Thursday, April 9, 2015

H is for . . .

Hollister, California.
A no-brainer for the letter H, right? Instead of reinventing the wheel for this post, I thought let me just republish something I wrote on October, 15, 2014 about my hometown. So, here you go.
Methinks it's time again to say that Hollister, California, the store, is not the same as Hollister, California, the city.

Yup.

Abercrombie & Fitch began selling apparel with the Hollister brand in 2000, which is weaved around the fictional beach town of Hollister in Southern California where the made-up Hollister Company is located. Either the fantasy town or company was established in 1922 by an imaginary  Dutch East Indies immigrant named John Hollister. The marketing team must've had fun dreaming up the fanciful, fake Hollister, California story.

Hollister is in the far distance, at the foot of the mountain range

The real city of Hollister is located in San Benito County, the only landlocked county of the Central Coast region of California, which is about 45 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. The ocean breeze, as well as the fog, comes through the low mountain passes on most days. Thank goodness for that, otherwise the temperatures, especially in the summer, would be unbearably hot.



Hollister was founded in 1868 and, until it incorporated as a city in 1872, the town was part of Monterey County. Two years later, Hollister became the county seat of the newly formed San Benito County.



The main industry in our county is agriculture. It has been from the start and unless all the ranchers and farmers sell their land to housing developers and oil companies, we shall always be an agricultural community. Something for which we, locals, ought to be proud. The number of local farmers and ranchers choosing to follow sustainable and organic farming practices continues to increase, which I think is good for both our health and the environment.


The mascot for our local high school is the Haybaler, also called Baler. Not a machine, but a young farmer. Everyone who goes--and went--to San Benito High School, also known as Hollister High School, is a Haybaler, regardless of whether the person played a sport or not. Once a Haybaler, always a Haybaler.



I don't know about the history of the mascot, but in the late 19th century, our area was known for the quality and quantity of its Hollister Hay. During the summer of 1892, for example, 5,412 tons of hay was shipped from Hollister to Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, New York, and other parts of the United States.  In fact, the Lathrop Hay Company, owned by Hollister pioneer resident Levi B. Lathrop, constructed some of the largest hay warehouses in the world back then. Lathrop built the first hay warehouse to have a railroad track running through it and to have railroad track scales. That's rather impressive.

Hey! How did I end up talking about hay?


Click here to find other A to Z challenge participants.







8 comments:

  1. Give you that one as you live there. I could have done the same for my village but went for somewhere else

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  2. Lovely photos. I hope with more organic, or "safety minded" farmers coming up that we will see more towns like this. Too bad water is such an issue in CA! Lisa, co-host AtoZ 2015, @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lisa. Sustainability agriculture is growing in our county. Unfortunately, new development is creeping again. It would be nice if it could at least go on hold until the drought is over.

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  3. Hmm, they couldn't have made up their own name? Great to see another blog about a home town. Greetings from Gallus Glasgow! Anabel's Travel Blog
    PS I spotted the town library in one of your posts. Love libraries!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, you would think that that the big store would've been more creative. Or, at least did more research to see if Hollister actually existed in California. Duh!

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  4. I am not a fan of Abercrombie and Fitch so I didn't know either Hollisters before reading this post. Fun H for the challenge. I like the real town better.

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