TRACY IN HEINZ-SIGHT

REMEMBER WHEN

THE SJC CITY WAS ONCE KNOWN FOR ITS TOMATO PASTE FACTORY

“Where are you from?” I’ve been asked. I fold my arms and release a heavy sigh, imagining the sights and sounds of home: straw-like pastures, towering wind turbines, and sprawling Amazon warehouses. Where was I from? Every small town has its quirks, and the oft-neglected town of Tracy is no different. In 1944, the town was put on the map with the establishment of a Heinz ketchup factory. Tracy ticked all the boxes for Heinz in the beginning. So, what went wrong?

According to Andrew F. Smith’s, Pure Ketchup: A History of America’s National Condiment, at its zenith in 1994, the Heinz factory in Tracy could squeeze out 220,300 gallons of tomato paste in a day. That meant—should they have chosen to—the factory’s 600 employees could have filled the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool with the thick base ingredient of Heinz ketchup in a single month. Less than four years later, after a half century of operation, the Tracy factory shuttered. The multi-million-dollar restoration required to keep it up to date was not deemed practical, and the final 400 employees were shaken out of the jobs. In 1944, Heinz had selected Tracy for its newest plant. The 73-acre lot was ideal because of its Central Valley location, where much of the nation’s tomatoes were grown and canned. The factory was fully functional early in 1946, its major products being chili sauce, baby food, and, of course, the company’s flagship product: ketchup. For 51 years, the factory produced tomato-based products that were enjoyed from Pismo Beach to Portland, Maine. But in fall 1997, Heinz shifted tomato production away from Tracy. Their regional headquarters once stood on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, but urbanization resulted in its migration too. The doors to the Tracy factory were locked in January 1998, the site now crisscrossed by a railroad and an Extra Space Storage on East 11th Street. The ketchup we spurt on fries today exists thanks to Henry J. Heinz, who eschewed preservatives and pickled ripe tomatoes for optimal flavor. Tracy’s factory enhanced Heinz’s vision of a ketchup that exalted the tomato and thereby achieved condiment supremacy. Hence, our everexpanding town can take great pride in its rich, tomato-stained history.

Anastasia Tie is a senior English student at Biola University in Southern California, but still calls Tracy home.

BY ANASTASIA TIE

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