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Riviera Dairy
updated: Jan 06, 2013, 11:06 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

I have a Riviera Dairy qt. bottle , green & orange logo with a head molded on the top with the word "store " in orange print above the logo, and "Protect the children drive safely" on the back..... Does anyone know what year this was made? And was this an in "Store " bottle only? Also I have an old Crystal Soda Works ( RT) Santa Barbara bottle.

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Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 360760	2013-01-06 11:43 AM
I've never heard of the Riviera Dairy and did a quick Google. Found an Ebay description of a similar bottle: "Offering a nice old piece of local Santa Barbara history. This one quart milk bottle hails from the RIVIERA DAIRY . Great graphics showing the old dairy retail building which was located out in the La Cumbre area of town. The bottle is a figural type and the embossing denotes that this is a Baby Top bottle with a patented design number. T are no cracks or chips on this. The side showing the building is a bit faded but the image is all intact. The other side implores us to protect our children and to drive safely! ..." Google also says there is an existing company called "Riviera Dairy Property LLC" which has some holdings on Hope Ave. I wonder if this is what has become of the original dairy?
COMMENT 360781	2013-01-06 12:50 PM
From 1932 to 1945, and maybe later, their address was listed their as 634 North Milpas. I suggest Google BOOKS as the best route for researching things like this. It has at least snippet views of old trade journals, a nice source of information. I might hazard a guess that once the war was over, dairy and farmland quickly gave way to construction including housing and commercial for purposes. The dairy might not have lasted much beyond 1945?
COMMENT 360805	2013-01-06 02:19 PM
I have heard that the area which is now Sears was a large dairy up until @ 1964-65.
COMMENT 360811	2013-01-06 02:31 PM
I remember them building the Five Points Mall in the mid sixties! Mt friend and I rode horses over there and all over the newly graded lots! How fun that was! We rode right down La Cumbre. Can't do that now. Does that make me an old timer?
COMMENT 360858	2013-01-06 05:43 PM
I think it has been published before but the wisteria vines on the freeway at La Cumbre are from the old dairy.
SBJULES	2013-01-06 05:54 PM
A member of the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society has complied lists of dairies in Santa Barbara. There were a bunch!
COMMENT 360884P	2013-01-06 08:01 PM
Very interesting and informative. I remember the chicken ranches off Cathedral Oaks by Tucker's Grove. They stank.
COMMENT 360920P	2013-01-06 11:39 PM
I love history like this, and trying to remember or guess what things were like back then.
COMMENT 360926P	2013-01-07 01:52 AM
Instead of guessing, why don't you contact Neal Graffy? He knows something (and sometimes a lot more) about every bit of SB history. He's a gem of a resource. I do know that those baby head bottles are worth more than the average milk bottle, so don't go giving it away, price-wise, if you intend to sell it.
LOURAY	2013-01-07 08:18 AM
My mother called bottles in that shape "cream tops." The unhomogenized milk would stratify, leaving the cream up in the top, from which it could be spooned or otherwise removed to a cream pitcher.
COMMENT 361105	2013-01-07 12:10 PM
I have a Golden State Dairy (also of Santa Barbara) bottle of similar shape. I grew up in S.B. with Golden State delivering us milk in these bottles. I have been looking for a spoon (shaped like a small ladle) that would be used to pour out the cream on top and stop the milk from pouring out. Any clues where I might find one?
COMMENT 361187	2013-01-07 03:42 PM
To the poster: Would you consider selling the bottles?
COMMENT 361195	2013-01-07 04:00 PM
I have been collecting for years.....and I just pulled these out of a packed box ,full of some great bottles... and well, the short answer is ....sure!
COMMENT 363966	2013-01-16 07:11 AM
TO COMMENT 361528: I sent an e-mail to your address , but it came back. I have some other great milk bottles and will post them later.

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