Crews Churn Loleta Creamery to the Ground
Loleta Creamery coming down. [Photo by Greg Connors]
When the quake hit, registering a curdling 6.4 on the Richter scale, it left the Creamery structurally compromised, beyond the scoop of repair. By February 2023, with demolition costs estimated to be a heavy $2.65 million, it was clear that the financial burden was no mere milk money.
Known for its cameo in “Halloween III,” the beautiful if slightly eerie building is now being removed.
In spite of our punnish write up, we’re more than a little sad. We’re going to miss the old brick landmark.
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Interesting. I would have thought that they needed a Coastal Development Permit for the demolition, but I never heard of one being issued. And who is paying for this anyway.
Shhhhhh!
Bit of a shame… it could have been restored long ago, but is now just a pile of rubble.
Just part of the death of a small town and it is happening everywhere in the USA.
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Oh well…
That building has been empty for years and years, was built of unreinforced masonry and was literally falling into the street. Loleta itself seems to be doing well. Jersey Scoops, the Main Street playground and good people. Nice town.
Bummer! I’ll have fond memories forever! Love how you wrote this so cute!
You certainly milked that for all it was worth.
Snort!
She is being dairy bad. But whey funny.
Loleta is a sweet little town with a provocative name.
It comes from how Kroeber or Waterman, two ethnologists from an English-speaking background, spelled the name of the place when told by a Wiyot person as reported in LL Loud’s book: “Table Bluff, raluaka. This corresponds with laloeka, the trail along the ridge of Table Bluff…” page 296
So
La-lo-eka the ridge top Table Bluff trail ended up
Lo-le-ta the wide spot in the road where the houses and railroad went.
Link to the whole book
https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp014-004.pdf
As is par for boring old Humboldt, it’s not suggestive at all despite the subsequent Nabokov novel.
Thank you for your scholarly input. Loleta is forever steamy for this English major.
Spoiler alert: this pint sized article is overflowing with puns.
What’s happening with all those bricks?! Those are old school bricks and they just don’t make them like they used to….I’m gonna run down there and see if I can score a truckload
They should be reused and appreciated for their history. Send a pic of your new bbq pit.
I think Bob Figas is the Contractor. Give him a shout and make a deal.
You can create puns.
WE GET IT.
How about getting back to, ya know, the news.
Are you one of my regular and generous contributors that is asking for more of the content you prefer? Albeit not as politely as you might? Or you just wanting to tell me how to spend my time without contributing anything to pay for your copious use of the site?
DOH! Well said, LOL
SickofSocialsts might need this map
https://ameriburn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/aba110_nlc-handout_map_012918.pdf
Sad to see it go. There’s a cool old pained billboard for it near king salmon headed south out of eureka. It was visible the other day as they were switching out signs. Very cool little flashback
that billboard’s for the cheese factory not the creamery. Cheese factory was across the street and closed during covid.
I appreciate the story, but….. the writer might be the one to be pun-ished!! Lol!
Does anyone know what they’re doing with all the bricks?
I would love to have some!
Yeah, me too. Apparently, several folks do. I was thinking I, we, could save them a few $ on hauling and dumping costs, but, now that folks want them, they’ll charge us double for the memorabilia aspect.
$2.65mill could fund/maintain a lot of trails.
I’ll bet it could build Loleta’s section of the Great Redwood Trail, as it’s mostly filling the tracks with asphalt. Probably.
It’s a bit more materials and labor involved than that. There’s also a collapsed/washed out culvert by the tunnel, and the tunnel itself has to be cleared and made safe for entry (it has a hole in the ceiling at the north end). Plus there’s a local rail group that uses that section frequently so you have to configure a rail/trail portion which is easy to do. Intact rails makes the maintenance easier, which nobody has established a figure for, let alone find any funding for. Asphalt doesn’t take long to crumble and will need constant maintenance over the years. The trail does not generate income by itself so you’re going to need some wealthy donors or a new tax base for it.
Love that town. I was sent up from the Petaluma facility to help rebuild the interior of the burned out Post Office years ago. Then, I was called back after only getting to do cleanup! Of course, I brought cheese back to the crew in SoCo.