On Maple Ave, in the middle of a mixed industrial and residential area of Montebello, you will find Broguire’s Dairy; a Century’s old living landmark, 4th generation family business, and one of the last remaining links to the city’s agricultural past.
In the 1910s, French immigrant Ernest Broguire bought a lemon grove on Maple ave, but after shipping his first crop to Chicago and receiving a bill instead of a check because the cost of the freight was more than what the lemons were worth, he tore up the orchards and went into the milk business. In 1920 He bought one cow, several hundred glass bottles and began selling milk door to door from a horse drawn wagon and soon his business was booming; He turned his land into a 5 acre dairy with 150 milk producing cows. It was one of over 2 dozen dairies in Montebello at the time.
The dairy’s success continued in the following decades, but the city around it was changing; encroachment of development and city regulations led Ray Broguire Sr., who took over the dairy from his Father Ernest in 1965, to make the decision to get rid of the cows in the following years, but he kept the glass bottles. The land where the cows were once housed was paved over for the parking lot of the bakery next door, but the family’s home adjacent to the dairy and their milk processing plant still remained as they became the last of Montebello’s dairies.
In 1975, Ray Broguire Jr. took over the dairy and continued the family’s legacy of providing farm fresh milk. The raw milk is brought in a tanker several times a week and is pasteurized, homogenized, and bottled onsite in their state of the art stainless steel equipment. They also continued to hand mix their famous chocolate milk and seasonal eggnog; which sets them apart from all others. They even got the seal approval of California’s adopted native son, Huell Howser, who visited the dairy twice.
However, not everything has been smooth for the dairy, as many other small businesses, they’ve had several issues that almost led them to close down. In 2016 a proposed corridor grade separation project on Maple Ave threatened to block access to the dairy, but luckily, an alternative project was constructed instead.
Then, in 2019, Ray Broguire Jr contemplated closing permanently as he pondered retirement amid growing government regulations. However, the outpouring of support convinced Ray and his son Chris, who would take over the family business that year, to change their minds and after a brief closure, reopened the dairy.
Today, the dairy continues to provide the same delicious farm fresh milk in glass bottles that customers have enjoyed for over a hundred years. They recently added strawberry milk to their line of products, which is fast becoming a favorite among customers.
You can buy their milk at several specially grocery stores in Southern California, but nothing beats buying a glass bottle at the dairy and getting the milk as fresh as possible; history never tasted so good.
References:
“Century-old Broguiere’s Dairy is Hopeful Business Won’t Dry Out” by Jean Trinh, KCET. June 14, 2019.
“Dairy Milks Old-Fashioned Value of Glass in Serving Loyal Customers” by Mara Elena Gaona, The Los Angeles Times. November 6, 2001.
Learn More | Broguiere’s Dairy Website
“Visiting with Huell Howser Episode 804: Eggnog Update”
“Owner Reconsiders Closing Montebello Dairy, Overwhelmed by Public Response” by Mike Sprague, Whittier Daily News. May 28, 2019.
“Broguiere’s Dairy Threatened by Proposed Underpass in Montebello” by Amy Powell, KABC. June 9, 2016.