What patriotism looks like in Los Gatos as America turns 250

For Margaret Smith, hanging Fourth of July bunting outside her Los Gatos gift shop is more than a retail tradition.

It is an act of hope.

Smith, who has owned Domus on Santa Cruz Avenue since 1996, has decorated the front of her store and neighboring shops with flags, stars and red, white and blue bunting for three decades, carrying over a tradition she started at home.

This year, as the United States nears its 250th birthday, those familiar symbols have returned to planters and storefronts along Santa Cruz Avenue and Los Gatos Boulevard. But for Smith and other local business owners, the holiday is not only a celebration. It also offers a moment to reflect on what patriotism means in a country strained by political division, rising prices and questions about how Americans see one another.

To Smith, the decorations represent hope, unity and tradition.

At Gallery 24, that reflection is taking shape on the walls. The gallery is featuring about 100 works in a collection titled “America the Beautiful,” a series of miniature paintings created by its resident artists.

Gallery 24 co-director Julia Watson said the artists wanted the collection to explore what the American landscape and culture mean. The paintings include images of American scenery, the Statue of Liberty, churches, pies and hamburgers.

“A lot of storefronts are showing their patriotism, so we decided we wanted to do an ‘America the Beautiful’ because everything in our country is just beautiful,” gallery co-director Joan Drennan said.

Asked what makes her proudest as an American, Drennan pointed to California’s climate and the country’s freedoms.

“I enjoy being able to work as an older woman and have this really lovely place to work,” she said.

Watson said two of her favorite pieces of Americana are the patriotic songs “This Land is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful.” She said she admires the nation’s “beautiful land and our highest values, not necessarily what we put into practice, but what we should put into practice.”

At Los Gatos Parkside, American flags dot the planters inside and outside the restaurant, while bunting covers the railings around the outdoor dining area.

Assistant general manager Bryce Shore said another manager brought out a collection of decorations to celebrate both the U.S. team competing in the World Cup and the Fourth of July.

The restaurant has seen tourists and regulars come in to watch World Cup games, prompting staff to set up a few additional TVs. Shore said the energy has been “really infectious in a good way,” especially as fans root for both the United States and other countries with personal or family ties.

“I think it’s also a testament to our kind of country, with all these different cultural backgrounds, people who call this home, but also call their native countries home,” Shore said. “So it’s fun to see them rooting for different teams around the world.”

Asked whether he feels proud to be American at this moment, Shore pointed to the country’s democracy, freedoms and diversity.

“We’re blessed to have the ability to be a democracy, be a free country and be able to come together from all different parts of the world to call this place our home,” Shore said. “It’s pretty special to live in a country that has a melting pot of a bunch of different cultures.”

That sense of belonging is also at the heart of what Smith said she worries the country is losing.

Smith is a second-generation American on her mother’s side and also descends from a family that settled in the U.S. in the 1700s. Her own family history, she said, has made her feel proud of the country’s inclusivity and its ability to bring together “different people, cultures and belief systems.”

But she also said she finds it disturbing to see that value eroding.

For Smith, the Fourth of July also arrives at a complicated moment for small businesses whose holiday displays and American-made goods are still tied to a global economy.

Last September, Smith spoke about the pressure created by Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs. She said the situation has improved slightly since then as manufacturers became more organized, shifted production to other countries or stocked up on larger supplies. But while supplies have increased, so have prices, and Smith expects costs to continue creeping up over the next 90 days.

As shoppers grow more cautious, Smith said, buying locally matters even more.

Smith ordered Fourth of July merchandise in January to make sure it arrived on time. The store now has two large holiday displays filled with napkins, ceramics and table linens. She also carried Team USA napkins in honor of the World Cup, which sold out quickly.

Smith said not all of her products come from American companies. But even sourcing everything domestically would not fully shield her business from tariffs.

The stainless steel cookie cutters she sells are American made, she said, but the steel comes from another country subject to higher tariffs. That raised her costs by 50 cents per item, an increase Smith absorbed instead of passing it on to customers.

Asked whether American businesses should reduce their dependence on international goods, Smith said she worries about what that would mean.

“To me, that goal would isolate America, and why would we want to do that?” she said.

These days, Smith said she finds hope in her local community.

She remembered considering closing her store after the 9/11 attacks out of respect for the tragedy. But when scores of people gathered around the shop, she pulled out leftover Fourth of July merchandise and handed it out.

“I’m proud of the fact that we can still pull together as a country,” Smith said. “When you come into a little town like Los Gatos, you’ll see a lot of participation in schools, in charities, so that’s where my hope comes from.”