Community

Director John Nava knows his way around poker tables. He once sat at one with a chef, a Mafia boss, an Elvis impersonator and a Stanford student and he put all his money in on one bet. He lost.The Stanford student who won got up and thanked him for paying for her textbooks for the year, cashed in her chips and left. His misfortune led Nava, who has worked at Sigona’s Farmers Market in Redwood City and Palo Alto for 37 years, to write the script for The Biggest Game in Town about a bunch of colorful poker players trying to defeat the best player in the country with every cent they could muster—and more—on the table.Nava pitched it to Gilroyans L. Mattock Scariot and her husband, Nils Myers, whose 152 West Productions has made corporate and children’s movies for the past decade. They loved it, and the trio, all in their 50s, went all in on their biggest dream, devoting two and a half years of weekends and $30,000 of Nava's money into making it.From the applause and howls of laughter during its debut Saturday at Monterey’s Golden State Theater, this time Nava won. They sold more than 600 tickets at $30 each and got it viewed by buyers from some big film festivals.“In a way, everybody who’s in this movie is the biggest game,” said Nava, who was raised in Morgan Hill and lives in Hollister. “We’re an indie film that cost $30,000 and we’re going to festivals competing against movies that are going to be $200,000 to $1 million. We’re real indie and everybody who was in it donated their time and no one got paid.”In keeping with the poker theme, Nava bought the camera used for the film with winnings from a poker game a week before shooting began. He In his off time working in produce, Nava, a film devotee who made the western Handsome Stranger 22 years ago, created demo reels for aspiring Hollywood actors in San Francisco. He would write and direct the clips and each of them got jobs. One of them, Eric Zivot, who played in an episode of the TV show Jag and was in movies, Mob Story in 1989 and The Alarmist and Two Voices in 1997, returned to the Bay Area to take a leading role in The Biggest Game.The other actors are locals who perform like seasoned pros in the movie. Morgan Hill’s Steve Caposio is a natural ham who showed his bacon as the winner of Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen earlier this year. The movie’s lead, Jayson Stebbins, is simply stunning. He’s a Morgan Hill mortgage broker with a lot of local community theater experience, who comes off as an everyman schlub with million-dollar dreams and 10 cents to his name. He is like a mix of Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller.Joe Barra, who played the casino manager, was an insurance broker for State Farm, and died before the movie came out. An accomplished theater actor, his dream was to make a movie, and he did. Nava paid tribute to him during the premiere.When Scariot told the audience at the premiere that she wouldn’t choose Hollywood’s best over the actors they had, you can believe it. Although you could also see this script, with its wry, dark humor, being picked up by Hollywood and brought to the cineplexes everywhere. The movie has the wackiness of The Hangover with some of the tension of Ocean’s 11. That’s no surprise given that Nava’s two favorite movies are The Wizard of Oz and the Godfather. He has allusions to both in this.The decision to risk it all on a dream resonated with Scariot when she read Nava’s script. Its lead character, Atticus Cane, is a disappointed, but hopeful, 40-something on a quest to compete in a legendary poker game started by the “original Texas gamblers,” spoken to him in reverent tones over the years by older pal, Manfrotto.Many poker nights with the guys later, the desire to play at this high-stakes game, with a $100,000 buy-in becomes an obsession for Atticus, consuming both his waking hours and subconscious.“Everyone in the film is Atticus—we are all in our 40s and 50s—and we all have that dream of making it in Hollywood, so I felt really tied to that character,” Scariot says. “I think most middle-aged people feel that at one point in your life, you say: ‘I just have to take a risk, I’ve just got to do it. I’ve got to just put it out there and see what happens.’”Nava says the bedroom conversations between Atticus and his wife about chasing the big time poker dream echo the ones he’s had with his own wife about chasing his dream of making films.Reviews from those leaving the premiere, which included food and a band with an Elvis impersonator, were positive.“It’s exciting to have Gilroy folks actively involved in the arts and putting something together,” said Gilroy City Council member Roland Velasco. “There’s a lot of Gilroy people here that came to show their support.” While he only plays poker himself every once in awhile, Velasco said it was “fun to watch the dynamics between people—and that is what you saw in the film.”Robert and Sarah Caposio, the son and daughter-in-law of one of the film’s highlights, the irascible, “Diamond Dave,” were ecstatic after the film. “We thought the movie was hilarious,” said Robert. “I was laughing the entire time.”Sam Bozzo, longtime community supporter and member of the advisory board of Pinnacle Bank, gave it a thumbs up. “What a wonderful undertaking and there was such a cross-section of people involved,” he said. Steve Caposio chartered a bus to bring friends and family to the premiere.South Valley residents worked for free and donated locations to the movie. Fox Creek Ranch in Hollister let the crew film a western dream sequence there. While others were asking $25,000 to write a score, San Jose musician David Santos traded two months of work for fruit and cheese. Morgan Hill developer Frank Leal donated locations and helped feed the crew.Artist Heather Apgar, 17, made one of the movie’s posters. The other was made by Ralph Noe, who also plays witness protection killer Vic Manfrotto.“This is really a case of a community coming together and sharing everything they have to make a movie,” said Nava, who spent three hours of his “glamorous” day after the debut cleaning the theater, while other cast and crew were at a party.“That’s the other side no one sees,” he said. “After the show everyone leaves and it looks glamorous, but we have to stay and clean the trash.”Scariot and Myers of 152 West Productions have made a name for themselves with professional and inspiring corporate videos for the likes of Sigona’s Farmers Market, Jabil Trinidad, Dental Concepts and Cal State University.They met in Southern California, where Myers was a film student and Scariot a costume designer. When they had children, they decided to move back to Gilroy, where Scariot was raised. The kids are grown now and her son, who works at the House of Bagels, has a sandwich named for him. Scariot is also on the city’s arts commission and has been working to grow the Gilroy Arts Center. They also run a summer program that teaches kids how to make movies.While hitting the big time with the film would mean Hollywood, said Scariot, an invitation to appear at a film festival or a good placement on a streaming service like Hulu or Amazon,  would also be terrific.“The key is to get placement in the front of streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, Hulu. [Otherwise] it can just disappear,” she said. “If we go to film festivals and win awards they would market it better and get that better placement.”There is also hope that if The Biggest Game in Town wins enough favorable exposure, distributors would be interested in 152 West’s previous titles. Currently one of their films has an agent and is distributed overseas.“It would be great to be in the theaters,” she said. “That would be winning the biggest game in town.”

