Old School Rustic Bar and Restaurant train theme

About the Space

In 1873 Charles “Tom” Vincent, using an alias, wandered west through the Mojave Desert. He was penniless. He followed the lure of “California Gold” that had drawn so many to California. Tom Vincent settled in the rolling juniper filled hills of the high desert and staked out his claim to mine the gold that he was sure lay beneath his feet. He never found his treasure in the hard volcanic basalt rock, but stories of great ore deposits lead many to follow Vincent in search of their fortune. A small tent city grew in the small “gap” in the mountains between the wild game rich valley to the east and the descending canyons to the west. The few ore strikes at “Soledad Summit” or “Vincent’s Gap” gave the area a reputation and the small city grew along the dirt trail from the Sierras to the Pacific. The digging continued and Vincent’s Gap became known throughout the state. Many incentives were provided to businesses and individuals as the Federal Government encouraged the settlement of the “West.” One of the opportunistic beneficiaries was Southern Pacific Railroad which had laid track through Vincent’s Gap. Freight and passenger demand ultimately required the construction of a depot at Vincent. A railroad “Wye” (a Y shaped turnout) was constructed where engine cars pulling the heavy trains up the “grade” could pull off the main line and disconnect as they were no longer needed to coast west down through Ravenna and the Canyons of the Soledad. The “Vincent Depot” was built at the “Top of the Grade” on an eighty acre piece of land granted to a Joseph Puentener by President McKinley in 1897. The restaurant, Vincent Hill Station and the Top of the Grade Saloon, sits on the Joseph Puentener land grant. In 1936, Ron and Kate Valenta purchased the Puentener land grant, called Vincent since the 1880’s. The town of Vincent in the 30’s consisted of a small café, ranch house and gas station on the old dirt trail now known as Sierra Highway. Water for the little town was piped from a well at the north end of the property. The well exists and is still active today. It can be seen across the 14 freeway. (Look for the old water tank under the power lines.) Around 1938 the Valentas hired a broke cowboy from Texas. They didn’t need him but he needed a job so they asked him to clean up the property and gather the rocks. They decided to put the stacks of rocks to use, building four rock cabins. The construction process was slow since the Valentas insisted the cabins be built to Los Angeles County Code, and the building inspector’s visits to Vincent were infrequent and his demeanor, we are told, was uncooperative. During the extended construction of these rock cabins the California Department of Forestry began encouraging property owners in the Desert to plant trees. They gave unlimited numbers of trees free of charge. The Valentas took advantage and planted several pine trees around their new rock cabins. These little saplings were watered by hand by the Valentas from the old well. These trees can be seen today shading the cabooses behind the restaurant. A black and white picture of the rock cabins, the newly planted trees, and an old locomotive chugging up the grade, hangs in the restaurant today. In 1941 a new route to Los Angeles was designed and Angeles Forest Highway was built. It connected Pasadena to the Antelope Valley. The original Angeles Forest Highway intersected Sierra Highway at Vincent. The old asphalt road still exists