As
I imagine you all know, one of the earliest European-descended
settlers of what is now Los Altos Hills was Juana Briones de Miranda.
In the mid-1840's, even before the United States occupied what
is now the State of California, Juana purchased Rancho La Purisima
Concepción from an Indian named Gorgonio. This plat map
was drawn in 1863. On a line running approximately southwest to
southeast, Juana's large property bordered on Rancho San Antonio,
which had been granted by the Mexican government in 1843 to Juan
Prado Mesa. The border was a creek variously called las Yeguas,
Purisima Concepcion, San Antonio, and the name by which we know
it, Adobe Creek.
Rancho La Purisima Concepción
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Rancho San Antonio originally comprised over 4,400 acres. By
the early 20th century a parcel of 365 acres, bordering Adobe
Creek on the north and known as the Stone and Sanborn Ranch, was
owned by a family named Barroilhet.
On
this aerial view with approximately North at the top, Moody Road
runs from the direction of where Foothill College is now, then
forks at Altamont to the west.
The road at far right, now Elena, was still called Purissima,
after the rancho purchased by Juana Briones. The ranch property
was bounded by Moody Roady and extended up this hillside.
Aerial View of the area dated 1951
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In
1915 a man named Horace Hill bought the Barroilhet property. Renaming
it Toyon Farm, after the shrub that grew profusely, Hill raised
Holstein cattle, and later, Irish Wolfhounds.
On a hilltop above his ranch Hill built a mansion complete with
a rock-lined wine cellar for his stock of fine French wines.
Horace Hill House
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Down
the hill close to Moody Road, was a Spanish-style barn, with two
silos. A large natural reservoir, fed by underground springs,
was enclosed by concrete to create a lake almost three hundred
feet long, set off by overhanging willow trees.
A Spanish-style barn, with two silos
Plese
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A
guest house was added. The Hills created quite a rural paradise.
Hill's Guest House
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A
lake
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In 1915 William Henry Davis, former secretary to Henry Gage,
California's governor from 1899 - 1903, bought the Hill property.
Renaming
it "Toyon Stock Farm," he enlarged the Hills' paradise,
buying more acreage, and built corrals, riding stables, and another,
larger, barn, near what is now Tepa Way.
Toyon Stock Farm Barn
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The
barn entrance is shown here. From inside we see a man, possibly
Davis, arriving on horseback.
This view gives an impression of the barn's size and layout.
Toyon Stock Farm Barn entrance
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In 1950 the Davis family retired from horse-raising. They sold
the property to a family named Cunningham, which created the property's
most colorful use, but also its most short-lived one.
A Ms. Cunningham, whose father was a doctor and whose uncle
was apparently wealthy, envisaged a western-themed resort: there
were plans for a stagecoach line to carry patrons to and from
Palo Alto, but that never materialized. They did however come
up with a catchy name for the resort.
Gelett
Burgess, born into a distinguished Boston family and educated
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came to San Francisco
in the 1890's and was captivated by the city's Bohemia. He edited
The Lark, a short-lived but influential humor magazine, and contributed
a whimsical quatrain:
I never saw a Purple Cow
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one.
Gelett Burgess
The Purple Cow was a prime example of one of those doggerel pieces
that become famous all out of proportion to its creator's intentions.
Burgess wrote many other things, but, like Ernest Lawrence Thayer's
Casey at the Bat, Purple Cow was the one thing with which he was
most associated, to his dismay.
Years later he penned a sort of retraction. Inevitably, there
was a restaurant or maybe roadhouse called The Purple Cow, which
I understand was in San Bruno. Seeing it or hearing of it, Ms.
Cunningham came up with a similar name for the resort: the Pink
Horse.
A
logo was designed by a Walt Disney Studios animator.
Pink Horse Ranch Logo
The Pink Horse opened in April, 1951. Use was made of existing
structures, such as the lake and the barn, which was converted
into a restaurant. See two images below.
There was no liquor license, but beer was served. The ranch was
obviously well-patronized, as these contemporary aerial photos
show the parking lots full up.
