Before the Caldecott tunnel pierced the Berkeley hills, before Highway 24 grew to eight lanes and long, long before BART trains blurred through the landscape--there was Casa Orinda, the original roadhouse that has survived decades and trends to become and institution.
The 67-year-old Casa Orinda--Contra Costa County's oldest continuously operating restaurant--has grown more than a bit from its tiny original 1932 building at the long-gone Orinda Crossroads. The four-way stop is now a freeway interchange, and traffic whirs by at 70 mph instead of a lazy 35.