My favorite place to eat in Niles - the Nile Cafe on I Street. Run by a Vietnamese family since 2003, they specialize in wonderful sandwiches and homemade soups.
The inside of the cafe, which appears to have been a bar in a past life, is a blend of Egyptian and railroad lore; only in Niles! Charlie is up on the wall, too.
One of the controversies around the new town plaza-and they were legion-was whether or not to include a water fountain. They did, and brought the movie industry into it as well. When you spin the cylinders, a "movie" plays and can be viewed through the slits.
Visitors taking pictures of the Robert Dollar #3 steam engine from the freight room platform.
The Robert Dollar #3 steaming past on its way to Sunol.
Bailey on the lawn at the Niles Town Plaza Celebration held May 1 and May 2.
Charlie will not speak, but he is more than willing to dance!
A shot of the Robert Dollar letting off some steam before heading to Sunol.
The interior of the Southern Pacific depot has been transformed into a museum focusing on Niles as a railroad junction.
One of the groups set up at the celebration was the Railroad Gardeners society. Members set up miniature electric or steam trains throughout their gardens, combining two great interests!
Me as Charlie Chaplin! Below, the Real Deal is checking out the train depot. Only in Niles!
In 1969, the development plan for Niles was to lose the small town character and replace the 481 older homes that line Second and Third Streets with 1205 high-density apartments. A 16-member committee was formed to re-evaluate this plan and the consensus of the town members was successfully voiced: Niles would retain her small town character (yes!) and increased development would take place on 4-6 acres on the north (Southern Pacific) side of Niles Blvd. An emphasis on parks in the form of Niles Community Park (one of Bailey’s favorite places) and the Quarry Lakes area was deemed necessary to maintain a high desirability for living within the Niles Community (shades of the City Beautiful movement; again, yes!). Commercial uses were to be restricted to the downtown area and the proposed increase in housing lost by maintaining the existing Second and Third Street homes would be made up by adding 650 units at the base of Niles Canyon, spreading up into the foothills on the south side of the canyon.
The guiding principles for the overall plan were: 1) variety of lot and building size (maintain existing low-density older homes), 2) individuality of structures and architectural detail, 3) movie and railroad heritage, 4) quiet tree-canopied streets, and 5) preserve the relative isolation and self-containment by maintaining the existing overpasses connected to Niles Blvd. The development of the railroad property (which was defunct in 1976, when the 1969 plan was updated) was considered crucial to “maintaining a viable downtown commercial area.”
The 2001 Niles Concept Plan intended for Niles to revitalize as a destination point for both visitors and residents and to strengthen its pedestrian scale, its small town character and its local economy. The planning committee also wanted to see Niles as a railway junction be reactivated; this has not yet happened in terms of commercial passengers (Amtrak rushes through Niles but does not stop here) but it has in the creation of the Niles Canyon Railway and the building of the new Niles Town Plaza which is the site of the 1901/1904 restored Southern Pacific depot.
The dedicated members of the Pacific Locomotive Association painstakingly relaid by hand torn up Southern Pacific track that once ran through Niles Canyon and has built up a collection of steam and diesel engines, in addition to numerous other cars and cabooses. Maintained by volunteers at the Brightside Railyard in Niles Canyon, these trains now run tourists between Niles and Sunol on Sundays, bringing visitors and their dollars into both towns. As a result of writing this blog, I’ve joined the PLA and will be a train doecnt this coming summer. They also offer opportunities to drive the train (!) and I noticed a woman engineer running last weekend’s diesel. Hmmm…..If being a docent is fun, how cool would it be to actually RUN one of those fabulous steam engines????? Needless to say, I’m gonna check this out!
The Niles Town Plaza, recently completed after 10 years in the making, now holds pride of place across from the downtown commercial district (I’m writing this in my living room and I just heard the steam whistle blow; there must be some special excursions running today!) and will draw in visitors by its park-like setting, its depot-turned-railroad museum and its small center stage perfect for outdoor concerts. The Essanay Museum is located near the plaza and Charlie Chaplin can be seen all over town in one form or another.
