A century after its founding, the Nut Tree remains both a destination and a place to make memories. It just has a different look than people remember.
For the last 15 years, the legacy of the iconic roadside restaurant and amusement park has lived on in the form of the Nut Tree Plaza, a large retail center on East Monte Vista Avenue containing large and small businesses as well as components that pay homage to the original Nut Tree, including its railroad and rocking horses as well as new elements such as a carousel that still capture the family friendly vibe of the original.
The tagline for the center is “California’s Legendary Road Stop,” which Julie Davis, manager of Dunhill Partners which itself manages the plaza, said is what the original Nut Tree was to several longtime residents and what the center remains today.
“We still see families meeting here and meeting up,” she said. “I know of a couple that were dropping off the granddaughters because her daughter lives in the Bay Area, and she’s in Sacramento. It still has that feel of being that legendary road stop on 80.”
For many decades, the Nut Tree was a place for families to grab lunch and take a break from long road trips to Lake Tahoe or other places along the coast. Kids could wobble on rocking horses, get ice cream cones and even take a ride on the Nut Tree Railroad. Davis was among those who rode the train, which went from the Nut Tree Airport to the restaurant.
“When I was growing up, we’d fly here on my dad’s plane and get on the little train and go to the restaurant and have lunch or dinner, depending on when we’d be here,” she said.
Eight years after the restaurant’s closure, the Vacaville City Council approved the Nut Tree Master Plan in 2004, which envisioned redeveloping the 80-acre site into a new shopping center with retailers, restaurants, office space and housing as well as a miniature amusement park to pay tribute to the original Nut Tree. Larkspur-based Snell & Company was tasked with the redevelopment project in 2002, the restaurant was demolished in 2003, and construction on the new center began in 2005.
In 2006, the first set of stores opened in the Nut Tree Plaza, with initial anchor tenants including Borders, PetSmart, BevMo, SportsChalet, HomeGoods and Best Buy. Also included in this new development was an amusement park on the grounds of the Harbison House property which included some elements of the original Nut Tree, such as a restored railroad, rocking horses and the old ice cream pavilion, which was repurposed as the ticket booth for the railroad. Even the ever-popular annual scarecrow contest from the original Nut Tree was brought back. Snell also added new elements such as a carousel, and a bocce ball court was added in the middle of the shopping center.
However, the Nut Tree Family Park was closed in early 2009 amid the Great Recession, and Snell sold its interest in the center to Westrust, later Capretta Properties, already a shareholder in Nut Tree Associates. Ric Capretta, president of Capretta Properties, said one of the first decisions was to relocate the park elements and replace the bocce court, which he said had not seen much success over the years.
“We made a strategic decision to reposition the major amusement assets, which were the historic Nut Tree train and the Nut Tree carousel, and we rebuilt the bocce park into a miniature Nut Tree amusement park as it looks today,” he said.
This new park opened Aug. 22, 2009 and retained the ice cream pavilion ticket booth, train, rocking horses and carousel and also brought in new elements to pay homage to the original Nut Tree. One of these was a fiberglass giraffe created by a North Carolina company and painted by Fairfield artist Michael Loebs. The giraffe had two of its feet knocked off in a car accident in the plaza in 2019 but was repaired and given a new coat of paint by Bernie’s Auto Garage and airlifted back to its usual location by the carousel. That same year, the giraffe was officially christened “Patch” in a naming contest held by the Nut Tree Plaza.
Patch is not the first giraffe to find a home at the Nut Tree, as a giraffe rocking horse was one that kids could ride, and a large giraffe plush was a fixture at the old toy store.
Davis said the 17-foot Patch is larger than previous Nut Tree giraffes.
“Now it’s a more prominent part of that,” she said.
The ticket booth also has a Wall of Fame featuring pictures of dignitaries who visited the Nut Tree back in the day. These include politicians such as Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Pat Brown and Earl Warren and celebrities such as Shirley Temple Black, Fred MacMurray and Bozo the Clown. Others pictured include Capt. Chelsey Sullenberger — the commanding pilot during the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson” who visited the plaza for a book signing in 2010, former Mayor Len Augustine who is credited as a “driving force” behind the Nut Tree redevelopment, and late Nut Tree Railroad conductor Phil Martin.
The old steel fireplace, which became a favorite place for visitors to stay warm outside on a cold winter or autumn day, is also a part of the plaza. Additionally, photos of the old Nut Tree can be seen on walls throughout the center.
One of the most prominent remnants of the original Nut Tree, at least in the center’s early years, was the road sign off Interstate 80 with the Nut Tree logo designed by Design Director Don Birrell. However, to make way for expansion of the shopping center across the freeway, the sign was dismantled and the panels with the logo were donated. One of the panels lives on on the side of the now-shuttered Saks Off Fifth building.
“To keep that alive, they put that sign on part of the building to try and keep that part of the history in the Nut Tree,” Davis said.
New features include a life-size chess board and small playground.
Even for those who don’t have kids, the Nut Tree has something to offer for just about everyone. In keeping with its longtime history as a restaurant, the center now has plenty of places to eat, from franchises like Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chicken Hawkers, Chipotle, Fenton’s Creamery, Firehouse Subs, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Habit Burger, Krispy Kreme, Noah’s New York Bagels, Noodles & Company, Panera Bread, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Pieology, Quickly, Ramen 101 Starbucks and Vitality Bowls to independent eateries such as China Stix, King of Thai, Akashi Fusion, Villa Corona and Virtue Juice.
In addition, the Nut Tree has a variety of places to shop, including large chains such as Best Buy, Cost Plus, Kirkland’s, Nordstrom Rack, PetSmart, Tillys, Ulta Beauty and Old Navy to locally owned specialty shops such as Vacaville Vaporium, Eco Chic, Rocket Door and the Academy of 21st Century Learning.
The final historic component is the Harbison House, whose Harbison Ranch predated the Nut Tree, which these days is mostly used to host events on the old Nut Tree Family Park grounds.
The remaining components of the Nut Tree Master Plan include 216 apartment units and a 176,000 square foot business park, both to be located behind the current center abutting the Putah South Canal. Capretta said the apartment land was sold to a developer and construction is slated to begin next summer. Meanwhile, the business park is currently for sale and being marketed for light-industrial uses such as granite storage and light manufacturing.
“There’s a couple light-industrial developers looking at the project,” he said.
This fall, Davis said the plaza would be bringing back the pumpkin weighing contest, hosted by the California Pumpkin Growers Club.
“The fall festival was a part of the Nut Tree that we have so many people remembering and loving and wanting to come back, so we are bringing that part of that history so we can use it to move forward and continue those memories with another generation,” she said.
The event is scheduled for Oct. 9.
Throughout the year, Davis said the Nut Tree Plaza has been sharing memories of longtime residents and patrons of the original Nut Tree to its Facebook page.
“It represents a happy time in so many people’s lives,” she said. “It’s something that no other center will have because of that history that has maintained itself over a hundred years to this day.”
