Sunday, October 28, 2007

Stehley's Egg Ranch

A couple of OCThen readers posted comments on the "Submit A Memory" page relating to Stehley's Egg Ranch in Anaheim. I wanted to move them here to its own article...

I need help! does anyone remember a place called Stehley's Egg Ranch in Anaheim? It was a little place that sold fresh eggs and they had a monkey, yes! a real live chimpanzee as a pet. They would dress it up and it sat behind the counter! I can still see that monkey in my mind. And I swear I havent smoked anything! I used to love going there with my mom because I could see the monkey!

By Anonymous, at October 04, 2007 10:43 PM

I remember a dairy that sold eggs .It was located in Anaheim on the corner of Lincoln and Brookhurst. It was next door to Dows Market and across the street from the Linbrook Bowl. Could that be Stehley's Egg Ranch?
Circa 1964.

By Anonymous, at October 26, 2007 6:42 PM
I don't particularly remember Stehley's Egg Ranch, but if you do, please click "Post a Comment" below, and share your memories.

23 comments:

  1. I think the dairy off Brookhurst was Yellis (sp??) Dairy. It was on the street leading to Fedco I think. My mom used to take us there to buy eggs and milk and blue popcicles. They had a lot of farm animals.

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  2. Wasn't Stehley's located on Walker between Orange and Ball in Cypress? I lived in the neighborhood that backed to the egg ranch as a kid. I could swear that was the name of it.

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  3. The egg ranch in Cypress was the Singing Hen Egg Ranch - here is a recent post on the web re: the now re-named Singing Hen Farm and the daily tours it offers:

    Singing Hen Farm
    9731 Walker St.
    Cypress
    (714)826-9494

    Cypress was a rural town until the 1960's and Singing Hen Farm owner Calvin Meekhof raised chickens. After he moved the operation to Riverside, he still kept two rows of chicken and black rabbit cages on the property and put them in front of Singing Hen Farm, which is a small dairy grocery placed on the family's egg ranch location.

    Time: Monday-Friday

    10 a.m.-6 p.m.

    Cost: Free

    Enjoy!

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  4. I think this egg ranch may be the place I went to with my then boyfriend, now husband, to get eggs for the bakery that was in the Garden Grove Plaza located at Chapman and Brookhurst. He worked at that Bakery for two years while attending Garden Grove H. S. The owner of the bakery sent him to get the eggs. I went along. The place I remember was off a main street(maybe Euclid) in Anaheim. We drove down a long dirt drive way with trees(probably orange trees) on either side of the driveway. We entered a clearing with a modest house and probably other buildings. I do not remember the specifics of that. This memory had been lost to me until I read about it here. Thanks!

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  5. I remember going to Stehley's store for eggs and fruit with my grandpa in the early 80's. If I recall right, it was on Brookhurst, just south of Ball Road. It's now something else. I remember we'd get avacados in one room and other produce, and then you'd get your eggs from a different room on the right. I was probably only like 5-10 years old then, and then it closed and we didn't go there anymore.

    I THINK Mr. Stehley was catholic and went to our church St. Justin's down the street. For some reason, I remember that connection - but don't hold me to it! I was only 5 remember.

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  6. I remember a egg ranch on Knott ave north of Katila just entering Stanton on the left side of Knott.
    You could buy a dozen eggs with double yokes for 99 cents.

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  7. The egg farm was near the corner of Ball road at Dale ave. backing up to Dale JR high school. I went to the JR high in 1972-4 and remember the place.

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  8. hi, I posted the original commment on Stehley's egg ranch. If I recall correctly it was in Anaheim, on ball and brookhurst. Across from the center that was Alpha Beta, Pets N Stuff pet store and there was also a Howard's restaurant? any of this ringing a bell? The post office was located across the street and the Brookhurst Movie theatre.

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  9. The Singing Hen Egg Ranch Was off Walker IN Cypress. My Grandfather Calvin Meekhof lived just behing the ranch, which was in its later years turned into storage, when i was a kid there were thousands and thousands of chickins in the ranch which supplied most of Las Vegas and Southern California. My Grandfather passed away 5 years ago and my Grandmother 2 years now. My familey stills ownes houses directly off the old lot, the last of which was sold off and developed 4 years ago.
    Christopher Meekhof

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  10. Fyi Calvin Meekhof owned the Singing Hen egg Ranch with his wife Minna.