There’s a growing problem with evening and night street racing on Santa Teresa, from around First Street north toward Christopher High. Usually beginning at 10 p.m. or so, the noise from Santa Teresa becomes ridiculous: squealing tires, loud music, shouting (between “contestants”?) and engine revving as they wait for the green light at Mantelli that seems to be the starting line. Our property backs up to Santa Teresa and we’re accustomed to the normal traffic sounds, which are bearable. This racing though is so loud and so potentially disastrous that something needs to be done. There were even large circular “doughnut” tire marks noted one morning a couple weeks ago at the corner of Mantelli and Poplar. I filed a non-emergency police report about this several months ago, but the races continue. One of these days, this is going to lead to tragedy. Anything you can do to help will be appreciated by all in the neighborhood, as well as pedestrians and passing motorists.

Graduation numbers

This might be your last chance to go down in Gilroy history.

At this time, we’re housing our children in school buildings where their own parents attended classes 30 or 40 years ago. The average age of schools in the Gilroy Unified School District is 30 years old and five schools are more than 50 years old. The District has taken great care of the schools but they need to be renovated and rebuilt.

 Steven Madden, one of the most iconic brands in footwear, opened an outlet location atGilroy Premium Outlets on May 26.During its Memorial Day weekend grand opening celebration, Steve Madden Outlet is featuring “Buy One Get One” 70 percent off select shoe styles, plus 30 percent off select handbag styles. The new Steve Madden Outlet offers shoppers 2,000 square-feet of on-trend footwear, handbags and accessories for men and women.Over the past two decades, Steve Madden’s trail-blazing designs have garnered a cult-like following with celebrities, tastemakers and fashion-forward shoppers around the world. “Steve Madden Outlet is a fantastic addition to the center’s mix of more than 30 footwear retailers,” saidGilroy Premium Outlets Director of Marketing and Business Development Heather Roach. “Summer shoe trends such as novel oxfords, block heels, feminine flats, mules and bright sneakers to gladiator sandals are all available here this season.”  During Memorial Day weekend, Gilroy Premium Outlets will host a center-wide sidewalk sale with amazing discounts and extended hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Monday (Memorial Day), plus 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. For more up-to-date news and events, follow Gilroy Premium Outlets onTwitter and Facebook.   

