610university

[610university]

Hunt Brothers Cannery Cottages

From 1907 until the Great Depression in 1930 the Hunt Brothers Cannery operated where the Chase Bank stands today in downtown Los Gatos.

To attract employees to their plant the Hunt Brothers had a village of 55 small cottages, a dormitory and a cafeteria across the street from the plant (where Double D’s stands today). The campground photo of the cottages was taken from the top floor of the Hunt Brothers cannery across the street. As you can read in the column below, rent was charged for these cottages but refunded to the tenants if they stayed through the entire canning season. The 1908 Sanborn map of these cottages shows when there were only 28 cottages when they were owned by the Los Gatos Cannery (which were purchased by the Hunt Brothers Cannery). In a close up view of the Hunt Brothers cottage campground you can see the Hunt packing crates used as seat benches and small tables.

After the cannery closed in 1930 the cottages were rented until 1945. In the summer of 1945 a development effort led by Effie Walter to create a Little Village shopping area was completed where the cottages now stood, forcing the relocation of these Cannery Cottages.

Several of these cottages were moved a 1/2 mile north to the area across the street from 610 University Avenue, (to 627 and 623 University Avenue) and were purchased by young Mexican families.

According to Gil Mesa in his September 16, 2020 Los Gatos History interview:

”There was the Montaño's, the Arena's, the Archibeque's, and the Mesa's. There was four families there and out of those four families, there was quite a few kids, you know, the Montaño's, had I think had five kids. The Arena's five or six. The Archibeque's maybe the same amount and my aunt, which was like my second mom, because I used to walk from the post office all the way down there when I was a little kid just to go see my aunt and stay there for the day while my dad was at work during, you know, when school was out. But that's about as many people that I can remember. And then when in high school, more showed up. But this was during grade school that we had our own little community down there.  

After the war, they were going to move all those homes and for some reasonable price I guess they moved them down University Avenue down to the end where nobody else wanted to live. Right. It was kind of like the end of the road down there by the dump, by the dog pound, by where the undesirable area of Los Gatos, which is not that way now. But so they would move these homes. And I think the Arena's and Montaño's and the Archibeque's, they all bought these houses for I don't know how much money, but they had to move there at the empty lots down there. And just that's how it started.“

During the mid 1940s Elsie lived at 610 University with her mother Effie and her widowed brother Bob. They would have seen their across the street neighbor’s daughter Molly Arena get married in their “pink and white decorated home” to Walter Hiler on July 18, 1947.

Later, in the mid 1950s Elsie’s son Perry and his wife Nan came back to live in the home for a few years while their son Joe went off to get an electrical engineering degree at Stanford University.

In the early 1950s the entrance to Los Gatos (where the cottages once stood) shows the 5 Spot Drive-In restaurant with Effie’s Realty and the Little Village shopping area directly behind the drive-in.

[610university]

CE Pro Column on cyberManor Acquisition

[610university]

Reflections on 25 Years of cyberManor

On February 26, 2024 cyberManor was purchased by Daisy, a company with a seasoned executive team working to build a national franchise that will service the smart home with the help of a premier collection of custom electronic integrators located across the United States.  cyberManor was honored to be chosen as one of their first corporate owned locations to help build out this national service model.

25 years ago I started cyberManor with the belief that high speed “always on” internet services that were being installed in the home for the first time to replace slow dial-up services would usher in a new era of services to and throughout the home.   Electricity, gas, water, and telephone were the essential services to the home in the late 1990s - but now this new high speed internet service carried over coaxial cable lines and phone DSL lines was poised to become the home’s next essential service.   One could make an argument that today it is the home’s most essential service since it has revolutionized the way we live, play, and work in our own home.   In fact, Cisco came to cyberManor in 1999 to produce this smart home video that was a harbinger of the internet and network products and services that emerged in the home over the next several decades.

In the earliest days of cyberManor we just connected a few office computers, printers, and hard drives to a small home network and the internet.   Those were the only “smart, connected” products in the home in the late 1990s and early 2000s.   But as the first decade of the 21st century progressed the high speed internet connection became a preferred source for music content and distribution in the home (thank you Sonos) and movie content and distribution in the home (thank you Kaleidescape).   And then network based home control server platforms from companies like Control4 emerged that allowed the homeowner to control their TV, music, lights, shades, thermostat, security system, all from a handheld controller or a desktop computer.   But the biggest breakthrough emerged when the iPhone was released in 2007 and everyone now had a remote control device (via iPhone apps) for the entire home in the the palm of their hand.

cyberManor was fortunate to leverage their computer and networking expertise to ride this wave of networked connected products into the home.  25 years ago only a few products in the home office were smart, and today thousands of products in every room inside and outside of the home have network connectivity and intelligence.    With this explosion of networked and intelligent connected devices came a level of complexity whereby most homeowners need professional assistance to make sure that all of these devices work reliably and predictably each time they are used.   The smart home is no longer a luxury, it has become an essential component in the enjoyment, comfort, and safety of our homes.  cyberManor, now powered by Daisy’s residential services team and remote service offerings, puts our company in the enviable position of providing a much stronger service offering to all of our current and future customers.

