While walking through the village in recent months, some of you may have noticed some new construction has taken place, without any planning permission or permits! In the window of Uncorked! wine shop and tasting room at 14500 Big Basin Way, a new village has been developed. Okay, so it’s not a big construction, it's a village of birdhouses. They are the Carefully Corked birdhouses to be exact, made right here in Saratoga by resident Sally O’Hearn. It started as a hobby a couple of years ago when Sally decorated a basic wooden birdhouse with used wine corks, as a gift for a friend who enjoys wine and loves nature. 

They now have a fourth indicator - the tongue.

Neurologists say that if they get to a stroke victim within 3 hours, there is a good chance of reversing the effects of a stroke... totally.  The trick is getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

Saratoga California

Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of 2008 the population numbered 30,445 people.

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Saratoga is locally known for its suburban small-town feel, wineries, and high-end boutiques. In 2008, CNN/Money ranked Saratoga number four in its listing of top-earning towns. Saratoga was also ranked by Forbes in 2009 as one of America's top 20 most educated small towns. Major attractions include Villa Montalvo, Hakone Gardens, and the Mountain Winery.

History

The first European settlement of what is now Saratoga occurred in 1848, when William Campbell (father of Benjamin Campbell, the founder of nearby Campbell, California) constructed a sawmill about 2.5 miles (4.0km) southeast of the present downtown area. An early map noted the area as Campbell's Gap. In 1851, Martin McCarty, who had leased the mill, built a toll road down to the Santa Clara Valley. The toll gate was located at the present day intersection of Big Basin Way and 3rd St., giving the town its first widely used name: Toll Gate. In 1855 the town received a post office under the name of McCartysville.

Industry soon sprang up: at its height the town had a furniture factory, grist mill, tannery, and a paper factory. To commemorate this newfound productivity, the town was renamed yet again in 1863, this time as Bank Mills. Shortly after this, however, a spring was discovered which had a mineral content similar to the springs at Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1865, the town received its final name, Saratoga. At the same time, a resort hotel was constructed at the springs, and it attracted tourists to the area until it burned down in 1903.

Saratoga then became quietly agricultural, along with much of the rest of the valley. A few vineyards and orchards from this period remain today. After World War II, the town quickly became urbanized, and it incorporated in 1956, mostly to avoid being annexed to San Jose. A slogan during the campaign to incorporate the city of Saratoga was "Keep it rural," according to historian Willys I. Peck. Today the city serves as a bedroom community for upper-middle class Silicon Valley tech workers.

General Information

Saratoga is located at 37°16′21″N 122°01′10″. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.1square miles (31.4km²), all of it land. Within its borders, Saratoga includes lush redwood forests, foothills suitable for wine grapes and sunny valley floor once covered with prune and apricot orchards, now with suburban homes, schools and churches. The downtown area along Big Basin Way is known as the Village.

The racial makeup of the city was 67.39% White, 0.39% African American, 0.15% Native American, 29.08% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 0.57% from other races, and 2.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.14% of the population.