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Issue date: June 02, 2000

@vcaphed:Nancy Murdoch (left) shares a laugh with her friend Connie Hester at the last party at the Wagon Wheel.

@vcaphed:Wagon Wheel owner Jerry Fernandez with friend Rosiland Bivings on closing night.

@vcredit:Matthew Walker

Saddling up at the Wagon Wheel

By Karen Willemsen

"This is a tragedy, it really is," said Rosiland Bivings, looking at the crowd of longtime patrons who gathered May 25 to share one last beer at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant and Casino. The Wagon Wheel, located near the corner of Middlefield and Whisman roads, is considered a local institution, a place that's welcomed everyone from the original Fairchild Electronics' crew, to descendants of Mountain View's old orchard families, to Netscape executives.

In 1995, anticipating that California's new anti-smoking legislation would drive away customers, owner Jerry Fernandez opened a cardroom at the Wagon Wheel. But even the attraction of playing twenty-one and poker failed to bring back some of his former smoking customers.

However, the Wheel's gambling room is not in compliance with the California's 1997 Gambling Control Act. A simple wording change would have amended the city's cardroom ordinance so its language would match the state's, and bring the bar into compliance. In November 1999 and again in February 2000, Fernandez and Bivings approached the Mountain View City Council for help in saving the bar's cardroom. Fernandez argued that if the cardroom was closed, he wouldn't be able to generate enough revenue to stay in business.

Councilman Mike Kasperzak put up a last-ditch effort by to get his colleagues to reconsider the issue, but the majority of the council voted not to bring the Wheel's cardroom ordinance into compliance.

Fernandez was forced to close the cardroom.

Three months later, on May 25, Fernandez, who began tending bar when he was just 19, helped serve up the drinks on closing night.

In August, he will auction off memorabilia from the Wagon Wheel, including his prized possession, a framed edition of the Wall Street Journal from 1984. On its front page, the Journal listed Walker's Wagon Wheel among the places Silicon Valley movers and shakers met to make deals and hash out their latest innovations.

On that last Thursday evening, customers hugged and laughed, sharing stories and a few tears.

Steve Rockman thinks of the Wheel as a "Cheers" kind of place. He likened the closing night gathering to an Irish wake, where loved ones share their favorite reminiscences, instead of their sorrow. "There's a lot of history here," Rockman said.

Will Peterson remembers coming all the way from San Francisco to go dancing at the Wheel in the early 1980s. He said the place "would be hopping. The line went out the door." When asked about his favorite memory, Peterson simply looks at his wife, Connie Hester. They met at the Wagon Wheel.

Peterson's second best memory is of Chef Armando Torres' Latin/American cooking. "Those were the best damn hamburgers, and this Peruvian food that was unbelievable!" he added.

Torres now cooks for the Clubhouse Restaurant at Sunnyvale Golf Course and longtime bartender Nico "Sweet Cheeks" Garcia has retired.

"It's always been a great bar, always," said Jon Armentraut, adding that people came down for the gambling. "But most of the people here tonight didn't come to gamble. It's hard to believe that it's closing," he said.

Armentraut's wife, Debra, agrees. "What this means to these people is that an institution is being taken away from them--a place where they felt safe. This town is changing and I don't know that it's for the better," she said.

The future of the Wagon Wheel building is undecided. The bar and parking lot straddle two sites, one zoned for commercial use, the other for residential. Property owner C. Gazzera has tentatively discussed the ideas of offices or a corporate daycare center with the city. For now there are no plans to demolish the building.

As the last evening wound down, customer Richard Muse extended his hand to Jerry Fernandez. "Thank you very, very much," he said.

"I did my best," Fernandez replied.