Take 25 to Hollister

Saturday Errands in San Juan Bautista

2018-09-22T14:37:00.002-07:00

Hellllooo! Yes, it has been a while. I am alive and well, thank you very much. Officially retired I am, so there you go. I've been catching up with the Husband who has been in every-day-is-a-Saturday mode for years.

This morning we actually got out of the house early to do errands in San Juan Bautista. First stop was the Pinnacle Farmstand in San Juan Valley for fresh locally grown organic vegetables and fruit. Only past 9:00 a.m., the place was already full of customers with potatoes, broccoli, beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuces, squashes, cantaloupes, apples, and other produce in their baskets and reusable bags. We're fortunate to have a source for organic vegetables and fruit in the area.

From the Saturday-only produce stand, we meandered the back roads to the Mission City. The further west we drove, the deeper we went into the morning fog. At Prescott Road, we turned left onto San Juan Highway to town while the fog veered to the right to head back to the coast.

It was a hard choice for breakfast: San Juan Bakery or Vertigo Coffee ? Vertigo Coffee or San Juan Bakery? The Husband let me choose, so sweet of him.

Vertigo now serves delicious pastries, baked on the premises. The last time we were there, we had a peach scone with our mocha latte. Sigh, sweet delightfulness.

Because it had been awhile, I opted for the bakery where the Husband and I shared the last ham and cheese croissant that was in the display case We also split a raspberry and cream cheese croissant, and each had the perfect bite of an apple fritter doughnut hole. Droool. It's a good thing we don't live within walking distance to the bakery.

If I had remembered to wear my hiking boots we would've walked up the De Anza Trail for a bit. Instead we wandered a couple of blocks, peeked into store windows, and read signs about upcoming events. We also sat for a short spell on a comfy bench, enjoying the beautiful morning and saying hello to passersby.

Our last stop in San Juan was Vertigo Coffee where we purchased a bag of their roasted coffee beans, which comes with a free cup of coffee. Whooo-hooo!

See ya.

Calavera Coffee

2018-06-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yippieeee!

Hollister has a new go to place for a cup of rich, hand roasted specialty coffee. It's called Calavera Coffee, run and owned by local coffee guru Evan Morris. Today was his second day in business. As the Husband and I walked through the door, we were welcomed with infectious happy smiles.

Evan and his assistants serve coffee from Vertigo Coffee Roasters in San Juan Bautista and Cat and Cloud in Santa Cruz. You can purchase your latte, Americano, mocha, and other coffee drink to go or to enjoy in the patio.

Calavera Coffee is located at 364 7th Street in downtown Hollister. It's in the cute grey house with the gorgeous garden that's home to The Garden Shoppe n' Bar, a fun loving plant boutique and wine and beer bar established by another local entrepreneur, Marci Huston. You can't miss the red and white awning in the front to tell you that you have arrived.

Currently the coffee bar is open Monday through Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to noon. As Evan and his assistants get settled in, they plan to stay open until 2:00 p.m. Visit Calavera's Facebook or website for updated hours.

Shimmering Yellow Mustard

2018-03-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

Finally!

Mustard is growing in the empty field near the corner of Chappell Road and Santa Ana Road. The yellow mustard was practically glowing in the afternoon sun today. Normally, by now, the mustard would be several feet high. Better late than never.

Hurrah for the rain!

Seeing the Sights off Fairview Road

2018-03-08T16:02:00.001-08:00

Today, the Husband and I went sight-seeing off of Fairview Road. It was a great day for meandering between Spring Grove and Rosa Morada Roads. The birds certainly agreed.

30 Days of B&W Photos

2017-10-21T11:31:00.002-07:00

Swanson's Ridge, behind the San Benito County Historical Park and Bolado Park in Tres Pinos

Hey 'ya! Hi 'ya! How 'ya?

Just wanted to let you know that I've given myself a 30-day challenge of posting new black and white photos of San Benito County, in general, and of Hollister, in particular. Not here on the blog though, but at the Take 25 to Hollister Facebook page, which you'll find here.

I invite you to come check out the photos. Today is Day 2.

See 'ya!

Update: Here's the Facebook link to the 30 Days of B & W Photos. Enjoy!

A Lovely Day for the San Benito Olive Festival

2017-10-18T13:40:00.001-07:00

The San Benito Olive Festival was this past Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, and the setting—the San Benito County Historical Park—was a perfect fit for the celebration of agricultural harvest and culinary delights. So much fun!!! Here's what I ended up doing on my checklist!

