Inside this issue Summer Home + Garden Design THE HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER FOR MENLO PARK, ATHERTON, PORTOLA VALLEY AND WOODSIDE JULY 10, 2013 | VOL. 48 NO. 45 WWW.THEALMANACONLINE.COM Producer WITH A CAUSE Woodside’s Laurie Kraus Lacob backs feature film that spotlights early detection of cancer | Page 25 PORTOLA VALLEY This private estate property embodies the very best of the understated and exclusive Portola Valley lifestyle. The two-story residence sits on 11+/- acres, with multiple parcels. Formal gardens, stretches of lawn, and vast sun-swept meadows. $14,750,000 ATHERTON This stunning residence spanning 3-levels of absolute luxury is the latest accomplishment by Guardian Construction and Development. Presenting classic East Coast exterior styling and perfectly selected interior finishes, the result is stylishly elegant yet livable. $11,995,000 ATHERTON This prestigious new one-level home in Lindenwood has a sophisticated East Coast style with shingled exterior and traditional design elements. There are 5 bedroom suites, a 1 bedroom fully equipped guesthouse, pool, outdoor fireplace, and 1.12+/- landscaped acres. $8,300,000 2NThe AlmanacNTheAlmanacOnline.comNJuly 10, 2013 UPFRONT Computer pioneer dies at 88 By Dave Boyce processing, linking and in-file Almanac Staff Writer object addressing, use of mul- tiple windows, hypermedia, and he fellowship of high- context-sensitive help, accord- technology pioneers ing to an SRI statement. Tlost another giant with A major turning point in the death of Atherton resident the collective vision of what Douglas C. Engelbart. computers might become came Credited with inventing the on Dec. 9, 1968, when Mr. computer mouse and for com- Engelbart sat on stage during a ing up with concepts such as computer conference at the San point-and-click and hypertext Francisco Civic Auditorium, a links, Mr. Engelbart interceded keyboard and mouse in front of on behalf of ordinary people to him and a big-screen projection extend the power of computing behind him. For 90 minutes he far and wide. manipulated text and pictures. Mr. Engelbart died July 2 at Using a grocery list as a prop, his Atherton home at the age Photo by Louis Fabian Bachrach, Courtesy of the he created headings and reorga- Computer History Museum of 88, according to a statement Douglas Engelbart, shown here nized the items under them in from his former employer, SRI holding an early computer mouse, ways that are common practice International in Menlo Park. his groundbreaking invention, died today. He also engaged in live “Doug was a giant who made July 2 at his Atherton home at the video-enabled exchanges with the world a much better place age of 88. co-workers at SRI in Menlo and who deeply touched those Park, including revising a docu- of us who knew him,” said Cur- them through a card-reader ment in tandem. tis Carlson, SRI’s president and to check for errors. With no “Two thousand people gave CEO. “SRI was very privileged errors, you could use the cards him a standing ovation,” Mar- and honored to have him as to run the program and come ion Softky wrote in 2001. “And one of our ‘family.’ He brought back later for results, usually in all at once people began to real- tremendous value to society. We the form of a print out. ize what computers could do.” will miss his genius, warmth Improving or correcting your Go to tinyurl.com/DCE-demo and charm. Doug’s legacy is program required new punch for a video of this demonstra- immense — anyone in the world cards. And depending on the tion. who uses a mouse or enjoys the demand for the computer, you “It was stunning. It really productive benefits of a personal may have had to stand in line (woke) a lot of people up to computer is indebted to him.” and listen to and/or watch a whole new way of thinking In the 1950s and 1960s, when about computers — not just as SRI was known as the Stan- number crunchers,” Bob Taylor ford Research Institute, Mr. ‘Doug was a giant who of Woodside said for the Alma- Engelbart led a team of “com- made the world a much nac story. Mr. Taylor won the puter pioneers” in the Augmen- Medal of Technology award the tation Research Center. This better place and who year before Mr. Engelbart and team developed tools to “enable deeply touched those was recently named a fellow at people and organizations to har- the Computer History Museum ness the growing power of com- of us who knew him.’ in Mountain View, a recogni- puters to meet the exploding CURTIS CARLSON, SRI’S CEO tion that he shares with Mr. challenges of the coming times,” Engelbart. Almanac staff writer Marion the card reader monotonously The demo did not awaken the Softky wrote in a February 2001 checking the cards of the people industry as a whole. It was not cover story. ahead of you. until the 1980s that the first Compared to the desktop and Enough of all that, said Mr. commercially