The grand marshal of Monday’s Memorial Day parade in Gilroy is Korean War veteran Robert Diaz, who served two tours of duty with the Marine Corps.“I enjoy the parade and have watched it every year,” said the Gilroy native and commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6309. “It’s a real honor.”Diaz has been a regular at the parade and he’s humble about serving his country.“It was the right thing to do,” he said of his decision to enlist in 1951. He joined his brother and other Gilroy classmates in military service.During the war, Diaz worked as a photographer and lab technician, producing maps that were used by fighter pilots to locate enemy targets.Still reticent to share details of his military service decades later, Diaz said specially modified planes fitted with cameras would leave base in the early morning hours to take pictures of enemy territory. Returning some hours later, Diaz and his team would develop and print the film. The images were then used to create detailed maps of enemy targets.Diaz’s two tours were from 1951-1952 and 1953-1954.He was discharged at Treasure Island and within months, met his wife, Teresa.“I got out in March, met my wife in June and got married in July,” he said.They would go on to be married for 42 years, raising four children together. When he returned from the Marine Corps, Diaz worked in the local canneries.“Everyone worked in the canneries,” he said. Diaz later worked at the FMC plant for 19 years before retiring.Teresa passed away and Diaz lives with his son Gary and grandchildren, Teresa and Garon—a soon-to-be Gilroy High School graduate who has already voiced interest in joining the military.On Monday, his family will join thousands of spectators as they watch Diaz, escorted by the VFW honor guard, lead the solemn Memorial Day procession.“Our family is always there,” Diaz said.

Rich and Linda Sotelo’s love of classic cars brought them more than a room full of trophies—it led to romance.The San Martin couple, who will have their 1955 Chevy Bel Air in Gilroy’s Memorial Day parade and on display at Christmas HIll Park, met 34 years ago driving in their cars and talking on CB radio.For those born after Jimmy Carter was president, citizens band radio was the chat room of choice before internet chat rooms. It was a walkie-talkie-style radio where strangers communicated while driving. Now, they are mostly seen in old Burt Reynolds movies and still used by long-distance truckers.Rich and Linda talked on the radio before they met in person. They were among a group of Gilroyans who chatted on the commute up Highway 101, getting traffic reports from a man who was in a tractor baling hay on the side of the road in Morgan Hill and would alert CBers, saying, “Traffic backed up way back there.”Rich, 73, went by the name “Slapstick,” after the candy bar of the same name. Linda called herself “Nicky,” just a random name taken from her upstate New York upbringing. They would talk on their commutes from South County to Silicon Valley. She was a quality control engineer at Memorex and he was a facilities manager for companies including GE and Quantum.What they call retirement, some might call work. Rich spends three hours a day taking care of his collectible cars, which include a 1941 Chevy Special Deluxe and a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle convertible. No water from a hose has touched them. He cleans and shines them all with a water-free compound.Both travel to car shows all through the summer, everywhere from American Graffiti gatherings at the Kohl’s parking lot in San Jose to big shows in Reno. Unlike some collectors, who are so fussy they won’t even drive their cars, Rich and Linda use them them to get around, round, round.Rich bought his 1955 Bel Air when he turned 55 because that was the first car he ever drove and he was nostalgic for it. He’s also had a 1923 bucket Model T, a 1931 Model A and a 1957 Chevy pickup.“You can’t keep them all,” he said. He stores them in portable tent structures on his property, he said, because it’s too hard to get a permit to build another garage.Everywhere they go they meet other car lovers.“We’ve met so many people who have become such good friends, like brothers and sisters,” said Rich. “It’s not about the trophies. It’s about having people look at the cars who love cars.”What’s different about classic car lovers?“They have personality, they are a lot friendlier,” said Rich. “We congregate a bit more. If we talk to someone and find out he has a car and we have a car, that’s a real bond. Even a wife won’t tear us apart.”In this case the hobby brought this wife and husband closer as they travel all summer, often to shows that benefit veterans. Rich served in the Army Airborne Division as a drill instructor in 1964 and 1965. When she asked for air conditioning, he put it in. When she wanted power steering, he did the same. He was more interested in comfort than authenticity.“There is something different about car people,” said Linda. “They sit around and they appreciate what you have because they know what it takes to get it looking like that. We’ve gone to some car shows and people were in the trunk of our ’31 Chevy. No appreciation. They were sitting in the car, playing with the radio. You don’t do that.”They do have some more recent cars, including a Honda SUV, but they don’t hesitate to drive the classics around town and around the state.“If we wanted to go to Ukiah, we go,” said Linda. “If you want to go to Oakhurst, we go. You want to go down to Paso Robles, we go.The say the old bench seats are much more comfortable than today’s buckets. And they love the metal construction of the old cars, as opposed to the plastics in today’s.They’ve added other artistic touches, including pin stripes, hand etchings, a commando mascot doll and dream catchers, which is a theme Rich likes.“Chasing dreams is important to people,” he said.

Gilroy’s Memorial Day is a family tradition that draws thousands to a series of events throughout the day; it’s also a labor of love for the handful of volunteers who put it on each year.