RETAIL : Mosaic at Costa Mesa Family Store Lacks Status Needed to Be Preserved

How long has Hi-Time Cellars been selling wine and gourmet foods at its store on 17th Street in Costa Mesa? Long enough that its phone number used to be Liberty 8-9314.

The family-owned business recently lost its lease to a new Blockbuster Video store. The forced move sparked a mini-controversy over what to do with what the store’s owners describe as a “hand-applied mosaic seascape” that a local artist completed shortly after the store opened in 1956.

Hi-Time owners Fritz, Chuck and Harold Hanson want to relocate the mosaic to another store, but they lack the funds needed to move the artwork. The city of Costa Mesa doesn’t have the money needed to move the mural--or a procedure to designate it as a historical landmark, said Hi-Time spokeswoman Monica McDade.

“I’m born and raised here (in Costa Mesa), and I honestly can’t think of anything that’s historical like this, that has this kind of continuity,” McDade said.