December 18, 2003

Street Scene: Chrismara Court

What do trash night, poet Robert Burns and the Fourth of July have in common? If you were to ask the residents of Almaden’s Chrismara Court, the answer would be simple—reasons to throw a party!

Situated near Los Alamitos Elementary School, Chrismara Court is an 11-home cul-de-sac that, according to Court patriarch Herman Gerke, “seems more like a small village than just a street.”

Gerke, who with wife Judith is one of two original owners on the Court, has lived there for 31 years. “These homes were just starting to be built up when my wife and I came here. This street has always had something going, but it’s really taken off in the past few years or so and added more and more activities”

According to Gerke, it was shortly after he moved into the neighborhood that the tradition of the Fourth of July block parties began. But what is so unusual is that the neighbors keep coming back to Chrismara each year, even after they’ve moved away.

“We have people coming from all over,” says Gerke. “El Dorado Hills, Half Moon Bay, even some from down in San Diego. We have such a good time and everyone’s so normal, no one is trying to out do their neighbor, they’re all out to just have a good time with each other.”

While it’s one thing to keep an annual neighborhood tradition like the Fourth of July party going for so many years, it’s another thing entirely to add on new events. And maintain those events as well. Credited with some of the most creative and enjoyable of the “new” Chrismara social events are Andy and Suzy Dymoke, who came to the neighborhood six years ago from Saratoga.

“We were looking for ages and hadn’t found the right home,” says Suzy Dymoke. “At first I didn’t want to see this house, I thought it would be too small, and we had almost offered on another house. But then there was an open house and when we drove up, we loved the street, and then we looked at the house and fell in love—it just felt so homey. We moved in and never looked back, we just adore it here.”

The Dymokes, natives of Great Britain, began the annual Robert Burns party, celebrated in late January, and complete with the traditional haggis, poetry readings and a local bagpiper. “It’s an evening of culture and poetry,” laughs Dymoke. “We’ve had the piper for the last four to five years, it’s wonderful.”

Other activities include a Safari progressive dinner party, complete with mysterious enveloped instructions and meticulously coordinated logistics that assure each host a gathering of no more than three couples per house and never do the same three meet up again until the end of the evening gathering.

“Andy handles this one,” says Dymoke, “everyone is sworn to secrecy about what dish they’ve been assigned and no one knows where to go next until the envelopes are opened at each location. At the end, we all meet up again and talk about where we’ve been and who we were with. People even dress up in safari outfits. It’s great fun.”

But according to some neighbors, the favored activity is the weekly informal gatherings each Thursday evening during the summer months— affectionately known as the “trash night parties.

“Even the UPS guy comes to these parties,” laughs Dymoke.

Beneath the fun and creative activities of Chrismara Court is the backbone of genuine caring among its neighbors. “If we weren’t surrounded by such great people, none of these things would ever happen,” says Dymoke.

For Denise and Dan Johnson, the “new kids on the block” having lived on Chrismara for only four years, it is this genuine concern and caring that has made such a positive impression. “Both Dan and I grew up on close-knit, family-oriented Courts,” explains Denise Johnson. “We wanted that for our family as well. This area, with its parks, hills and kind of woodsy setting is wonderful. There are so many little parks tucked away in the neighborhoods, we loved that. I remember when we first came here it was great to see kids out riding their bikes.

The Johnson’s came to Chrismara from Campbell where, although they knew their neighbors well, it took a while to meet everyone. “Moving here, after the first week, we knew everyone, and they all said that we would love this neighborhood.”

This theme of genuine concern for each other, a willingness to help in times of need and camaraderie that extends from the youngest residents to the oldest runs through each and every description of life on Chrismara Court.

“Even the kids get along well,” says Johnson. They watch out for each other, and though there can be a big age difference, the kids still play well together.”

“Here, there seems to be a similarity of values of the parents on this street,” says Dymoke. “It’s delightfully old-fashioned to see children get out and play instead of sitting inside with a button in their hand. It’s healthier for the kids, and it gives the parents a chance to socialize. The [children] know their boundaries, and know that they are safe.

Houses on Chrismara Court are 2,100 to 2,300 square feet on an approximately 8,000-9,000-square-foot lot. The homes were constructed in the early 1970s and are priced in the mid to high $700, 000s.

- By Candy Richter