Hornitos

The Cassaretto Store

The Cassaretto Store was built in 1851 of stone and adobe, the outer walls were later coated with a lime mortar. Originally a Mexican store, an Italian named Cassaretto bought the building in the 1850’s, added the iron doors and then stocked it with miners’ necessities. The so-called Murieta Tunnel ran under the street from the basement of this store to Rosie’s Fandango. The legend goes that friends of Murieta built the tunnel so that he could make a quick exit from the town should a peace officer appear unannounced. A short distance away was the secret stone corral where Joaquin generally kept his getaway horses. While this is a romantic story, it’s more likely that the tunnel was dug and used for storage of beer barrels and other fandango necessities, rather than a secret escape route. Nothing is left of Rosie’s two-story Fandango today, but the crumbling tunnel entrance is still visible beneath the shady tree on Main St.