San Jose City Councilmember Pam Foley summed up the situation well at a celebration this week to name the San Jose City Hall Rotunda after former Mayor Janet Gray Hayes: “What took so long?”
Hayes — who started her political career when she was rebuffed about a traffic signal needed near her kids’ elementary school — was the first woman elected mayor of a major U.S. city 50 years ago in 1974. She was not the first woman on the San Jose City Council, but her election proved to be the start of a wave of women that entered the halls of politics in Santa Clara County.
Janet Gray Hayes, photographed in 2001, served as San Jose mayor from 1974-82 and was the first woman elected to lead a major U.S. city. (File photo by Eugene H. Louie)
And while it took a half-century to recognize Hayes, who died in 2014 at age 87, it all came together rather quickly once the ball started rolling. A committee that included Barbara Krause, Sarah Janigian, David Pandori, Gloria Chun Hoo, Terry Christensen, Margie Matthews and Janet Gray’s daughter Megan Hayes lobbied the city council with the idea, which was approved in August. Councilmembers Dev Davis, supported by Foley and Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei, led the charge for the council and all three spoke Tuesday night, along with former Mayor Tom McEnery and current Mayor Matt Mahan.
Fittingly, the City Council also declared this Janet Gray Hayes Month at its meeting Tuesday.
Megan Hayes, daughter of former San Jose Mayor Janet Gray Hayes, speaks during the dedication ceremony for the Janet Gray Hayes Rotunda at San Jose City Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
The lettering inside — outdoor signage will be added in the near future — is as elegant as Hayes was. And a special touch is the spiral next to the words “Janet Gray Hayes Rotunda” that is based on one of the Alexander Calder brooches she was fond of wearing and that became her personal signature. Davis said the estate of the late artist — who was the uncle of Janet Gray’s husband Kenneth Hayes — was very responsive and generous about allowing the use of his work.
COMING SOON TO CAMPBELL: You’re probably familiar with Campbell’s Ainsley House, the Tudor Revival home that once belonged to canning pioneer J.C. Ainsley and his family and is now a museum.
By this time next year, there’ll be another “Ainsley House” on nearby Harrison Avenue, where ground was broken for Ainsley’s Spout House, a family-friendly tavern and beer garden named after a country inn the Ainsley family operated in England’s Yorkshire Moors in the 19th century.
Alan Hicks, great-grandson of J.C. Ainsley, stands in front of the historic building on Harrison Avenue in Campbell that will become Ainsley’s Spout House on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
Proprietor Alan Hicks, who is the great grandson of J.C. Ainsley, hired architect Sal Caruso to transform the Ainsley Corporation’s offices behind Blue Line Pizza into a family-friendly gathering spot that is expected to open in time for Campbell’s Oktoberfest celebration in 2025.
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Hicks said the family’s original collection of canning labels and other memorabilia from the era of the Valley of the Heart’s Delight will be on display at the Spout House, which will be a kind of “living museum,” with a portion of the proceeds supporting the Ainsley House and Campbell Museums.
“Part of what makes it so unique is we have the connection to the Ainsley House and that history,” Hicks said. “There’s going to be a lot of history connecting the early canning days to the Silicon Valley of today.”
The outdoor beer garden is also going to feature the original playhouse that was a scaled-down replica of another historic Ainsley home — this one belonging to Dorothy Ainsley Lloyd and William Lloyd. That house, known as the Greylands, still stands on the eBay campus on Hamilton and Bascom avenues where, for at least some time, it served as an employee pub.
‘JUMBO’ CELEBRATION: From honoring a political giant in Janet Gray Hayes to a “Jumbo” hockey player in former Sharks star Joe Thornton, there was a lot of celebrating going on at City Hall this week.
There was a special flag-raising in honor of Thornton on Thursday, and of course, there’ll be a lot more festivities Saturday when his No. 19 is retired before the Sharks’ game against Buffalo. Starting Thursday night, major city landmarks — including the San Jose Civic, the Winchester Mystery House, Adobe headquarters, Sonic Runway, the Tech, the San Pedro Square arch and the Circle of Palms — were going to be lit up in teal through the weekend.
On Saturday, Jumbo Fest will take place outside SAP Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and fans can take selfies, check out memorabilia and even pick up a Jumbo Joe beard to wear. The retirement ceremony’s happening inside the arena at 2:30 p.m., and fans with tickets to the 5 p.m. game will also get a “Magic Puck” giveaway that includes photos from the Thornton era.