By Frances Kennedy Maas

Journeying south down Foothill Expressway, about three miles from downtown Los Altos, one comes upon a rustic shopping center, the dream project of Christian Wilder. The center celebrated a half century of business Nov. 9.

The fact that the center exists at all is due to the tenacity of one man, his belief in himself and his ideas.

Wilder, a builder, had bought a walnut orchard bordering Fremont Avenue and Springer Road from John McKenzie, after whom McKenzie park is named. He built homes along Springer and planned to build homes on the rest of the acreage, with the exception of six acres bordering Fremont and Springer. Wilder ran into much resistance.

“There was a lot of animosity toward Chris by the downtown merchants,” said Billy Russell who co-owned Russell-Ruston, a men’s store on State Street. “I was a friend of Chris’. We belonged to the same church. But there was little business for us downtown as it was. There were few people. The town wasn’t incorporated as yet. We weren’t organized to fight him. One consequence of this disorganization though was that it was the catalyst for the formation of the village association.”

“As an 8 year old I remember Mr. Wilder coming to our home and asking my parent’s to sign a petition for his shopping center,” Steve Albin, present owner of Rancho Framing told me.

The first public hearing on the petition to reclassify property between Springer Road and Riverside, off Fremont, was held before the Santa Clara County Planning Commission Jan. 4, 1951.

Organized opposition to zoning the property for commercial use had developed. Bert Pennybaker based their opposition on these grounds: Further commercial facilities are unneeded; property values in the area adjacent to the center would decline; the development would destroy the rural atmosphere; and granting the petition would be an opening wedge for further commercial zoning along Fremont, according to the Los Altos News. With Gardner Bullis arguing for him, Wilder’s plans were approved Feb. 7, 1951.

“There are no plans for bars or gas stations,” Wilder declared. “The rural charm of our community will be preserved by ranch style architecture. The center will be owned and managed by The Wilder Company to ensure careful selection of tenants and meticulous gardens and buildings. There will never be more than one owner of the entire center (Los Altos News).

My longtime friend, Cohn Peters, a Los Altos native, had no problem with what Chris wanted to do. “We needed houses and he planned to build them as well as the center. There were many returning veterans, me among them, who were married or soon to be. I bought my first home from Chris, a tiny place in the hills with a huge drainage problem. He and I worked on it, changing the slope of the lot. It was a chore, but we got it done.”

Construction was begun on the shopping center in July with Wilder hoping to have one unit finished by December. He had named the property Rancho Estates and called the shopping center Rancho as well.

A tree specialist was called in to inspect the big oaks on the property as part of the effort to preserve the natural beauty of the location.

“Chris literally saved the Town Crier for me,” said Dave MacKenzie, who owned the paper from 1947 to 1972. “We had much competition from the Los Altos News. We mostly did advertising and Chris gave all his business to us. I assigned one of our staff, George Rosato, to that account.”

Rosato and I have kept in touch over the years. We talked over the phone from his home in Sonoma. “The townspeople could not understand the concept of a shopping center, nor the need for one. They didn’t approve of the architecture Chris wanted to use. I, in turn, was stimulated by the prospect of promoting the place. Thousands thronged to the opening of the first unit Nov. 9, 1951.

“I planned a yearly pancake breakfast and Rancho Roundup to be held in June. We had real gunslingers in the beginning. That year we gave away a pony,” Rosato said. “New cars were a novelty but were becoming available. I had dealers come there to show off new models. Later, I had antique car shows, I still remember the excitement of those early years.”

Tony Conti, owner of Rancho Jewelry store in the ’50s and ’60s, remembers a very cohesive group of merchants. “We were taking a gamble along with Chris. We wanted the place to be a success. Most of us were veterans, who’d had our education interrupted, gone back to school and were gung-ho to get started. We were used to organization and were patient, waiting for our business to grow.”

Judy’s, the women’s specialty shop, gave a cocktail party and fashion show for men only at Christmas time. Owners such as Tony and Bill Ramos of the Rancho Bottle Shop; Bud Eldridge from the gas station; my husband Clayton, pharmacist and co-owner of Rancho Pharmacy; John Lopes, M.D.; and Dr. James Thompson, dentist, took advantage of those parties. We wives were the beneficiaries of Judy’s faultless taste.

The Wilders took all of us to dinner at Dinah’s one night. For entertainment that evening, they had a young trio from Stanford, friends of Wilder’s son, Chris Jr., perform. Later, they became known as The Kingston Trio.

The second unit of Rancho was started immediately after its opening. The hardware store and Adelaide’s flower shop moved into the new building on Riverside next to the creek.

Today I muse on Pennybaker’s prognosis about our property values being diminished as a consequence of the commercialization of Rancho. I know this to be untrue. Chris sold Clayt and me his last lot in Rancho for $4,000 in 1954 and we built our house there. Everything, including the landscaping and pool, cost $50,000 at the most. As I told the Town Crier question man some time ago, it’s obscene what I have been offered for the property over the last few years.