By Neftaly Ruvalcaba
Located on Mariposa Road this, family-owned a western styled diner recently celebrated their 68th anniversary.
Dorothy Clare was born on a farm in South Dakota. In 1954 Clare and her then husband were working at a restaurant, her as a waitress and he as the chef. They decided to leave the state searching for a place to open up their own restaurant and be their own boss.
“We started out with five stools down the street in 1955,” said Clare. “We just kept enlarging and enlarging, taking up more of their room.”
Once they arrived in California in 1955, they found a spot under the same roof with a fruit stand. Collectively they were called Ranch Sale Yard Coffee Shop.
At the time it was only Clare and her husband working the diner.
“It was a little tough at times, being together for 24 hours a day 7 days a week, but we managed,” Clare laughed.
After moving to their current location in 1963, her husband got a second job at the Stockton Hotel.
“We would open at 6 a.m., then my husband had to go to the Stockton hotel at three o’clock,” she said. Fortunately by then they had enough money to be able to hire one more waitress. During that time their children were also old enough to help around the diner.
“We would go straight to the coffee shop after school,” said Sondra Wade, Clare’s daughter. “My brother would do the dishes. I’d set up the tables.”
Despite working at such an early age, Wade and her siblings continue to help their mother. They have learned so much and grown to love the job.
“My brother does the floor, my niece helps around, her son does the dishes, so it really is a family business,” said Wade.
One of their goals is to always make the customer feel welcome and at home. They greet them when they come in and make small talk with them.
“The customers like to come back because we treat them like family, and we see them as family,” said Wade.
For some people going to Ranch Coffee Shop is more than just getting food, but it has become a tradition for them. There is a table at the back of the diner that is always full of a couple of gentlemen whose families have been going there since they were little.
“We have people that come everyday, sometimes 2-3 times a day,” said Clare.
“We get to know them and their families, they bring pictures and show us their kids, they ask us for advice, we talk and joke, just having a good time,” added Wade.
Now, Clare is proud of what she and her family have accomplished. She cherishes all of the connections she has made and continues to make with the members of the community, as well as the friendly atmosphere the dinner offers.
“I don’t know how long I will be able to stay in business, I don’t know how my health will be, I just live day by day,” she said.
