| These were the 2nd Bahl Patio Homes we built. We bought this land
from the Mardesich Family. They were growing apricots on the land.
This was their "Home Place". They had all of their farming
equipment, drying sheds, barns, their out buildings and home. Every
farmer who could would dry their own apricots in those day. You
could get more money for dry apricots than for fresh ones. The reason this property had not been developed was not
because the owners did not want to sell it, but because the property was
zone R2. This was zoning for duplexes. At the time (1967)
nobody wanted to build duplexes. We petitioned the City to change
the zoning to R2-PD. This would allow us to built the patio homes.
As with all the Patio Home projects, the City Staff and Planning
Commission recommended denial. Luckily for us, the City Council
could see the merits of this project.
Here is an interesting story about how Yukon Drive was paved. It
had been a relatively dry fall. In those day you built the streets
and the houses at the same time. If the weather stayed dry, we could
get the street paved before the rain set in. Other wise we would
have to wait until the following spring. The reason for this is that
the streets had to reach a certain compaction level before the city would
allow you to pave. If it started raining, you lost the compaction
level. This would leave you with uncompleted houses until you could
pave the roads.
Without that background this story would not make sense. The
paving contractors understood how important it was to pave the roads
before it started rain.
With the threat of rain in the air, the paving contactor did us a huge
favor. In those days, you worked a half day before Christmas.
Then you went to an office party. Paving Yukon would take the whole
day. This would mean the men would miss the office party which they
would NOT DUE. So instead of closing down the job at noon, the
paving contractor brought the office party to the men. He lined up
whiskey bottles up and down Yukon. When the men ran out of asphalt
and were waiting for the next truck to arrive, they would walk over to the
bottles and take a shot of whiskey. Asphalt is made at a batch
plant. The paving contractor also owned the batch plant. He brought whiskey to the men at the
batch plant so they would continue working. In this way, we finished
paving Yukon before the rains came.
To take it a step deeper the batch plant was located on the site of the
"Old Mill" shopping center in Mountain View which is now a
housing project..
Here is a
Sunnyvale Saratoga Patio Home that we listed and Sold. |