Check! Make an olive wreath.
Try a fresh fruit juice concoction by Gaspachos.
Check! Paint rocks with ARTI-culture.
Check! Take the walk and geology talk with Jim Ostdick, who walked across the United States earlier this year to raise funds and awareness for the R.E.A.C.H. Foundation. (I'm darn tootin' proud of myself for climbing up and down the slope with the help of my cane and the Husband.)

Check! Sample wine from Bonny Doon Vineyard, DeRose Winery, Morgan Winery, or other wineries. I sampled wines from Guglielmo Winery, Kori Wines, and Divum Wines.
Build a scarecrow that I can take home!
Taste olive oil produced by such award-winning producers as Oils of Paicines and MoonShadow Grove.
Check! Paint and Plant with The Garden Mart.
Watch Chef Carlos Pineda, the 2017 Gilroy Garlic Festival Showdown champion on the Cooking Demo Stage.
Check! Learn how to create a Fall flower bouquet.
Check! but it was to Mr. O's Jazz Band. Tap my feet to the sound of the Mariachi Juvenil Alma de Mexico.

Check! Sip a microbrew from Grillin & Chillin Alehouse.
Check out the Venetian masks at the Gioia Italian Art & Products booth.
Check! No dancing though. Dance with the Husband to Absurdum.
Eat some tapas made by Farmhouse Cafe.

The Husband, our Friends, and I criss-crossed the park several times and still didn't experience all of the festival, particularly the cooking demonstrations, the merchants' booths, the nonprofit groups' displays, and all of the historical village's buildings and exhibits. Did you know there's an indoor model train display at the village? The Husband and I will visit the park throughout the year to see what we missed during the festival. For everything else, we shall wait patiently for next year!

I don't think it's well known that the San Benito Olive Festival is a non-profit organization. The organization, and festival, exists on the generosity of many, many volunteers and donors. All of the net proceeds the San Benito Olive Festival earns go back into the community. Thus far, it has donated to more than 20 local nonprofit organizations.

For more photos of the festival, check out the album at Take 25's Facebook page.

A Fun-Filled San Benito Olive Festival Ahead!

2017-10-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

This is what I imagine I'll be doing that day, some activities by myself and others with the Husband or our friends:

Make an olive wreath.
Try a fresh fruit juice concoction by Gaspachos.
Paint rocks with ARTI-culture.
Take the walk and geology talk with Jim Ostdick, who walked across the United States earlier this year to raise funds and awareness for the R.E.A.C.H. Foundation.
Sample wine from Bonny Doon Vineyard, DeRose Winery, Morgan Winery, or other wineries.
Build a scarecrow that I can take home!
Taste olive oil produced by such award-winning producers as Oils of Paicines and MoonShadow Grove.
Paint and Plant with The Garden Mart.
Watch Chef Carlos Pineda, the 2017 Gilroy Garlic Festival Showdown champion on the Cooking Demo Stage.
Learn how to create a Fall flower bouquet.
Tap my feet to the sound of the Mariachi Juvenil Alma de Mexico.
Sip a microbrew from Grillin & Chillin Alehouse.
Check out the Venetian masks at the Gioia Italian Art & Products booth.
Dance with the Husband to Absurdum.
Eat some tapas made by Farmhouse Cafe.
And more! If this old body with no cartilage in the knees can handle it.

Definitely lots to do at this year's San Benito Olive Festival. And, I haven't even mentioned that the location of this year's event is the San Benito County Historical Park in Tres Pinos. A perfect setting!

For more details about the event, check out this article at BenitoLink.com. Also, visit the San Benito Olive Festival website or Facebook page.

Confession Time: I'm an Olive Fest volunteer, helping out with publicity. But, even if I weren't I'd still write about it. Look, I'm finally writing after how many months of silence. :-)

Here are some photos from the 2015 event.


There'll be two olive paint party sessions at the 2017 San Benito Olive Festival.

The VIP Tasting Grove

Cooking Demonstration Stage

Olive tasting at Papa Joe's Spicy Products

Mr. O's Jazz Band -- They'll be there this year, too!

Glancing Back on Hwy 156

2017-02-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

The Gabilan Range looks good in the car's side mirror, too, as the Husband and I drive west on Highway 156, towards Highway 101.

Enjoy the sunny, but slightly chilly, days. The weather guys forecast clear skies for at least a week.

Book Browsing for Book Lovers

2017-02-22T10:09:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time, when I was a much younger thing, Hollister had the best bookstore around. It was called Henry's. (Or was the bookstore called Henry or Henrys? That's how long ago it was.) It was on San Benito Street in an old storefront a couple shops to the south of Fisher's Restaurant. The bookshop was run by Mr. and Mrs. Henry, a sweet couple, who had no problem with a much younger me regularly roaming the aisles and checking out random titles, without buying a thing. Ah, the yearning.