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  11. I remember I think it was more like Orangethorpe Ave and Dale the egg farm. . it was / is right across the street from the Buddhist Temple where every July is the annual Obon Festival.

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  12. The egg ranch with the 2 gorillas was on Ball rd and Dale. the gorillas were like pets to the owners and went into the house during the day. The wife died and the female gorilla died soon after that. The relatives tried to run the ranch but had a hard time, then the husband-owner died and there went the ranch. Really neat story behind this ranch.

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  13. Yellis Dairy was on Brookhurst and Crescent in Anaheim. My family moved within walking distance from in 1963 and my Mom still lives there. He also had a private zoo with alot of animals which was open to the public. We would go there to get milk and there were platforms built to look in and watch the cows being milked. There is and ARCO station and a large apartment complex there which was built in the early 70'S.

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  14. Big sis tells me that Stehley's Egg Ranch was right behind St. Justin's which is now Modjeska Park on Empire St. and Ball Rd. Legend has it that the Stehley's sold some of their land to the Catholics to build the church and school. She remembers one of the teachers at St. Justin's was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stehley. We attended St. Justin's School. This would be the mid
    1960's. Sound about right?
    Hey, about the monkey at the ranch, that's funny.... Didn't have the pleasure of meeting the primate back in the days gone by when Orange County was so laid back and country like.
    I Remember all the farm animals at Yellis Dairy though.
    Our mom would drive us down Brookhurst south bound all the way to Hunington Beach and on either side of the road would be miles and miles of strawberry fields. As kids we never thought about all the lush open land would disappear, like the dinosaurs.
    I miss the old Anaheim. Glad I was part of it.

    Sentimentality yours.

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  15. Here's the scoop as I know it. Stehley's had a huge amount of property from that stretched from nutwood to brookhurst, south of ball road. The land that is now Modjeska Park was donated to Anaheim by the Stehly family. They owned a home on nutwood, the home is still there about a block or two south of the park. It's the oldest home on the street. In the front window the present resident always has a comical display with a chicken in the window. We used to go to their house and play on their huge trampoline. We also bought eggs there. That was late 50's to the early 60's. They also had land on the other side of the park, off empire which eventually became homes belonging to the church of anaheim. The little store front they last owned was on brookhurst and ball, just next to the arco station.(south). The Stehley's were wonderful people. I always wondered where they moved to, I'm sure they told us and we forgot. I always wondered why that park wasn't named Stehley Park, seems only fitting. As such memories. . .Anaheim was a great town then.

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  16. I moved to Anaheim in 1962 as a kid & have many fond memories as well of open spaces and orange groves. I remember Yellis Dairy that was on Brookhurst & Crescent & in fact went to school with one of the Yellis kids. I used to play in the orange groves that were next to John Marshall school, which is now a park plus townhomes. The downtown area was also really neat. Anyone remember SQR? I miss the old Anaheim of those days...

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  17. I grew up in Garden Grove and remember Yellis dairy. I remember you could pet the baby calves and they would lick the salt on your hands. Does anyone remember a Polo grounds in Garden Grove or a Lemon and Orange Processing Plant in Fullerton or a major flood back in the 1930's? The Santa Ana River flooded and there was 3 feet of water in Garden Grove. Major changes such as the Corona dam were built to prevent any future flooding. This is a story from my dad born in 1925.

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  18. Since another poster here said Mr. Stehley was Catholic, I'm wondering (and it's likely) that Mr. Stehley was part of the longtime Stehley family of Orange County that also owned lots of land (The Stehley Ranch) in the hills around Brea Canyon Road. The Stehleys are very devout Catholics and have a few members of their family who have become priests and nuns. Very nice people, my brother was friends with one of the Stehley boys as a teen and used to ride his motorbike on their property when visiting them. Beautiful land and a very friendly family.

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  19. Wow! That monkey scared the crap out of me as a kid!!! I never actually saw it...just heard so much racket I wanted my mom to hurry up and get her eggs so we could leave. Communication was seriously lacking in our family so I was never told (and never asked) what type of animal it was - or even if it was an animal! lol My brother was 2 years younger than me so he really must have been freaked out. I remember they had a big circle you could spend for a discount or something (at least they did on one of our visits).

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  20. somebody please tell me which stehleys tese were???

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  21. Oh what great memories of days gone by; I too remember the place in the are what I would say was across the street from the fire department. The great good ole' days of OC

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  22. Yelis Dairy was located on the southeast corner of Brookhurst and Crescent. I used to go there all the time they had a small zoo in the back

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