San Benito Gold

"Are you a beekeeper?" the Honey Guy asked the husband, as we pulled up next to his truck.

The husband was wearing beige pants, white shirt, and a white cap with a neck drape. He sometimes gets mistaken for a beekeeper or someone in the French Foreign Legion. The husband is neither. He gladly explained to the actual beekeeper that he is very sun sensitive, hence the special get up. The Honey Guy nodded and then took a turn at happily answering our questions about San Benito Gold— honey produced from local bees.

The Honey Guy's name is Jim. He and his dad Leon are Hollister beekeepers who own the Bray Apiaries. Hurrah! I like shopping locally for my staples, and honey is definitely one of them.

San Benito Gold is definitely delish! Rich tasting and very smooth going down my pipes.

And, no, I was not paid to say that. I confess that we stopped by merely to find out how much the honey cost for future purchases. When I stepped out to take a photo of his products, he handed me a sample of his wares. Just like that. Sweet as a bee, the Honey Guy is. Nope, I wasn't paid to say that either.

The Bray Apiaries' stand is the back of the Honey Guy's truck. He parks it on Mitchell Road, off of Highway 156, a few miles west of downtown Hollister. (Local folks, you may know the spot as the intersection of Highway 156 and Union Road.) If you're heading west on Highway 156, turn right at the traffic lights, or left if you're going east. If you're on Union Road, just cross the highway to the opposite side.

You can find the Honey Guy at his spot on Sundays. Depending on his schedule, he may also show up on Thursday, Friday, and/or Saturday. I can't remember if he says he'll be at the Hollister Farmer's Market that begins in May. For more info, give him a call. (Just look up there on his sign in the photo.)

Some links you may enjoy checking out:

• "To Sneeze or Not to Sneeze" by Laurie Lemmerman-Castañeda (The Weekend Pinnacle). Leon Bray is interviewed about how he used honey to ease his allergy symptoms. 
• "It's Like a Bee Scene from a Movie" by Mark Paxton (The Weekend Pinnacle). Another interview with Mr. Bray.
• Hollister Farmers Market

Who Wouldn't Want to See a Crab Dance?

The husband and I did a double take when we saw this banner waving high yesterday, though not at the same time.  He saw it the moment after I shot the photo as we were driving down the street. No, I will not say who was driving.

The annual Crab Feed and Dance is a fundraising event by the Hollister Exchange Club, a local volunteer group that likes to raise money to do good deeds around town.  The event will be held on Saturday, April 17, from 5:30 p.m. to midnight. Dinner starts at 7 p.m., I'm told. The place—Bolado Park, which is also the San Benito County Fairgrounds. For more information check out this Calendar Events page of The Weekend Pinnacle.

Other web sites that may interest you:
National Exchange Club
Bolado Park/San Benito County Fairgrounds

Heading A Bit Further on 25

It's spring!

That was reason enough for the husband and I to head out to the Pinnacles National Monument for a hike earlier this week. The drive down highway 25 itself is spectactular. Sooooo green with bursts of wild mustard, poppies, lupines, and all sorts of wildflowers dotting the landscape. Here's a bit of what we saw. (Pictures of our hike to come another day.)

A New Place to Go for More Hollister

I recently joined the Squidoo World, Folks! That's the Web site where you make pages about the topics that interest you. It can be about anything or anyone, including yourself. The pages are called lenses.

I published my first lens today. The subject is about... drum roll please... Hollister!

It is quite different from this blog, so I think. I invite you to check it out by clicking Hollister California—The City That Is!

While you're there, look around Squidoo. Maybe it's something you might want to try yourself. It's all free. Supposedly, members can make passive income through the clicking of advertisements by visitors to their lenses. I admit it was an incentive for me to sign up. After all, I am a freelance writer who spends so much time on the Internet anyway. Enjoy!

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.