Yesterday I had the privilege of revisiting the ruin of the
Gallegos/Palmdale Winery built in 1881 and destroyed in the
1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The location of this site is the vacant lot on the southeast corner of
Driscoll Road and
Washington Boulevard. in
Fremont, CA. I visited this location back in
2008 or thereabouts with my then-girlfriend. At that time a major capital project was taking place at that intersection and the fence surrounding the ruin was partly knocked down allowing the two of us to explore the site. The construction in the area is now complete and the site fenced in with a high chain link fence topped with slanted barbed wire. However, I was able to capture the following images of the site from outside the fence. I would have preferred to have taken these images in sunny weather but these cloudy weather images will have to suffice.
NOTE: I wish to convey my thanks to
Dan Dawson for discovering for me the name of this winery and a link to a wonderful article about it by
Ralph de Unamuno of
Purple Tongue Press.
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| There is a concrete path for wheel ruts to drive up (or walk up) from the parking location down the street from the intersection of Driscoll Rd. and Washington Blvd. in Fremont, CA. |
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| All that remains of the winery are the back walls and presumably the foundation. |
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| Date palms have taken over the site of the ruin. |
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| Some interesting structural details remain. |
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| A veritable Garden of Eden has filled in the site of the ruined winery. |
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| Clearly these date palms were planted in a line forming a hedge. |
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| I sure wish the fence weren't in place but I realize it protects the location from those who respect it less than I do. |
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| There is a small antenna in this image and out of frame to the right the intriguing entrance to a dark cellar. |
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| Grandma and Mom and Tequila walking back from the winery ruin. |
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)
I would assume this to be the ruins of the Gallegos/Palmdale Winery, but that comes from just a few minutes of Google searching, I have no firsthand knowledge. Thanks for sharing, I always love seeing pictures abandoned places like this! Here is the article that led me to what might be the name of the winery:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.purpletonguepress.com/Purple_Tongue_Press/The_Press/Entries/2011/8/7_History_in_the_Vines__Fremont%E2%80%99s_Wine_Legacy.html
Dan,
ReplyDeleteYou are the man! Thanks so much for the info you were able to dig up for me on that which led to me finding another good link on the winery. I have now included both links in this blog posting with attribution to you for your contribution. I invite you to check out my posting from last April about a building in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square that is rebuilt with bricks from the rubble of the quake and conflagration in that city.