Costa Mesa’s Eastside may best be known for its eclectic mix of charming Americana homes replete with white picket fences, manicured lawns and cool breezes sweeping upward from Newport Harbor. There is, of course, the occasional Spanish abode mixed in among the grids of tony neighborhoods laid out on a flat mesa, whose streets bear names like Orange Avenue, Robin Hood Lane and Woodland Place.
Yet unbeknownst to most, the Eastside is home to Costa Mesa’s unofficial “Chicken HQ.” At the corner of 23rd Street and Newport Boulevard, overlooking the bustling lanes of the 55 Freeway, you’ll find the Feed Barn.
Some baby chicks are placed inside a box, temporarily, while their cage is cleaned out. The chicks are about 3 weeks old and born in Northern California. (photo: Bradley Zint)
Make no mistake — this barn is not a corporate pet store. While it does sell plenty of goods for Fido and friends, at its heart, it’s a one-stop-shop for all one’s animal feed needs and small-time backyard farming. The Feed Barn sells hay bales and organic chicken feed, rabbit pellets and galvanized water cans.
It sells peanuts, “elite” proprietary chicken feed, wild bird seed and sunflower seeds.
Sunflower seeds for sale in an animal feed section of the Feed Barn in Costa Mesa. (photo: Bradley Zint)
It sells dog chew dogs and Cowboy Magic, an American-made horse mane and tail conditioner that professes to transform “dry, dull, lifeless-looking” hair into a show-ready condition, detangled and demineralized. Apparently, some humans use it too.
The business caters from the small to the bigger, from mice to horses, cows and goats.
A place like the Feed Barn wouldn’t be out of place in agrarian Kansas, but in urbanized Costa Mesa, it’s a rarity, a throwback to the days when the region was fields of farmland instead of rows of tract homes.
A cat wanders into a section of the Feed Barn that sells various animal food in large bags. (photo: Bradley Zint)
Stepping inside the Feed Barn one immediately gets a whiff of the various feed for sale, but it’s inviting nonetheless. Casually standing behind the counter — below a giant bone made of rawhide — you’re likely to meet Donita Culbertson, the manager. And somewhere around the place, you’ll talk to Antonio “Leonardo” Orantes, all-around helpful guy and Feed Barn employee of nearly 12 years. This business is a two-person operation.
On a recent weekend morning, Culbertson was helping the steady stream of customers strolling inside. Culbertson, manager since 1993, had all the answers. A woman from Huntington Beach inquired about raising backyard chickens. Culbertson noted that, for cities that allow them, they make great pets, plus the bonus of fresh eggs.
“There’s so much to know about chickens,” the woman said.
“There really is,” Culbertson replied.
Donita Culbertson is general manager of the Feed Barn in Costa Mesa. She and her husband, Bryan, who owns the store, live in Santa Ana Heights but grew up in Costa Mesa. (photo: Bradley Zint)
On that morning, the Feed Barn was selling off several species of chicks that were about three weeks old. The store received them the day after they were born on a Northern California farm. Orantes noticed that their pen needed cleaning, so he grabbed the lot and put them in a cardboard box, a temporary coop while he cleaned out their quarters. The chicks were priced at $6 each.
Chickens and the supplies needed for them, Culbertson noted, are probably the Feed Barn’s second-best seller. Dog supplies are No. 1.
But then she gets other orders.
“Five bales of straw,” one woman requested.
“Oh, goodness!” Culbertson replied with a smile.
Outside in the parking lot, Patti Dennis of VP Dog Training, her Costa Mesa-based business, leads a dog obedience class. Customers walking in glance at the corkboard fastened to the Feed Barn’s entrance. Some of the ads are equestrian, like the one about a horse for sale (for $5,000) that’s a “brave trail horse” but needs more “arena tuning.” The horse is also shoeless.
Feed Barn employee Antonio “Leonardo” Orantes helps a customer carry heavy bags on a recent weekend morning. Orantes has worked at the Feed Barn for nearly 12 years. (photo: Bradley Zint)
Culbertson and her husband, Bryan, who owns the Feed Barn, live in nearby Santa Ana Heights. They both grew up in Costa Mesa, and it’s pretty much where they do everything. She attended Costa Mesa High; he went to Newport Harbor High. Bryan’s parents bought the Feed Barn in 1989. He owns it now.
The business dates to around 1943. It originally was located a few blocks away from its current spot at 2300 Newport Blvd., where it’s been since the 1970s. Years ago, the Feed Barn sold statues and fountains. A few of those are still out on the front of the lot, unsold many decades later. A kooky-eyed wooden cutout of a cow stands among them and other potted plants and cacti facing Newport Boulevard.
A cow with creative, peering eyes looks out onto the parking lot and garden area of the Feed Barn in Costa Mesa. (photo: Bradley Zint)
A lot has changed in Costa Mesa since those early days. Farming land is scarce now.
“The city grew up around us,” Culbertson said.
She says they’re taking the future of the Feed Barn day by day, continuing to sell their goods and wares. She might up their marketing on social media, though.
But, Culbertson concluded, “I have the best customers in the whole wide world.”
She pointed to a jar of strawberry jam. That morning, one of her customers had dropped it off for her to enjoy. ♥
