Published in the August 6 – 19, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Robert Airoldi
Ladera Grill, the popular eatery in downtown Morgan Hill, has garnered the prestigious 2014 Award of Excellence from the editors at Wine Spectator magazine. Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Wine List Awards recognize restaurants that offer wine lists with interesting selections, match well with their cuisine and appeal to a wide range of wine lovers.
Ladera Grill opened in May 2011 in the historic Skeels building in downtown Morgan Hill. Owners Dan and Kathy McCranie run operations along with General Manager Morgan McCranie, Executive Chef Tony Garcia and Wine Director/Sommelier Susan Marsh. The award shows the increasing quality and excellence at Ladera and adds to the host of downtown restaurants cache. Congrats!
Ladera Grill is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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Photo by Marty Cheek
Paula Ayala, front desk clerk, and David Dworkin, manager.
David Dworkin, manager at Morgan Hill’s Holiday Inn Express, is proud of the newly opened community room at the front entrance lobby of the award-winning hotel. And he wants the Morgan Hill community to help come up with a special name for the alcove area across from the front desk.
The room was designed as part of a collaboration of the hotel’s ownership group, a hired designer, and Dworkin. It features a community table for informal meetings and a relaxing area of four comfortable chairs by a waterfall fountain where water hypnotically cascades down in a perpetual motion fall.
“It was a wonderful collaboration to get this done,” Dworkin said. “We remodel the hotel virtually every year, but this is the only room that never had its due attention.”
Dworkin invites Morgan Hill residents to stop by for a visit and check out the newly remodeled room. And if they have a special idea or two about what to call it, they should email their suggestion to Dworkin at [email protected].
“If we choose a name from a recommendation, we’ll give them $100,” Dworkin said.
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Photo courtesy Kae Jenny-Spencer
Kae Jenny-Spencer, Michael J. Fox and Steve Spencer.
Retired Morgan Hill teacher Steve Spencer and his wife Kae Jenny-Spencer invite our readers for a night of “Love Letters” at the LimeLight Actors Theater at the Gilroy Center for the Arts. Steve has faced health issues with Parkinson’s Disease and the performances will serve as a fundraiser for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Steve and Kae have been involved in the South Valley Civic Theater and other performing arts programs in the South Valley for years, so it’s a natural fit for them to raise funds for a worthy cause through the performing arts.
Performances will be held Aug. 1 and 2, with Ruth E. Stein and Lance LaShelle performing, Aug. 3 Christine Wait and Kevin Heath, Aug. 8 and 9 Rosalind Farotte and Tom Hepner, Aug. 10 the Spencers, Aug. 15 Christine Wait and John Varela, and Aug. 16 with Jenny-Spencer and Varela.
This is a bring your own dinner and wine theater group. Tickets are $20 (tax deducible) and can be reserved by calling (408) 472-3292. The Gilroy Center for the Arts is located at 7341 Monterey St. in downtown Gilroy.
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Who makes our community awesome? Well, that’s entirely up to you.
Nominations are open through Friday Aug. 29 for the 2014 Gavilan College Community Spirit Awards. Anyone who lives or works in the Gavilan Joint Community College District may nominate a business, individual, or organization for all they do that contributes to the quality of life in our communities.
Each year, three sets of awards are presented for the communities of Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Benito County, honoring an individual, a business and a nonprofit organization. Help recognize those who help serve the educational needs at Gavilan College. Nomination forms, more information, and a listing of past award recipients are available online at www.gavilan.edu/pio/Community_Spirit_Awards.html. For more information, please call (408) 848-4724 or email [email protected].
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Photo courtesy Kathy Knapp
Teachers, parents, staff and students help build a new garden from a field of weeds at El Toro Elementary School.
Thanks to a great team effort by 60 students, parents, teachers and staff, El Toro Elementary School now has a real school garden.
Prior to the renovation, the area was a jungle of weeds, but after the work done July 26, the school has a garden everyone can be proud of. Help came from the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County, U-Save Rockery for the mulch, Recology for the compost and My Pizza of Morgan Hill for the lunch. Congratulations to all involved. The garden looks fabulous!
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Local attorney Guerin Provini is riding 40 miles Sept. 20 with 2,500 feet of climbing, and 54 miles and 2,500 feet of climbing the following day. To get ready, he recently rode 32 miles with 1,300 feet of climbing.
The ride is in support of multiple sclerosis. To make a donation online, visit main.nationalmssociety.org. Carefully follow the instructions. It is going toward a good cause. Good luck, Guerin.
