Healdsburg's downtown post office became a memory Friday as wrecking crews quickly demolished the fire-gutted building.
"It's like going to the funeral of an old friend," said Mike Doherty, a 30-year-resident of Healdsburg, as he watched the destruction from across the street.
Walls crashed down as the claw-like arm of an excavator tore into the charred edifice.
"They're doing an excellent job," said Doherty, 47, who noted the heavy equipment operator "really knows what he's doing."
As crews busied themselves demolishing the building and clearing debris, postal inspectors retrieved banks of bronze post office boxes and several large postal safes, mostly containing stamps, said postmaster Joe Machado.
What mail survived the Aug. 14 fire was being retrieved, vacuumed and cleaned for delivery.
The fire occurred shortly after 5 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon when the post office was closed and after the last mail pick-up.
While the fire consumed a comparatively small amount of mail, it clouded the future of the downtown post office. Arson was ruled out and the blaze was considered to be of undetermined origin. A predominate theory is that it was electrical in origin.
Property owners say they intend to rebuild and want the post office to again lease the building. But U.S. Postal Service officials remain non-committal about re-opening downtown. USPS Spokesman James Wigdel said Friday he cannot comment on what impact the property owners' intent will have on whether the post office will have a continued downtown presence.
Wigdel said no decision has been made and he wants to wait until postal officials meet Sept. 9 to talk about options with the city and representatives for Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.
Healdsburg leaders and Thompson two years ago helped convince postal officials to reverse their decision to close the downtown post office, located a block from Healdsburg Plaza.
As part of a cost-cutting move, the postal service — which has been running large deficits and is projected to lose $7 billion this year — wanted to consolidate all mail operations at the Foss Creek Circle carrier annex.
But fans of the downtown post office protested loudly. They said it was centrally-located, stimulated the local economy and served as a place to meet and greet friends and acquaintances. The annex is in an office park next to freeway, about a half-mile away.
"The post office was convenient here," said Dino Ferrari, who lives a few blocks from the downtown location. "I used to buy stamps here. Now, I have to go clear across town to get &‘em."
The retired truck driver on Friday watched the demolition crews making short work of the building, which served as a Safeway store prior to the post office occupying it in 1969.
"It's a landmark. You hate to see it go," he said.
Another person who hated to see it vanish was Bob Jensen, owner of nearby Jensen's Copy and Art Supply. He estimated he has lost 90 percent of his walk-in customers since the post office burned down.
"It's a sad situation," he said as he gazed at the building remains. "I call it an anchor tenant," he said. "The post office is a very important part of small business — a key, a loop, a connect."
For now, all mail operations are being conducted out of the Foss Creek facility. Postmaster Machado said by the end of next week, 1766 post office boxes will be installed at Foss Creek to replace those destroyed downtown, along with 300 more to accommodate the waiting list.
A new lobby and counters will be added at Foss Creek and the limited parking will be expanded to create 30 to 40 public parking spaces, probably within two to three weeks, he said.
"I think they'll really like it," he said of the improvements to the carrier annex.
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