A grand reopening after two-year face lift

By Paul Rogers

Happy Hollow was a zoo Saturday — in more ways than one.

An estimated 9,000 people, including throngs of toddlers, Silicon Valley dignitaries and parents toting strollers and sippy cups, turned out for the grand reopening of San Jose’s Happy Hollow Park & Zoo after a $72 million renovation.

The park, which originally opened in 1961, had been closed for nearly two years as crews brought its quaint, aging rides, animal attractions and other facilities up to 21st-century standards, complete with a thorough upgrade of “green” architecture.

“Happy Hollow was pretty loveworn,” said Vanessa Rogier, a spokeswoman for the park. “Now we have a fresher feel.”

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who presided over the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, remembered his first visits, taking his daughter Kim to the park in 1980, when she was 5 years old.

She’s 34 now and a fighter pilot in the Air Force.

“She and her brother Alex used to run around like crazy. There are so many things for kids to do here,” Reed said. “Happy Hollow provides a really important opportunity for families to do things together, relatively inexpensively in a safe and comfortable manner. And now, it’s a lot more comfortable than before, and there are a lot more things here to do now.”

The old park, founded by the San Jose Jaycees, was 12 acres. Its new incarnation adds four more.

Nearly every building in the park is brand new. Crews also installed a children’s roller coaster, a new restaurant and gift shop, and a new education center that’s eight times larger than the old one. There is also a brightly colored merry-go-round that features rare and endangered animal like manatees, called the “Keep Around Carousel.”

The old petting zoo has been replaced by an expansive Double H Ranch area, which was thick with small children and their parents Saturday afternoon under sunny skies.

“Stick your hand in there, that’s right, give it to him,” said Cindy De La Torre of San Jose as her 2-year-old daughter Rachel haltingly offered a baby goat a handful of food pellets.

The toddler squealed with glee as the goat ate a few.

“Puppy!”

“No, it’s not a puppy,” said her mom, laughing.

Widely funded

Like many of the parents who came out for the park’s long-awaited unveiling, De La Torre said she has fond memories of visiting Happy Hollow as a child, starting about age 9.

“It’s changed a lot, for the better,” she said.

The new park also has expansive exhibits for its lemurs, a new animal hospital with radiology and surgery facilities and an upgraded puppet theater. Seven of its buildings have roofs planted with native plant species. It features lumber made of recycled plastic and wood certified as sustainably grown.

Funding for the project came from multiple sources. The bulk, $52 million, was included in Measure P, a $228 million bond act that San Jose voters approved by a landslide 79 percent to 21 percent in 2000 to upgrade parks, build trails and sports facilities, and modernize senior centers.

An additional $15 million came from the city’s Construction Tax and Property Conveyance Tax Fund, which is made up of developer fees and a real estate transfer tax, with proceeds going to pay for city libraries, parks and fire services. The rest came from roughly $1 million in private donations and other city bond funds.

Heather Lerner, executive director of the Happy Hollow Foundation, said it is trying to raise $5 million more for other projects and to help create an endowment.

The park and zoo, which is owned by San Jose, also is trying to become self-supporting, and as part of that strategy raised its entrance fees to $12 a person from $6. Children younger than 2 are free.

Danny the Dragon

Several projects still need work.

A 600-foot bending bridge at the entrance is under construction and won’t be finished until September. Similarly, the Crooked House, an old Happy Hollow favorite, remains closed indefinitely after its steep slide was found not to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Many of the most popular features at the park remain.

Danny the Dragon, for example, has been spiffed up. The 68-foot-long train has been repainted bright green and red, polished and retrofitted to run on a battery-powered electric motor instead of gasoline.

It was among the biggest draws Saturday.

“I loved riding on Danny the Dragon when I was a kid,” said Sheila Struthers, who first started coming to Happy Hollow at age 4 in 1964. “I always said that if I won the lottery, I’d give a bunch of it to help fix up Happy Hollow.”

Struthers, now a fourth-grade teacher at Blackford Elementary School in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood, took her own daughter to the park, and said she wouldn’t have missed Saturday’s opening gala for anything.

“It’s a lot more colorful now,” she said, smiling. “I think they’ve done a really nice job.”

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