A new, temporary postal service center opened in Altadena Wednesday, marking another step forward in efforts to restore vital resources to the area.
Customers can drop off mail and packages as well as purchase forever stamps and priority boxes at a new Village Post Office inside Webster’s Pharmacy on Lake Avenue in Chase Plaza.
“We do want to put a little bit of normalcy back in the community, and this is the start,” said Cipriano Corona, United States Postal Service district manager.
After the local Altadena Post Office was destroyed in the Eaton Fire in January, residents have called on USPS to restore services to the region. Six months into recovery efforts, the site is a result of a collaboration between the Altadena Recovery and Rebuild Corporation, USPS and Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office.
Unlike regular post offices, USPS’s Village Post Offices are operated by third parties and are intended to offer services in “more rural communities,” according to USPS.
The new Altadena facility is temporary while only offering limited USPS services, Barger said, but her long-term goal is to bring the full-service post office back to Altadena.
“With every dark cloud, there’s a silver lining, and I have to say that’s what we are experiencing here today with the opening of this small but mighty post office,” Barger said.
In the aftermath of the fires and the damage to the post office, no official notices were distributed to help residents restore their mail services or how to cancel and update mail forwarding requests, according to an Instagram post from the Altadena Town Council.
The council called for USPS to restore its services in Webster’s Pharmacy, which was previously home to a Contract Postal Unit. The facility was closed after the drug store moved to a different location.
According to the Altadena Town Council, the pharmacy was denied “without explanation” when it attempted to reinstate its contract unit. The council began a conversation with USPS in February, Chair Victoria Knapp said Wednesday, but it was unable to make substantial progress until reaching out to Barger’s office.
About 30% to 40% of these essential services are back in Altadena, she said.
“Vital resources to return normalcy to Altadenans are critical at this point in our recovery,” Knapp said.
The Village Post Office will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.