Hollister versus Hollister

A few facts of the unreal versus a few facts of the real. Enjoy!

Hollister, California
This is a make-believe beach town in Southern California created by Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) to market its Hollister Co. brand. A&F also spins a fictional history for the brand itself. According to Wikipedia.com, the invented Hollister Co. was founded in 1922 by an imaginary John M. Hollister, a Yale grad from Maine, who eventually landed in the Laguna Beach area. In real time, A&F began selling its Hollister Co. products in 2000.

Alas, I could find no tall tales about the establishment of A&F's made-up Hollister, California. Did the fictional John M. Hollister also establish the town, or did other unreal leaders decide to name their not so real town after Hollister because his company was the largest business in the area?

Hollister, California
This is an actual town located approximately 300 miles north of Los Angeles, which is about 53 miles from Laguna Beach. Although Hollister is part of the Central Coast region, the nearest beach is nearly 30 miles away.

The real Hollister is the county seat of San Benito County. Over 36,000 breathing adults and children liven in the city. Hollister was incorporated in 1872 by the San Justo Homestead Association, a group of local farmers.

The city of Hollister was named for William Welles Hollister, a farmer who headed west from Ohio with several hundred heads of cattle. In short, he landed in the area in the 1850s. In 1868, he sold his land (nearly 21,000 acres) to the association, of which 100 acres was set aside for the town. The association decided to name the new town after Hollister because many of its members objected to having another town in California with a Spanish-sounding name.

Want more history of the actual Hollister, check out this article "A Tale of Two Hollisters" by Laurie Lemmerman-Castañeda in the Weekend Pinnacles, a local newspaper.

March Music!

With March comes spring, and with spring comes the sound of more birds singing around us. Spring also brings the sound of musical events to the area.

On Wednesday, March 10, the Watsonville Community Band will be coming to town to perform its annual Spring Concert. The members of the band are musicians from Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Clara, and San Benito counties. Place: Veteran's Memorial Building on San Benito Street. Never been there? It's easy to find. Just head into historical downtown Hollister and find parking once you come to a big white building with columns on the east side of the street. Time: 7:30 p.m. And, it's free!  You can't beat that price.  For more info about the band, click over to its Web site.

This Saturday afternoon, March 13, the South Valley Symphony will present its Music for the Young at Heart Concert at Gavilan College in Gilroy. For information, click over to the Symphony's Web site.

Also this Saturday (March 13) at 7:30 p.m., Tommy Cash will  be performing a tribute concert to his late great brother Johnny Cash at the Bolado Park. For more info, click over to the Karco Concert Promotions Web site.

The renowned El Teatro Campesino, in San Juan Bautista, offers a couple of one-of-a-kind events in March.

• March 20:  The Folk Collection, a band of folk singers from Southern Californa, will sing many familiar folk songs through the evening performance. For more info, click here.
• March 26-28: Even Though They Are Women is a musical concert celebrating women, which features Las Mujeres de El Teatro Campesion.  For more info, click here.

The local schools also have some musical treats for us.

• March 18-20: San Benito High School will present the musical Annie at the school auditorium. For more info, check out the high school's Web site.
• March 31: County Music Festival at the San Benito High School O'Donnell Gym. It starts at 7 p.m. For more info, check out the Rancho Maze Band Web site.

So there you go. An abundance of happy uplifting musical notes happening on the 25 in March! Hope you can take advantage of one or more events.

Outstanding in Its Fewer Fields

Agriculture has always been the main industry in San Benito County. Fruit and nut orchards, vegetable farms, hay fields, cattle ranches, dairy farms, poultry ranches, and seed companies could be found throughout the county. Today, these agricultural enterprises are not in large numbers but they are still here. Thankfully.

All of these photos were taken yesterday, within a mile or so of downtown Hollister.

 Wild mustard growing in an empty lot

 The Diablo range in the near distance.

 

 Freshly plowed fields.

 

 Burst of spring in the middle of fields.

 Irrigation pipes...water tank.

After the Rain

I hope it continues to rain during the coming spring months. The mountains around Hollister have already sprouted their green wear. It can only get better. The photo shows the mountain above Lone Tree Road last week, after several weeks of occasional rain. 

Humanity on Highway 25

First off, no, I haven't give up on this blog. Not yet. I've just been catching up with a lot of things. And not being successful. So, of course to handle being overwhelmed with days, months, and years of stuff that needs being caught up with, I start another blog. Heh-heh. This and That. Here and There. is the other virtual place where I hang my thoughts. I invite all of you gentle readers to check me out there as well.

Okey-dokey, enough said. So, what's new on Highway 25?

For one, the beauty of humanity is in bloom. A group of San Benito High School students are doing their best to raise money to help a frosh classmate who has been diagnosed with cancer. A couple weeks ago, the students went around town and videotaped folks dancing on the spot. Their objective was to post the video on YouTube to spread the word around. And, they did. Here it is from YouTube.




For more info, check out the "Locals Show Off Dance Moves for Cancer Fundraiser" from the Hollister Free Lance.