Sleepy Hollow Centennial: Historic Photo #2

One of the landmarks of Sleepy Hollow for some 65 years was the building on the north side of Carbon Canyon Road at the west of the community that was last known as the Canyon Market, but which was also called Joe Tater's Oak Grove Inn and Party House Liquor #2 in more recent years, but started off as Ichabod's store and restaurant.

The wood-frame structure was built by David Purington, whose parents Cleve and Elizabeth were among the founders of the tract a centennial ago in 1923 and who oversaw much of its early development.  David was long involved in Sleepy Hollow, as well, including the building of two houses—both, sadly, lost to wildfires—and the Ichabod's grocery and café.

An early reference in the upper right column to Ichabod's, Chino Champion, 14 May 1953.

The earliest located reference to it was from summer 1952 and, within a short time, there was a post office located in the structure, with Purington's wife Leone as the postmaster, though that lasted only about a year or so.  A gas station was also long part of the property.  In 1961, tragedy struck with Lillian Ezell, who owned Ichabod's, was accidentally killed when a car rolled over her on the driveway of her Hillside Drive residence.

In 1967, owners Joseph and Dorothea Martin were successful in securing a beer and wine license for the establishment, over protests from some Sleepy Hollow residents, though the Martins argued it was necessary for their business to stay afloat because two other places in the area sold alcoholic beverages.  By 1974, Joe Tatar, a well-known Fullerton musician, purchased the place and called it the Oak Grove Inn.  He and his wife, Loretta, attended a Carbon Canyon history talk I gave several years at the Yorba Linda Public Library and he passed away in April 2022 at age 81.

A spread about Joe Tatar's Oak Grove Inn, Champion, 27 September 1974.

In 1981, the building became Party House Liquor #2 (the first being at the corner of Carbon Canyon Road [now Chino Hills Parkway] and Pipeline Avenue) and its owner was Gus Fedail, who also operated the Canyon Corral bar and restaurant where the CVS is now situated at Chino Hills Parkway and Peyton.  Thirty years later, it reopened as the Canyon Market, but its days were numbered by the opening of the convenience store east of Sleepy Hollow at Carbon Canyon Road and Canyon Hills Road.

Notably, Ichabod's was a school bus stop from at least that era and probably before and the site remains as one even though the structure was torn down a few years ago after the City of Chino Hills acquired the property.  The future of the site remains to be determined, though improvement of the bus turnaround zone is one major component of what will occur there.

A circa 1960s snapshot of Ichabod's as well as Dan's Sleepy Hollow Service Station, courtesy of Vance Stearns, who was born and raised in the community.

The photo shown here was provided by Vance Stearns, who was born in Sleepy Hollow and whose parents were very involved with such local institutions as the Carbon Canyon Women's Club and the volunteer firefighting department.  The date is probably from the later 1960s, around the time perhaps that the Martins secured their license.