Ranch House Cafe - No Longer Seating - California
The Ranch House Cafe had been serving great food for decades, under several different names over the years. I’m not sure when it closed its doors for good, but my guess is sometime during the pandemic. If anyone has any information about the Ranch House, please add to the comments below.
This is the Ranch House Cafe in 2024, the interior shot was taken through the window of the front door. It appears there was once a waiting bench on the left wall.
The three images above are: The left side window of the Cafe, and two small, empty outbuildings behind the restaurant.
This is how the cafe appeared in late 2018.
And a few old post cards of the Cafe, left to right: The Farmhouse Cafe, Dick’s Cafe and Ritchie’s Farm House Cafe. I believe these cards are from the late 1930s to the 1940s.
It’s bittersweet to see a popular, well-known and well-loved establishment like the Ranch House Cafe close its doors. Maybe someday they’ll reopen. But it looks like it would need a lot of work.
“Just saw your web posting on the now closed Ranch House Cafe in Olancha CA. Some background: my great aunt and uncle Whitmer and Jessie Barber owned and operated the cafe from the late 1920’s till his untimely death in Nov 1937 as the Farm House Cafe. My uncle Whit was a renowned San Francisco trained chef with several known dishes that he created. Upon moving to Inyo Kern CA is when they bought the cafe to run. Each fall they would prepare a “wild game” dinner which was highly popular with the local town folks, ranchers and politicians. When my uncle Whit passed at the age of 50 my aunt Jessie sold the cafe and I believe that is when it was renamed to Dick’s Farm House . My family and me stopped by the Ranch House in 2012, while returning from a trip to Bishop CA and had breakfast while sharing memories with the then owner. I believe the cafe closed in 2013 or 2014. Thanks again for posting your article and like many others we wish it would reopen!”
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