white—in Delano, Kern County, just a short
hop north of Bakersfield, where the Joad
family of Steinbeck's classic made a stop
during their odyssey west away from the
Okie Dust Bowl. The Hronis ranch, found-
ed in 1945 and now 8,000 acres in total,
is hemmed in on all sides by great geo-
metric blocks of leafy citrus trees and, at
this unseasonal time of year, the brown-
ing vines of the business mainstay: table
grapes. Some 2,000 people are employed
by an operation that has flourished these
past few decades. When Kosta and Pete
took over the business reins from their fa-
ther in 1991, they shipped 300,000 boxes
of grapes a year.
"Today, this company's doing around nine
million packages a year," he said. "We grew
up hard workers, and we learned a lot from
dad and mom, how things were supposed
to be done. I think it was that foundation
that made us the success we are today."
Certain precepts—like hard-graft and
loyalty—burrow deep through the Hronis
narrative. But just as Steinbeck wondered
how we can "live without our lives—how
will we know it's us without our past?"
family is very much at the center of grav-
ity. Indeed, after Pete popped his head
briefly around the door of a boardroom to
offer a cheery welcome before disappear-
ing back to work, Kosta opened a window
