Summary:
Miler Magrath was interviewed by Julie Sullivan in October, 2005. In 1990 Miler took over management of Diamond K Supply from his father William, who had operated the business for over 40 years. Miler describes how the customer base shifted over the years from farmers and ranchers to builders and developers, and how Diamond K itself changed to meet the needs of the community.
Oral History:
According to Miler Magrath, Diamond K is what it is because of Lafayette. “In this Lamorinda area, they’re just great people. We’re real lucky,” he says. Miler is the second generation to own and operate the building supply company on the western edge of town. “Our location is ideal because of people coming through the tunnel from Oakland and the Berkeley Hills,” he explains. “We’re in just the right spot, but you couldn’t put another business like ours in a city like Lafayette today.”
In 1946 when Miler’s father, William, and his partners, Ogden Keisel and Todd Neiss, bought Diamond K, Lafayette was very different. “Diamond K (the K is for Kiesel) was the ranch brand because of all the ranches that used to be around here,” Miler says. “They used to sell a lot of horse feed and alfalfa and bales of hay. Horses have just basically been moved out of the area.” Two years later, in 1948, William became the sole owner. He continued to run the business until he passed away in 1990. His wife, Nancy, is still involved, and Miler, his brother and sister are co-owners. “We’re the second oldest family-run business in town,” Miler says proudly.
The Diamond K building was erected in 1936, and the barn behind it was added in 1938. “Right next door on the side toward the reservoir there used to be a furniture store, I believe it was called Weisman’s Appliances,” Miler says. “It burned down around 1960, and my dad was able to purchase the lot. That’s where our rock yard is now.
“We have order tags all the way back to 1948. For instance William Penn Mott (former director of California’s Department of Parks) was an Orinda resident. He would come in on weekends and buy a sack of Hen Scratch to feed his wild birds. We found an old tag of his from 1948 that showed he bought one hundred pounds for a dollar and sent it to him. He sent us back a framed picture of his new tag for fifty pounds at a cost of nine dollars, saying, ‘What’s going on here?’
“It’s interesting to compare what things cost back then. We always put the date and the customer’s name and phone number on the tag. Back then it was just a three-digit phone number. Our office is computerized, but all our orders are still hand written.
“Since the start, the store has always been open six days a week,” Miler says. “We open at seven for the convenience of contractors. When my dad started out, he worked long hours. He used to have this old truck he drove up to Lodi to pick up raw materials, bricks or railroad ties. He’d take me – I started stacking wood at the store when I was in eighth grade – we’d jump in the flatbed and go out to Port Costa and pick up our bricks. One of my dad’s customers was Henry Matsutani, a landscaping contractor. He ordered five yards of cobblestones for Lake Tahoe. My dad got out of the hospital after having surgery and drove the delivery there. It was always long hours and weekends.
“My mom tells how when they opened Simons Hardware in Walnut Creek my dad came home and said, ‘This huge hardware store is going to put us out of business.’” (Simons, formerly on North California Boulevard, has been replaced by an upscale shopping complex.)
Originally Diamond K even delivered coal. “There was a railroad spur down by Butler Conti, and they picked up coal and gravel there,” Miler remembers. “We still sold coal when I worked part time in the early 1970’s, but then it was for fireplaces. I remember helping unload train cars full of coal. I was the guy they put in the car. I came home from a junior prom one night and had to shovel coal the next morning. I was spitting coal for a couple of days.”
Miler graduated from Acalanes High School and Chico State University, where he majored in sociology. He and his wife, Maureen, have two daughters. Maureen, a past president of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, does executive recruiting from their Alamo home.
“Maybe it was in the back of my mind I’d eventually be down here, but I never planned on it,” Miler reflects. “My older brother went to law school. I just came home and went to work for my dad. It was a natural progression. I started as the yard guy, sacking sand, stacking fire wood and loading customers’ vehicles, then truck driver, then manager and finally president.
“My dad had the key to Millie’s restaurant when it was next to the Park Theater,” Miler remembers. (Millie’s today is on Oak Hill Road.) “He used to go in every morning at 4:45 a.m. and start the coffee. He’d have coffee with the garbage men, then Millie would show up.
“There was another rock yard, Western Sand and Brick, in town. They were down across from the car wash near the Park Hotel. They’ve probably been gone for 20 years. Evidently across Mt. Diablo from Diamond K a gentleman they called Got Rocks Gordon had another rock yard.”
Miler remembers sneaking into the Lafayette Reservoir before it was officially open. “It was fantastic. You could throw a stick in the water and 50 fish would come up. When my buddies and I were in fifth grade, we could walk around town and not worry about anything. I grew up on Via Robles behind where Celia’s restaurant is now. Right by our street, between Mt. Diablo Bank and Dolores Drive, they used to have this place that was nothing but trampolines. In eighth grade I was late walking to Stanley school one day, because I watched Lafayette Foods in La Fiesta Square burn down. Another time my friend and I caught two big king snakes and walked all the way through town carrying them. We sold them for 50 cents at the pet shop in La Fiesta Square.
“I remember the Chaps Drive-In right next to the Chevron Station at the corner of Happy Valley and Mt. Diablo Boulevard. Freddie’s Pizza was in the brick building (now Pizza Antica). Where Freddie’s is today used to be the Refectory. That was a great steak house. In high school, Walnut Creek wasn’t like it is now. You’d go down and ‘Cruise the Main’ on Friday nights.”
Miler has seen changes in the business over the years. “Where we used to sell twenty-five to fifty tons of boulders and flagstone each week, we’re doing three times that now. We sell a lot of moss rock and placement boulders for wall building. We have it hauled from different quarries, then put it on our smaller trucks and deliver it.” Miler’s father started with six or seven employees and two trucks. Today the business has grown to fifteen employees and six trucks.
“If we get calls for things we don’t have, we go find that thing and put it in. We keep switching around,” Miler explains. He says his relaxation is driving through town on his way home. “The town looks good. It has gotten more crowded, and my trucks have to go through that, but we have our shortcuts. The new town center development going in on Mt. Diablo is going to open the town up. I don’t think we’ll ever be a Walnut Creek, which is OK. It’s going in the right direction, and it’s still a comfortable place.”
Excerpted from “Voices of Lafayette” by Julie Sullivan. This book is available for purchase in the History Room.
I worked at the other brick yard, Western Sand and Brick for 5 years. Joe Newell was the original owner. My Dad Bill McCausland worked there. it had a tall sand and gravel hopper that you could see from Highway 24.
I loved talking to the owner behind the counter at Diamond K. My friend bought me a knife from Diamond K. I still have it today some 40 years later. I love this story. I was born and raised in Walnut Creek. I live in Lincoln Ca. thanks for keeping our memories alive