A growing business revisited

Elia Powers

Before Harbor Boulevard became home to car dealerships and retail

chains, Albert Hollister’s store was one of the main attractions.

Residents of the Mesa Verde community frequented Hollister’s

Nursery and Flower Shop to buy products for their burgeoning outdoor

gardens and fields.

Hollister spotted a business opportunity in 1946, after returning

to Southern California from Marine Corps duty.

Operating out of what customers recall as a “small shack” at 1969

Harbor Blvd., Hollister and his three employees became the gardening

experts.

Business grew, and Hollister moved operations into an adjacent

property.

“He posted signs on the old building saying, ‘Help us move into

our new store by buying our products.’ It personalized the new place.

It was quite an entrepreneurial approach,” said friend and loyal

customer Hank Panian.

In the early 1960s, with his customer base expanding, Hollister

moved the business to the edge of town: 2640 Harbor Blvd., near the

Adams Avenue intersection.

It was -- and still is -- a recognizable building, with its

circus-tent-like roof.

In an interview conducted by Costa Mesa Historical Society

archivist Mary Ellen Goddard in the late 1970s, Hollister said the

area surrounding his property was mostly open fields when he arrived.

But that didn’t last long.

“There is a change, because we have gone from a low-density

community to a high-density community,” he said in the interview.

For Hollister, that meant a change in business. Properties were

shrinking. Open space became rare. And outdoor gardens became less

abundant.

Late in his ownership tenure, Hollister changed the store’s focus

from outdoor to indoor gardening, providing residents with products

that helped them save space..

“We had customers who would come from all over to see Al and hear

what he had to say about their plants and lawns,” said former

employee and current Costa Mesa resident Don Knipp.

Hollister was on the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce board of

directors. The group played a key role in Costa Mesa’s 1953

incorporation.

Hollister eventually handed the business over to his son, Steve.

The store ended operations in the mid-1980s.

The Harbor Boulevard building now houses Thrifty Car Rental.

Hollister lives with his wife in Paso Robles.

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