Category: News

John Bianco, Ernie’s son, will continue the tradition of running his dad’s model trains from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve (Dec. 24).  Weather permitting, trains will run on five tracks every evening except Mondays from 6:30 to about 9:00 at 2387 Adele Avenue  (third house from Thompson Avenue).

The engines and cars change daily. As many as 100 visitors a night (up to 300 on Christmas Eve) came in past years, including children brought by parents who themselves watched the trains when they were young.

Ernie Bianco also began the Christmas Eve tradition of curbside luminaria (candles in paper bags). Over the years, neighbors added their own, so a row of the softly glowing lights lines Adele.

Articles about Ernie’s trains appeared in the Mountain View Voice in 2010; 2012 (pages 1 and 9); 2016; and 2018 (pages 1 and 17).

A 2015 article in the San Francisco Chronicle features photos by James Tensuan, son of neighbor Donna Tensuan.

Each year during the holidays, the Monta Loma Neighborhood raises funds for the Second Harvest Food Bank, which is serving an average of 500,000 people every month.  Any amount is welcome.  Your gift to Second Harvest helps provide hope and security to families across Silicon Valley who are still recovering from the financial devastation caused by the pandemic.  Each dollar raised helps provide enough food for two meals.  Please check whether your company offers matching donations.  The fundraiser will be open until December 31st.  You can donate securely here.

The MLNA Ice Cream Social is our biggest social event of the year.  Photos of  the ICS on Sunday, August 27, 2023, are here.  The event drew over 400 people and enabled them to:

Visit the ice cream table for a free individually wrapped ice cream treat.

Ask Gizmo Gary for a balloon creation.

Make a name tag so their neighbors could meet them, and pick up a copy of the ice-breaker game.

Visit the Newcomer Welcome Team’s table for information for new residents (and their neighbors).

Meet  Mountain View Whisman School District Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph and Chief Business Officer Rebecca Westover, and examine the exhibit about the school-fence options.

Pick up copies of City information on the Parks Strategic Plan, Safe Routes to School, and Sustainability Initiatives and Programs.

Learn about the city’s new Multicultural Engagement Program that offers information in Spanish, Chinese, and Russian.

Learn more about the city’s Recycling and Zero Waste program brought recycling information.

Examine equipment and discuss information to help us stay safe during a disaster with our neighborhood’s CERT members.

See Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly chrysalises, and learn about their and Monarch butterflies‘ host plants at Alan Whitaker’s table.

Visit Tom Purcell’s display of Monta Loma history items, and  Robert Cox’s offerings of books and stationery from the Mountain View Historical Association.

Learn about and volunteer to help at our school.  The Monta Loma PTA  offered information and membership signups, as did the Crittenden Middle School’s PTA.

Visit the Mountain View Educational Foundation (MVEF), which helps our schools, and the Living Classroom displays.

Bring their tree questions and sign up for a free tree at the Canopy table.

Learn about CHAC, the Community Health Awareness Council.

Discuss whether the 9-month Leadership Mountain View program that begins each September might be right for them.

Visit with a Fire Department crew, who brought an engine and created a rainbow with the hose, and the Police Department, which sent an officer and also a K-9 team with a “very friendly” dog.

Learn about Girl Scouts at Marilyn Nourse’s table.

Taste MLN homegrown organic apples and vote for your favorite variety at Elaine Lou’s table.

Ride in the robot-horse-drawn buggy that Wouter Suverkropp brought again this year.

Pick up free COVID test kits brought by the Community Action Team (CAT).

Taste cotton-candy from Gloria Jackson’s  machine.

As in past years, plants remaining at the plant-exchange table during the latter part of the afternoon were given away with no exchange required.

The city manager, members of the City Council, and the members of the boards of trustees of the Mountain View Whisman School District and the Mountain View Los Altos High School District were invited.  Five city council members attended, as well as the city manager and the assistant city manager.

Photos of past years’ ice cream socials and other neighborhood events are here.

Neighbors and strangers enjoyed finding bargains on a cool and showery Saturday, making our fourth annual neighborhood garage sale another huge success.

Perhaps because our neighborhood had the most dots on the city’s citywide garage-sale map, shopper traffic was heavy.

A total of 46 Monta Loma households had registered to participate. Some registered on the Monta Loma list and map, others on the citywide site, and some on both lists.  Other neighbors posted their addresses and offerings on the neighborhood email list on the day of the sale, bringing the total participants well above 50.

