Responses to ‘Whatever Happened to the Fort Café?’
In last Saturday’s “Our Community” page (August 20, 2016, page B4), The Signal ran an interesting story titled, “Whatever happened to The Fort Café?” Former SCV resident, Steve White, shared a photo he took of The Fort Café in Mint Canyon in 1996. On a return trip to our valley recently, Mr. White looked for The Fort Café but could not find it, nor could he locate exactly where it stood.
Here are two responses:
From Tony Newhall:
Having lived in the SCV for many years, I went to look for The Fort Café – and was astonished to find it gone! But I remember where it was. It was on the west side of Sierra Highway, exactly across from the junction of Scherzinger Lane – about ¼-mile south of the Backwoods Inn but on the other side of Sierra Highway.
I do not know when The Fort Café was razed, but most of the west side of Sierra Highway, between Dillenbeck’s and The Sierra Chalet, were leveled at one time or another over the past 20 years and replaced by small businesses, auto shops and condominiums.
Today the original location of The Fort Café is occupied by Competition Transmissions, at 18003 Sierra Highway (across the street from the Mint Canyon Moose Lodge).
Mr. White, thank you for remembering the venerable Fort Café!
From: J.B. “Skip” Hasler
The Fort Café was located on the west side of Sierra Hwy. and Mirrow Way. Mirrow Way is directly across the street from the entrance on Scherzinger Lane on the east side of Sierra. The owner of the Fort was Al, can’t remember his wife’s or his last name. We also use to eat there. There were few eating places in the valley in those days. It is now a Communication Facility.
Maybe you’ll remember some of my old real estate offices. I’ve been here since 1961. I started real estate working for Nate Olsen owner of Olsen and Associates on Lyons Avenue and became manager of his third office next to the Valencia room in 1967.
I opened Hasler Realty on the S.W. corner of Walnut and Lyons in 1971, in an old green aluminum sided oil field move-on. Changed the name to Allied Brokers in 1973, and again to Omega BrokersAllied Brokers around 1975. We moved across the street in 1977 and refurbished Bill Barber’s “One Stop” on the N.E. corner of Lyons and Newhall Ave. I left Allied in 1979 and reopened Omega BrokersHasler Realty on the corner of Soledad and Langside Ave. The old Allied Broker building has been a dentist’s office since around 1980/81. Maybe, you remember some of these old buildings.