7 Mile House hasn't hit the road

The 7 Mile House east of Marysville appears to have a mile or two of life still left in it.

Though closed for much of the last two years after the previous owner, Roscoe Smith, died, his daughter Debra Daniels opened the doors Saturday, as she has on a biweekly basis for the last few months, for visitors to the well-known Highway 20 stopping point.

Daniels, who lives in Monterey County, said that while she's enjoying her stints in her dad's old role as owner, host and house raconteur, she's hoping to sell it to someone willing to make it a full-time operation again.

"There's been a lot a family discussion, but it's really about making dad's dream come true," said Daniels, explaining that her father owned and ran the bar/restaurant for 25 years but always had a bigger vision in mind for it.

Situated on Highway 20, yes, seven miles east of Marysville, the 7 Mile House's two-acre lot was big enough to make Smith daydream of adding a gift shop, farmers market and other features.

He was in the process of updating the building's septic system to allow such concepts to become reality when he died in July 2008, Daniels said.

"It was really a shock to people in the area," she said. "The 7 Mile House meant everything to him."

Daniels said the restaurant long predated Smith, and even much of the Yuba-Sutter region, as it first was a stagecoach stop between the Gold Country and Marysville when it was established in 1850.

She said Smith made the bar and restaurant his retirement hobby when he bought it and moved from Monterey to the Mid-Valley in the early 1980s, partly because the area reminded him of the Ohio Valley where he grew up.

Gabe Zanotto, who worked at 7 Mile as a handyman and also created a robotic metal dragon on the site, said the bar drew local farmers, biker groups and friends of Smith's from his days serving in the Korean War, among others.

"He always had a dream of what he wanted it to look like," said Zanotto, who lives in Richvale. "From month to month, he was always trying to do it with nothing."

After Smith's death, Daniels said, 7 Mile House temporarily closed while she worked through his estate and transferred the liquor license, environmental permit and other necessary pieces to her name. Beginning in February, she began making trips from Monterey every other weekend to open only the bar for residents of Hallwood and District 10 who'd missed it.

"They began putting it on their calendars, every two weeks," she said. "It's kind of grown on us."

But the long trips from Monterey, she said, convinced her to put it up for sale to someone with a vision like her father's.

Larry Featherston, the Yuba City-based commercial broker listing the property, said the site is listed for $475,000 as is, and has drawn interest from three serious parties.

One potential buyer wants to open a mini-mart and gas station there in addition to the bar and restaurant, while another envisions making it into a Mexican restaurant and cantina, he said.

"The potential is there," Featherston said, adding he has his own memories of the joint. "It used to be one of the places to get a really good steak dinner."

Daniels said she's hopeful the restaurant will sell soon. In the long run, it's for the best, she said.

But in the short term ...

"It'll be bittersweet when it happens," she said. "I can see people in there, having a good time."

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer @appealdemocrat.com