In telling the story of La
Casa Rosa and the original proprietor, Bertha Campbell Cole, it is important to
know that both her mother and father were California pioneers, coming across
the plains, though not in th4eh same wagon trains. Bertha's father's family,
the Campbell's, came through the Sierras to Sacramento
and ultimately to Sonoma.
Her mother's family, the Smiths, crossed through Salt
Lake, then the Oregon Trail, and
eventually from Oregon by boat along the Pacific Coast
to the Bay Area, settling in Sonoma.
Bertha was born in Sonoma
November 28, 1876. She lived there with her family until 1902; her older
brother prevailed upon her to accompany his wife to Philippines, where he was working
as a building contractor. She taught school in Manila
for two years, when she was invited to take a trip to Shanghai. There, she met and married Frank
Cole, a mining engineer. Cole's engineering jobs took them too many exotic
places to the interior of China
(Harbin and Peking, among others) Java, Northern
Japan, North Korea, Siberia,
the Ural Mountains, even North
Vietnam. They returned home in 1927 and
retired to Carmel.
In 1935, needing to supplement their income, Bertha
located a vacant hotel in San Juan Bautista, renovated it, painted it Pink and
names it "La Casa Rosa". She opened it as a tea room, serving a
special Mexican dish, "California Casserole", a recipe given to her
aunts, "The Smith Sisters", by the daughter of General Vallejo, who
had been commandant of the town of Sonoma,
before California
became a state. Mrs. Cole's clientele was very select, movie stars and wealthy
people from Carmel.
Soon after her husband's death in late 1940's, she retired to Palo Alto. Bertha passed away August 19,
1961.
