Today's archival piece is about the gorgeous downtown parking garage on Fourth Street, which you enter via the parking lot on Fifth Street. FYI: I edited the story just a bit.
An Art Museum? A Vista Point?
It's Both and More!
(originally published September 29, 2008)
We
have million-dollar art to check out for free in Hollister. Head over
to the Briggs Building, which is near the corner of San Benito Street
& Fourth Street. That’s the parking garage.
That’s right, I wrote parking garage.
You can't miss it. It’s a four-story structure, the tallest one in
town. It was built in the 1990s for about $6 million with RDA funds. At
full capacity, it can hold about 140 vehicles, so I’ve read. I know,
that’s a lot of taxpayers' pennies.
Few people use the parking garage. Maybe the building is just too beautiful
to park in. Seriously, the building itself is a piece of art. If I
didn’t know it was a parking lot, I would say it was a school (Gavilan
College does hold classes on the first floor). Maybe a government
building or a fancy department store. Maybe even an art museum, which
brings me back to the topic of seeing some fine art there.
Start
your tour by the stairway next to the elevator on the southeast corner
of the building. First, admire the aesthetics of the stairway design.
Now,
start walking up the stairs. Sure, you can take the elevator but
there’s more joy in suddenly coming upon each piece of art as you
gaspingly reach the top of a floor.
Pause at the top of each floor for your breath. Also, take note of the beauty of the art piece telling you what floor you’re on.
On
the rooftop, I noticed a few more of these art pieces telling me I’m on
the fourth floor. So I assume that’s the case on the other floors.
To
tell you the truth, I no longer was interested in seeing and viewing
man-made art when I came out on the rooftop. I was immediately astounded
by the view of Hollister and the mountain ranges that surround it. The
almost 360-degree view of Hollister is worth an occasional trip to the
top of the roof of Hollister’s multi-million dollar parking garage.
There you have it: an arts museum and a vista point. Plus, you can park there.
