Forty-One Years

I went to the "soft opening" of the newly expanded and relocated Mariposa Co-op, and will attend the grand opening on Saturday --my intended blip. Here is the old storefront, empty now but already slated for the expansion of the adjacent Laotian restaurant.

I've been a member of the co-op for most of the second half of its life. I remember living above the store for a while and finding empty whiskey flasks in the bathroom ceiling. They were without labels, hidden by the workmen when the building went up during prohibition times. I remember when the drain pipe from the shower broke and brought down a rain on the groceries below.

I remember when my friend Barbara became the "coffee czar" and quickly brought all the steps of handling that product up to standard, which involved giving away the existing (and infamously stale) beans, which were so old that the bags wore a dirty skin on the outside.

Those are a few small memories from the good old co-op. No matter how much time passes, this storefront will always say "healthy hippie food" to me when I pass it.