| Balboa has
always had its own Post Office, originally it was located in the Balboa Pavilion then it
was moved across the street to the corner of Main Street and Edgewater. Finally, when the
historic Balboa Hotel was demolished in 1950 a new Post Office was built on that
location giving Balboa its permanent Post Office. Originally the new Post Office had 300 mail boxes, but over
the years more boxes were added and today it has 630 boxes.
Postmaster Phil Greiwe is a Costa Mesa native, and
has been with the Postal Service for 25 years. Phil recalls, "When I first started,
with the Postal Service, it was at the Riverside Street Office."
Postmaster Phil Greiwe With
Assistant Postmaster Nancy Buck
|
This was
before all the automated machinery and one of Phil's jobs was to place the letters all
face up facing in the direction on a conveyor belt before they could be hand fed into the
canceling machine. In reference to the Balboa Station -the Postal Service refers to
the Post Offices as stations- Phil says, "It's just a small office. Basically you're
not bothered by the customers." Assistant
Postmaster Nancy Buck, a native of Pasadena, has been with the Postal Service for over 30
years. She says, "I like the way the same customers come in day after day and you get
to know them."
What Nancy likes most about the Balboa Station is,
"It's a small station, you're able to give personalized service." Like the time
a customer was having trouble getting mail through on a temporary forward. So Nancy would
take the mail and put it in a bigger envelope and send it direct to the customer. |
Balboa Post Office
204 Main St.
The most excitement Nancy ever
remembers, was, "I almost burnt the place down one time." It seems Nancy was
making some toast and went to help a customer. She smelled smoke and found, "Fire
leaping out of the toaster."
Nancy frets, "We always worry the place will
close because of the low volume." A few years ago the Postal Service was going to
close The Balboa Station, but Nancy recalls a letter writing campaign. She remembers,
"There are a lot of big names down here. They petitioned the Postmaster to keep it
open. Now they will never close the station. That's the word." |
