Leonard McKay
Welcome to www.leonardmckay.com, the site dedicated to the life and learnings of Leonard McKay, historian, San Jose, California. My grandfather was an amazing man and a wealth of knowledge. As such, I have decided that it is a crime to let his knowledge go to waste, and will be developing this site in his honor.
UPDATED
Excerpts from Leonard's Blog
The Saratoga Relay – Class of 1940: On the occassion of the 50th Class Reunion of Los Gatos High School, the reunion committee asked L McKay for his reminiscences.
The 1906 Earthquake (Part 2): Last week I told of the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in San Jose. San Francisco was another story—one of the greatest tragedies of California history. Estimates of the dead numbered more than 700, but the true count will never be known.
Anatomy of a Street (Part 1): What San Jose street is actually in two cites, has had a murder by hired assassins, has three churches and narrows at both ends?
What street had a property with a live lion patrolling the grounds in the 1930s and has a house that was once a brothel before it was moved to its present location?
What private eye living on this street was stabbed when answering his door late one night in 1974?
Eliza (Bessie) Catherine Layton McKay Smith: Co-founder of Smith & McKay Printing, 1919: Article that featured in The Trailblazer (Quarterly Bulletin of the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County) all about Leonard McKay’s grandmother, Bessie Smith, and her involvement in the Smith & McKay Printing Company.
Anatomy of a Street (Part 3): To get back to Paul and Faith Davies and the McKenzie sisters, I’ll relate a story as told by Faith to my wife Naomi. The Davies wanted to entertain the sisters and invited them over for cocktails. Faith warned Paul that these were elderly ladies and to make their drinks very weak. Paul mixed the cocktails with a minimum of bourbon and served them. One sister barely touched her cocktail and Faith apologized, feeling that she had offended them by serving liquor. She offered to get the sisters a non-alcoholic drink to which one of the sisters replied, “Oh, please do—but this time put some whiskey in it.” Faith had not realized that the sisters were of Scottish heritage!