Manresa

Los Gatos, Calif., is a picturesque community in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, an hour south of San Francisco. It’s not far from the Pacific and the counterculture sensibilities of Santa Cruz, not far from the rich farmland of Watsonville, and not far from the fruit and nut orchards in the fertile Santa Clara Valley, now known widely as Silicon Valley.

Manresa is an unpretentious, low-slung ranch house on a narrow downtown alley. Considered by many to be one of the best