1959 Cal Photo, Morro and Higuera Streets
August 20, 2008 – 8:00 am 
I worked at Cal Photo to help pay for my Cal Poly tuition in the early 1980’s.
Bill Hinote had bought the business from his father and for decades the two places to buy cameras in town were Jim’s Campus Camera and Cal Photo.
Bill loved to talk about flying his glider and could make anyone feel comfortable about opening their wallet to buy a camera.
They used to have a memorable radio ad that would talk about a featured product then a reverb-drenched voice would come on echoing Caaaaalllll Phoooootoooooooo.
Usually the customers were a lot of fun to talk to and it was a great place to learn about the latest gear. Some days you would get a question that left you scratching your head.
“Do batteries with flat bottoms have more power than ones with dimples?”
“Do you have cameras that take pictures at the speed of light?”
Then there was the guy that brought in the Nikonos camera in a coffee can of seawater. He had opened it, underwater, to change the film.
“I thought it was O.K. It’s an underwater camera, right?”
“It won’t rust as long as it is in seawater will it?”
During a big rain, water would pond on the roof of the building and come down the inside of the Morro Street wall. The unwanted water feature would result in a quick rearrangement of floor items and towels on the floor until the cloudburst passed.
No one mourned the building when the French family bought the property and knocked it over and later the Copeland family built the Downtown Centere.
Today the corner of Morro and Higuera is the location of the Apple store. I should ask them if they have cameras that take pictures at the speed of light.
Jim’s is still open down the street and the spirit of Cal Photo lives on when the photo-finishing manager, Peggy Mesler, opened the Photo Shop on Marsh Street.
2 Responses to “1959 Cal Photo, Morro and Higuera Streets”
Cal Photo holds a very special place in my heart, as I bought my first slr there in ‘78. That old Pentax was a great camera for the price, I was 13 then and went to school with Bill’s daughter at Laguna Junior High, where I became senior yearbook photographer, my family also became good friends with Don Wells and his wife Joyce. That store was a regular stop when I was in town, so I could drool over new lenses or some such accessory.
By Will Whitmer on Dec 18, 2008
I worked at Cal Photo for almost 7 years, 5 of which I was the Manager. I loved working there and was tremendously sad when it went out of business in June of 2001.
I always made it a point to remember most of, if not all our customers names, to let them know how important they were to us. Cal Photo was more than a camera shop, it was a meeting place, and place to learn or teach something new everyday. Because Cal Photo had been around for so long there was a huge amount of local history tied to the business. We had life long residents as customers as well as the passing through tourist’s and all were welcomed. We alway’s made it a point to encourage all questions about photography and ‘there were no dumb questions’ when it comes to photography, equipment, or skill level at Cal Photo. I feel our expert level of attention to the detail’s of each and every one of or customers allowed us to compete in a diminishing market for as long as we did. I feel very proud to have worked at Cal Photo and to have been involved in such an amazing piece of local history.
By Russell Stephens on Jun 13, 2010