REMEMBERED TURLOCK RESTAURANTS
The Almond Tree could serve a morning coffee crowd and people hungry after last call. Beside Highway 99, its restaurant and lounge connected several versions of Turlock life. It closed in May 2016; the former building was destroyed by fire in February 2017.
Updated 2026.
A restaurant that kept different hours
The former Almond Tree stood at 2243 Lander Avenue, near the freeway exit. Farmers and ranchers, local night owls and motorists passing through shared the same stop. The 2016 closure report describes a business open around the clock, seven days a week, for more than three decades.
Its menu ranged from biscuits and gravy to seafood and chili colorado. Friday and Saturday prime rib specials brought another crowd, while karaoke and DJ nights gave the lounge a life of its own.
The closure came before the fire
Owner John Diaz told Turlock City News that the lease had ended and he had decided to retire. The reporter visited while equipment was being cleared out. One longtime customer, helping with the move, remembered the years spent growing older alongside the people there.
On February 21, 2017, a late-morning fire destroyed the former restaurant. The Turlock Journal’s account describes heavy smoke affecting freeway visibility, the closure of the Lander exit and the loss of the roadside sign. The property owner had been working toward reopening the restaurant, but the fire brought the building down.
A small souvenir of the highway years
One surviving clue is smaller than a menu: a green plastic token recorded in TokenCatalog’s California collection as entry TC-239348. Its lettering names “Almond Tree Restaurant and Lounge,” with “Atwater Applegate” and “Turlock Lander” on the reverse, along with “Exit Hwy 99.” Even its advertising assumed that people would find the business by a freeway exit.
Have an Almond Tree menu, photograph or memory? Contact Local Turlock with the date and background. For the wider story of the town around it, continue to Turlock through the decades or browse our shopping and dining guide.
