A Mellow Yellow Beep-Beep

Haven't seen an old VW beetle of yore? Go by Second and San Benito Streets. You'll see quite a few bugs, as well as an occasional Carmine Ghia, in different states of repair. The yellow bug looks like it's ready to go. Hey! Who let that old Mustang in there?

It's Monday Mellow Yellows today, and that's where I'm linking up. Come check out other participants with me by clicking here.

Tasty Meals at Dunneville Corners

Crrrrrrussssssh! 

From behind the windows at Dunneville Cafe and Market, I watched a repetitive scene going on across the street at Clean Green Recycling. Humongous yellow mechanical jaws mangled, pounded, and chewed away at the huge piles of forsaken wood, which would eventually become wood chips for landscaping. The wood must've tasted pretty good to that machine, just as the broaster chicken and tri-tip meal that we bought at Dunneville tasted to us. Yummmmm.

From the Archives -- The Organic Farm Stand

I'm posting articles from my archives for the next few days. This one is about purchasing fresh organic vegetables from the Pinnacle Organic Farm on Saturdays in 2008, which we still do today. FYI: I edited the original piece.

 If It's Saturday, It Must Be Farm Day

(originally published on October 25, 2008)

We live in an agricultural area where some organic produce is grown. Yet, when the Husband and I moved to Hollister five years ago, one of the things I really missed about living in the big city area was being able to buy organic produce year round. Ironic, isn't it?

Between May and late August, we are fine. The local farmers market comes to downtown Hollister every Wednesday afternoon. It’s a small market, which seems to get smaller each year. The unfortunate thing about farmers markets is that the cost of fruits and vegetables are higher than in the stores. I think it’s worth paying the extra pennies for lettuce, tomatoes, squash, onions, potatoes, apples, artichokes, and so forth to feel, smell, and taste them the way that they are created to be.

A couple of winters ago, we learned that the Pinnacle Organic Farm(part of the Phil Foster Ranches) in San Juan Valley opens it farm stand every Saturday morning. FYI: Phil Foster Ranches sells its certified organic produce to Whole Foods Markets and other grocery shops. The farm stand is open year round, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It's located on Duncan Avenue, between Bixby Road and Lucy Brown Road.

We go to this farm stand almost every Saturday. Early or late, it doesn’t matter. The produce is fresh. If some things are low, just ask, and they’ll replenish the stock if they have more on hand.

I wrote a note back in September that we had bought potatoes, onions, garlic, yellow cauliflower, watermelon, cilantro, carrots, apples, zucchinis, and a few other things for just over $20. I would've spent much more for the same amount, if I bought the food at a Whole Foods Market.

Other farm stands in the area are Bertuccio's Market/The Farm and Casa de Fruta. Along with produce, which may or may not be certified organic, they sell other food products. Casa de Fruta also offers fun activities for kids and adults.

Today is Saturday. We’re off to the farm.

Z is for. . .

Zip! Zap! Zee!

The challenge is done. No more thinking in ABC. Hooray!

Tomorrow, we shall be back to regular programming. Which is uhm I dunno.

By the way, there are still a few windmills around Hollister. This one is at the Suncoast Organic Farm on Southside Road, where the Husband and I stopped to buy a pint of yummy lemon gelato. Talk about a zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay taste!

Click here to find other A to Z challenge participants.

O is for. . .

Olives. . .Olive oil. . . olive festival. . .the San Benito Olive Festival!

I never thought of Hollister as being in the middle of olive country. Probably to some we don't have a humongous amount of olive trees, but the number is surely growing. I'd be walking along and suddenly notice, "That's an olive tree." It may be one tree planted in front of a house, several trees clustered together, such as in the public parking lot behind Wells Fargo Bank, or an olive grove, such as the one at the start of the road to the San Juan Oaks Golf Club.

Brigantino's olive grove overlooks San Juan Valley.

Local historians say that the first olive trees were planted in the 18th century by the Spanish padres around Mission San Juan Bautista. (That's about seven miles west of Hollister.) The mission padres turned the crop into olive oil for their private use. I guess it would be a long wait in those days for olive oil to reach them from the Old World.

The Mission San Juan Bautista olive grove where the annual
Old Mission San Juan Bautista Fiesta takes place.

Today, we have several local olive growers in San Benito County who produce award winning olive oils.

• Brigantino Olive Oil
• Guerra Vineyards and Groves
• Oils of Paicines 
• Pietra Santa Winery  
• Sharobed Grove
• Sons-of-Sicily
• Suncoast Organic Farm

San Benito Olive Festival

In 2013, a group of local community leaders, businesses, and volunteers organized the first San Benito Olive Festival to celebrate the agricultural bounty, artisanal food producers, and natural beauty of our area.

