades; they lost a convenient place to work out as well as a sense of community. Gathering for yoga or step classes, chatting on the treadmills or simply lounging in the Jacuzzi, the women had formed friendships while getting fit or soothing their aching muscles. 

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Children race toward a bowl of treats during a past Halloween Spooktacular in downtown Los Altos. This year’s event is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 31.

Fall is full of local events – from plays to concerts. A rundown of what’s happening when and where follows. 

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Jeremy Minshull’s brother, Jonathan Minshull, above, painted an elaborate mural on the façade of Jeremy and Caroline Horn’s Los Altos home.

The neighbors call it a magic house. And, in a way, it is. A recently painted mural on the facade of this Los Altos home makes it virtually disappear.

Tanya Kucak/Special to the Town Crier
Overwintered pepper plants can be more productive, and produce earlier crops, compared with new transplants. Slow-growing hot peppers and hard-to-find varieties are especially worth overwintering.

Curious neighbors wondered why I was potting up all the pepper plants in my garden last November.

For the past several years, I’ve overwintered at least one of my most robust or interesting pepper plants. Last year I decided to experiment on a larger scale.