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For the love of song

Kimberly Ewertz is a freelance writer for South Valley magazine and Gilroy Dispatch.
Kimberly Ewertz
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At just 19, a young Gilroy woman had assembled a repertoire of characters that easily rivals those of musical theater veterans, including lead roles in the productions of The Drowsy Chaperone, Singing in the Rain, and The Wizard of Oz. So, who is this Gilroy superstar? She is [...]

Rhône for the Hills

Bev Stenehjem is a wine columnist for South Valley Magazine and is the author of the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley, Arcadia Publishing. Bev also promotes the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley association on Facebook and Twitter. Reach her at [email protected].
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Bucking the long tradition of Bordeaux-style wines in this valley is a growing trend of Rhône-style wines. For many years, the wineries of Santa Clara Valley have produced wines made from cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, zinfandel and other Italian varietals such as [...]

EmmaLily Vineyards

Bev Stenehjem is a wine columnist for South Valley Magazine and is the author of the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley, Arcadia Publishing. Bev also promotes the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley association on Facebook and Twitter. Reach her at [email protected].
Bev Stenehjem
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Specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon, EmmaLily Vineyards is tucked away in the rolling hills of the Uvas Valley. Owned by Steve and Laura Petersen, it is a family-run boutique winery named after their two daughters and sits on two acres where pigs, horses and dogs roam freely. As [...]

Passion for popera

Senior Editor at Gilroy Dispatch
Longtime local journalist and Pulitzer co-winner Jack Foley has worked for San Jose Mercury News and Gilroy Dispatch for more than 20 years and has covered Gilroy for much of his 30-year journalism career. Since 1976, Foley has lived in and around Gilroy.
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When he showed up to study voice at San Jose State University, dragging a thick accent from the streets of Naples, Italy, Pasquale Esposito didn’t make much of an impression on his professors. He’d eked out a living crooning partisan-pleasing Italian standards such as “O [...]

Evolution of an Artist

Debra Eskinazi is the editor of South Valley magazine.
Debra Eskinazi
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The mood went from dawn to dusk, a collection of contemporary paintings spanning the brilliance of an entire day in Monterey. “I call the series ‘Toward Tranquility,’ says artist and avid runner Richard Young, whose work is now being displayed at the Gilroy Center for the [...]

Sushi roll en español

Debra Eskinazi is the editor of South Valley magazine.
Debra Eskinazi
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Aaron Rodriguez was selling sushi out of his house while he was still in high school. He was building a clientele before most kids even entertain the thought of culinary school. Rodriguez, 20, says it was the support of his clients that encouraged him to pursue being a chef. [...]

Fences to Furniture

Debra Eskinazi is the editor of South Valley magazine.
Debra Eskinazi
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Amid the din of electric tools, chatter and loud music, the Terra Amico woodshop brims with creativity and bustles with energy. A thick layer of dust coats every item in sight, and sunlight beams through large open doors—catching sawdust particles in their wake. Just six years [...]

Alcalde!

Senior Editor at Gilroy Dispatch
Longtime local journalist and Pulitzer co-winner Jack Foley has worked for San Jose Mercury News and Gilroy Dispatch for more than 20 years and has covered Gilroy for much of his 30-year journalism career. Since 1976, Foley has lived in and around Gilroy.
Jack Foley
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GILROY MADE HISTORY last month when voters elected the city’s first Mexican-American mayor, Roland Velasco. Sworn in Dec. 21, Velasco becomes the 34th person to hold the office since the city incorporated in 1870, and the first whose family hails from south of the Rio Grande. [...]

Real Ramen in Gilroy

Debra Eskinazi is the editor of South Valley magazine.
Debra Eskinazi
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Maria and Ricardo Hernandez moved to Gilroy from Cupertino, a town with noodle restaurants aplenty. Luckily for them and other lovers of ramen, they have a new place with authentic Japanese fare that satisfies their cravings. “It’s hard to find a good ramen place and this [...]