In 1899 Olson family purchased an orchard located here in what is now the center of Sunnyvale. For four generations, the family harvested and sold cherries. In 1933 Charlie Olson opened this fruit stand. As the Valley of Heart's Delight gave way to Silicon Valley, Olson's farm stood while neighboring orchards sold and closed. Finally in 1999 Deborah Olson, facing successive bad harvest seasons, coupled with skyrocketing real estate, finally sold off most of the property to developers, who built a strip mall titled "Cherry Orchard". Still, the stand remains (though rebuilt in 1999), selling cherries from a small rump orchard they formerly owned and now leased from the city, one of only two remaining in Sunnyvale (both owned by the city). The cherries remain and are popular, and fans of Olson's cherries include Julia Child, Martha Stewart and Jacques Pepin.
Apparently the "SSU" on the water tower stands for "Sunnyvale State University", non-existent school written as a joke by the family. After encountering many other farmers boasting of their local state schools, the Olson farm added a fictitious one to compensate.
Sunnyvale, California
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