Name/Title
Wagon Wheel burningDescription
Draper's Wagon Wheel was opened by Kimbra Young St. Martin's grandmother, Edna Draper, in 1958. Gus Sauer was the chef, and had been the chef at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.
Gus's wife, Mia, was a waitress at the Wagon Wheel, and so was Edna Lee Young.
Before Edna Draper opened the Wagon Wheel at that site the building had gone into serious disrepair. It had been known as the Hunter's Inn before it became the Wagon Wheel.
A 30-foot-tall neon sign was installed just twenty feet off Hwy. 40 declaring to the world "Draper's Wagon Wheel." What had once been the abandoned and dilapidated "Hunter's Inn" was being renovated and was soon to open as one of the best steak and seafood restaurants in the Bay Area.
Edna Draper's restaurant became a hit and was always busy. Some of the customers' favorites were steak and lobster, Gus' legendary split pea soup, the ground top sirloin steak covered with a sauce of sauteed mushrooms, and the New York Steak. From its opening in 1958, every dinner was accompanied by soup, salad, entree, baked potato or rice, side vegetable, and a basket of fresh sourdough french bread served with real butter. And there was a choice of desserts, either Edna Lee's cheese pie or sherbet. And all was had for less than $7.00 per guest.
The full bar was separated from the dining area by a lighted partition topped with plants and every patron in the bar could sit on a bar stool that looked out large windows to the Jedel Arabian Horse Ranch to the north.
When Mrs. Draper moved her Arabian horse ranch to Santa Rosa in 1963, she sold the property. (Kimbra St. Martin, 2011)
In 1984, Pinole's fire department helped train firefighters at the controlled-burning of the Wagon Wheel building to make room for a shopping center.Copyright
Copyright Holder
Pinole Historical Society
