The Way It Was Hurley’s Pharmacy An Interview with Virginia Hurley “It was a wonderful journey with John,” remembers 94-year-old San Luis Obispo resident, Virginia Hurley, about life with her pharmacist husband, the late John Hurley. In 1945 the couple purchased the Hotel Drug pharmacy at the Anderson Hotel (today the space is occupied by the jewelry store, Serengeti- West). “We started on a shoestring. I would meet him down there on a Sunday afternoon after he had already worked half the day. And, together we would close the store and put paper on the windows and doors so nobody could see us from outside – you know, we had pride – then we scrubbed the beautiful marble floors and the wonderful old mahogany. It was small and nothing to brag about, but we did what we had to do to.” < Ground-breaking ceremony in 1956 for the new mall. Pictured left to right are: Loren Krabill (partner in Hawthorne Market); Mrs. Krabill; Virginia Hurley; Jim Bodie (owner of The Favorite Bakery); John Hurley; the man sitting on the tractor over Mr. Hurley’s left shoulder is unidentified; Mrs. Truchan; Frank Truchan; and Ted Maino According to Virginia, business downtown was “consistently steady” and after 11 years they learned about a new mall being built “on the outskirts of town” by the highly regarded local contractor, Ted Maino. At that time, in 1956, the now-ubiquitous “strip mall,” was dismissed by many as a passing fad in retail. Today, the building still stands in University Square on Foothill Boulevard. The space the Hurleys had occupied is currently vacant; its most recent tenant, Foothill Cyclery, moved out about a year ago. The decision to relocate from downtown to the then-rural Foothill Boulevard area was considered a risky one at the time, and John Hurley had received an ominous warning from the mayor. “’Mr. Hurley,’ he said, ‘I understand that you are going to move and I want to let you know that I think you are making a big mistake because no one is going to go way out there and you’re going to lose your business.’ And to that John said, ‘Well, I think I am going to try,’” laughs Virginia. “Of course, he [the mayor] didn’t realize the potential of a big area like this opening up… neither did we, really. We just hoped and prayed.” With the move came a new name: Hurley’s Pharmacy. The larger space allowed for a wider variety of items to be stocked and a home delivery service was added. At first there were only a smattering of ranches in the area, but before long homes with “diapers and toys in the front yard” started popping up in neighborhoods all around both sides of Foothill Boulevard. Virginia recalls that “the town was growing around us. You felt it and you saw it in the books.” Medical insurance was rare in those early years of Hurley’s Pharmacy and most customers paid with cash, often charging to a trade account they had with the store. “There was no application they had to fill out or anything like that, but John would talk with them for a bit then he’d okay them. We kept track of it all in a little file box,” explains Virginia. As the years passed by, many generations of San Luis Obispo families had come to rely on John Hurley and his pharmacy. In 1972 John sold the business to Richard Wilson, who ran it until 1987 when he then sold it again to Dana Nelson. Today, the pharmacy, since renamed Dana Nelson’s HealthPlus, can be found across the parking lot from its original location. Virginia, who remains a loyal customer, is quite fond of the current owner and admires his stewardship of the local institution that she still remembers so clearly on the day they moved in, “it was like walking into heaven.” SLO LIFE Know a bit of history? Go to slolifemagazine.com and share your story. 14 | slo life magazine 14 | slo life MagaZine
slo life magazine | 15