Black Bear Diner, Gilroy
395 Leavesley Road, Gilroy, CA 95020. Tel 408 842 9901.
Click here for their web site.
Tom and I stop here every time we take a trip to Fresno. We leave home at about 6 and rollup just as they open at 6.30 am. It’s easy to find. Just take Leavesley Road west from 101 and there it is just two blocks down.
Although it’s a chain and the usual layout of booths around the outside and tables and chairs in the middle plus chairs up at the counter, it has a lot of differences. The bear theme is used throughout from the carved bears outside to the bear claws for sale at the til. There is also a retail section selling mugs, T-shirts and cuddly bears.
The servers are efficient and friendly. The menu is printed to look like a newspaper with articles from the Gilroy Evening Dispatch on the front and back and the menu in the middle. Today the stories were all from 1958. The main story featured Alaska becoming the 49th state. There was an advert on the front page for a brand new Studebaker with a starting price of $1,795 and a classified ad on the back for a three bedroomed, house with one and a half bath bathrooms for $14,500. Ah, those were the days! Every time we go the stories are different.
Tom ordered Joe’s Bear Scramble for $8.49 and I had my usual oatmeal which was $3.99. Coffee of $1.99 with lots of refills.
Normally at that time of the day it is very quiet but today there were a few firemen in, obviously snatching a quick bite to eat before they returned to fighting the fire up at Henry W. Coe State Park, which has been raging for a several days.
In no time at all our meals were served. My oatmeal came in a small deep bowl on an oval plate. They both had the same black and white pattern around the rim. It came with brown sugar and raisins in small plastic pots and milk in a tiny glass jug. A twisted orange slice on top of what looked like a leaf of curly kale was used for decoration. The cinnamon flavored oatmeal filled the bowl and was delicious. Tom enjoyed his scramble as well.
Adorning the walls were many old photos of Gilroy, sports posters and photos and, of course, prints of bears. Old hits of the sixties were being played (quite loudly I should add) on an old juke box. For the first time I went up to have a look at the juke box and discovered that you can actually choose what to play from a huge selection and all for free.
The bear theme extends to the restrooms or, should I say, Maws and Paws. Loved the picture in Maws. It was of a mother bear standing up with just the heads of her three cubs appearing out of the fog. There were two stalls, one with mother and baby changing facilities. The facilities were rather basic but clean. The water was hot. Two paper dispensers, one motion activated. The used paper towels were deposited into a hole between the sinks which made the place look a whole lot tidier.
We can recommend the Black Diner in Gilroy as a good breakfast stop. As there are 36 other locations in California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada, we will have to watch out for them on our road trip.
September 09 2007 05:06 pm | Breakfast Log
Lizzy on 21 Oct 2007 at 1:41 pm #
We loved the Black Bear Diner, from the yummy food to the quirky decor. I remember that it was well kept and clean although to be honest I don’t remember what the rest room was like but I think that is a good sign if it had been memorable it would be for the wrong reasons!! We also stocked up on a couple of ceramic mugs which are still going strong after four years and alwayes evoke fond memories of a very happy holiday spent with my lovely Mum and step Dad.
“Talk to the paw cos the face is way too busy eating”.
Tom and Margaret on 21 Oct 2007 at 6:56 pm #
Hi Lizzy
Glad you liked the Black Bear Diner. We did spot one other Black Bear Diner on our road trip. It was in Bend but as we had already had breakfast that morning we didn’t go inside.