Orinda’s Historic 1841 Adobe House Fills With Laughter Again

    When people ask Kent Long, president of the Friends of the Joaquin Moraga Adobe (FJMA), why he has dedicated the last 15 years to reviving a ramshackle, graffiti-emblazoned building, he laughingly replies, “That evil, evil book.”
    The book he’s referring to is, in fact, the wonderful “History of Orinda: Gateway to Contra Costa County,” written and published in 1970 by the late Muir Sorrick – long out of print, but still available if one searches hard enough.
    A self-confessed “smart aleck, know-it-all kind of kid,” Long was around 10 years old when he first laid eyes on Sorrick’s history book and, as he flipped through its photos, his attention was drawn to an ancient building, high on a hill in the Del Rey neighborhood.
    His immediate reaction was, “WHAT! No one ever mentioned this to me.”
    And his second reaction was, “That building looks pretty important – why isn’t it open to the public?”
    Long describes that sequence of thoughts as the “classic be-careful-what-you-wish-for moment,” because, 40-some years later, he finally set foot in the Joaquin Moraga Adobe – and became an integral part of a project that has obsessed both him and his fellow FJMA preservationists since 2009.
    Speaking on the steps of the authentically restored Adobe, at its ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday June 29, Long pointed to Bobbie Landers and said, “If anyone’s an instigator of all of this, it is she.”
    And, as everyone who has ever crossed paths with Orinda’s redoubtable first female mayor will happily attest, not only do you immediately find yourself doing whatever Landers demands of you, but you feel honored to comply.
    Long confided that growing up in Orinda, he soon realized, “No one says no to Mrs. Landers.”
    Fortunately, he was not the only one. When Landers decided it was time to go full throttle in saving the abandoned Adobe, she summoned several like-minded friends to her house. Five of those who met that pivotal night 15 years ago still serve on the FJMA Board.
    Current Board members are Kent Long, Tania deGroot, Jeff Boero, Margaret Beck, Lance Beeson (a direct Moraga descendant) and SB Masters. In addition, Long alluded throughout the ribbon-cutting ceremony to his “lovely wife” Teresa Long as an essential element in the group’s success.
    The Adobe was built in 1841, almost a decade before California entered the Union as the 31st state, on land awarded to Joaquin Moraga as part of a 13,326-acre Mexican Land Grant. For many years, it provided a splendid home for the Moraga family, and those that followed, but eventually it simply evolved into a hang-out place for teenagers and vandals.
    As time went by, windows got smashed, doors were left standing wide open and graffiti daubed on the exterior walls proclaimed that this was “a house built to party.” Adding insult to injury, the City of Orinda landmark plaque, once proudly attached to the wall, disappeared.
    It was after developers J&J Ranch purchased the land in 2008, planning to build high-end homes and transform the 19th century Adobe into a 21st century clubhouse, that the FJMA sprang into action. They were told that, if they could raise $500,000 (to be matched by J&J) they could buy the Adobe and its 2.3 surrounding acres and the developers would renovate the building in accordance with documentary evidence dated around 1848.
    Fundraising immediately swung into high gear and by July 2021, the FJMA had reached their goal – and beyond. In addition, a check for $250,000 recently presented by Senator Steve Glazer, together with a generous donation from a prominent Moraga family, will allow the Friends to invest in landscaping and museum exhibits.
    An Open House is planned for this Fall and by next year there will be tours and more open days in what will eventually become a History and Learning Center.
    Five decades after Long discovered Contra Costa County’s oldest surviving adobe house in a 1970s history book, he’ll be able to tell his 10-year-old self that yes, Kent, it IS open to the public.