La Mirada’s Historic McNally Olive Press Returns Home 

Dunkel Bros. owners and staff, joined by Historical Preservation Advisory Council member Harry Scott, Councilmembers John Lewis and Ed Eng, and members of the transportation team, pose atop and around the historic Windermere Ranch olive press after it was loaded for its journey back to La Mirada. Dunkel Bros. donated the transportation of the massive 19th-century press at no cost to the City, earning La Mirada’s Community Spotlight Award for helping preserve an important piece of the community’s agricultural history.

By Brian Hews

July 17, 2026

LA MIRADA — A rusted, 19th-century olive press that once helped produce olive oil on Andrew McNally’s famed Windermere Ranch has returned home after spending nearly two decades at a museum in eastern San Diego County, thanks to the efforts of local historians and one generous industrial moving company.

At a recent City Council meeting, the City honored Dunkel Bros. with its Community Spotlight Award for donating the transportation of the massive historic press back to La Mirada, where it once played a key role in the city’s early agricultural economy.

The recognition also highlighted the years-long work of Historical Preservation Advisory Council member Harry Scott, who tracked down the historic equipment, negotiated with its owners, and coordinated its return.

The olive press originally operated on Andrew McNally’s Windermere Ranch, where thousands of olive trees once covered what is now modern-day La Mirada. The ranch produced premium olive oil that was marketed across the country under the McNally name during the early 1900s, helping establish Southern California as a producer of high-quality olive oil.

After leaving La Mirada decades ago, the press was purchased by McNally friend Leonardo DiChiara and eventually made its way to the Motor Transport Museum in Campo, where it remained for nearly 20 years.

Scott’s research led him to the museum and the DiChiara family, who agreed the historic equipment should return to the city where it had spent its working life.

Moving the enormous cast-iron machinery, however, was no small task.

Enter Dunkel Bros.

The longtime Southern California industrial moving company donated its expertise, equipment and labor to transport the massive olive press back to La Mirada at no cost to the City.

The project involved Operations Manager Tim Hogan, General Manager Brett Calvin, Dispatcher Chris Elias and Driver Jeff Mosby, whose careful planning and coordination safely delivered the century-old machinery back home.

The press bears the original manufacturer’s plate from Boomer & Boschert Press Co. of Syracuse, New York, one of the nation’s leading builders of olive and fruit processing equipment during the late 1800s.

Historical records indicate McNally’s Windermere Ranch once contained more than 50,000 olive trees and operated one of California’s premier olive oil facilities. Contemporary advertisements promoted “McNally’s Olive Oil” as a premium product sold nationwide, while promotional booklets showcased the ranch, the olive mill, hydraulic presses and storage vaults that made the operation one of the most advanced of its era.