Vache Adobe (Galeria Tonantzin)

ADOBE GALERIA TONANTZIN “La Pulgita,” The Little Flea, was the wine shop of Theophilus Vache. He sold Paicines wines from his vineyards first planted in 1854. Larry Lushbaugh, renaissance man of San Juan Bautista in the early 1960’s, restored this adobe which lies in what was Chinatown. The wooden trap door located in the middle of the main gallery hosts a dirt cellar that at one time housed a tunnel that ran to the San Juan Bautista Mission. Galeria Tonantzin stands at the crossroads of California on El Camino Real over which  four stage lines brought patrons to more than 10 hotels, 17 saloons, and 10 gas stations serving Highway 101 when it ran through the middle of town.

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