I was much shocked and saddened to hear the news that one more Malibu institution has been told to close up shop with a 30 day notice to quit.
This time it is our much beloved Trancas Nursery, which has been in that location for at least 20 years and prior to that at the bottom of Busch Drive before that shopping center was built.
The Trancas shopping center has been recently sold to new owners as Dan Bercu and his investors pulled out. No one was more accessible than Dan in getting community input in developing the design for the property, which always included the nursery in some form or another. Everyone wanted Shelby, the chickens, the rabbits and ducks and play area, which all the children loved, to stay. It is not just a place to buy plants and veggie packs for the garden. Steve, Corrine, Debbie, Carlos and Shelby at the nursery are the life in that shopping center. The nursery has given so much to every sector of this community, hosting Friday night community pot lucks where anyone could show up and shoot the breeze with neighbors, often with live music, a place to wed, plants to borrow for an event, trucking thrown in, heaps of knowledgeable advice on gardening and conversation on any random topics. This year Malibu gave Shelby a Dolphin award she is so appreciated by everyone in the community.
I hope the nursery, the chickens, and the lovely and creative Sea Lily florist shop also on that site will get an extension of their lease and a place in the new shopping center. Hopefully, the new owners will be equally open to ideas and incorporate the nursery. Keep the nursery, dear new investors, it is a true and original Malibu institution that you have inherited as a hidden bonus. Do not take the heart out of your investment and all the good will which goes with it and which no amount of grand openings will replace.
Yes, we are a peculiar people here at the West End, not much taken with all that glistens, but we do enjoy the freshest eggs, bar none, at the best little nursery this side of Chicago. I will keep coming back to your new center again and again just for those eggs and probably, while I’m there, do a bit of shopping.
Rachel Roderick-Jones