Summit Woods is a community off the west side of Soquel San Jose Road, about 1 mile South of Summit.

The neighborhood is the go-to place for Halloween in the area.   As told by local, Diane Bittiker:

The whole thing began on October 17, 1989.  That was the day Loma Prieta decided to shake our mountain community with the massive earthquake.  With Halloween fast approaching the community needed a safe spot for our kids to take their minds off what just happened and allow them a little fun. The school had been destroyed and we would not be getting portables for at least 6 weeks.

Summit Woods homes did sustain damage but not irreparable. Our actual street was not buckled like many others in the mountains so it was a safe place for the little ones to be walking door to door. A few of us got together and put out flyers in mailboxes asking about inviting the community to our street for Halloween. Most everyone was interested. We contacted the Los Gatos Elks club and they were very happy to donate candy to the Mountain kids for Halloween. On the morning of Halloween, we had to go escort a car loaded with a few of the Elks members and candy to our street. For those of you that don’t know. .Highway 17 was closed except for local residents with a valid ID.

We divided and distributed candy to each house on Summit Woods. Channel 11 news even heard about this human interest story and filmed for their 10pm news.

It was a huge success that dark scary night. Summit Woods residents and all of our “guests” had a spot to get together for fun and even some tears. Many of the kids had not seen each other since that awful day, so they had a great reunion and some time to forget, laugh and heal.

And the rest is history. . it has been 23 years and the tally for last night has been coming in at an estimate of over 400 trick or treaters !

Back to 95033 Neighborhoods page