The Los Altos Hills Digital History Archives
Grab Bag Repository

Introduction

We have a number of miscellaneous images and text files with historic value that are worth archiving, but for which we may not have a physical "hard copy" counterpart. Also because there may not be enough of any type/subject to form their own cohesive grouping in a separate album, they have been collected here in this "Grab Bag" to assure there is a copy in the archives - rather than loose track of them.

 

Link Date Key Words or Digest
Miscellaneous Photos (un-categorized)
PurissimaSchool.jpg Unknwn Photo of original one-room schoolhouse - Purissima School - Where first Town Meetings were held - extended and modified to become St Luke's Chapel in The Hills
School_1935.jpg 04/01/35 Class photo of Grades 1-5 Purissima School - 1935
School_1936.jpg 05/01/36 Class photo of Grades 1-5 Purissima School - 1936
CommunityHouse.JPG 01/28/98 Photo of Community House (home of the Los Altos Community Foundation) - with simulated landscaping
TownHall.jpg Mar-56 Photo of Town Hall in Apricot Orchard
ShoolProspectus.jpg 1968 School Prospectus for The Ford Country Day School
SchoolReport.jpg 1968 School Reports from The Ford Country Day School
HoraceHillWineCellar.jpg 1915 Photo of Doorway into Horace Hill Wine Cellar - dug into hillside, dated 1915
Horace_Hill_Silo_Painting.jpg 1981 Painting of Horace Hill silos by Marjorie Kellog
Horace_Hill_Silo_Inscription.jpg 1981 Detail of caption inscription of Horace Hill silos painting
Crane_Water_Tower.jpg 1976 Photo of Dr. Crane Water Tower
Lynne_Water_Tower.jpg 1976 Photo of Martha K. Lynne Water Tower dated 1906
LAH_Airport.jpg Unknwn Photo of Biplane at "Senberg's Airfield, Eisenberg Property, corner of Fremont and Old Trace Road"
Eschenbruecher1.jpg Unknwn The Eschenbruecher House in Los Altos - became The Heritage House next to Town Hall
Short Histories, Personal Memoirs, and Important Memos
PHWD01.htm 11/2/2012 Brief history of Purissima Hills Water District on 50th anniversary by Ernie Solomon, Board Director
Irma_Goldsmith.pdf Unknwn Irma Goldsmith biography (Instigator of Town's Pathway System)
Lachenbruch_1.pdf 1967 Original 4-page document by Art Lachenbruch where he explains and defines the "Slope Density" formula adopted by the town to control development density and including an extra page of tables to demonstrate the effect on different average slope values
Lachenbruch_2.pdf 1980 Subsequent document by Art Lachenbruch discussing proposed ordinance changes to do with slope density and their effects with some pen annotations adjusting some numbers to reflect code changes in 2001
Lemes 2019 “Memories of Hidden Villa” - Materials collected and assembled by Karen Lemes in preparation for a panel presentation by early Moody Road Residents”
Bredo-Growing_up_in_LAH.pdf 2020 Memoirs about growing up in Los Altos Hills by Eric Bredo - written version of presentation prepared for "Tales of Page Mill Road"
Maps and Deeds
Morgan01.jpg 12/14/1908 Percy and Fanny Morgan (of Morgan Manor) Map of the Oneonta sub-division - corner of Stonebrook and Magdalena
Morgan02.jpg 1/20/1909 Contract where Fanny and Percy Morgan sell lots 5,6,12 of the Oneonta sub-division to Laura Morgan (wife of Cosmo Morgan) for $10 in gold coin
Morgan03.jpg 4/21/1949 Contract (Quitclaim deed) where John and Charlotte Held sell two parcels in the Oneonta sub-division to Max and Marion Twentier for $10 in hand
TaaffeMap.jpg 7/15/1897 Map of subdivision of parcel 4 of the Taaffe Partition, recorded 7/15/1897 (around where Adobe Creek encounters original Edith Avenue)
RanchoBlancoMap.jpg 1905 Map of The Rancho Blanco section of Town (Upper Moody Road up to where it joins Page Mill Road)
1952Map.jpg 1952 Road map of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills
Aerial Photographs
LAHills_Locality.jpg 1947 Aerial photo of Los Altos Hills - extending from Page Mill to Moody Road, and Cupertino border. (Large 15 Mb jpg file, 9000-by-8000 px)
LAHills_Locality_Small_.jpg 1947 Aerial photo of Los Altos Hills - same as previous but lower resolution with reduced file size (5.45 Mb jpg file, 5000-by-4500 px)
TownHallAerial.jpg 1947 Aerial photo of Town Hall Neighborhood believed to have been taken around 1947 (from California Aerial Survey)
WestwindAerial1947.jpg 1947 Aerial photo of Westwind Barn neighborhood believed to have been taken around 1947 (from California Aerial Survey)
ElMonte1.jpg 1947 Aerial photo of where El Monte turns into Moody Road - approx area where Foothill College is today
ElMonte2.jpg 1947 Aerial photo of where El Monte turns into Moody Road - same as previous image but with annotations showing current landmarks
El_Monte_280.jpg ± 1964 From Brochure about proposed new Hiway 280 - Location of proposed El Monte Intersection
El_Monte_280_Annotated.jpg ± 1964 From Brochure about proposed new Hiway 280 - same as previous image but with annotations showing current landmarks
El_Monte_Interchange_280.jpg ± 1964 From Brochure about proposed new Hiway 280 - Artist's impression of proposed El Monte Intersection
SaddleMountain_280.jpg ± 1964 From Brochure about proposed new Hiway 280 - Proposed Hiway algnment along Purissima and SaddleMountain
SaddleMountain_280_Annotated.jpg ± 1964 From Brochure about proposed new Hiway 280 - same as previous image but with annotations showing current landmarks
Documents containing historical descriptions of houses within Los Altos Hills.
These documents were usualy created as part of an evaluation process to determine eligibility for some kind of official historic status
13651_Burke_Rd.pdf 8/4/2014 Historical Report prepared for application to subdivide property at 13651 Burke Road (18 Mb PDF File)
12355_Stonebrook.pdf 1/1/2019 Historic Resource Evaluation of 12355 Stonebrook Drive (George Cosmo Morgan "Little Gables") (17 Mb PDF File)
14120_Miranda.pdf 4/1/1997 A History of the Charles Henry Blake House (aka Sunnyhill Farm) 14120 Miranda (10 Mb PDF File)
14700_Manuella.pdf 12/1/2018 Request for Landmark designation for 14700 Manuella Rd (Hills Brothers Coffee)