From nursery grew lasting city memories

COMMENTARY /// Remembering Calabasas



REMEMBER THIS BUSINESS?—Above, Sperling Nursery at 24460 Calabasas Road from 1973 to 2015, as seen from Calabasas Road. Below, some of the antiques collected by nursery founder Joseph Sperling were rescued in 2016 and can now be seen at the Calabasas Old Town Park and Ride site. Acorn file photo

REMEMBER THIS ?—Sperling Nursery at 24460 Calabasas Road from 1973 to 2015, as seen from Calabasas Road. Acorn file photo

Sperling Nursery, one of the longer-running businesses in the history of Calabasas, was located for 42 years on a sprawling, 11-acre patch of land at 24460 Calabasas Road.

This family-owned and operated enterprise was founded by Joseph Sperling in 1973. Sperling died in 2013, and the business was ultimately closed and the land sold in 2015.

Farther east down the road from Sperling’s, the City of Calabasas acquired an empty lot in Old Town in 2014 for the purpose of constructing a free park-and-ride facility. This parcel is one of only two pieces of real property owned by Calabasas but not actually within city limits— the other being Gates Canyon Park.

The Park and Ride was completed in 2016, and contains 63 parking spaces, a bike shelter and rack, and electric vehicle charging stations.

During his lifetime, Sperling was an avid antique collector, mostly concentrating his efforts on items associated with Western Americana.

Sprinkled throughout Sperling Nursery were many of these heavily weathered objects, especially iron wagon wheels. As the property was in the process of being sold, the Sperling family began liquidating the remaining inventory and decided to sell most of the antiques, too.

Below, some of the antiques collected by nursery founder Joseph Sperling were rescued in 2016 and can now be seen at the Calabasas Old Town Park and Ride site. Courtesy of James Bozajian

COLLECTION—Some of the antiques collected by nursery founder Joseph Sperling were rescued in 2016 and can now be seen at the Calabasas Old Town Park and Ride site. Courtesy of James Bozajian

The end of Sperling Nursery coincided with the beginning of the Park and Ride. As such, when the City Council was deciding how to landscape the new city lot it struck me that we could preserve a slice of local history while decorating the facility with an attractive aesthetic consistent with the American West. All at a very decent price, with exceedingly low maintenance.

I had the city purchase a variety of antiques from Sperling Nursery, after which they were taken to the Park and Ride and laid out in a welcoming arrangement. And therein lies the explanation as to why there are a bunch of odd-looking, rust-covered objects strewn about our lot today.

Remembering Calabasas is an ongoing feature authored by James R. Bozajian, who has served on the City Council since 1997 and is the unofficial Calabasas city historian. He can be reached by email at jbozajian@cityofcalabasas.com.