Friday, March 4, 2011

Tagus Ranch & Perry's Coffee Shop Revisited - Tulare, CA

Among my older posts (aren't they all?), one that continues to garner new looks and comments concerns a former dining and dancing destination located on dusty Highway 99 just to the north of the fine city of Tulare, CA: World Famous Tagus Ranch.

The site of this magnificent ruin has always piqued my interest whenever I'm motoring past, and several times at the urging of my kids I have stopped to document the old building's current state of decay. I last did so on August 6, 2010, and here are some pictures from that 100 degree day:



Was that a BBQ pit to the back left?

A Warning sign:


A few Urban Explorers have made it inside:

Menace said:

"Hello there Walter,
I may have not been alive to [see] this place in it's glory days but I did go see this place recently. I was filming a short film for my video class and we all decided to go to Tagus Ranch. We heard it was haunted(because we heard at least one girl was murdered there) so we were all frightened. Well we all went inside that place and it was really dark even in the daytime, we came upon the room with the pentogram(star) with strange symblos and an eye in the middle and we all freaked. Our video turned out crappy so we have to reshoot but this time at night!"
DECEMBER 18, 2009 6:57 PM

I sure hope 'Menace' made it back and will share some of the pics from the second outing.






Here's a closeup of the ghost-sign-brand 'TR' that used to adorn the exterior and can be seen in the postcard view from my original post.

Stacy Hargrove mentioned in her kind comments that she had been inside and that "...even the old Tagus Ranch symbol was there." Stacy: Would the symbol that you saw be the same one that used to grace this wall?


Ahh, the Great Sign:


Here's a souvenir for you smokers out there:



Long time Tulare residents will remember Perry’s Coffee Shop. Here’s a link to my previous post regarding “The Best Cup Of Coffee on Highway 99”, along with a postcard view of the interior from the 1960’s:


One happy couple enjoyed their time here very much, and wrote their friends Mr. & Mrs. Norman Anderson of La Puente, CA to tell them so:


“Dear Folks – We enjoyed our brief visit with you so much. Having a wonderful trip. This is a lovely dining room & a nice motel. Temp here is over 100 degrees but nice inside. We hope to see Sequoia National Park & Yosemite tomorrow. Regards, Florence and Tony Zelir”(?)

Postmarked Tulare, July 28th, 1962.

I looked up the Anderson’s address on Google, and (yay!) it hasn’t been demolished. But I do wonder if they still live there after all these (49) years? I suppose there’s a pretty fair chance that the Anderson’s have gone on to that great Coffee Shop in The Sky, in which case I hope to meet them one day to discuss this card :)

Unfortunately, the former Perry’s Coffee Shop building was demolished a couple of years back:





Here’s a bit of the terrazzo floor to contemplate. Too bad we can no longer perform this contemplation with fresh pie and hot coffee in hand…


Further north on the 99, we pass the ruins of the Mammoth Orange in Fairmead. We used to enjoy the best ‘Alaska Sized Burgers’ and squeezed-right-in-front-of-you Orange Juice Shakes at this historic roadside stand which was the last of its kind. Too bad the exit was closed which killed the business.


Take care and drive safe…and see you next time.