Photograph by Robert Scheer
Gwyn is a Guernsey at the Claravale Dairy.
In April 1906, Will Irwin wrote a detailed and sentimental account of pre-earthquake and fire San Francisco, which appeared first in the New York Sun and later was published as a small book titled The City That Was.
Now, 90 years later, that title, slightly changed and applied to a different locale, comes back with a haunting resonance. There isn't much left of the Valley That Was, at least in this section of it, and those who had the good fortune to grow up here simply took it for granted at the time. Of course, everyone could expect to live in a virtual garden spot. Of course, kids in the summertime cut 'cots, or picked prunes, or maybe even milked cows year-round. That's what it was all about: one of the world's greatest producers of deciduous fruits--prunes, apricots, cherries, pears--the Valley of Heart's Delight.
Look around now, though, and there's precious little to call it to mind; you could almost count the remnants on one hand. There's Saratoga's Heritage Orchard and Novakovich Orchards just down the road a piece. There's the Los Altos landmark orchard. And there's the Claravale Dairy in Monte Sereno.
If there was no such word as "anachronism"--something placed or occurring out of its proper time--one would have to be invented to describe the Claravale Dairy. Situated on three acres on Bicknell Road, which branches off Quito Road, the dairy is in the midst of an area of million-dollar homes. It's been there since the early 1930s, started by Kenneth Peake, who, at 89, still lives on the property. Claravale Dairy is now the focus of an intensive preservation effort, which is facing a crucial financial deadline.
My more than passing interest in the dairy goes back over 60 years when the young Kenneth Peake was signing up customers in Saratoga. My mother was a natural prospect, since her family had known his family in Berkeley some years before. But my mother also had a strong sense of loyalty, and she had been taking milk from the American Dairy Co. in San Jose for a long time. So she resolved the dilemma by taking one quart from Claravale and one quart from American Dairy, this being in an era when one not only had milk delivered to the door but also fresh vegetables from a truck, ice for the refrigerator, and fresh fish. Delivery service from groceries was a given.
In later years, my wife and I also benefited from Claravale's service. The driver was a young man she had had in third grade at Los Gatos Grammar School--now Old Town--and on his deliveries he would put the bottles in the refrigerator on the back porch.
But the importance of Claravale goes far beyond pleasant memories. Over the years, it has been a place where children could learn that dairy products do not originate in packaged form at the supermarket. As a kindergarten teacher in Saratoga schools, my wife brought her classes there and the children were always amazed at the sight of butter being created by shaking a container of cream. You might say they were seeing the udder side of the food chain.
This availability as a historical resource is one of the main reasons behind the preservation effort. A foundation has been established to buy the property, which will then be leased to Ron Garthwaite, a Ph.D. in biology who purchased the dairy business itself from Peake. Right now the critical need is for money to complete the property purchase, $29,000 more by Jan. 12, for the balance of the down payment, plus additional funds for insurance and continuing mortgage payments. One of the volunteers, Barbara Bamford Holden, is the person to contact. She can be reached at 354-1652 before 8 p.m.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, December 11, 1996.
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