Tea House Steeped in 100 Years of History

For nine years, Melissa Hammer has poured hot water over bags of rooibos, oolong and English breakfast teas to customers whose origins are just as diverse.

There have been people from all parts of the area, the state, the country and the world who've sipped the russet brew from china cups at the on Los Rios Street. "We’ve had ... a couple who said they heard about us at a teahouse in London. That was incredible.”

The cottage's denizens haven't always been so international. For much of the past century, generations of local families made it their home.

This summer, the structure is celebrating its 100th year at 31731 Los Rios St., a road that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and which traverses one of the oldest .

Hammer, who calls herself the resident historian, said records dating back that far did not list a specific month in 1911 when the building was completed, "so we just pulled it out of the air and it came up June. I love history, and this place has been fantastic to research. Ten generations of families have lived in that home, the Ramos house. That makes this place special.”

The Heritage

The original house was built by Thomas Ramos, a Mission San Juan Capistrano parishioner and an Acjachemen descendant. It was a single wall, board-and-batten structure with a front room on the left, dining room and bedrooms to the right, and the kitchen down a long hallway. The bathroom was an outhouse. 

After Thomas died in 1926, the Ramos family continued to live there. His mother, Della Ramos, owned the house that today is known as the , and at one time his family lived in three houses on Los Rios Street.

Lawrence “Babe” Ramos, 80, is a nephew of Tomas Ramos, who lived on Los Rios Street from 1938 to 1950. He is the youngest and only survivor of eight children: five brothers and two sisters. All the brothers served in the military, three in World War II and four in the Korean War. 

He said the early years, when the entire family was living at home, were the best.

“It was a whole family affair,” recalled Babe, who lived at the house with his wife and two children from 1964-67. “I think about all the good times we had there. Not even the train bothered us. You get used to it.”

Babe also told Hammer, “I remember my mother and Tía Chata telling me about the parties at Uncle Tomas’ house. The Yorbas, my mother’s side of the family, and Sepulvedas from Los Angeles would gather, and the house would be filled with laughter and good times.”

The Savior

When the last of the Ramoses moved out, the house was leased to the Rodman family in 1957, and the site became known simply as the "Rodman House." They lived there until 1987, then the structure fell into severe disrepair and was put up for sale.

That’s when Allan and Claudia Niccola got involved.

It began one day when Arianna Niccola was invited to a nearby teahouse by some of her closest friends. She was so impressed by the experience that she invited her mom, Claudia, and sisters Shannon and Lisa to have tea, and it quickly became a favorite activity.

Finally, after much pleading, she convinced her husband, Allan, to spend an afternoon at one of their favorite teahouses, and he came away believing there was money to be made in serving ladyfinger sandwiches and mint tea.

At the time, the Niccolas owned a music store. Allan was a high school music teacher at Lakeside Middle School in Irvine and also gave piano lessons, mostly to older adults. Claudia had wanted to try running a type of business other than music and thought a teahouse would be perfect.

“I was reluctant,” Allan admitted. “But I also told her that if she found the perfect location I would look at it.”

One day, the Niccolas found themselves in San Juan Capistrano on Los Rios Street when they saw a “for sale” sign on a small shack across from the railroad tracks at the train station. “It was the perfection location,” Allan said. But the property was already in escrow.

Undaunted, Allan contacted the real estate agent and every week called to see if the property had fallen out of escrow. The buyer ended up getting a divorce, and the property became available. Allan’s timing was perfect.

“Literally two minutes after [it had fallen out of escrow] I called,” Allan said. “I gave a verbal commitment right then and signed the papers that afternoon.”

After 18 months of working with the city to obtain the appropriate variances and to comply with the strict guidelines outlined by the historical society and city, the Niccolas received final approval to purchase the old house in April 1997.

Then the real work began.

New Life

The Niccolas hired a local architect to design a renovation that would both complement the old struture and nearly double its size from 990 square feet to 1,780 square feet. But, according to news reports at the time, many preservationists were not happy with the Niccolas' plans. They feared the new business would bring noise, traffic and parking problems to the Los Rios Historic District.

The Niccolas vowed to work with city officials to try to prevent problems and planned to salvage everything they could during the renovation. Century-old bricks, for example, were used for the walkways, and any wood that wasn’t termite-eaten was used for the walls and ceiling along the front section of the cottage, where the entryway, gift shop and two dining rooms are situated.

In the back section of the cottage are the kitchen, bathroom and dining rooms. Outside, a wooden patio deck covered by a new roof wraps around two sides of the building, and landscaping consists of trees and bushes that are indigenous to the region, such as yuccas and birch.

“The doors were so high [6 feet, 8 inches] that I wanted to replace them,” Niccola said. “But I was told the reason they were so high is that every time the room shifted, the doors would still work.” The mission area had been in decline since the earthquake in 1812.

Meanwhile, the Niccolas discovered a little-known city requirement that upholds the strict historical standards of Los Rios Street by requiring business owners to live there. Because the cottage was too small to live in, they chose the next best solution.

The Niccolas purchased an 80-ton, two-story Victorian house and had it lifted off its foundation and transported from Camino del Avion to the back corner of the lot behind the cottage site. The Niccolas reportedly spent $1 million on the project. And that was 15 years ago.

In the summer of 1998, after more than a year's worth of work, the Tea House on Los Rios opened for business.

Allan admits he’s not sure he could afford to do the same thing today, especially on a music teacher’s salary. But he certainly is happy he did.

“We know people from all over the world," he said. "We’ve had proposals and weddings here. Ladies will come and spend hours here just chatting. It is peaceful here and a wonderful place to live. This has been the most rewarding experience we’ve ever had.”

Past and Future

Legend has it the house was haunted. Babe Ramos told Hammer that on three separate occasions when he and his cousin Julian were home alone, they heard footsteps in the hallway and felt the temperature in the room drop. 

Once, as a young man returning home from a high school dance, Babe encountered the “White Lady,” the most famous apparition in San Juan folklore.

Caitlin Hammer said she’d heard of a ghost named Charlie who supposedly lived in the house at one time but was a “nice ghost.”

“You hear all sorts of stories, but I’ve never seen one personally,” Caitlin said.

The little cottage that was once home to dozens of people a century ago might look different now, but the place is once again filled with cheer.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Della Yorba Ramos had seven children.