By Bill Pumford, Image from ROWHS Collection

TITLE: TWIN PEAKS YEAR-O-ROUND STORE: This week’s image is a photo of the Year-O-Round store located in present-day Twin Peaks. During the early 1920s Greg and Julia Dexter, the builders of the Alpine Terrace, determined that a store that would be open all year was needed in Twin Peaks (known as Strawberry Flats at the time). There were two other stores in Twin Peaks, but they were only open during the summer. According to the regulations at the time the Dexters needed permission from the other lessees on the tract, including the two other stores, in order to build another. Permission was surprisingly granted and the store was built. The store was initially stocked with produce, meats, milk, candy, and bread. With no electricity or refrigeration blocks of ice were brought in to keep the perishables in good shape to be sold. Julia Dexter also offered sandwiches and coffee for store visitors with her specialty being her fried egg sandwich. The building itself was large and was able to accommodate a small real estate office as well as several bedrooms upstairs which could be rented. In Julia Dexter’s book Mountain Memories she talked a lot about the Year-O-Round store and the various characters and weather conditions encountered there. The winter weather required the wood stove to be lit constantly to bring a little warmth.

The Dexters sold the Year-O-Round store in 1926 presumably to concentrate on building their cabins and the Alpine Terrace (known later as the Antlers Inn). As was common in the early development of the mountain communities post offices were often temporary and moved around a lot. The Year-O-Round store was the home for the post office for a few years. A fire destroyed the store in 1947 but it was rebuilt and used into the early 1960s. The Year-O-Round store was located on Highway 189 just past Grandview as you went towards Crestline.