It’s been an amazing 25 years to be in the custom home electronics integration industry.   I feel that I’ve had a front row seat to the most impressive technological advancements that have allowed all of us to live our best lives at home.   Along the way I’ve been carried by an amazing team of employees that have helped make the promise of a smart, digitally connected home a reality for thousands of clients in the San Francisco Bay Area.   Now with Daisy’s impressive staff and support team we look forward to continuing our custom integrated home technology solutions for thousands of new clients in the years ahead - and to better support the clients we’ve been fortunate to serve over the last quarter century.

Thank you to all of our customers, all of our employees, and all of our vendors that allowed us to enjoy this 25th anniversary of our company and to reach this milestone moment where we can now continue to thrive with our new partner, Daisy.

With all my sincere thanks,

Gordon van Zuiden Founder, cyberManor (1999 - 2024) Daisy Flagship Location (2024 and beyond)

[610university]

Our New Home Technology Showroom: Completed in 2021

[610university]

Formerly a Campbell Grammer School

The interpretive sign shown above was placed in front of the cyberManor office in 2022. For all the pedestrians that walk along University Avenue they can now appreciate the academic history of our office building. Here is the text they can read on this sign:

You are standing in front of a 2 room grammar school that was moved to this location from Campbell in the early 1920s.   It once served as a grammar school in the Campbell School District in the early 1900s and was located near the intersection of Winchester Boulevard and Rincon Avenue.   In the 1908 Sanborn map shown below you can see the outline of this schoolhouse behind the main grammar school building.  Note that in 1908 Winchester Boulevard was called Santa Cruz and San Jose County Road.  The 2 room schoolhouse was moved to make room for the new Campbell Grammar school that was built in the 1920s (shown in the 1920s Sanborn Map).

The large main area of the schoolhouse building had a walk through that separated the main floor into two equally sized rooms with windows all along the North wall (which you can still see today).  This wall was removed prior to the Collonge family living in the schoolhouse home from 1926 until the mid 1970s.  The residential interior of the schoolhouse now had short wing walls on both sides and a dropped beam where the dividing wall once stood.   The building that you see to the left of this former schoolhouse used to be one of 2 locker rooms that supported this grammar school.

Kenneth Peake, the founder of the Claravale Guernsey Cow Dairy, located off Bicknell Road in Monte Sereno, California (from 1927 to 1998), was one of the grammar school students that attended this Campbell schoolhouse in the early 1900s.  Claravale was derived from the name Santa Clara Valley.  

To commemorate this building’s rich history a schoolhouse bell was installed in the rooftop cupola in 2014 and a restored, wooden student desk with old school books can be found in the main lobby.

[610university]

Ownership Timeline

Here is cyberManor’s ownership timeline from 1925 when it was owned and lived in by the Collonge family through today when cyberManor owns this former 2 room schoolhouse.

[610university]

cyberManor Recreation Room in the 1940s

In the back of the home a screened-in outdoor porch room was the recreation and hobby area where you can see the Collonge's hunting rifles, dart board, model train set and even a Stanford University tree plaque. Joe Collonge and George Arnold are standing in front of the train set. Perry and his brother Louis both graduated with engineering degrees from Stanford in the 1930's.

Today that same room is used as our office conference room and home theater demonstration area.

[610university]

Gem City of the Foothills

In 1925 Elsie Collonge, her widowed mother Effie, and her 2 sons moved from a small house they owned near West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz to 610 University Avenue in Los Gatos after Elsie she received job offer from the Los Gatos phone company in downtown Los Gatos. At the time Los Gatos was called the Gem City of the Foothills and the chamber of commerce boasted that it had "the mostequable, temperate climate in the world". (From a 1905 column in the London Lancet - the leading medical journal of England.)

[610university]

Collonge Family Home (1925- 1970)

Almost a century ago our cyberManor home belonged to the Collonge family. For almost 50 years it was the home of Elsie Collonge and her extended family, including her mother Effie Leonard, Uncle Bob, her 2 sons Louis and Perry. During the 1950's Perry's young family lived in the home and in the early 70's it was used as a commercial property for the first time when Perry relocated his engineering firm to the Collonge home. The home was sold in the late 70's after Elsie passed away.

