Have a safe and Happy Halloween

volunteers, who have logged over 4,000 hours
on the trails in three annual training seasons.
To strengthen PCRF’s ability to support
our parks, the foundation became a
membership-based organization in 2014.
We achieved our initial membership target
of 150 memberships earlier this year.
PCRF, with a generous grant from REI, is
creating interpretive displays for both parks.
These displays educate visitors about the
history and natural features of the parks, and
suggested hiking loops.
The Foundation invites you to become
a member or donor to support Portola
Redwoods and Castle Rock State Parks.
Want to learn more? Visit our website at
http://www.portolaandcastlerockfound.org.
The fire department received many medical aid calls in August. No wildland responses,
thankfully, but one of the two structure-fire responses was large.
New Museum Los Gatos
Kathy McKinney
The New Museum Los Gatos, or NuMu,
opened in June in the old library building
in the Los Gatos Civic Center, 106 E.
Main Street. NuMu features space for local,
national, and international art and history
exhibits. In early November, NuMu will
open a “maker space” (for children of all
ages) downstairs, where students and their
families can explore, discover, and create on
their own and in workshops.
On exhibit through February 2016 are
selected paintings from a NASA space
settlement research project in the 1970s that
are rarely seen in public.
The paintings were created almost forty
years ago by Los Gatos resident Rick
Guidice. At that time, scientists relied upon
artists to visually convey their engineering
concepts. Guidice created illustrations
for researchers at NASA and Stanford
University, who were speculating on designs
for living communities in space.
The collection includes paintings that
depict the infrastructure necessary for
building, supplying, and powering space
colonies. Other paintings depict habitats,
including the Bernal Sphere, physicist
Gerard O’Neill’s Double Cylinder, and a
toroidal (donut-shaped) structure.
In addition to viewing these unique
paintings, visitors can hear the sounds of
space and the activities in the International
Space Station.
On November 7, NuMu opens its history
section with an exhibit titled “It Takes a
Village: A trip back in time to Frontier
Village, Santa’s Village, and Lost World”.
These parks were all part of a bygone era of
amusement parks in the South Bay.
Located along Highway 17 in Scotts
Valley, Santa’s Village was a year-round
winter wonderland with rides, a petting zoo
with Alaskan reindeer, and, of course, Mr.
and Mrs. Claus and a host of resident elves.
Up the road from Santa’s Village, Lost
World featured 25 to 30 enormous,
realistic, life-sized models of different
species of dinosaurs, some of which could
be seen by drivers on Highway 17. The park
included the Tree Circus, a grove of trees
meticulously grafted into whimsical shapes
never found in nature. Lost World was
the creation of Larry Thompson, father of
C.T. English Middle School science teacher
Wayne Thompson, who grew up at the park
in a mock castle among the dinosaurs.
NuMu is open to the public Wednesdays
through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and
Thursdays 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is
free for members and visitors under age 18.
All others are $5. Visit www.numulosgatos.
org to find out more.
october 2015
Celebrating life in the Santa Cruz Mountains
page 15