"We want to bring back that good old-fashioned service that everyone expects from a neighborhood market."

The St John family of Balboa.
 Scott with parents Sandi and Bob.

The St Johns have been in the grocery business for three generations. 62-year- old Bob recalls, "My father-in-law was in the produce business from 1941 until 1967 when he passed away. He used to own Rancher's Corner in Redondo Beach. Bob entered the grocery business with San Pedro Farms on the waterfront in San Pedro from 1963 to 1977.

San Pedro Farms

More recently, Bob has been in the Catering Truck business for 20 years.
39-year-old Scott grew up in Orange County and came down to Balboa all the time. When the Balboa Market came up for sale , Scott and his father Bob put their heads together and said, "Let's do it."

The Balboa Market originally opened
 in 1938 as a Safeway.

Scott will manage the day to day operations, and his mother Sandi will do everything else.. Scott says, "She's our creative director." Sandi says, "That's way to formal." Sandy will be taking care of the merchandising  decorating and  working the register as well as greeting the customers as they come in the door.
To get ideas of what they want to do, the St Johns went to the San Francisco area and visited many of the small neighborhood markets.

In 1950 the Balboa Market was known
as Bob's Village Market.

Bob says, "We have a game plan, expand the fresh produce and restore the meat department to the days when everybody shopped there." Scott adds, "What we want to do is upscale the inventory and carry the merchandise that the community is looking for in a local market. We want to bring back that good old-fashioned service that everyone expects from a neighborhood market." Bob also says, "We've got a great little truck we're renovating for use with home deliveries." Some of the changes  planned by the St Johns are to move the liquor away front the front of the store and bring the produce up to the front. They are changing the name of the market to the ,"Balboa Village Market."
Scott has a background in the advertising agency business which will help him in his plans to promote the market.

One of the new images Scott has created for the market is, "Balboa Bob"

Happy Birthday
Dee nee Williamson Barnett
Dee's Beauty Shop
80-Years-Old
Thursday, April 18, 2002

Time Capsule
West Jetty 1939

Before the Wedge as we know it was built, storms would push the sea over the jetty causing massive flooding as seen in this old 1939 photo. Note Balboa Pier in the background.

Viewer Email

Is Balboa Beacon not on line yet? When I hit on it ....it comes up "not available".
Tony Curcillo
Murrieta,Ca
tonybink@msn.com

Great web page. my father in law setting here enjoys his home base.. for he was the first baby born in balboa (in the township of balboa]
He is almost 90 years old and sharp as a tack in this time frame. his grandfathers house is the house that rents skateboards and bikes and inline skates on the corner of and we do have the photo of the house when it was all by itself when it was built.
His father and he both ran the boat that carries the cars across the bay . for which he sees all the time in the cam shots. this has been a great treat for him and us for all the stories that have come out of this refresher in this young man heart. he went to 12 years of school at balboa his name is harold gage . he has lived with us for 4 years and we live in lincoln ne where it colder. we will keep watching the oman. Printman20@aol.com

Jim;
I just visited your site...NICE JOB !!
Keith Caroselli
Balboa Threadworks Inc. (Now In Palm Desert where its reeeealy warm.)
 warmkcaroselli@dc.rr.com

I'm interested in any information on Art LaShelle that owned Christian's Hut and his brother Joseph that was a cinematographer. If you have any information about the two of them or if you know anyone that does I would love to hear from them. I also would love to know if there are any pictures of the two of them.

I am a LaShelle descendant and I am currently writing a book about the LaShelle family.

Thank you for your time.

Jennifer Sanders
jenifersan@hotmail.com

Der Jim:

Does Venoa Morgon have an e-mail address? I'd love to write to her and ask her a question about a recording of Tim's but I don't want to bug Tim about still another recording of his; I have her address on Harding Street at the Morgan Apartments but thought maybe she has an e-mail address. I just want to know if she has a copy of a record Tim made around 1966: "A House Built on Sand" with "You'll Be Sorry" on the flip side. Tim can't remember anything it seems. I hound him too much anyway, but it's also true that putting his old albums on CD was my idea to begin with and my curiosity has its advantages.

Nick Campbell
ncampbel@slonet.org

Jim--

I really like the view from the Harbour House cam but lately the picture seems "pinkish."
Have you gotten any comments about that or is it something on my end of the line?

Debbie
dlynco@msn.com

Beauty is only a light switch away.