Remembering Mattei’s Tavern

I read the article about Mattei’s Tavern and liked it. I stayed there one or two nights in the early 1940s and had my meals there.

My mother and I went there a few times for dinner over the years when we lived in Los Alamos at the Holt Ranch, which was my aunt’s ranch.

The narrow-gauge train traveled from Los Olivos to San Francisco with stations along the line. The train ended in the late 1930s when it was crossing the 101 just west of Los Alamos when the engine was hit by an oil tank truck from Cat Canyon. The engine caught fire and burned up, so that was the end of the train.

The tracks were all taken up. I used to see the train go by my aunt’s ranch once in a while. The man who farmed my aunt’s ranch bought a couple of the box train cars to use for storage. Different people have owned Mattei’s Tavern over the years — lots of history.