Satyrs leer in the Love Temple at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Sure, the Bay Area is full of lovely public parks for picnicking. But how many of them offer you 175 acres of lawns, trails and gardens and double as an outdoor art gallery?
That’s Montalvo in Saratoga, where nature lovers and culture vultures converge.
This public gem started out, like so many treasured properties, as the country estate of a wealthy individual — in this case, banker James D. Phelan, mayor of San Francisco from 1897 to 1902 and U.S.