Sunset Magazine Promotes Los Gatos' Old Town Development

In May of 1898, Sunset "The West's Great National Magazine," was created as a marketing opportunity for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The intention was to encourage Americans to explore the potential of western lifestyle, food, gardening and travel.

The September 1969 issue of Sunset contained an article entitled "Los Gatos makes a lively comeback," which highlighted the town's popularity. The magazine credited a renewed interest in shops, restaurants, artists' studios and theaters to the 1956 freeway diversion that cleared the overload of traffic and made it easier for shoppers to drive and park downtown. 

developed on the site of the old University Avenue Grammar School, expanded the shopping and dining possibilities, and its architectural details created what the magazine described as a "feeling of Mexico." 

If you were to visit Los Gatos on a Saturday in 1969 you would see an Irish craftsman and his son design and assemble stained glass windows, and you could buy scraps of stained glass for $1 a pound.

Source: Hooked on Los Gatos, the Library and Museum History Project