This is a challenging review for the simple reason that I need to separate out from here so many of the businesses and restaurants that I'd rate with five stars, but this review is about the village as a whole. On the one hand, its out-of-the-way location lends itself to a quirky past, a transitional place between Silicon Valley and the various westward mountain communities. The village acts as a gateway to redwood forest adventures, but to enjoy it, one must stop rather than just drive through. Ideally, the village could use more public spaces for such stops.

Where other downtowns have expanded and reconstructed into Anywhere USA, Saratoga Village invites visitors to explore Santa Clara County's humble past. Mostly, the village is community-centric, and isn't that what we want from our downtowns? A strong sense of place, complete with out-of-sync architecture in contrast its modern neighbors, but this is where "historic" comes into play. There are certainly underutilized spaces that could be sensitively brought into modern use without the loss of character. In the meantime, the village has something for everyone that I would never want to see succumb to what has happened elsewhere. With all its inclusions, Historic Saratoga Village is a real jewel to those who can appreciate it.