Carmel Magazine

dential neighborhood and the area around the present-day Crossroads Shopping Village. By the 1970s, the Odello's property had increased in value so much that the property taxes became prohibitive. The Carmel Pine Cone report- ed that the land was taxed at the rate of $200 per acre in 1979. The family had seen the handwriting on the barn wall earlier, selling the west side field to the State of California and the east side to actor and Carmel business- man Clint Eastwood in 1996. "We got taxed out of the artichoke business. Dad [Bruno] quit in 1995," John recalls. "We had a five-year lease but there was a double flood in 1997 and that was our last year of growing arti- chokes." It was the end of nearly eight decades of artichoke production in Carmel. John and his siblings carried on for a time, purchasing arti- chokes from other growers and marketing the hearts under the L&O banner for a few years. As one might imagine, developers have been casting dreamy eyes on this plot of prime coastal California real estate for many years. Truth be told, some of those dreamers were the Odellos themselves. Monterey County plan- ners gave them a green light for a 76-lot resi- dential subdivision in 1991, only to have the rug pulled out from their plan by an appeals process backed by the Sierra Club. Today, the land to the east is parkland, and Eastwood donated much of the western side to the state, in part to help alleviate flooding problems that still haunt the Mission Fields neighborhood. "A is for artichoke — just below abalone and art — in the alphabet of the Monterey Peninsu- la," proclaimed "A Farm In The Fog" (sic), a story in a 1962 issue of the popular publication Game & Gossip, a spiritual ancestor of Carmel Magazine. Then as now, artichokes were big business in Monterey County. California pro- duces nearly 100 percent of the artichokes con- sumed in the United States, and around 80 percent of that total come from this county. The Monterey County Crop Report valued the 2018 crop at $53,156,000, with nearly 4,500 acres dedicated to the vegetable. Oh, and that odd flat truck? "We called that 'The Picker'," John says. "It's one of a kind and was custom-built by the fam- ily. Before we had that, pickers would have to walk all the way to the end of a row to deposit the artichokes in a truck. With the picker we could move through the fields, and that made harvesting much more efficient." 182 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 9 Unlike many seasonal Monterey County crops, the Odello artichoke farm was a year-round operation. Inspired Care. Advanced Technology. Imaging Experts. Serving the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas Valley since 1949 • All Major Insurance Accepted • Most Affordable Local Option • Same Day Appointments • Radiologist On-Site High-Field MRI and Ultrasound Capabilities 3T MRI & High-Field MRI 626 Brunken Ave, Salinas (831) 755-0600 Open MRI 559 Abbott St, Salinas (831) 775-5200 26542 Carmel Rancho Blvd, Carmel (Next to the Barnyard) (831) 625-7255 • CoastalValleyImaging.com F. Scott Pereles, MD Director of MRI, Coastal Valley Imaging

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