What I see missing from this picture is Niles’s horticultural history. When Fremont’s mayor and others spoke at the Niles Town Plaza dedication, they all noted the significance of the railroad and (to a lesser degree) Essanay Studios in Niles’s past. They also talked about how these historical entities would be utilized to bring visitors and dollars into Niles and this makes sense. After all, the railroad and movies were created to make money in the first place; it makes perfect sense they continue to do so now. But where is Shinns’s Nurseries or the California Nursery Company in all of this? While the railroad and the film studio are well-recognized historical icons within Niles, there appears to be little effort beyond the California Nursery Company Legacy Council to bring some focus on the horticultural side of things. As I noted in last week’s blog, I believe there are many options that could be developed within the California Nursery Company Historical Park that would change this situation for the betterment of the community. I’m doing my part to change it by joining the Legacy Council and one of the first things I am going to do is help archive their multitudinous records over this coming summer. Between this, helping to make a stronger historical presence within the California Nursery Company Historical Park, and hanging out at the Brightside Railyard, I’m going to be taking an active role within the community to help shape its future by making Niles’s horticultural history take its rightful place with the railroad and with Essannay. This has all happened as a direct result of writing this blog, just another reminder on how our past is tied so strongly to our future! Thanks, Professor Ivey!
Oh, for those who want to check out what riding on the train is like, check out my video. Better yet, come and ride for yourself. Then check out the rest of Niles, including the Essanay Studio Museum and the two parks (Shinn Park over on Peralta Blvd. and the California Nursery Company Park on Niles Blvd. at the junction of Nursery Ave.) And eat the best pizza at Bronco Billy or go to my personal favorite, the Nile Café on I Street. Run by a Vietnamese family since 2003, they serve fabulous sandwiches and soups, not to mention great coffee and mochas! S’all good!
The sources I used for this blog were: 1) Fremont Planning Commission. Niles Area Plan. City of Fremont, 1976, 2) Planning Division (Fremont), Niles Concept Plan, 2001, 3) Corrie, Judy. “Niles Opens Its Town Plaza,” Tri-City Voice (27 Apr 2010): 1, and 4) Luna, Henry and the Pacific Locomotive Association. Niles Canyon Railways. San Francisco: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
An old rose planted on the nursery grounds. There is a rose garden on the site now, featured in an earlier blog. There is enough space for different demonstration gardens focusing on different plants, dry gardening, organic gardening, etc.
Walking through the grounds now is like discovering a secret garden. You can see some of the palms used to landscape the 1915 Pan Pacific Exposition in San Francisco on the skyline.
There are flowers in addition to the many heritage tree specimens. The California Nursery Company Legacy Council is in the middle of setting up a self-guided walking tour that identifies historic plants and structures. They are also intending to set up a pergola with historic storyboards. This will be an interesting challenge due to the long and complex history tied up with John Rock, George Roeding Senior and George Roeding Junior, with their multiple contributions to California horticulture.
Old equipment stored in one of the barns during the 1970s.
Equipment could be restored and displayed as it is at Shinn's Nurseries and Ardenwood.
The iconic lathwork of the walkway and the circular sales area could be restored. I found an image of it from the 1920s in George Roeding Sr.'s scrapbook at the Museum of Local History, plus another photograph of it taken (I believe) during the 1960s. I took the most recent photograph of it; the circular display area has deteriorated and is now considered unsafe. It could also be restored and used for commercial sales or educational displays. 
Some of the still existing outbuildings could also be restored to interpret the story.
The California Nursery Company closed in the late 1960s, but Bruce Roeding today still sells peach seed. This and a plot of land are all you need to plant a new orchard. If you don't own any land, come and plant on a communal plot. Needless to say, community interaction would be a vital component to making the California Nursery Company exhbit viable and sustainable.
This Pacific Rural Press tribute to George Roeding took a playful poke at his propensity and focus for work, work, and more work, claiming his father had to send George to Fresno to escape the dangers of San Francisco high society! Roeding, who was a personal friend of John Rock, purchased the California Nursery Company from the Landers estate in 1917 and moved to Niles.
A survey of the property made in 1918, allowing George Roeding to assess his new holdings. The key to the map shows quarters for both Chinese and Japanese laborers. As mentioned in the Shinn blog, a San Francisco-based Chinese family worked on both the Shinn and Roeding properties throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
Workers at California Nursery, preparing plants for long-distance shipping. George Roeding experimented with different ways to ship both fruit and plants to enable viability.
Here is an advertisement focused on those new automobile owners.
The original logo of the nursery. Grandson Bruce Roeding told me someone from the state asked that the logo be dropped, possibly due to the bear's presence on the state flag. The California Nursery Company then adoped the Vallejo mission sitting in the middle of the grounds as their new commercial logo.
The Jose de Jesus Vallejo adobe on the California Nursery growing grounds. George Roeding Junior and his wife, Frances, had the mission restored in 1930 and used it as a guesthouse and tea house for visitors.
George Roeding Junior and his wife Frances in 1956.
The California Nursery Company closed in the late 1960s. I lifted this image from the California Nursery Company Legacy Council website, which shows the layout of the grounds in relation to Alameda Creek and Mission Blvd. Those interested in preserving the history of this nursery can find out more information by visiting the website at 
