What Do You Know About Los Altos' Heritage Orchard?

By Katherine Hafner

Ripening orange, yellow and green fruit hang from rows of trees in front of Los Altos City Hall. Some have fallen off and surround the trunks, livening up the ground covering the expanse of the city’s Civic Center.

These fruits – all apricots – are at the beginning of harvest season.

The orchard that the trees comprise has surrounded City Hall for more than half a century, and is now part of a longstanding contract with the city.

The contract started in around 1970 between the city and San Jose farmer Don Speciale, said Erica Ray, public information coordinator for Los Altos.

Since then, Speciale has tended to the trees mostly himself, including pruning, trimming and so on year-round, Ray said. She said she often sees him out early in the morning caring for the orchard.

“He’s the man behind all this,” she said, gesturing to the orchard.

Speciale declined to comment for this story.

The land itself, a little more than 10 acres including the apricot orchard, was sold to the newly incorporated city of Los Altos in 1954 by the J. Gilbert Smith family, who bought the property in 1901, said Laura Bajuk, executive director of the Los Altos History Museum.

In accordance with the 1970 contract, the orchard is city-owned but the city makes no money off of it. Speciale sells the apricots at the DeMartini Orchard store across the street. The contract also allows the city to buy the apricots for $25 per lug, Ray added.

The apricots at the DeMartini Orchard are priced at $1.29 per pound, already divided into small brown paper bags. They are set aside from other apricots sold, specifically designated as “Los Altos Grown, City Hall.”

Craig Kozy, the owner of DeMartini Orchard, said the store has sold Speciale’s apricots for the 27 years he has owned it.

“We’ve been doing business with Don for years,” Kozy said. “I don’t make much money off of ‘em – I just pass them to the people because everybody loves the apricots!”

But increasingly—despite  “Do not pick the apricots” signs are set up surrounding the orchard—Ray said many people tend to pick the apricots directly from the trees instead of paying for them across the way.

“I understand it’s something they may feel entitled to because it’s city property,” Ray said. 

“But they don’t know that this is basically Don’s livelihood. It’s not just taking something from the city; it’s taking money from right out of his pocket.”

Ray said city employees try and discourage the apricot picking themselves when possible.

“I’ve joined the ranks of the other staff who kind of chase people out of the fields,” she said. “Most people kind of say ‘oh, I’m just taking one,’ but we have to explain if you take one, someone else takes one … it’s that whole mentality.”

She added that some citizens have traditions or family outings based around the orchard.

And while city employees and signs can discourage Los Altos residents from picking the apricots, they can only do so much.

Ray said sometimes when the orchardist goes to pick the fruit on Monday, almost whole trees will be picked bare.

It is also in the city’s municipal code not to pick the apricots and other city-owned trees or shrubs.

Capt. Andy Galea of the Los Altos Police Department, however, said no one at the department recalls ever actually enforcing this code, because most citizens respect the signs or are discreet about their actions.

The fine for code violation is $100 for a first offense and $200 for following offenses, Galea said.

Ray said part of why the apricots may be so popular is the fruit’s history in the city.

Los Altos, and the entire Santa Clara Valley, used to have a thriving apricot business, Bajuk said.

“At the time, Santa Clara was the largest fruit-producing valley in the world,” Bajuk said. “It was probably comparable to Silicon Valley today.”

In the 1980s, the city-owned orchard was protected by several resolutions passed by city council, Bajuk said. This action created one of the first “heritage orchards” that are now common in the county, she added.

Although many Los Altos residents do not know the full depth of history behind this apricot orchard, or the orchards in general, they have developed a sense of pride with one of the last apricot orchards in the city, a remaining vestige of municipal history.

“The community rallies to protect the orchard because it is such a crucial part of our past,” Bajuk said.

Tell us, in the comments section below:

-What do you know about Los Altos' historical fruit industry?

-Have you ever picked an apricot in the Civic Center orchard?