{"id":27546,"date":"2025-10-28T21:28:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T21:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/27546\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T21:28:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T21:28:09","slug":"new-book-documents-the-fight-to-save-the-ill-fated-willow-glen-trestle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/27546\/","title":{"rendered":"New book documents the fight to save the ill-fated Willow Glen trestle"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve often thought the seven-year battle played out between the city of San Jose and a group of community advocates over an abandoned railroad trestle would make for a great public-policy case study about how not to manage a project. But Larry Ames \u2014 who led the unsuccessful fight to save the Willow Glen trestle \u2014 did one better by writing a book on the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Willow Glen Trestle (1922-2020)\u201d details the history of the picturesque Western Pacific wooden bridge that once spanned Los Gatos Creek near Coe Avenue and the fight to preserve it after San Jose officials decided to demolish it to complete a segment of the Three Creeks Trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an epic, unique story in the history of the city,\u201d said former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon, a well-known expert on transportation and trains. He believes the city made the wrong decision at the start and just wouldn\u2019t back down from it. Diridon introduced Ames at a book-release party Oct. 18 in the backyard of a Willow Glen home. Appropriately, their backyard not only has a miniature railway and a full-size caboose but a view of where the old trestle was and the new steel bridge is now.<\/p>\n

Ames\u2019 book, which was funded in part by the Santa Clara County Historic Grant program and is available for purchase through Amazon<\/a>, details the legal drama that ensued after the city purchased a prefabricated steel bridge to replace the wooden trestle in 2013. There were court cases lost, appeals won and lots of newspaper ink spent on the back-and-forth of it all. It was one of those cases where everyone involved had good intentions \u2014 from city officials and trail advocates wanting to complete a long-awaited trail to historic preservationists wanting to preserve a fading link to San Jose\u2019s pre-Silicon Valley heritage.<\/p>\n

\"Preservationists<\/p>\n

Preservationists have fought to save the Willow Glen trestle near Coe
\nAvenue in San Jose, which the city wants to tear down and replace with
\na steel structure. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Willow Glen trestle. (Susan Brandt-Hawley)<\/p>\n

\"Railroad<\/p>\n

Railroad trestle over the Los Gatos Creek near Lincoln and Coe Avenues in Willow Glen<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Photo Jacqueline Ramseyer\/Bay Area News Group\/February 3, 2017<\/p>\n

The Friends of the Willow Glen trestle return to court this week to argue that the trestle is also historic under the substantial evidence standard.<\/p>\n

\"SAN<\/p>\n

SAN JOSE, CA.- JUNE 23: Willow Glen’s historic trestle demolition is in mid-process, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"SAN<\/p>\n

SAN JOSE, CA.- JUNE 23: Willow Glen’s historic trestle demolition is in mid-process, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"SAN<\/p>\n

SAN JOSE – DECEMBER 17: People do some work near the Willow Glen Trestle in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. (Randy Vazquez\/ Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"SAN<\/p>\n

SAN JOSE, CA – JAN. 6: A cyclist crosses Willow Glen’s new steel bridge, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. The span replaces an old wooden train trestle bridge and provides a long-sought trail connection for bikers and pedestrians on the west side of San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"SAN<\/p>\n

SAN JOSE, CA – JAN. 6: Willow Glen’s new steel bridge awaits hikers, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in San Jose, Calif.. The span replaces an old wooden train trestle bridge to provide a long-sought trail connection for bikers and pedestrians on the west side of San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The new bridge over the Los Gatos Creek in Willow Glen that replaced a 98-year-old railroad trestle, photographed Oct. 18, 2025. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 10<\/p>\n

Preservationists have fought to save the Willow Glen trestle near Coe
\nAvenue in San Jose, which the city wants to tear down and replace with
\na steel structure. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

But the tale ended in the summer of 2020, while we were all dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just came in with a backhoe and ripped it up, and it\u2019s been replaced with the generic bridge,\u201d said Ames, who spent most of his career as an aerospace engineer with Lockheed Martin and also served as a San Jose parks commissioner. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfectly adequate bridge. But it\u2019s not anything special that you\u2019d go out of your way to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with any good story, there\u2019s potential for a sequel here. There\u2019s another wooden trestle that spans Coyote Creek near Happy Hollow Park and Zoo that the city is looking at removing to create a link for the Five Wounds Trail. It\u2019s not as pretty as the Willow Glen trestle was, Ames concedes, but it\u2019s the only one of its kind left in the city.<\/p>\n

Ames proposes that the city put in a new bridge just to the side of the old one, which could be preserved and stabilized and even fenced off to keep people from walking on it. He had hoped at one point that could have been done for the Willow Glen trestle. (He notes there\u2019s a viewing station at the new bridge site that had been intended for visitors to see the old trestle).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not up to\u00a0another seven year legal battle,, but I\u2019m hoping that the city has learned a lesson from the Willow Glen trestle that it\u2019s important to listen to the community rather than simply capriciously making decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CREATIVE CORNERSTONES: There was a great moment at last Friday\u2019s Cornerstone of the Arts celebration in San Jose when Luminary Artist Award recipient Joe Miller showed a slide of many of the logos he\u2019s designed for different organizations over the years.<\/p>\n

They included four for Works\/San Jose, the community gallery of which he\u2019s executive director, but also as varied as KSJS radio, Arts Council Silicon Valley, the San Jose Poetry Festival and Abhinaya Dance Company. It was a nice reminder that our creative community is indeed an ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Miller was one of three honorees at the event, held at the Hammer Theatre Center in downtown San Jose and sponsored by the city\u2019s Office of Cultural Affairs and its Arts Commission. Entrepreneur and arts promoter Chris Esparza, who died last August, was honored with the Creative Impact Award, which was accepted by his daughter, Olivia Esparza.<\/p>\n

Kevin Hauge, who retired this past summer as artistic director of Children\u2019s Musical Theater San Jose, received the prestigious Cornerstone of the Arts award, and the ceremony was bookended by musical numbers featuring CMT San Jose performers.<\/p>\n

CELEBRATE SAN JOSE: The rich cultural heritage of San Jose\u2019s 248-year history will be in the spotlight Saturday at the annual San Jose Roots celebration on Saturday. History San Jose hosts the free event at the Gonzales\/Peralta Adobe and Carmela and Thomas Fallon House sites near San Pedro Square Market, showcasing the city\u2019s indigenous inhabitants, its Spanish and Mexican pioneers and its modern residents.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll be activities like lasso throwing lessons, candle dipping and corn-husk doll making, along with a diverse lineup of performances from Jeffery Fung Tai Chi, Luna y Sol Folklorico, Viet Steps, Xpressions Dances of India and Hui Ilima of Santa Clara County. To accommodate the event, which runs from 1 to 4 p.m., St. John Street will be closed between Almaden Avenue and San Pedro Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve often thought the seven-year battle played out between the city of San Jose and a group of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[417,5282,184,7,4978,418,181,23,419,88,90,89,198,200,12465],"class_list":{"0":"post-27546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-around-town","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-bay-area","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-downtown-san-jose","13":"tag-history","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-news-columnists","17":"tag-san-jose","18":"tag-san-jose-headlines","19":"tag-san-jose-news","20":"tag-santa-clara-county","21":"tag-south-bay","22":"tag-willow-glen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}