GILROY
– The new owner of the recently sold Harvest Time restaurant, a
fixture on Monterey Street, is no stranger to the restaurant
business.
GILROY – The new owner of the recently sold Harvest Time restaurant, a fixture on Monterey Street, is no stranger to the restaurant business.
It all began in 1964, when Louie Kalivitis left his homeland Greece and jumped ship in Oakland. He started out as a dishwasher and hasn’t looked back since.
“I started from the bottom up,” Kalivitis said.
Kalivitis takes over the Harvest Time from Bob Platt, 39, who ran the restaurant for the past eight years. Ownership officially will transfer over in a couple of weeks for an undisclosed amount.
The 64-year-old San Jose resident has previously owned three other restaurants in the greater Bay area. Most recently, he owned the popular Italian dining establishment, Adolph’s restaurant, in Santa Cruz. Adolph’s had to close in January 2003 due to lease issues.
Patrons who have enjoyed dining at Harvest Time need not worry about their favorite items being taken off the menu, and staffing also will carry on unchanged. Kalivitis said that while he plans to add more speicals, no items will be taken off. The restaurant serves up classic American cuisine and is known for its steaks. Kalivitis plans to implement more changes as he familiarizes himself with the restaurant and is considering lowering current lunch prices.
“I want more people to be able to afford coming here for lunch,” he said.
He hopes to lower lunch prices currently ranging from $7 to $17 to below $10.
While Platt said he has enjoyed running the well-known restaurant, he chose to sell it “for a change of pace.”
“I’ve had a real wonderful experience here,” Platt said. “I’ve made a lot of good friends and met nice people who have taken very good care of us.”
The three-story building on the corner of Monterey and Sixth streets, with its unassuming beige exterior with hunter green awnings, will be familiar to many Gilroyans. More than 80 years before Kalivitis took over Harvest Time, the restaurant opened its doors in 1922 as Milias Hotel. George Milias, just like Kalivitis, was an immigrant (from Czechoslovakia) and also got his start in the restaurant business as a dishwasher.
Inside, the restaurant and bar provide a respite from the busy streets. High ceilings and white walls give the dining area a spacious feel, complemented by crisp, white table linens and tapestried chairs. A mural overhanging the bar area alludes to Gilroy’s past as a cowboy stopover. In muted tones of brown and beige, it depicts a scene that some say is taken from a Stetson box.
The building was designed by influential architect William Weeks in a Spanish Colonial Revival style. It is one of about 600 buildings on the city’s register of historic buildings, according to Connie Rogers, president of the Gilroy Historical Society.
“It was as a popular watering-hole for travelers going from Salinas to San Jose,” she said.
Celebrities such as John Wayne, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are said to have patronized the hotel. The three-story building now houses apartments in addition to the restaurant.
Harvest Time is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. For dinner, it is open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Breakfast is served Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The bar is open daily from 11 a.m. until closing time, except on Saturday, when it is closed in the morning. For more information, call Harvest Time at 842-7575.
