![\"Norman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SJM-L-LINDLEY-0714.jpg\")
Norman Fell, left, and Audra Lindley played Stanley and Helen Roper on the sitcom “Three’s Company.”\u00a0(AP Photo\/File)<\/p>\nIf you were in Willow Glen on Saturday afternoon, you weren\u2019t hallucinating. There were dozens of people in orange, curly wigs and colorful caftans everywhere along Lincoln Avenue, celebrating the third annual Mrs. Roper Romp.<\/p>\n
They lounged on the rooftop patio at Copita, filled tables at 20Twenty and took over the patio at Aqui. Packs of Mrs. Roper lookalikes \u2014 women and men alike \u2014 crossed Willow Street and hung out in front of Peet\u2019s Coffee. It was like SantaCon but with more comfortable outfits and a lot more white wine.<\/p>\n
The Mrs. Roper in question is Helen Roper, the comical character played by Audra Lindley in the 1970s ABC sitcom \u201cThree\u2019s Company\u201d who was about three times smarter (and funnier) than her husband, Stanley, played by Norman Fell. The tribute celebration started with a parade in New Orleans in 2013 and has since spread to other cities at various times of year.<\/p>\n
The Willow Glen Business Association puts on the local version. Lincoln Avenue merchants and eateries offered specials during Saturday\u2019s four-hour event \u2014 which required no tickets or RSVPs, just an enormous sense of fun, a colorful outfit and the perfect wig. Sushi Confidential offered discounts on sake bomb drinks, 20Twenty gave out free truffle popcorn with the purchase of two glasses of wine \u2014 the perfect accessory \u2014 and Goosetown Lounge had a special karaoke session during the romp. How many times can you hear \u201cCome and Knock on Our Door\u201d before you can\u2019t get it out of your mind?<\/p>\n
You can always find out next year. You\u2019ve got time to get\u00a0your outfit together.<\/p>\n
Norman Fell, left, and Audra Lindley played Stanley and Helen Roper on the sitcom “Three’s Company.”\u00a0(AP Photo\/File)<\/p>\n
RADIO DAZE: One of the Mrs. Ropers out Saturday was longtime radio personality Marla Davies, who was rockin\u2019 killer shades with her monarch butterfly caftan having what she said was a \u201cfull day of fun.\u201d That\u2019s the kind of \u201canything goes\u201d spirit that made her a mainstay on KOME-FM and later on Mix 106.5 FM and no doubt figured into her induction to the 2026 Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in the Program Host category.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s joined in that category by Bill Lee, who was familiar to listeners of KFRC in the \u201980s and the New Jack Zoo morning show on KMEL in the \u201990s, and Jeff \u201cJV\u201d Vandergrift and Dan \u201cElvis\u201d Lay, whose show started at San Jose\u2019s Hot 97.7 in the early 1990s.That was before \u201cThe Dog House\u201d became a Bay Area and, later, nationwide sensation co-hosted by Elvis (Dan Lay). Vandergrift died in 2023 at age 55.<\/p>\n
The new program host inductees \u2014 along with inductees in news, sports, management and other categories<\/a> \u2014 have been invited to meet fans at the annual Radio Day By the Bay celebration in Alameda on Saturday. Get more information at www.chrsradio.org\/radioday<\/a>.<\/p>\n RUNNING WITH HEROES: There was a great turnout Saturday morning for the sixth annual Stars and Strides Run, with more than 3,100 people taking part in the event, which raised more than $315,000 for the Valley Health Foundation. By the way, the total over the race\u2019s six years is now about $1.85 million to support Santa Clara County\u2019s four public hospitals.<\/p>\n Jeff Garmany, the hit-and-run survivor I wrote about last week, was cheered on by the crowd as he started the wheelchair division. After the race, Garmany told me he had a rough start but started getting into his rhythm once he got the hang of pushing his chair through the crowd of runners.<\/p>\n Seeing Garmany and the other wheelchair competitors give it their all \u2014 as well as the others pushing strollers or running in costumes \u2014 was pretty inspiring. My race went as well as I could have expected, but I finished the 5K behind Wayne Mancari, who won the Independence Day category in the costume contest dressed as \u201cGeorge Washington Crossing the Stars and Strides\u201d (fake boat prow included). Oh well, the current was probably speeding him up.<\/p>\n MUSIC MAN ON THE MEND: Tommy Aguilar, who operates the production house Universal Grammar and has performed under the name DJ Chale Brown for countless events in the South Bay, is recovering from surgery following a heart attack this month. Friends have established a GoFundMe campaign to help cover his medical expenses as his recovery continues. You can check it out at bit.ly\/ChaleBrown<\/a>.<\/p>\n If San Jose has any vibrancy at all, it\u2019s because of people like Aguilar who continue to believe in the city and put everything into it. Let\u2019s hope he\u2019s back on his feet and providing the right background soundtrack to San Jose as soon as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you were in Willow Glen on Saturday afternoon, you weren\u2019t hallucinating. There were dozens of people in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[417,184,7,4978,967,181,23,419,88,90,89,198,200,420,14258,12465],"class_list":["post-398130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-around-town","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-downtown-san-jose","tag-entertainment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news-columnists","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay","tag-things-to-do","tag-tv-streaming","tag-willow-glen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398130","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=398130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jeff](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SJM-L-PIZARRO-COL-0715-02.jpg\")
Jeff Garmany raises his hand to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd as he prepares to start the wheelchair division of the Stars and Strides Run in downtown San Jose on Saturday, July 11, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Valley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SJM-L-PIZARRO-COL-0715-01.jpg\")
Valley Health Foundation CEO Michael Elliott, right, talks to Wayne Mancari, who dressed as George Washington crossing the Delaware to win the Independence Day category of the Stars and Strides Run in downtown San Jose on Saturday, July 11, 2026. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n