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Please
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Poolside
drew a typical crowd of California sun worshippers.
Poolside at the Pink Horse Ranch
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In spite of its patronage, however, the Pink Horse had parallel
with another resort, the Adobe Creek Lodge. Just a couple of miles
down Moody Road, the lodge drew patrons, but had financial and
legal problems.
The Pink Horse resort lasted only five years. Part of the problem
was the barn, which although converted to a restaurant, still
smelled like a barn; no amount of air fresheners will clear barn
odors. An historical project at De Anza Community College attributes
the Pink Horse's demise to bad management and poor business skills
by the Cunninghams, but I am told it was more: embezzlement, the
partners stealing from each other. By 1956 the business was in
debt a million dollars, meaning that the Cunningham uncle lost
his whole investment.
The
property was sold in several parcels. One of the buyers was Wendell
W. Roscoe, who had served in the United States Army Air Corps
in World War II, and was a flight instructor to the British Royal
Air Force as well as a pilot.
Wendell Rascoe in 2013
A self-taught contractor with a good eye for possibilities, he
bought the lowest 40 acres, which included the resort site, well
below their value at bankruptcy sale. Wendell proceeded to subdivide,
build, and advertise, cleverly incorporating the logo of the now-defunct
Pink Horse as an attraction. Coming just after incorporation of
Los Altos Hills, it was the town's first subdivision.
Wendell Roscoe faced obstacles. The Los Altos School District
trustees voted to seek eminent domain condemnation to acquire
all or part of Roscoe's property for two or three new schools.
Roscoe, then in the process of constructing, offered to sell the
property, all or whole if need be, for $12,000 an acre.
The school district eventually withdrew. Roscoe faced another
obstacle when heavy rains in the 1960s caused Adobe Creek to overflow,
destroying the dam containing the lake built by the Hills. Roscoe
bulldozed a section of the creek to divert it and prevent further
floods, which brought conflict with the Santa Clara County Flood
Control district.
A compromise was reached with the Town Council of Los Altos Hills
over a planned community center, which would incorporate the resort's
swimming pool and clubhouse. No alcohol would be served at the
community center, but it never came about. Instead, Roscoe added
a house to the pool and clubhouse, which became 12243 Tepa Way.
Roscoe also engaged a contractor to demolish the existing barn-restaurant.
The contractor however absconded with the choicest timbers, leaving
half-demolished ruins that mysteriously caught fire and burned
to the ground. Finally, someone reported Roscoe to the State of
California for not being a licensed contractor. Roscoe took the
state examination and passed easily.
Wendell
Roscoe designed and built about 400 houses. Journalists have written
accounts of several.
Wendell Rascoe Ad during the offering his homes for sale
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In 2005 Palo Alto Weekly Assistant Editor Carol Blitzer wrote
on 25446 Adobe Lane, Los Altos Hills.
The house, nestled on a hillside on approximately the site of
the Davis barn, is over 5,600 square feet. Roscoe installed a
wine cellar with limestone racks drilled to hold bottles. Two
silos, relics of the Davis's barn, are visible from the driveway.
Please
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Please
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Souvenirs
and artifacts of the Pink Horse inspire other articles. On Sunday,
October 30, 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle Home & Garden
section ran a piece by staff writer Sam Whiting on 12243 Tepa
Way, which Roscoe and his wife Nancy owned after combining it
with the Pink Horse clubhouse and pool.
In 1964 it was bought by Dr. James Mayfield Harris and his wife
Joan. Dr. Harris, when a medical student at Stanford, had been
to the Pink Horse Ranch, and kept the house in original condition.
The clubhouse still has the bar and soda fountain.
The
spacious kitchen, and living and dining areas are separated from
the bedrooms by a covered bridge that spans the pool. To get from
one wing of the house to the other, said the article "you
can swim it or walk it."
The Bridge
12243 Tepa Way went on the market in 2012 and sold in January,
2013.
The
Pink Horse logo is on a pillar on Tepa Way.
