Old Ice House just brushing upOld Ice House just brushing upSeptember 19, 2003
If you have ever driven down Oakley's Main Street you probably have seen the Old Ice House and wondered about it. Many people think that it is a business, perhaps an antique store, but while it once was a famous bar in the area it now is the residence of Dave and Dee Owenson. No matter who resides at that location the one thing that is for sure is that its lovely decorations on the outside of the building would be sourly missed.
If I wasn't already convinced of that fact, last week proved that point clearly. Owenson and his brother-in-law Henry Langston began the task of repainting the building last week, and as the decorations on the walls started coming down the drivers passing by started honking their horns and some went so far as stopping to ask if Owenson was going to paint over the displays on the wall.
"A lot of the people are people I've known in the 45 years I've lived here," Owenson said.
Owenson and his first wife, Janet, purchased the building and the house that once stood behind the Old Ice House in the 1970s. At the time it was a well known local bar called Alice and Mel's.
Janet Owenson, who died three years ago after a long illness, had lived in Oakley all her life and had remembered that the building had once been called the Ice House, and just as its name implied the business supplied ice to the community up until the 1940s.
With the help of their friend, an local artist named Kibby, they decided to fix up the place and give it a cheery feel. The detail on the pictures is incredible. Owenson said that he would give Kibby an idea of what they wanted and she just went to work.
For example, a picture by one of the doors is of a house painter who looks like his is using a real paint brush. "That is actually me painting. Kibby asked me to step up to the wall and then traced my body and added the paint brush," Owenson said.
On another door there is a picture of some of the younger members of the Owenson family eating at an soda bar. "These look so much like the kids," Owenson said.
One of Langston's favorites is a bench with a copy of a newspaper that he says looks like you can just pick it right up and start reading from it.
"After having the bar for one year I decided I didn't want to be in the bar business," Owenson said. He promptly closed up shop but remained living in the house with his wife.
If one is impressed by the outside of the property wait until you get a look inside. In 1981 the house where the Owensons lived behind the bar burned down in a fire and a great deal of damage was done inside the bar. When the couple rebuilt they decided to leave empty the space where the house had been and create a garden area there and move the home inside the old bar area.
Where the original bar counter area was in now their kitchen. The wood counter top that spans the room in a normal bar setting is still there. There also are bar stools attached to the bar area. "I bought these from the antique store across the street. They were originally the bar stools at the Oakley Hotel."
Owenson also created a small kitchen table with benches cut down from the pews from the Crossroads Community Church. The original industrial in-wall refrigerator used in many older restaurants and bars was still in the kitchen. A couple of years ago when he and his new wife, Dee, did some remodeling they decided to check out to see if the old refrigerator worked and it did, so they cleaned it up and put it to work as their refrigerator unit.
The rest of the rooms inside the house could be right out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine feature. The 2,000-square-foot home is just beautiful. Inside it are more pictures and painted items from Kibby.
In answer to everyone's question, Owenson has no desire to change the look of the outside of the Old Ice House. Many of the pictures on the wall are painted onto wood cutouts that were then screwed onto the walls of the building, and as soon as they are finished painting the walls all will go back up.
Some also may remember that Owenson is the same person who put the benches under the oak tree on Main Street across from the building. He did that in honor of his first wife Janet. She had always wanted to see benches there in honor of her family, who have a long history in Oakley. Owenson tried his best, but the benches didn't come in until the day that Janet passed away. She unfortunately never got to see her dream realized, but Owenson takes great pride in making sure that the site is kept clean and plants are watered regularly. Just one more nice thing this Oakley resident does for his community.
Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.
Distributed by the Contra Costa Times