Topanga’s Postmistress, Mabel Christie, has only been here for little more than a year, but when she took the job, she found disarray inside, especially her office, and a drab-looking building outside.
“Over so many years, things weren’t done. Now my office is clean and modern. Outside, it was always that dull color, so I decided to do an extreme makeover for the post office,” Christie said.
She approached the owner of the property, “Mr. Mike” Bae, proprietor of the Topanga Creek General Store, and said she wanted to paint the building. He agreed, they looked at paint colors and this is the one they chose.
“In the brochure, I remember it as a grayish-blue color,” Christie said. “What we ended up with on the wall is totally different.”
The color is more of a deep teal, which apparently animated a lively conversation on Nextdoor Topanga and throughout the community.
“Most people seem to like it, but not everybody,” Christie said. “This was just for people to come in and feel brighter, younger and enjoy. The youngsters like it. I think it’s a change for Topanga, Otherwise, it will be the same old dull colors.”
To boost morale inside, Christie says she sometimes brings in goodies for her employees and goes out-of-pocket to celebrate occasions such as birthdays and holidays.
Her extreme makeover doesn’t stop there. “I want to start an event to have kids learn how to [hand] write a letter to parents or grandparents who may not have computers. The fun part of writing a letter is the joy it brings to person receiving it.”
Meanwhile, for the people who object to the new paint job, Christie says “they can all chip in, pick a color, something young, and pay the $2,000 to repaint it.
The Post Office is a landmark for Topanga,” Christie said, “but the fun part is it made the community talk to each other. We’re the talk of the town!”