Many neighbors contributed items to Joan’s sale that benefited the Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC).  Others donated the profits of their sales, making the total raised for CHAC the highest ever.

John Bianco ran his dad’s model trains at the Bianco home on Adele for six evenings every week between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  Articles about Ernie’s trains appeared in the Mountain View Voice in 2010; 2012 (pages 1 and 9); 2016; and 2018 (pages 1 and 17).  A 2015 article in the San Francisco Chronicle features photos by James Tensuan, son of neighbor Donna Tensuan.

Our annual Ice Cream Social was held at Monta Loma Park on Sunday, August 28, and was a huge success.  Photos are here.

With the exhibits and the crowd spread out along the trees on the south side of the park all the way to Thompson Avenue, we didn’t realize until later how many came to meet their neighbors, visit the exhibits, and enjoy a selection of packaged ice cream treats.  The welcome-table volunteers signed in over 300 attendees, but many more did not sign in, so we estimate that attendance was at least 350.

Neighborhood participants included our CERT members (safety information), Gary  Heyman (balloons), Bill Lambert (Friends of Mountain View Parks), Tom Purcell (Monta Loma history), Alan Whitaker (Monarch and Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly info plus the plants they require), Joan MacDonald (CHAC), and Jill Rakestraw, Ann McMillan, and Grant Grundler (plant exchange).

Wouter Suverkropp gave rides to kids in a buggy drawn by robot horses, Gloria Jackson and John Ari Stepp offered cotton candy, and neighborhood band On the Edge provided music.  Marty Pulvers staffed the tee-shirt and logo-items sales table, Jim Cochran took photos, and Bill Cranston provided the A-frame signs that reminded us to attend.

Other participants were representatives of the Monta Loma Elementary School PTA, Mountain View Educational Foundation, Living Classroom, Canopy, Recology Zero Waste, the city’s Recreation Division, and Mountain View Historical Association. A crew from the Fire Department brought an engine.

Invited attendees who came included Mayor Lucas Ramirez and City Council members Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei, Lisa Matichak, and Pat Showalter, plus MVWSD Board of Trustees members Laura Ramirez Berman and Ellen Wheeler.  They all appreciated the opportunity to meet Monta Loma residents, and their appreciation was echoed by the neighbors.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year’s event a success.

Approximately 40 neighbors attended the meeting on June 15, many coming early to meet new neighbors and greet long-time ones before the meeting.

Outgoing President Tricia DelGaudio began the meeting with a review of MLNA activities (Email list, newsletter, CERT, Neighborhood Watch, block parties, garage sale, and the Ice Cream Social).  She thanked the volunteers who make these possible, plus retiring newsletter editor Heather Schoell and retiring Traffic/Parking Liaison John Canata.

Tricia then introduced the board candidates.  Because the election was uncontested, the slate was ratified by voice vote.  The 2022-2023 board members are listed here.

Guest speaker Vice Mayor Alison Hicks gave an illustrated presentation about how residents can engage with the City as it updates its plans relating to parks and open space, urban forestry, walk- and bike-ability, and biodiversity.

Everyone enjoyed sharing smiles and finding bargains on a warm sunny Saturday, making our third annual neighborhood garage sale another huge success.  More than 30 households participated, some registering on the Monta Loma list and map, others on the citywide site, and still others on both lists.

A multi-family sale raised over $740 for a local scout troop, and a set-your-own-price sale to benefit CHAC (Community Health Awareness Council) raised $727.

Perhaps because our neighborhood had the most dots on the city’s citywide garage-sale map, a TV film crew visited Monta Loma. You can see the footage here.

The text of an article published in the Mountain View Register Leader in June 1958 that describes how Monta Loma residents helped construct Monta Loma Park is here.  A photocopy of the actual newspaper page is here.

Dotty Calabrese and Marleen Nyst organized an exhibit of Monta Loma Neighborhood artists, craftspeople, makers, and tinkerers.  They opened their studios and workplaces to showcase their crafts, demonstrate their processes, and/or sell their products on the weekend of November 13/14.

John Bianco ran his dad’s model trains at the Bianco home on Adele for six evenings every week between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

Karla Valente’s efforts resulted in donations of $746 to Second Harvest Food Bank, and a treasure hunt for neighborhood kids, searching for stuffed animals displayed at homes.

Thanks to everyone who organized and participated in these events.  You helped make our holidays special.