It was all birthday tiaras and champagne Saturday, as Los Altos closed out its year-long celebration of its 60th birthday with a Diamond Gala dinner at St. William Parish Hall.
Los Altos was incorporated on Dec. 1, 1952, after a pitched battle over incorporation, that had been prompted over fears that Palo Alto or Mountain View might annex the community in the post-war boom that was burgeoning up and down the Peninsula.
Organized by former Mayor Jane Reed, Karen Jenney and Julie Rose, the gala was replete with commemorative video, commemorative champagne flutes, and a dramatic interpretation of a interview between Los Altos historian Joe Salameda (played by Don McDonald) and Margaret Smith (played by Alison Lindell), widow of Gilbert Smith, on whose orchard the civic center is built.
Larry Chu Jr. was master of ceremonies. Mayor Val Carpenter and Jarrett Fishpaw, Mayor Pro Tem welcomed the crowd of 250. Assemblyman Rich Gordon presented a resolution congratulating Los Altos on its 60th.
The Peppertones, an a capella group from the Peninsula Harmony, sang during the dinner, and the trio of Gary Soals, Jan Scicinski and William Le plied the cocktail hour and rocked clean-up crew. Everyone went home with a copy of the 1982 "Memories of Los Altos," by Joe Salameda, Los Altos' managing director of the Los Altos Historical Association.
The premiere of the 60th anniversary video, created by public access station, KMVT was punctuated with murmurs of surprise and applause as mayors appeared in their contemporary surroundings. "No wonder Jim Thurber had three terms," quipped Chu from the podium. "Running against him was like running against Brad Pitt!"
The evening was capped with a group sing-along of "That's Our Los Altos," a song concocted for the event by Vicki Reeder, and sung to the tune of "That's Entertainment" (that song was written, not coincidentally, in 1952 for the musical The Band Wagon).
"That's Our Los Altos 2012"
A town that is sixty years old
It turns out; it was real estate gold
We're land-rich; have to leave if we sold,
That's Our Los Altos!
So quaint, lots of trees everywhere
Zoning fights, condos rising in the air
First Street's change has some tearing their hair,
that's our Los Altos!
A town where the femailes have regained control,
Look out, Mr. Fishpaw, they're after your soul!
Is domination their goal?
Got four seats on the dias, yes we like the women's bias!
Downtown, where we shop, eat and play,
Coffee's in, howe we love our latte;
New stores come, how we hope they will stay
We're sixty, it's true, but we still love you
Dear old Los Altos!
We've got quite a lot, and for a change we are keen,
School tykes riding bikes, and the town's going green;
First Fridays, we make the scene,
We recycle in our totters, and all of us are voters!
We've grown and the future looks bright,
We survived, feel quite bullish tonight!
So we cheer for our burg that's just right!
This town is our stage; bring on each new age,
That's our Los Altos!
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