One Saturday in October, the event brings together amazing olive oil makers, food crafters, celebrity chefs, artists, musicians, restaurants, and others from the local area as well as from other parts of California.

This year, the San Benito Olive Festival will be October 17, 2015. The venue to be announced soon. Save the Date!

Click here to find other A to Z challenge participants.

M is for. . .

Maze. . . Corn maze . . .the spectacular Swank Farms Corn Maze!

Every October, Swank Farms of Hollister opens its gate on San Felipe Road and welcomes the public to venture into its maniacal corn maze. Each year, Bonnie Swank designs a new, and even crazier, maze for people to find their way through by figuring where more than two dozen spots are hidden in the maze. People can try their skills and intuition at day or night.

For more details, as well as to learn about other attractions Swank Farms offer, check out its website.

Click here to find other A to Z challenge participants.

J is for . . .

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

Though in my case, it was more like being pushed out of the plane. I got to the edge of the door. No problem. But, then I looked down and hesitated. The instructor to whom I was firmly attached gave me a friendly nudge.

Voila! We began falling from 18,000 feet high. 

What a rush! What an experience!

That was back in 2006. Some friends and I wanted to celebrate being in our 50s, and skydiving was the party we chose. So, we did our tandem jumping with Skydive Hollister, located at the Hollister Airport.  We took off in Hollister and jumped out above Tres Pinos, landing in the field across from the Immaculate Conception Church, alongside Highway 25.

Yeah, I'd do it again.

Click here to find other A to Z challenge participants.

A Sunday Flashback: A Sign of the Past

I've always liked the sign "San Juan Gardens" that graces the side gate at Vertigo Coffee in San Juan Bautista. I like to imagine a donkey playing under the sign.

Llamas in San Juan Bautista

Sure, everyone knows about the wild chickens roaming the streets of San Juan Bautista. But, who knows about the llamas?

Now, did I say they are live llamas?

But, there are live llamas in San Benito County. Oils of Paicines raises llamas on their ranch just north of the Pinnacles National Park. They shear the animals yearly and turn their wool into fiber which they sell.

Back to the llamas in San Juan. If you want to check them up close, here's where you'll find them.

Walking Through Wentz Alley

As some of you dear readers know, I like to walk with the Husband through the alleys of Hollister. In some alleys, we get a sense of a time gone by. In the alleys in the Downtown Hollister Historical District, we see perspectives and angles of the buildings that are rather interesting and exciting. So, today, I'm sharing a few sights that we recently saw in Wentz Alley, between Monterey and San Benito Streets.

The Original Sanctuary

The Hollister United Methodist Church started as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1862. Ten years later, the church constructed its first building, a wooden structure, on the corner of Fifth and Monterey Streets. When the brick building was raised in 1910, the wooden structure became the church's social hall, which is visible from Wentz Alley.

Industrial Doors

Quickly take a look at these historic buildings on Fifth Street. At which building do you think you would find these handsome heavy industrial doors on its backside? Go ahead, I'll wait.

Did you choose the Ross Building (345 Fifth Street)? The building looks so delicate and petite to have these doors, but yet that's where you'll see them. The original owner configured the office building so that it could easily be turned into a supermarket if, at anytime he, or a future buyer, wanted to do so.

Lines

I like this alley view of Downtown Hollister from behind Johnny's Bar and Grill. It's an interesting intersection of lines of the various buildings, don't you think?

Shopping at Muenzer's Keys & Teez

Yesterday, the Husband and I brought some out-of-town friends over to Muenzer's Keys & Teez on Fifth Street to show them what truly Hollister, California tee-shirts look like. Yup, they purchased themselves a couple of original designs by Jan Muenzer Holthouse.

Have you been by the shop lately? If you haven't, or never have, check it out the next time you're in Downtown Hollister.  By the way, if you're looking for items that the Muenzers once sold at their old store, you might check out Muenzer's Ebay store at this link.

Aren't these bags cool? They're also original designs by Jan.

Yes, these are keys! Can you find the sugar skull?

Be sure to check out the historical display while at the shop. 

Downtown Hollister Historic District: Noncontributors, Part 4

Okey-dokey, here is the last group of noncontributing historic buildings to the Downtown Hollister Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  I'm not completely done with the series though. Come back tomorrow to see photos of buildings within this historic district that went up after the district was entered into the National Register in 1992.

544 San Benito Street

This historic one-story building was constructed around 1920. I think it may have been built for J.C. Penney. As a kid in the 1950s and 1960s, I knew this building as the Baughman's Department Store. In the 1980s, Ford Department Store opened there. Today, the building has two sections, with the San Benito County Esperanza Center occupying the south side and Discount Furniture on the north side.

575 San Benito Street

The commercial building that Wells Fargo occupies today was built around 1975. The notes in the National Register of Historic Places state the building "...is the district's only example of strikingly incompatible design."  Perhaps. The building is beautiful.

