At the VIP night at Smashburger restaurant on June 16, Mayor Jamie Matthews cut the ribbon before helping himself to a burger at Santa Clara’s newest fast-casual dining venue, located at 3948 Rivermark Plaza. Also attending the grand opening were members of the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce. Smiling employees, in red t-shirts and black … Read more
Most people visiting Great America today might not know that the theme park was proposed to be named Frontier World in 1972 before it opened in 1976 as Marriott’s Great America. Another unknown fact is that an elephant rumored to be named Lisa or Elisa planted the first tree during the groundbreaking for the park … Read more
Imagine opening up a time capsule stored away 50 years ago. Consider what you might find. A movie poster for My Fair Lady, a five-cent first class stamp, and a vinyl Beatles record, perhaps? People can offer this nostalgia to future generations by contributing to Northside Library’s time capsule. The time capsule, a compact container … Read more
Courtney Tam’s four year-old was one of many children who enjoyed watching agile performers from Conventry and Kaluza show off their juggling and acrobatic tricks at the Central Park Library on June 7 for the 2014 Summer Reading Kickoff Party. Tam’s 18 month-old toddler learned to make slime in cups offered by Mad Science, one … Read more
“In my book, I tried to show [characters with] resilience and courage; sadly, there are also stories about hatred and prejudice,” says Gary Noy, author of the non-fiction book, “Sierra Stories: Tales of Dreamers, Schemers, Bigots, and Rogues.” During his talk at the Central Park Library on May 27, Noy shared an enriching history lesson … Read more
On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, Civil War reenactor Spencer Hinkle visited Cabrillo Middle School in a Confederate uniform that his wife, Carol, sewed. Hinkle, a retired high school history teacher and librarian from SCUSD, voluntarily offered five groups of eighth grade students history presentations, with each one ending on his live demonstration of … Read more
In 2011, Richard Wang met Lisa Kunze. Both are parents with children in the Santa Clara Unified School District. The two wanted a network that would allow district parents to communicate with each other. Hence, Santa Clara Unified Parents (SCUP) was born. “At that time, the district was hiring a search firm for the next … Read more
“I got a B.A. in History from U.C. Davis in 1978; most of my classmates either went on to become teachers, journalists, lawyers, or librarians, and I decided to be a librarian,” says Mary Hanel, the graceful and warm local history librarian at the Santa Clara City Library. After Hanel received an M.A. in Library … Read more
At philanthropist Emma Kaliterna’s library yearbook collection dedication in late April, attendees learned that an anonymous donor would be sponsoring annual children’s book author events in honor of her. Celebrating Children’s Book Week, the Santa Clara City Library hosted its inaugural Emma Kaliterna Author Event by inviting Jennifer Fosberry, a New York Times bestselling children’s … Read more
Jacob Palpallatoc, a fourth-grade student at Westwood Elementary School, examined how sensitive worms are to their environment and how they respond to light. “For my hypothesis, I predicted if I put a worm in a white light, it’d go down into the soil. And that’s what it did,” Palpallatoc says. Palpallatoc’s experiment was one of … Read more