Olive Avenue

"Olive Avenue" is not an official name, which is just listed as "Driveway" on the 1935 insurance map. It was the road behind the 1907 nursery office that was lined with olive trees. About nine of these trees still exist.

Charles Howard Shinn wrote in 1890 "John Rock, the veteran nurseryman, formerly of San José, now of Niles, is probably the leading spirit of the present time in the practical development of the industry. He does not write about the olive, but he has made two journeys to France, Spain and Italy within the past five years, and, like W. B. West. he knows exactly what to look for, and where to find it."

What varieties do you suppose might be planted there? 

The Oroville Register from January 5, 1893 says that Rock had 156 varieties of olives planted in his Rio Bonito Orchard. That's the Hatch & Rock orchard, at one time the largest fruit orchard in the state. 

John Rock's specimen trees are very well documented in his specimen orchard (or Mother Orchard) books. The Museum of Local History had one such ledger scanned in so we can see what was in the orchard and possibly planted on the avenue around 1887. There is another larger book at the museum as well, not scanned in.

References

• The Olive in California, B.M. Lelong (1888). Note that General Vallejo was the Treasurer of the State Board of Horticulture. In acknowledgements "I desire to express my sincere thanks to Mr. John Rock, of Niles, Alameda County, for the very valuable assistance rendered me in my investigation, and he certainly is deserving of great credit for having introduced and distributed throughout the State mostly all the new varieties now fruiting."
• "The Olive in California", American Gardening, Charles Howard Shinn (Apr. 1890) "Nearly all of the olive trees that have yet come into bearing are of the old Mission variety." "The old olive avenue behind the church at the Mission San Jose, in Alameda county, some 35 miles from San Francisco, marks another of the famous priest gardens of the past. In this old grove there are several varieties of olive, some of which ripen much earlier than others."
• Recommended by CHS: A practical treatise on olive culture, oil making and olive pickling. Adolphe Flamant. and The Olive: Its Culture in Theory and Practice By Arthur Tappan Marvin (the owner of the Quito Olive Farm. Olive Culture for California by S.S. Boynton in the Overland Monthly, July 1889.
• Online Books page
• The California Fruits and How to Grow Them. E.J. Wickson, 1910. Chapter 31 "The Olive and its Growth in California" 
• California Nursery Company, 27 Nov. 1886, Pacific Rural Press, p. 453. Mentions the illusive 1886-1887 catalog. "Anticipating a demand in trees" "to establish a plant that could supply nursery stock in unlimited amount "..."started in a stubble field" "There has been a fair demand of nursery stock this season...and one large order has just been filled for China"
• "Olives" and Further Notes on Olive Varieties The Journal of the Senate During the ... Session of the Legislature of the State of California, Volume 3 lists 36 varieties of olives that John Rock provided for research.
• Olives at El Quito in Pacific Rural Press, 20 Feb. 1897
• Quito Olive and Vine Farm and article about neighborhood
• 1922 article by George C. Roeding "California vs. Mediterranean for Olive Honors" commercial development of the olive industry.
• Oroville Register (Month JANUARY Issue Date JANUARY 05 1893 page 2.pdf)