710 San Benito Street

The gas station at the southwest corner of San Benito and Seventh Streets has been a gas station for as long as I can remember. Several buildings has gone up on this site over the decades. The noncontributing building cited by the National Register of Historic Places is the smallest building behind the gas pumps. That's the one on the left with the sign Cheap Beer and Cigarettes. It was built in the mid-1970s.

713 San Benito Street

This quaint looking one-story building was constructed around 1920.The original architectural features that remain are the recessed panels on each end of the building.  Sears Catalog once occupied the building. Today it is the home to Metropolis.

Interestingly, this historic building sits between an empty lot (which was once a theater) and one of the newer buildings in Downtown Hollister. The original buildings were damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

737 San Benito Street

Many old-time locals will remember this site as the home to Baywood Creamery, which had been there before 1970 when this reinforced concrete building was constructed. This "new" building is currently occupied by AJ Sushi.

801 San Benito Street

Constructed around 1960, the long section of the L-shaped historic building has always been a liquor store, while the smaller section was an office. The businesses occupying the spaces today are the Pacheco's Express Way Liquor Store and Dabo Financial Group.


To check out the other noncontributing historic buildings to the Downtown Hollister Historic District, please click here. To check out the contributing buildings, please click here.

Downtown Hollister Historic District: Noncontributors, Part 3

Today and tomorrow, I cover the last of the noncontributing buildings in the Downtown Hollister Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Even though some of these historic buildings were constructed between 1880 and 1942, they are categorized as noncontributors because their original material and/or architectural details were removed during alterations.

435 San Benito Street

This one-story commercial building was constructed around 1900. The notes in the National Register of Historic Places describe this building as having "...a gable roof masked on the front (west) elevation by a simple rectangular parapet." There must've been a remodel after the early 1990s that removed the gable roof and added the second storefront on the south side of the building.

Occupying this site today is Design Line & Granger Printing (435 San Benito Street) and New Image Salon (437 San Benito Street).

439 - 443 San Benito Street

Built around 1920, this commercial edifice originally was one storefront listed as 443 San Benito Street. In the 1940s, it was divided into two sections. Today, the building is occupied by three businesses: Su Casita Multiservicios (439 San Benito Street), Aristotle Insurance Agency (441 San Benito Street),  and Simple Mobile Solutions (443 San Benito Street).

510 and 512 San Benito Street

Here is another historic commercial building in Downtown Hollister that has been divided into two sections so it seems like separate buildings. This building was constructed around 1900. The entry way to the southern section is beautifully paved with bricks.

La Villa de Jerez Taqueria occupies the storefront at 512 San Benito Street. The one at 510 San Benito Street is vacant.

520 San Benito Street

This building was also constructed around 1900, possibly the same time as its neighbor on its north flank. A false stone siding gives it a look unique from other buildings in the Downtown Hollister Historic District. Only the Honorable Tattoos & Body Piercings occupies this site today.

526 San Benito Street

This one-story concrete-block building was constructed in the early 1950s, according to the National Register of Historic Places. But, I wonder whether that's correct. In 1947, bikers during the so-called Hollister Riot drove through Johnny's Bar & Grill, which continues to occupy the building today.

535 San Benito Street

This one-story commercial building was constructed around 1950. The architect did a great job designing it to blend in with the look of the other buildings in Downtown Hollister.  The storefront has an attached garage in the rear that opens to Briggs Alley. The Hollister Sign Company is located in the garage space, while the storefront is currently vacant.

Contributing Buildings

Over the past six weeks, I posted photos of over 40 contributing buildings to the Downtown Hollister Historic District. To check out those posts, please click here.

Downtown Hollister Historic District: Noncontributors, Part 2

Today's post covers the noncontributing buildings in the Downtown Hollister Historic District on Fifth Street, between San Benito and Monterey Streets, and on Sixth Street.

322 Fifth Street

This three-story brick commercial building was constructed around 1985. Sometimes I think I'm looking at the side of the building rather than the face. It could be because the lot is narrow compared to the other sites on the street.

334 – 336 Fifth Street

I was surprised to learn that the Granada Theater building is not a contributing building to the Downtown Hollister Historic District.  It's categorized as a noncontributor because many of the building's original architectural details were removed. The two-story reinforced concrete building was constructed around 1940.

345 Fifth Street

This handsome office building is formally known as the Ross Building. It was constructed around 1948. To learn a bit more about it, please click here.

225 Sixth Street

This two-story historic building is another of the more modern buildings in the Downtown Hollister Historic District. It was constructed in the late 1970s. Today, Pierce Real Estate occupies the building.

Contributing Buildings

Over the past six weeks, I posted photos of over 40 contributing buildings to the Downtown Hollister Historic District. To check out those posts, please click here.