Carmel Magazine-Spring 2022

The building was designed to resemble a milk bottle and features both a mural and a sculpted metal lamp by the “Renaissance Man of the West” Carmel artist Jo Mora. H undreds pass this imposing 1930s-era building at Ocean and Mission with- out giving it a second glance, unaware of the fact that the corner tower was intentionally designed to resemble a milk bottle. It was orig- inally home to the Carmel Dairy, a company that sold the milk products produced by the Martin farm—a dairy property now occupied by Carmel’s famous Mission Ranch—and other local dairies. Former Monterey Mayor Peter Coniglio says his father Horace purchased the building that housed his business, the Mediterranean Market, in the mid-1960s from the Catholic Extension, a Chicago-based Catholic outreach organization. After almost 40 years serving delectable food to throngs of loyal customers, the beloved market closed in 2001. Legend has it that the famous Carmel artist Jo Mora was a regular customer of the dairy, and he created the sculpted metal lamp in the shape of a cowbell that still hangs above the building’s corner door. Another Mora piece, the original Carmel Dairy signage, was uncovered during a late twentieth century remodel. It’s visible on the east side of the building. Loyal Mediterranean Market customers will be glad to know that the giant provolone that hung in the window for many years—it was produced in 1963—is still in the building and can be glimpsed in an upstairs window. The Carmel Dair y Building B Y M I CHA E L CHAT F I E LD SHORT CUTS ARTIFACTS 84 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 2 Photo: Kelli Uldall