available mouse hand-held computing pow- Englebart and his team. Along appeared, by which time Mr. erhouses of today, using a with the mouse and hypertext, Engelbart’s patent had expired, computer in the 1960s was the group developed real-time according to a 2004 interview something like driving a car text editing, integration of text with BusinessWeek cited in an from the back seat. To develop and graphics in the same docu- obituary of Mr. Engelbart from a computer program, for exam- ment, online journals, telecon- Bloomberg News. ple, you typed code at a card- ferencing with a split screen, and punch terminal to yield a stack technology that allowed people A soft-spoken man of cards with holes in them, the to collaborate on problems from Karen O’Leary Engelbart, who holes representing computer different remote locations. married Mr. Engelbart in 1999, instructions. You handed your In the field of programming, cards to an operator who ran the group developed online See COMPUTER PIONEER, page 6 CALLING ON THE ALMANAC THE ALMANAC (ISSN 1097-3095 and USPS 459370) is published every Wednesday by Embarcadero Media, Newsroom: 223-6525 N E-mail news, information, obituaries 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, CA 94025- Newsroom fax: 223-7525 and photos (with captions) to: 6558. Periodicals Postage Paid at Menlo Park, CA and [email protected] Advertising: 854-2626 at additional mailing offices. Adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation for San Mateo County, The Almanac is N E-mail letters to the editor to: Advertising fax: 223-7570 delivered free to homes in Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola [email protected] Classified ads: 854-0858 Valley and Woodside. Subscriptions for $60 per year or $100 per 2 years are welcome. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Almanac, 3525 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park, CA 94025-6558. Copyright ©2012 To request free delivery, or stop delivery, of The Almanac in zip code 94025, 94027, by Embarcadero Media, All rights reserved. Reproduction 94028 and the Woodside portion of 94062, call 854-2626. without permission is strictly prohibited. July 10, 2013NTheAlmanacOnline.comNThe AlmanacN3 THANK YOU Jackie and Richard thank you for trusting us to help you achieve your Real Estate Success. 1530 University, Palo Alto 12135 Dawn, Los Altos Hills* 9 Atherton Oaks, Atherton* 98 Kilroy, Atherton* 678 College, Menlo Park 940 Monte Rosa, Menlo Park* 1941 Deodara, Los Altos 2291 South Court, Palo Alto 96 Touscolusa, Atherton* Call Jackie and Richard for a Free Home Consultation Jackie Richard 650-855-9700 650-566-8033 [email protected] [email protected] BRE # 01092400 BRE # 01413607 www.schoelerman.com *represented the buyer 4NThe AlmanacNTheAlmanacOnline.comNJuly 10, 2013 Local News M ENLO PARK | ATHERTON | WOODSIDE | PORTOLA V ALLEY Fate of Merry Prankster redwood tree in limbo ■ County approves removal permit, but also asks night and play pinball with the architect to preserve heritage tree. light show in the sky.” Then a developer bought most By Sandy Brundage its walls. The main portion of of Perry Lane, according to Mr. Almanac Staff Writer the 1,667-square-foot building Wolfe. Reporters descended he days of “Chloe’s Tree,” served as an officers’ club at upon the street expecting to home to hawks and wit- Camp Fremont during World record “sonorous bitter state- Tness to the Dymaxion War I for thousands of Army ments about this machine civi- dance troupe and Merry Prank- troops, according to neighbor- lization devouring its own past. sters, may be numbered. hood lore, before being relo- Instead, there were some kind of The redwood tree, measuring cated to Stanford Avenue. Ms. nuts out here. They were up in a 4 feet in diameter, has stood near Scott later added a dance studio tree lying on a mattress, all high the yard’s border at 180 Stanford in back, where her Dymaxion as coons, and they kept offer- Ave. longer than anyone living troupe rehearsed. ing everybody, all the reporters can remember. But the real and photographers, some kind estate developers who bought of venison chili, but there was the unincorporated West Menlo Nearly 30 neighbors something about the whole Park property last year plan to have banded together setup ...” build a new house, one whose The oak survived. It escaped footprint leaves no room for the to ‘Help Save Chloe’s San Mateo County’s ax three redwood. Tree.’ times, thanks to neighborhood “What bothers me, and both- protests, only to finally die of ered me from the beginning, A short distance away sits root rot in 2005. is that this isn’t someone with Perry Lane, also known as Perry Now nearly 30 neighbors have a sudden need to expand a Avenue, also known as the place banded together to “Help Save house,”said Roberta Morris, Ken Kesey, author of “One Flew Chloe’s Tree.” who lives nearby.