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Monterey Bay Spice Co., Watsonville California
On August 25, 2011 we completed our move to a new location in Watsonville, Ca. We had outgrown our Santa Cruz location of 20,000 square feet many years ago. Our new facility is approximately 50,000 square feet and includes separate areas for bulk storage, tea packaging, milling, and order processing.
The building was originally constructed in the early 1900's and was one of the first cold storage plants west of the Mississippi. Between 2007 and 2011 a local artist painted many very large murals over most of the exterior of the warehouse.
 About the artist: Art Thomae paints murals and does his work outdoors. And whether it’s sunny and warm, or cold and damp, Thomae keeps busy. The Aptos artist has murals in San Jose, Gilroy, Santa Cruz, Aptos, Salinas and, of course, Watsonville.
Not really knowing what he wanted to do for a career,
Thomae finished his stint in the military in 1969. He was trained in electronics, but didn’t enjoy it.
“I fell in with the wrong group when I got out of the Marines … artists, and I started painting,” he said.
Thomae, who first moved to Santa Cruz County in 1972, said he wandered around between the Bay Area, Mexico and Colorado before finally settling in Aptos. During that time he painted signs, mostly, and as he took art classes at community colleges, he gradually became more skilled and began painting murals.
Currently, his work can be seen at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the Aptos/La Selva Beach Fire Station No. 3 and on the Exquisite Designs building on Walker and Beach streets in Watsonville, among many other locations.
Below are more pictures of the murals on the Monterey Bay Spice Company Building.
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