Today, Hollister doesn't have a bookstore, independently owned or a well-known chain store. Still, there are places in town for book lovers to browse for a good book or two for fun reading.

I know for sure that Target sells a small selection of new titles for adult and children readers. You can also find a few new books at Nob Hill and Safeway. Maybe Save-Mor, KMart, Walgreen's, and Rite Aid does, too.

The Farmhouse Cafe (615 San Benito Street, Suite D) has a smattering of cookbooks and food-related books for sale. The other day I noticed The Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Mayor and Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes on the shelves.

Next door at San Benito Bene (615 San Benito Street, Suite B) you can find a few books by local authors such as John Chadwell. The store also sells Hollister, a photo book about the history of our area by Joseph M. McMahon and Peter Sonne. While you're in the shop, be sure to check out the cute blank notebooks and journals for sale. A perfect gift for any writer of any age, novice or professional. (Hint, hint, you know who.)

As for used books, we have several sources in town for fiction and nonfiction books. Two places are nonprofit thrift shops. Forgiving Paws Thrift Shop (195 Meridian Street) is one such store. Another is Hazel's Thrift Shop (898 San Benito Street). It has a room called The Booknook in the back of the store. If you're into collectible publications, you can sometimes find some at Hazel's Treasures Boutique on Hawkins Street behind the thrift shop.

The Friends of the San Benito County Free Library resells used book donations. Often, you can find current titles among their offerings. This nonprofit group maintains sale shelves in the library next to the magazines. Hardbacks are $1 and paperbacks are 50 cents. You can't beat that price.

This group also holds regular Saturday morning book sales behind the library on West Street. Currently their sales are monthly. The next one is Saturday. On March 11, 2017, from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact The Friends of the San Benito County Free Library for further details about future book sales.

Bloomingdale's in Hollister

2017-02-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

It seemed that whenever a woman in a 1960s or 1970s movie wanted to go shopping in New York City, she went to Bloomingdale's. When I was a young thing shopping at Macy's in San Francisco, I wondered if that was what it would be like to shop in Bloomingdale's. That thought came to me the other day when I noticed again the Bloomingdale's container alongside San Juan-Hollister Road near the San Benito River.

I Spy . . . Pieces from the Past

2017-02-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

I spy with my little eye an old-timey clock and valentines displayed in the San Juan Bakery window. Precious!

There's Fremont Peak!

2017-02-06T17:07:00.000-08:00

For the past two years I've wanted to take a picture of Fremont Peak from the Fremont Peak Marker, aka California Historical Landmark #181, on Muckelemi Street. My attempts have been foiled by clouds or smog, until last week.

Do you see Fremont Peak up there in the background? You can't miss the pointy 2,799 feet high mountain and the TV tower to the left of the peak. What I like about this shot is the historical marker points an arrow to Fremont Peak, saying it's 11 miles away.

Here are two more shots of Fremont Peak that I took that same day.

From Highway 129 (aka Ohlone Kallentaruk Highway) in the Pajaro Valley


From San Juan Highway

I Spy . . . Delightfulness in Downtown Hollister

2017-02-03T10:33:00.001-08:00

I spy with my little eye the darling window display in the ARTspace Gallery, 240 Fifth Street, in Downtown Hollister. It is part of the Joy of Art Soup Exhibition that features students from San Benito High School and Hope Services participating in the Life Skills Art Program. The exhibit continues until February 24, 2017.

Marching to the Dug Out

2017-01-30T17:44:00.001-08:00

Have you seen the mural going up on the back wall of the Veterans Memorial Building? Be sure to take a quick peek when you drive by the building on East Street.

I Spy . . . Flowing Water

2017-01-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

San Benito River by Southside Road

I spy with my little eye water in the San Benito River and in the Tres Pinos Creek. Thank you, rain!

Both the river and the creek are several miles south of downtown Hollister, far from the flooding that happened to the north of Hollister in San Benito County. Hopefully the levee in Pacheco Creek, which overflowed twice, will be fixed before the next downpour.

Tres Pinos Creek

By the way, during a heavy rain the Tres Pinos Creek flows across Southside Road. As of yesterday, you still couldn't cross the road there. So, if you're going to the Suncoast Organic Farm Bakery today or tomorrow, you'll need to access it from the Hollister end of Southside Road.

