I’ve usually thought the seven-year battle performed out between town of San Jose and a gaggle of neighborhood advocates over an deserted railroad trestle would make for an incredible public-policy case examine about how to not handle a challenge. However Larry Ames — who led the unsuccessful combat to save lots of the Willow Glen trestle — did one higher by writing a guide on the topic.
“The Willow Glen Trestle (1922-2020)” particulars the historical past of the picturesque Western Pacific picket bridge that when spanned Los Gatos Creek close to Coe Avenue and the combat to protect it after San Jose officers determined to demolish it to finish a section of the Three Creeks Path.
“It is an epic, unique story in the history of the city,” mentioned former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon, a widely known professional on transportation and trains. He believes town made the mistaken determination firstly and simply wouldn’t again down from it. Diridon launched Ames at a book-release occasion Oct. 18 within the yard of a Willow Glen residence. Appropriately, their yard not solely has a miniature railway and a full-size caboose however a view of the place the outdated trestle was and the brand new metal bridge is now.
Preservationists have fought to save lots of the Willow Glen trestle close to Coe
Avenue in San Jose, which town needs to tear down and substitute with
a metal construction. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
The Willow Glen trestle. (Susan Brandt-Hawley)
Railroad trestle over the Los Gatos Creek close to Lincoln and Coe Avenues in Willow Glen
Picture Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Space Information Group/February 3, 2017
The Mates of the Willow Glen trestle return to court docket this week to argue that the trestle can also be historic beneath the substantial proof normal.
SAN JOSE, CA.- JUNE 23: Willow Glen’s historic trestle demolition is in mid-process, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
SAN JOSE, CA.- JUNE 23: Willow Glen’s historic trestle demolition is in mid-process, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
SAN JOSE – DECEMBER 17: Folks do some work close to the Willow Glen Trestle in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Space Information Group)
SAN JOSE, CA – JAN. 6: A bike owner crosses Willow Glen’s new metal bridge, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. The span replaces an outdated picket prepare trestle bridge and gives a long-sought path connection for bikers and pedestrians on the west facet of San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
SAN JOSE, CA – JAN. 6: Willow Glen’s new metal bridge awaits hikers, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in San Jose, Calif.. The span replaces an outdated picket prepare trestle bridge to offer a long-sought path connection for bikers and pedestrians on the west facet of San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
The brand new bridge over the Los Gatos Creek in Willow Glen that changed a 98-year-old railroad trestle, photographed Oct. 18, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
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Preservationists have fought to save lots of the Willow Glen trestle close to Coe
Avenue in San Jose, which town needs to tear down and substitute with
a metal construction. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
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However the story ended in the summertime of 2020, whereas we have been all coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They just came in with a backhoe and ripped it up, and it’s been replaced with the generic bridge,” mentioned Ames, who spent most of his profession as an aerospace engineer with Lockheed Martin and in addition served as a San Jose parks commissioner. “It’s a perfectly adequate bridge. But it’s not anything special that you’d go out of your way to see.”
As with every good story, there’s potential for a sequel right here. There’s one other picket trestle that spans Coyote Creek close to Pleased Hole Park and Zoo that town is eradicating to create a hyperlink for the 5 Wounds Path. It’s not as fairly because the Willow Glen trestle was, Ames concedes, but it surely’s the one one among its sort left within the metropolis.
Ames proposes that town put in a brand new bridge simply to the facet of the outdated one, which might be preserved and stabilized and even fenced off to maintain folks from strolling on it. He had hoped at one level that might have been performed for the Willow Glen trestle. (He notes there’s a viewing station on the new bridge web site that had been meant for guests to see the outdated trestle).
“I’m not up to another seven year legal battle,, but I’m hoping that the city has learned a lesson from the Willow Glen trestle that it’s important to listen to the community rather than simply capriciously making decisions,” he mentioned.
CREATIVE CORNERSTONES: There was an incredible second eventually Friday’s Cornerstone of the Arts celebration in San Jose when Luminary Artist Award recipient Joe Miller confirmed a slide of most of the logos he’s designed for various organizations over time.
They included 4 for Works/San Jose, the neighborhood gallery of which he’s government director, but in addition as assorted as KSJS radio, Arts Council Silicon Valley, the San Jose Poetry Competition and Abhinaya Dance Firm. It was a pleasant reminder that our inventive neighborhood is certainly an ecosystem.
Miller was one among three honorees on the occasion, held on the Hammer Theatre Middle in downtown San Jose and sponsored by town’s Workplace of Cultural Affairs and its Arts Fee. Entrepreneur and humanities promoter Chris Esparza, who died final August, was honored with the Artistic Impression Award, which was accepted by his daughter, Olivia Esparza.
Kevin Hauge, who retired this previous summer season as creative director of Youngsters’s Musical Theater San Jose, acquired the distinguished Cornerstone of the Arts award, and the ceremony was bookended by musical numbers that includes CMT San Jose performers.
CELEBRATE SAN JOSE: The wealthy cultural heritage of San Jose’s 248-year historical past will probably be within the highlight Saturday on the annual San Jose Roots celebration on Saturday. Historical past San Jose hosts the free occasion on the Gonzales/Peralta Adobe and Carmela and Thomas Fallon Home websites close to San Pedro Sq. Market, showcasing town’s indigenous inhabitants, its Spanish and Mexican pioneers and its fashionable residents.
There’ll be actions like lasso throwing classes, candle dipping and corn-husk doll making, together with a various lineup of performances from Jeffery Fung Tai Chi, Luna y Sol Folklorico, Viet Steps, Xpressions Dances of India and Hui Ilima of Santa Clara County. To accommodate the occasion, which runs from 1 to 4 p.m., St. John Avenue will probably be closed between Almaden Avenue and San Pedro Avenue.
