Lincoln Highway News

When I visited the Summit Garage in July 2006, Dan Silviera showed me around the shop. Among his many efforts to help youth, he managed Tri-Valley Youth Services, and the garage was serving as the Tri-Valley Teen Center for teaching youths to restore classic cars. There was an assortment of cool old cars on lifts and along the road. The only dark cloud was that a utility company wanted to demolish the old place for a right-of-way.

I recently checked on the garage with Gary Kinst, editor of LHA newsletter The Traveler for California. I was looking for news about the utility but was sadly surprised to hear that the teen center lost its lease July 1, 2007, and Dan Silveira (above) passed away July 30. Click here to read Dan’s obituary from the Boy Scouts, where he was a scoutmaster for 17 years; that and his many other accomplishments are an inspiration.

Click the images below from my visit to see larger versions on Flickr – then click the Flickr pics to see them REALLY BIG. The T-Bird, one of the youth projects, was across the road.

A local rancher has purchased approximately 240 acres that include the Summit Garage and a dwelling. Gary reports that LHA member Mike Kaelin is working with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and their State Representative to have the garage preserved as a historical site and the pass as a historic corridor. The new tenant, a former member of T.V.Y.S., has plans to open a antique/gift shop in the old garage. A “Historic Lincoln Highway” sign was recently dedicated there too.