Industrial Art

One of the great things about walking for me is that I finally "see" things I've never noticed the millions of times I've passed by them before.  This window is an example. It's on one of those corrugated steel buildings on Hillcrest Road.

I wonder what I shall "discover" next time.

The Old Hollister Cold Storage Business Park

Hillcrest Road is one of the regular byways that I take to get from here to there. Over the last several years, I have watched the once-upon-a-time Hollister Ice and Cold Storage site near the northwest corner of Hillcrest and Highway 25  turn into a business park. I like how they maintained the look of the buildings that are now home to various auto repair shops and fitness programs. Here are just a few of them:

• Cold Storage CrossFit
• Hertz Local Edition Rent a Car
• Hollister Boxing and Fitness
• Hollister Collision Center
• Hollister Derby Girls   (Also, check out "Rolling Revolution" by Andrew Matheson, The Weekend Pinnacle)

A View to Walk With

The Husband and I have been walking again. The days have been beautiful for it, that's for sure. It's not until I'm walking that I'm reminded again that Hollister is not flat and we are surrounded by gorgeous mountain ranges.

So, what do you think? On which road do you think we were walking eastward:
a) Hillcrest    b) Meridian   c) Lone Tree   d) Santa Ana?

By the way, the mountains really aren't as close to those structures as they look in the photo.

See ya Thursday.

Rock and Rolling and Crushing

When the Husband and I drive around the county, I notice interesting cuts and gouges in the mountains. I always wonder how they were formed. In other words how Mother Nature did her work. The husband almost always tells me that what I'm looking at was created by a quarry.

How many quarries are (and were) in San Benito County? Quite a lot, it turns out. Check out this list of stone quarries compiled by Peggy B. Perazzo at Stone Quarries and Beyond. The list does not include sand or gravel quarries.

Local History

In the late 1860s, when Hollister was being formed, West, East, North, and South streets were the boundaries of town. This beautiful Queen Anne house at the corner of West and Seventh Streets stood at the growing town's western edge. The house, built in 1904 or 1906 (depending on the source), was originally the residence of someone who owned a harness and saddle shop.

Other local history tidbits. 
• San Benito County just turned 138 years old. The county was created on February 12, 1874.
• On March 26, Hollister will be celebrating its 140th year as an incorporated city.
• San Juan Bautista was incorporated in 1869, about 72 years after Mission San Juan Bautista was established.

History Links
To learn more about local history, check out these Web sites:

San Benito County Historical Society
About Our Town by Hollister Downtown Association
San Juan Bautista Historical Society
City of History by the City of San Juan Bautista
Vaquero Heritage Days
New Idria
Hollister and Bikers

P.S.  For those of you who were wondering about where I was on Tuesday's post, I was standing on Wright Road, between San Felipe Road and Highway 25 (or Bolsa Road).

Where am I?

I feel like a guessing game today. On what road am I standing when I snapped this scene? Yes, it's in Hollister.  I was a few miles from the center of town, but I'm not saying in which direction. That would make it too easy.

Here's a hint: What business sells its products in blue-colored tanks?  Hmm. Did I just make it too easy?

See ya on Thursday.

Green Tripe

Green Tripe is a local business that sells, yep, green tripe and other animal innards to dog owners.

Go ahead, say eewww, but the food is nutritious--and most likely delicious--for the dogs. According to the Web site, the company only uses raw material from animals that were grassfed and were inspected and certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as being organic. The tripe and et. al is safe for human consumption.

For more info about Green Tripe, check out its Web site.

Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs, a Discovery show, visited the factory in 2008. Here's some footage that was shown on TV.