Editor's Note: We asked and you answered ... more than a dozen stories and poems about Los Gatos have been shared with us on our Los Gatos Jubilee Facebook page, or at the end of posts on this site for publication beginning Aug. 10, 2012, in honor of the town's quasquicentennial celebration. This is the third submission, written by Los Gatos resident Robert Daley, paying homage to the town we all love so much on We're joining the Museums of Los Gatos StoryShare project and sharing with them your contributions here.
What's in a Name?
La Rinconada de Los Gatos.
The Corner of the Cats they called it …
The cats … because they were here …
Those felines of the mountains.
But why? Why were they here?
… those mountain cats of old?
Sympathetic vibrations? A vortex of energy?
Early fault-lines---deep below---stirring …
Stirring all of life to cat-like behavior
Stirring all to be like---like los gatos?
Los Gatans!
Living in pride … lords of the urban jungle;
Independent, untrainable, strangely creative.
Pompous, yet playful;
Preoccupied, yet friendly … and finicky!
Finicky about food …
And movement … and IMAGE.
Ah yess … the purr-fect self-image.
So let us stare creatively into spaciness …
… and then run.
Run in loops and circles for the sheer joy of it.
Then gather at creekside with los gatos---
Those mountain cats of yesteryear---
And drink to their mysterious spirit---
Lingering still---in Los Gatos, the town.
—By Robert Daley, composed in 1991
