Around Town: The Alameda hosts a fiesta Around Town: The Alameda hosts a fiesta (April 27, 2005)

In celebration of the work done to beautify the Alameda de las Pulgas in West Menlo Park, a neighborhood party will be held on Saturday, April 30, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. between Avy and Ashton avenues.

Activities will include food, music, massages and a composting demonstration, as well as pizza-making, crafts and games for children. Call 854-0170 for more information.
Historical society sponsors tour of vintage homes

The Stanford Historical Society will open five vintage campus homes and gardens to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 1.

Four of the houses were designed in the 1920s by Charles Kaiser Sumner and the other in 1929 by Binder & Curtis of San Jose.

Three of the houses on the tour are on El Escarpado Way, known in the early days as Biz Hill, when three founding members of the Stanford Business School built houses on the cul de sac.

A short walk away is a fourth house, built by Eliot Mears, another member of the business school's founding faculty. Now occupied by Mr. Mear's daughters, it is one of the few historic houses at Stanford still occupied by the family that built it.

The fifth house is an example of renovation and expansion of an original Sumner design.

Tickets for the tour may be purchased at the door for $25. All tickets will be distributed the day of the tour at 593 Gerona Road. Parking and shuttle service will be available at the Tresidder Union lot.

For more information, call 324-1653 or 725-3332.
'Hats and Horses' at Menlo Circus Club

On the eve of the Kentucky Derby -- on Friday, May 6 -- members of the Peninsula Volunteers are expecting about 250 guests at the Menlo Circus Club for their "horseracing" event, "Hats and Horses."

During the cocktail hour, guests will watch videos of past horse races, choose winning horses, and "buy" a horse or jockey at auction. Women are asked to wear their favorite "Ascot" hat.

After the races, an Italian buffet dinner with wine will be served in the club dining room. The grand prize for the evening will be a diamond-bordered watch provided by Erin MacGeraghty Jewelers of Sharon Heights.

Tickets are $75 each. For more information, call 326-0665.
OICW celebrates 40 years of training

The Menlo Park-based OICW will celebrate 40 years of training people for jobs at its annual Breakfast of Champions on Friday, May 6, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., at Hyatt Rickeys, 4219 El Camino Real in Palo Alto.

Sports legends, Silicon Valley leaders, local politicians, and some surprise guests will be on hand to honor the job-training center. OICW has helped some 90,000 people over the last four decades, and is adding at least 5,000 more each year, officials there say.

Keynote speakers will be "Coach Carter" of Richmond High School, whose inspiring story became a movie starring Samuel Jackson; and Omid Kordestani, the Google vice president who brought the company to profitability in record time. SBC West CEO Chuck Smith will receive the Role Model Award.

Individual tickets are $50 each, and higher-priced sponsorships are still available. For information, call Janeen Rossi at 330-6489, or Amanda Byrd at 330-6413.
Author, journalist talk on environment

Environmental author Michael Pollan will be in conversation with Paul Rogers, environmental journalist from the San Jose Mercury News, at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 5, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

The program is part of the 12th annual Peninsula Open Space Trust/ Wallace Stegner Lecture Series on environmental issues. Bill and Jean Lane of Portola Valley are the major sponsors of the series.

Tickets for the lecture are $20 and may be ordered by calling the box office at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 903-6000.
Earthquakes subject of USGS lecture

Pioneering research on earthquakes at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park will be the focus of a public lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 28, in the conference room of Building 3, at 345 Middlefield Road.

In "Earthquakes at the USGS: Blowing the Lid off Seismic Science for 40 Years," Ross Stein of the USGS Earthquake Hazards Team will discuss research done at the Menlo Park epicenter of the Survey's seismic studies.

Topics will include rapid assessments of earthquakes, promoting seismic safety for the public, and discovering new and hidden faults. For information call 329-5000.
Square dancers, ahoy: open house Monday

Folks in the Portola Valley area who enjoy square dancing are invited to an open house at 7 p.m. Monday, May 2, at The Sequoias senior complex at 501 Portola Road in Portola Valley.

The energetic "The Sequoia Squares," who do their dos-y-dos every Monday evening in Hanson Hall, would love to share the fun with other like-minded people. Their caller is the popular Jim Osborne, and dancers do not have to be experienced. Both couple and singles are welcome.

For more information, call 424-4233, or 424-4427.
Menlo pianist in concert

Menlo Park pianist Corinne Barkin will take part in a benefit concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 30, at the Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium. She will perform Ravel's "Sonatine."

The concert will raise money to maintain the Baldwin and Mason & Hamlin concert grand pianos used at the art center.

The Fortnightly Music Club, the Music Teachers Association and the Two Piano Club are sponsors of the concert. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students.

For more information, call Deborah Rogers, president of the Fortnightly Music Club and a Menlo Park resident, at 854-3795.
Fundraiser celebrates survival from abuse

CORA, a San Mateo County agency that focuses on domestic violence, is giving a Mother's Day breakfast fundraiser on Friday, May 6, from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Sofitel San Francisco Bay, at 223 Twin Dolphin Drive in Redwood Shores.

"A Mother's Day with Heart" will draw attention to important but little known facts about domestic violence, which is the leading cause of death during pregnancy for women in the Unites States, according to CORA.

Olga Trujillo, who helped draft the Omnibus Crime Bill and the Violence against Women Act while working for the Justice Department, will give the keynote address.

She will be introduced by Robin Pang Manganaris, whose sister, Raye Rapoza, was 7-months pregnant when Raye's husband drove their minivan off a cliff near Moss Beach, killing Raye and their 4-year-old daughter, Tehani.

CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse) provides a variety of services to almost 10,000 people a year who are victims of domestic violence and their families.

Suggested price is $75 for the general public and $50 for nonprofits, community providers, students, and seniors. To register, call Janet Sussman at 652-0800, ext. 113.
Dance grants offered by Menlo Park group

A new grant program has been announced for the creation and production of major new dance compositions by young California choreographers.

The Menlo Park-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, along with the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation of San Francisco, is offering the awards. The program will give up to six $50,000 grants to Bay Area nonprofit arts groups presenting dance, such as dance companies, performing arts centers and festivals.

"In these difficult times, the arts are particularly threatened," said Moy Eng, performing arts director for the Hewlett Foundation, noting that dance has been a regular target of budget cuts.

The grants are part of a three-year, $900,000 initiative by the foundations to support Bay Area performing artists and arts organizations. Grants will go to playwrights in 2006 and to composers in 2007.

Applications are due on August 25. Forms are available online at www.fdncenter.org/grantmaker/gerbode. For more information, call (415) 391-0911.

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