Meet Your Neighbors
We are very happy to welcome you to Happy Valley and introduce you to some of our favorite spots around town.
The Happy Valley Improvement Association includes a small board of dedicated men and women who work to beautify our community and bring residents together. You may notice a smattering of daffodils bordering the entrances to Happy Valley or some well-placed birdhouses on various stop signs and posts or a paved walking trail. These are some of our projects.
On the horizon are some fun events – like a Bird House hunt, wine tasting, or a neighborhood clean-up day. Please join us!
We have prepared this guide to highlight some of the generous contributors to your welcome basket. Although our community has a bounty of excellent restaurants and stores, these are just a few of the locally-owned, family businesses that make our neighborhood a small town.
We hope you will explore and feel at home.
Sincerely,
Mark Dunaway (President)
on behalf of the HVIA Board of Directors
mark@hvia.org
Karen Johnson
3553 Mt. Diablo Boulevard ~ (925) 284-4817
The Roundup swung open its saloon doors for the first time in 1935. As a child, current owner and Lafayette native Karen Johnson was instructed by her mother to cross the street on her way to a pizza joint after school as she passed the pool tables and wrap around bar that...
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Betty Chuluunbaatar
67 Lafayette Circle ~ (925) 283-0466
As one of the only privately owned and run coffee shops in Lafayette, Papillon has been an anchor in Fiesta Square for over 30 years. Old-timers may remember Cynthia, who first opened the coffee shop in 1990, or Tom and Brenda who have just recently retired. In 2020, Betty Chuluunbaatar answered the call...
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Victor Ivry and Aimee Platt
1018 Oak Hill Road ~ (925) 283-2397
They say don’t mix business with pleasure, but that is just what Victor and Aimee did -- and Lafayette was the big winner. When this couple decided to buy the iconic “Millie’s Kitchen,” a hallmark in the town since 1975, they inherited a legacy and continued a presence in...
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Thad and Christina Mirt
1009 Oak Hill Road ~ (925) 962-9201
Thad Mirt has been involved in design for close to 30 years. Starting out working for Breuners in college, he has a knack for combining quality and comfort with beauty and color in interior spaces big and small.
His wife, Christina, worked in hospital medicine for 25 years, but when the...
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Jim and Leslie Ward
3890 Los Arabis Drive ~ (510) 406-5680
Prior to 1990, when the Wards bought their property in Happy Valley, the downward sloping field adjacent to their home was a barn and a horse ranch for Arabian horses. Those same horses now adorn the label of their Pinot Noir after 1500 vines were planted in the perfect conditions...
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Bill and Alissa Scanlin
6 Lois Lane ~ (925) 200-7676
When Bill Scanlin bought his home in Happy Valley in 1997, his friend looked at the sunny and sloping landscape on the side of the house and said, “You ought to plant a vineyard.” One year later, the vines were in and soon thereafter – with the addition of tanks and...
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Tom Courtright and Kathy Courtright Rondini
4010 Mt. Diablo Boulevard
The land Orchard Nursery calls home in Lafayette has a long and varied history. In 1935, it was the Kergan family cattle ranch. In 1946, Jack Schneider, a local chemical engineer, first opened a nursery and garden experience shop but was soon negotiating with the state on its plans for the...
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Janet Thomas, President
3932 Mt. Diablo Boulevard
Janet Thomas was a chemistry and environmental science teacher at Campolindo and Acalanes high schools for almost 30 years. When she retired, her zeal for education and ecology didn’t wane in the least and our community is the supreme beneficiary of her passion. She set her heart on a rocky, dirty, run-down piece of...
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