Western Railroad Discussion > The Leaning Tower of Alviso...

...is no longer standing. Looks like the storms this week got the better of it. UP is probably happy it fell in on itself instead of on the ROW. Think it was a bar at one time, or a general store.

Alviso is on the UP Coast Sub at the Southern end of San Francisco Bay, now part of San Jose.

Jim B

---

Ohhhh... What a shame.. .. That building was really old.
I rememberd it from railfanning in Alviso as "Laine's
Grocvery Store", so a search turned up this interesting
info:

http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/structure.html

It was built back in 1865, and it is a real shame that it never
was preserved.   It looked pretty bad the last time I saw it
a few years ago, but streetcars that were in much worse 
conditionhave been restored to "like-new" condition, so
this old treasure certainly could and should have been saved.
Witih all the huge amounts of money floating around here in
Silicon Valley, one of the very wealthy people or companies
around here (You-hoo! Google or FaceBook!) could easily
have just written a check for the full cost of restoring it -- and
for a museum, too, to properly interpret it.  (That is just part
of being a good corporate citizen.)  The fact that this did not
happen just shows how much work we who love history have
to do, and how ignorant the wealthy around here are about our
history.

I am very sad it is gone.......

Sigh.......

That home in the background is very nice.I love Bay area architecture.
Regards,dK

Awwwww...
That place had the remains of a neon Lucky Larger sign over the door for years!  It was very cool- someone scored it a while back.
SR

That beautiful two-tory Victorian building in the background
is the Tilden-Laine home, and was built in 1887.  Susan
Ortley Tilden owned that old grocery store.

First, here is some more history of the store and house --
with a 1983 photo of a Cotton Belt SD 45-T-2 and its train
roaring by the old grocerystore on its way to LA: 

http://s412909226.onlinehome.us/KPRMS/BayAreaRR/alviso.htm

There are also a number other great photos on that page,
some with trains, one of which has an SP Geep on the pointg!

Next, I found this page, with Then and Now photos of the
Tilden-Laine Victoriain home:

http://s412909226.onlinehome.us/KPRMS/BayAreaRR/alviso.htm

And here is another page with info about the Tilden-Laine home
and about the Tildens:

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3D2J_Tilden_Laine_House_Alviso_CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/17 19:29 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Margaret, thanks for the great information.

JIm B

BoilingMan Wrote: 
------------------------------------------------------- 
> Awwwww... 
> That place had the remains of a neon Lucky Larger 
> sign over the door for years!  It was very cool- 
> someone scored it a while back. 
> SR 

BoilingMan -- 
Now that you mention it, I remember that neon sign. 

That old grocery store should have been saved.  Oh, well..... 
From JimB's photo, it looks as though someone is taking care 
of the Tilden-Laine home.  I hope whoever it is can keep it in 
decent shape.  At least, for now, it looks pretty good.  :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/17 19:38 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Yeah, it's in the photo with the SSW tunnel motor in the connection you posted- it's hard to make out, but if you remember it you'll see it easily.  It formed kind of an "X"
SR

Sorry to see it go.

I was up there a couple of weeks ago and got a couple of trains there. Glad I did.

Posted from iPhone

When I lived in Newark some 35 years ago, there was a fairly popular restaurant in Alviso. Is it still there?

This place?

Vahl's?

Yes, it's still there. I suspect the same people who were eating there 35 years ago are still there, drinking in the bar and singing karaoke.

Vahl's has become something of an inside joke between some friends and I.

It looks interesting, and it's next to the tracks, so I have always wanted to eat there.

On a July afternoon about 6 years ago, I convinced a group of friends to go there for a late lunch/early dinner. When we walked into the dining room, it was empty, and it was clear that they either didn't have air conditioning, or it wasn't on. We found a handful of people sitting in the bar, and I told the bartender we were there for dinner.

She said well, the cook isn't here yet. But they have some stuff left over from lunch and she could fix us up. I think it was some variety of an Italian chicken dish.

Hey, it's next to the tracks, and that was good enough for me. 

My friends, however, were all horrified and refused to eat there. We ended up at the Outback Steak House in Newark, where we had a decidedly bland meal.

To this day, I still suggest we go there, and they tease me relentlessly about Vahl's.

That said, Vahl's does have a nifty neon sign, which they generally turn on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Last time I was there at night to shoot trains, I think three or four of the neon letters in the "Vahl's" sign actually worked.

---

That won't buff right out...

Oh well. Thanks for the report anyway, Jim.

I deliberately did include that structure while it was standing, and I verified that in a video I posted back in March 2015. I know Evan_Werkema mentioned something about incorporating that structure with a train in his video and/or photo, and I hope he had a chance to do that.

Dug out a photo from 2010 where the Dos Equis sign was visible and the building was recognizable.

This was the Yellow wrapped "Stay of the Tracks' Banana F59.

Jim B



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/17 18:08 by jimB.

---

jimB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dug out a photo from 2010 where the Dos Equis sign
> was visible and the building was recognizable.
>
> This was the Yellow wrapped "Stay of the Tracks'
> Banana F59.
>
> Jim B


Dos Equis?!!
No, no, no... you darn kids today!!!
Lucky Lager!
Jeez Louise!
SR

And stay off my lawn!