Los Gatos, California

Los Gatos is a town located in Santa Clara County, California. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 28,592. It is located on the edge of Silicon Valley on the southwest corner of San Jose on the hilly edge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Homes are mostly upscale, varying from million-dollar cottages in the village itself to large custom homes in the surrounding hills. The town is noted for its many antique stores and upscale but small-town downtown.

The name Los Gatos is Spanish, meaning the cats. The name derives from the 1839 Alta California land-grant that encompassed the area, which was called Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos, ("the corner of the cats"), where "the cats" refers to the mountain lions that are indigenous to the Santa Cruz Mountains in whose foothills the town nestles. The name is normally pronounced in anglicized form, sounding like las gaddis, although one also hears pronunciations truer to the original Spanish, lohs GAH tos.

Contents

1 Geography 2 Demographics 3 Companies located in Los Gatos 4 Schools 5 External links

Geography

Los Gatos is located at 37°14'10" North, 121°57'42" West (37.236044, -121.961768)Template:GR. Los Gatos is bisected by California State Highway 17, which runs through the town from south to north. The terms "East Los Gatos" and "West Los Gatos" are sometimes used to describe the parts of the town that lie east and west of Highway 17, respectively, but there is no official governmental division of the town as such. Prior to 1997, the town's two main ZIP codes corresponded to the portions of the town east and west of Highway 17, with 95032 on the east side and 95030 on the west side, but the postal service rezoned the ZIP codes along a north-south division, to better correspond to the two post offices in Los Gatos, which are located at the north and south ends of town.

California State Route 85 marks more-or-less the northern boundary of the town, although there are pockets of houses north of Highway 85 that are technically part of Los Gatos.

Downtown Los Gatos, the area on and around Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street, is located in the southwest quadrant of town. A left exit on northbound Highway 17 becomes the south end of South Santa Cruz Avenue, leading into downtown. The area around Los Gatos Boulevard, east of Highway 17, is much more typically suburban than downtown, with medium-sized shopping centers clustered at major intersections of the multilane boulevard.

Vasona Park, a county park, and neighboring Oak Meadow Park, which belongs to the town, are located in what is roughly the geographic middle of the town, bordered on the south by Blossom Hill Road, on the east by Highway 17, on the west by University Avenue, and reaching at the north end not quite all the way to Lark Avenue. Los Gatos Creek begins in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of the town and runs through the town parallel to Highway 17 all the way through neighboring Campbell and San Jose to the Guadalupe River, which flows into San Francisco Bay. A walking, jogging, and biking trail called the Los Gatos Creek Trail runs alongside much of the creek from Lexington Dam through Vasona Park and Campbell to Meridian Avenue in San Jose. In Los Gatos, the trail passes the 1854 Forbes Mill. El Sereno mountain stands to the southwest; El Sombroso stands to the southeast.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 28.0 km² (10.8 mi²). 27.7 km² (10.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.93% water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 28,592 people, 11,988 households, and 7,300 families residing in the town. The population density is 1,030.8/km² (2,669.1/mi²). There are 12,367 housing units at an average density of 445.8/km² (1,154.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 86.68% White, 0.79% African American, 0.30% Native American, 7.60% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.28% from other races, and 3.27% from two or more races. 5.21% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 11,988 households out of which 27.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% are married couples living together, 7.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.1% are non-families. 29.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.33 and the average family size is 2.93.

In the town the population is spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 4.3% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 27.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 41 years. For every 100 females there are 90.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 87.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town is $94,319, and the median income for a family is $119,194. Males have a median income of $89,420 versus $57,596 for females. The per capita income for the town is $56,094. 4.3% of the population and 3.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 4.4% of those under the age of 18 and 5.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Companies located in Los Gatos

• Netflix

Schools

• Los Gatos Union School District
• Los Gatos High School

External links

• Town of Los Gatos Official Web Site (http://www.town.los-gatos.ca.us/)
• Los Gatos Observed: Non-commercial News and Info (http://losgatosobserved.com/)

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