[610university]

University Avenue House

Here is a photo of the cyberManor home at 610 University Avenue from the 1990s as shown on the Los Gatos Library and Museum History Project web site. Note that the large tree on the northern edge of the property has been cut down.

[610university]

The Home of a Hundred Comforts

This General Electric pamphlet on the Home of a Hundred Comforts touts the benefits of wiring a home with electricity in the 1920s - coming out during the decade that this schoolhouse was moved to 610 University Avenue. Today cyberManor touts the benefits of wiring a home with low voltage wiring for the this century’s greatest utility - the Internet.

[610university]

Los Gatos Railroad Branch

From 1877 to 1959 S&P ran a train from San Francisco to San Jose and then onto Los Gatos. In the early 1900s it continued onto Santa Cruz before highway 17/880 was completed. The 1950s photo shown above was the Los Gatos depot in downtown Los Gatos just in front of where the post office is now located and across from Lyndon Plaza. The photo below shows an image of the northbound train as it might have appeared from the cyberManor’s front porch in the 1950s.

[610university]

1928 Sanborn Map

In this 1928 Sanborn map the site of 610 University Avenue building is circled near the intersection of University Avenue and Cypress Road (what is now called Roberts Road). Cypress Road was named after all the Cypress trees that grew along this road that connected the eastern portion of Los Gatos to west Los Gatos - a road that was built decades before Blossom Hill connected to Winchestor avenue.

The building at 610 University Avenue, alone with the 2 smaller buildings just north of the building, were moved here in the early 1920s. The building at 610 University Avenue (a former 2 room grammer school moved from Campbell) became the home of Elsie Collonge in 1926 - where she and her family lived for the next several decades. The smaller buildings adjacent to 610 University were formerly boys and girls locker rooms for the old Campbell Schoolhouse.

Across the street on University Avenue you would have seen the S&P railroad tracks from the cyberManor front porch - a line that took passenger trains from San Francisco to San Jose and Los Gatos in the early half of the 20th century.

1928 Sanborn Map courtesy of the van Zuiden Collection

[610university]

Add to 610 University Timeline

Late 1800s

Ranches that surround the Los Gatos Creek, site names and history, show map

1892 - 1912

California Grape Food Company across the street from cyberManor California Condensed Juice Company

1926 - 1970s

Elsie Collonge moves into a former 2 room grammar schoolhouse building that was moved to 610 University Avenue in the 1920s. Site the history of the schoolhouse building, include interpretive sign Show 3D sketch of the neighborhood More detailed review of the San Jose - Los Gatos Railroad line history Show aerial photos and Sanborn maps from each of the 3 decades (1920s, 1930s, 1940s)

1940s

Northside Development efforts between Roberts Road and Williams Road Draw a map of this area according to advertisements and Gil Mesa’s interview

1950s

Highway 17 history and LG Photo Oak Meadow Park is built - newspaper column

1970s

Upgrades made to the main cyberManor office building from Richard Lore et al Show photos

1980s

Permits for a new garage approved Garage is installed, show construction drawings

Late 2000s

DeMattei adds a second story and upstairs bathroom, include photos

2010s

CyberManor renovated the backyard and driveway, installs a deck and a wine cellar. Photos

Starts construction of a new smart home showroom in the garage area, photos

2020s

Smart home showroom is completed

[610university]

1940s - Then and Now

The photo images that you see above are taken of the cyberManor building in the early 1940s and the intersection of Roberts Road and University Avenue. They are contrasted against today’s views almost 80 years later. Note the open fields in the area behind the building where the mailboxes for University Avenue were placed. This photo also shows Lewis Collonge picking up the mail for the Collonge family at 610 University Avenue.

Photos courtesy of Sarah Collonge

[610university]

cyberManor Smart Home Experience Center

From 2016 to 2021 cyberManor built a modern 2 story home inside the garage that was first constructed in the early 1980s. Electrical, plumbing, and internet services were connected to the main building to provide the infrastructure for the modern, smart showcase home that is now used for builder and customer tours as well as an AirB&B.

You can immerse yourself in an interactive 3D tour of the home by clicking on the link above. For more information please visit the Smart Home Experience Center blog.

[610university]

In the 1940s the Northside Improvement Club tried to encourage local residents to use the commercial services on University Avenue and North Santa Cruz between Los Gatos-Saratoga Road and Blossom Hill Boulevard.

In this Northside promotional ad you can see an ad for the University Avenue Barber shop - a shop which still stands today 2 buildings south of cyberManor. It was in this barber shop that Jim Kooper cut the hair of Kenneth Peak (the owner of the former Claravale Dairy in Monte Sereno) and Kenneth told Jim that the cyberManor building was the grammer school that he attended in the early 1900s in Campbell.