Essential California — Rural post offices are under threat. But the Yosemite post office just turned 100

There’s something special about a rural post office.

As kid, I spent a lot of summers with my Grandma Jackie, a 5-foot-2 farmer’s wife and top-notch gossip with a sailor’s vocabulary. She lived in Marshall, Okla., a fading town of 200 or so people. There’s little there but the post office.

And, boy, did my little brother and I groan when Grandma Jackie hauled us there in her station wagon. We knew she would be there for hours, getting briefed on all the local scuttlebutt.

The post office is still the social hub of Marshall, a stoic but impoverished place. Last time I was there, the post office lobby was filled with free bread — a gift from a local farmer for whomever needed it, no questions asked.

Suffice to say, I’m a sucker for a story about a small-town post office. I’ve been lucky to get to write about a few in California for The Times.

This week, I wrote about the Yosemite post office, whose building just turned 100.

Completed in 1925, the two-story post office in Yosemite National Park — with wood shingle siding on top and stone siding on bottom — was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who would later design the famed Ahwahnee Hotel.

It’s a great example of an architectural style called National Park Service rustic, or “parkitecture,” as it’s better known. The style incorporates native materials, like rocks and logs, to blend into the landscape.

Yosemite Postmaster Ellen Damin told me her office — located in a place with spotty wi-fi and cell service, few stores and no instant Amazon delivery — is a lifeline for the 1,800 or so residents of the Yosemite Valley and thousands of hikers on the Pacific Crest and John Muir trails, who send resupply parcels to continue their journeys.

Mail service to Yosemite started long before the current building was constructed. It began in August 1869, two decades before Yosemite National Park was established. The first post office was called Yo Semite. Yes, two words.

I also recently wrote about the post office in rural Bolinas, which is reopening after a two-year battle.

The post office near the Point Reyes National Seashore closed in March 2023 amid a spat between the Postal Service and its landlord, who claimed USPS essentially hid the discovery of asbestos in the flooring for two decades. (The Postal Service did not respond to questions from The Times about the landlord’s claims.)

A sign at the entrance of Bolinas counts the days the small coastal town has been without its post office.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In Bolinas — a haven for poets, painters, writers and actors — residents got creative in their push for reopening. They picketed with placards reading, “Real Mail Not Email!” They marched in local parades dressed as letter carriers, composed songs and wrote more than 2,000 letters in hand-painted envelopes that they sent to USPS officials.

Most people in Bolinas do not get home mail delivery.

They relied upon daily trips to the post office for mail-order prescriptions, lab results, paychecks and other packages. After the post office closed, their mail was mostly delivered to the smaller town of Olema, requiring a 40-minute round-trip drive through the forest on Highway 1 to a facility repeatedly closed because of flooding.

The relocation was more than just an inconvenience for the town’s elderly residents, many of whom cannot drive. There is little public transit, and 47% of the town’s residents are 65 and older. Many reported lost prescriptions and other packages.

But there’s good news: On April 17, the Postal Service signed a 10-year lease with its longtime landlord and is expected to reopen in its former location this fall.

The Postal Service has long considered closing or consolidating rural post offices, which are expensive for the financially strapped agency to run.

The Postal Service lost $9.5 billion in the 2024 fiscal year and is cutting thousands of jobs. And President Trump has mused about privatizing the independent agency.

This month, the Postal Service Board of Governors selected David Steiner to be the next postmaster general. Steiner serves on the board of FedEx, a direct USPS competitor. Critics said they feared the choice was a push toward privatization.

The week’s biggest stories

A view of the destruction from a bomb blast at the American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Palm Springs bombing

• The bomb that detonated at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs May 17 injured four people and killed the suspected bomber, 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus.
• Less than a week after the explosion destroyed his fertility clinic, Dr. Maher Abdallah vows to rebuild.
• In what Abdallah described as a series of miracles, nobody was in the clinic last Saturday morning and its in vitro fertilization lab remained intact despite the mighty force of the explosion.

San Diego plane crash

• A private jet crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday, killing at least three and sparking intense flames that scorched several homes, mangled dozens of vehicles and forced almost 100 people to evacuate.
• While authorities have not named anyone who died in the crash, a spokesperson for Sound Talent Group, a San Diego-based music agency, confirmed to The Times that the company lost three employees.

Biden’s cancer diagnosis

• Former President Biden’s weekend announcement that he has an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones sparked the usual sympathy from supporters — and sharp suspicions among detractors.
• The Times spoke to six doctors who are experts in prostate cancer, and they said the cancer is not curable but is highly treatable.

More big stories

• In post-fire milestone, Pacific Coast Highway reopens, clearing a traffic bottleneck.
• A mysterious, highly active undersea volcano near California could erupt later this year. Here’s what scientists expect.
• A missing woman was “miraculously” found in California’s mountains. Then came the chorus of skeptics.
• If you want to understand Trump’s environmental policy, read Project 2025.
• Some of the poorest students get the newest, fanciest public school around: Compton High.

This week’s must reads

California

She’s 11 years old. She’s about to graduate from college. And she’s just getting started

Alisa Perales, 11, will become the youngest graduate of Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa when she dons her cap and gown this week.

May 23, 2025

Other must reads

• “MAHA moms,” psilocybin therapy, anti-vaxxers: L.A.’s wellness movement’s path to the White House.
• You need more than Ozempic to fight food addiction. Here’s how.
• They spent $830,000 on a Silver Lake ADU, building a showstopper on a steep hillside.

For your weekend

San Clemente State Beach

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• Beaches: 17 best beaches in Orange County
• Restaurants: How this “fun and funky” Echo Park cafe became L.A.’s Gen Z coffee whisperer.
• Parks: Why you should visit California’s largest city park right now (no, not Griffith).

Staying in

• Documentaries: “Pee-wee as Himself” on HBO gives Paul Reubens the final word on his identity.
• Books: In his new book, Jake Tapper says the media didn’t cover up Biden’s “Original Sin”: “We were just lied to.”
• Recipes: Here’s a recipe for blueberry breakfast bread.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Hailey Branson-Potts, staff reporter
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor

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