A Bene Sky

2017-01-17T16:09:00.002-08:00

We hadn't seen a tempestuous rainfall as we did last weekend in a long time. Maybe some of you heard about the flooding in Hollister which actually made national, news. A creek flooded about 10 miles north of downtown in a rural area, causing more than 100 residents, with their pets, horses, and other small animals, to evacuate. All is getting back towards normal, as far as I've heard.

In the photo, the sign for San Benito Bene also speaks well of the sky above downtown Hollister a few days ago. Yup, we've had delightful sunshine. Just enough to get us ready for this next one, which some weather guys say will start tomorrow and continue to possibly next Tuesday.

Where ever you are, dear Take 25 to Hollister readers, may you be warm and dry.

I Spy . . . Bwak! Chickens. Kinda

2017-01-13T14:14:00.003-08:00

I spy with my little eye cute chickens in a once-upon-a-time barn. . . except they aren't real chickens and the barn is now a bakery.

The chickens are part of the delightful whimsical decor at the Suncoast Organic Farm Bakery on 6310 Southside Road in Hollister. Have you been there lately? It's about five miles south of downtown Hollister, on a back road parallel to Highway 25 (or Airline Highway, as we oldtimers like to say) The bakery is down a short driveway surrounded by orchards and loveliness.

Artisan breads, croissants, pastries, cookies, granola, soups, sandwiches, ice cream, and more are made at the bakery. The bakery has a patio for customers to relax and eat the goodies they purchase. To see more photos of the bakery, please check out this post that I wrote last year.

The bakery is only open two days: Friday afternoons (from 12:00 to 7:00 p.m.) and Saturdays (from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

One more thing. Suncoast publishes its menus on its Facebook page. If you share the day's menu and mention it to the bakery's cashier, you'll get a discount on your bill. Nice, huh?

Window Shopping

2017-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

I love looking into the window at The Farm/Bertuccio's Market. You never know what reflection you'll see.

Have you been to the farmstand recently on Airline Highway, just before the Union Road intersection? They now sell organic vegetables along with regular vegetables, eggs, dried fruits, apricot jams and syrups, artisanal olive oils, and other yummy packaged foods. And, when they're in season--fresh, local artichokes. Whooo-hooo!

I Spy . . . a Merry Gnome in San Juan Bautista

2016-12-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

I spy with my little eye a gnome of cakes, sprinkles, and fairy tales enjoying himself at the San Juan Bakery on Third Street.

"While there," suggests the gnome's friends reflecting in the Christmas bulbs, "be sure to try the doughnut-hole size doughnuts. They are the perfect taste of sweetness."

Peace and love, Dear Take 25 Readers. See you in 2017.

Su-sieee! Mac

I Spy . . . a Loving Tribute

2016-12-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

I spy with my little eye a memorial to the courageous men and women who died in World War II.

You can see this statue of Michael the Archangel called the "Winged Victory" on the grounds of the Immaculate Conception Church in Tres Pinos. The church is on the south end of the village, right beside Highway 25 (Airline Highway to us, locals).

The statue was built by Edward Matthews who also built the church grottos and other statues in memory of his son who died at the age of 14. The "Winged Victory" was specifically erected as a tribute to the sons and daughters who fought for us in WWII. The plaque reads:

Tres Pinos Memorial of the Great World War

Dec. 7, 1941 - Aug. 14, 1945

For God and Country

For Peace and Freedom

I Spy . . . a Jolly Big Red Rig

2016-12-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

I spy with my little eye a happy-looking big red truck driving east on Highway 156.

This I spied as I waited in the car at the corner of Union and Mitchell Roads while the Husband bought honey from the local Honey Guy.

I Spy . . . Holiday Cheer

2016-12-02T08:58:00.001-08:00

I spy with my little eye holiday decorations in the streets of Downtown Hollister. They're lovely whether looking at their reflections or straight on.

Last Saturday was the annual Lights On Celebration. I wasn't able to enjoy the fun. For photos of the parade, check out this Benitolink page.

I Spy . . . Green Hills!

2016-11-18T09:39:00.000-08:00

I spy with my little eye a band of sunlight on the flanks of the Gabilan Mountains. That was this past Wednesday as the Husband and I drove east on Highway 156 through San Juan Valley. Notice how green the hillsides are becoming again. Whooo-hooo!

I Spy . . . Low Clouds!

2016-11-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

I spy with my little eye very low clouds crossing Sunnyslope Road.

Heads up!

I Spy . . . Raindrops and a Schoolbus

2016-10-28T12:31:00.001-07:00

I spy with my little eye this morning happy raindrops and a happy yellow elementary school bus.

Didn't you love all the rain this morning? Hope there's a lot more on the way.