A favorite place for area motorcyclists, the bar had reputation
for a tough clientele
Morgan Hill – Fire destroyed a country bar near Chesbro Reservoir late Wednesday night, but firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze before it spread into the surrounding hills.
The Quail Canyon Inn, at 18780 Oak Glen Ave. in unincorporated Morgan Hill, caught fire about 11pm Wednesday and was heavily damaged in the blaze.
“The investigation into the cause of the blaze is still going on,” California Department of Forestry Fire Prevention Specialist Chris Morgan said Thursday afternoon. “We’re going through this very carefully. Until the investigation is complete, we won’t have damages in dollar figures, but I would say unofficially that it is likely totally destroyed.”
No one was injured in the blaze.
One man who refused to give his name said the small bar will be missed by its patrons.
“This was more of a local house of worship than a bar,” he said
However, the bar itself had developed a reputation for tough customers according to one Gilroy Police officer who had visited the area.
The atmosphere at the small bar deteriorated over the years, according to Gilroy Police officer Stan Devlin, who is a motorcyclist and occasionally stopped at the bar when he was riding in the area.
But not recently.
“It’s a country road, nice motorcycle riding and the vista is scenic when the reservoir is full,” he said Thursday. “Now, when the reservoir is dry, it’s not worth the stop. Over the years, an element has crept in, something I’m not comfortable with. I can’t remember the last time I was there.”
Devlin said members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang had begun stopping frequently at the bar, and the atmosphere changed.
“When I used to stop, in the early ’90s, I was comfortable there,” he said. “It was a friendly place, a nice place to stop. But then that changed. They’ve had their problems over the years.”
In the late 1980s, Devlin said, he was a Morgan Hill Police officer, and he remembers going out to the bar “Code 3,” – with lights and sirens – to stop bar fights. When he used to stop in during rides, he said he noticed some enhancements to the property, such as a chain link fence. But in recent years he saw no improvements to the property.
“They tamed it down for a while, but then that element appeared,” he said.
The owner of the property could not be located by press time.
Bill Shue with the Santa Clara County Planning Department said he could not find an address for the property that matched the one fire officials had. Looking at an aerial photo of the area, he said, he could not tell which building was the bar. It was not clear by what he could discern whether the bar was a part of a residence or a separate establishment.
When the fire was first reported, California Department of Forestry crews rushed into the area with two water tankers and seven engines. Santa Clara County Fire Department sent one engine to assist.
Fortunately, the fire was extinguished before igniting the dry grass of the surrounding countryside. Morgan said investigators were on scene Thursday morning while firefighters “mopped up” the remaining hot spots.
A cause for the fire was not determined by press time Thursday, but Morgan said his department would be taking a “close” look at the cause. He refused to elaborate.
The building will likely have to be demolished, Morgan said.
For Barbara Miller, who stood amongst the wreckage Thursday morning, the loss of the small bar nestled in the hills near the reservoir was an emotional one. A bartender at the Quail Canyon Inn for the last three or four years, Miller said it will certainly be missed.
“This is our community,” she said turning away from the burned building with tears in her eyes.
