Market met need on the peninsula

Gay Wassall-Kelly

The Balboa Peninsula needed a neighborhood market and Safeway

filled the calling.

In 1928, Balboa was bustling. Red Cars brought throngs of people

to the beach every day. Sand dunes and silt became islands and a

peninsula. And then came lots to construct homes on and the building

frenzy began.

But Balboa then needed a neighborhood market.

In 1928, Safeway came to Balboa, opening a small store in the 700

block of East Central, next door to Edison, down from Lonnie

Vincent’s Drugstore on Main.

“I was going to Santa Ana High School and the Safeway was a

perfect place for me to work during the summer,” said Fayette Blower,

now of Santa Ana. “I had learned the grocery business by working in

my dad’s market on Fruit Street in Santa Ana as a kid.”

The new open air market stocked groceries [staples], fresh produce

and a meat market.

“By 1933, I was working six days a week for $4.25 a day. During

the winters, I was the only person manning the store,” he said.

John Lugo, now of Scottsdale, Ariz., proudly declared, “In 1935, I

worked in the Safeway on Saturdays for 10 cents an hour [80 cents a

day] stocking shelves. Once in a while, I would deliver a small order

of groceries on my bicycle.”

In 1938, Safeway looked for a larger location for a more “modern”

market with room for a “parking” lot -- an important feature. Less

than a block away, at 608 E. Central, W. B. Mellott -- a general

contractor and builder from Costa Mesa -- began building a new

Safeway store. Mellott used only local labor and suppliers, including

Sam Kinsfather.

“My dad, Sam Kinsfather, installed all the plumbing and heating in

the new store,” said Dwayne Kinsfather of Costa Mesa. “Our house and

plumbing business were located behind the construction site of the

new Safeway.”

When the new store opened June 30, 1938, Blower was the store

manager, having moved up during his nine years as a loyal employee.

Blower purchased a home in Balboa so he and his wife would be closer

to work. He remembered, “We were really lucky. We had a Model-T to

deliver groceries to the homes on the peninsula. Safeway also opened

up local charge accounts, which their customers really appreciated.”

Art Gronsky of Newport Beach recalled that “The Safeway Market was

the only place we could shop for good meat. My dad was in the meat

business and he knew Safeway sold the best Kansas beef.”

In March 1948, Safeway was selling off their smaller markets and

opening “supermarkets.” Blower leased the building and renamed the

store Blower’s Market. “I made many longtime friends in the Balboa

store.”

In 1952, he sold out to take care of his other market in Downey on

Telegraph Road. Blower’s Market became known as Bob’s [Mayfield]

Balboa Market, with six change-of-ownerships since then.

Today, the original building houses the Balboa Village Market.

“We want to bring back the old-fashioned service everyone loves

from a neighborhood market,” say the new owners, the St. John family

of Balboa Peninsula. Bob St. John has been in the grocery business

since 1963 and, along with his son Scott [marketing] and wife Sandi

[merchandising], they continue to offer top-quality fresh produce, an

old-fashioned meat market with a butcher, home delivery and charge

accounts much like the Safeway did. On any day, you can find one of

the St. Johns at the register, cleaning produce, bookkeeping, serving

fresh coffee or chewing the fat with locals at their tables and

chairs out in front of their neighborhood market.

* GAY WASSALL-KELLY is the editor of a Balboa newspaper and is

active in the community. Do you know of a person, place or event that

deserves a historical Look Back? Let us know. Contact James Meier by

fax at (949) 646-4170; e-mail at [email protected]; or mail at

c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.