The Street Seen: Edgemar Eggs
2435 Main Street @ Hollister
From 1946 to 1985, the Michel Brothers operate Edgemar Eggs - an egg processing and distribution business - on the former Imperial Ice Company site on Main St.
From 1908 to 1946, the Imperial Ice Company operates an ice-making and water bottling plant at 2435 Main St.1
The advent of home refrigeration in the late 1920s causes a marked decline in the ice business. Following WWII, the ice-making operations at the aging ice making plant are evaluated. In 1946 Imperial Ice Company ceases operations.
Michel Brothers,2 minority partners, acquire the Imperial Ice Company property for Edgemar Eggs - the egg processing and distribution division of their Santa Monica Dairy Company.3
The former ice making factory, with the center of the roof raised 4ft to admit daylight, is used for egg grading and packing.4 The ice company’s Main St. office windows are sealed, and the space is given over to cold storage.
A new streamline moderne style office on Main St. is built on the north side of the old Imperial Ice offices.
Edgemar Eggs operates a wholesale and a retail egg business.
In 1981 the egg processing business ceases.5
In 19836 Michel Brothers put the Edgemar Egg property on the market.7
By 1946, the Imperial Ice Company property has expanded to a 35,000 sq-ft (14 lots (9 to 16, and 38 to 43) Block P, Santa Monica Commercial Company Tract) site between 2nd and Main St.
Herman Michel (1872 - 1969)’s four sons - Clarence A. Michel (1904 - 1963), Ralph H. Michel (1905 - 1987), Walter James Michel (1912 – 1996), and Howard Michel (1914 – 1968) - incorporate as Michel Brothers in 1955.
EDGEMAR® is a registered trademark of the Santa Monica Dairy Company.
Commercial egg processing relies on speed to market in order to provide a fresh, quality product. Candling is age-old method of looking inside an egg without breaking it open, to determine the quality of the egg for human consumption. In the days before electricity, candles were used to illuminate the eggs. Looking at the egg’s air cell, the yolk and the albumen, or egg white, the interior grades of eggs are set by the United States Department of Agriculture and include Grades AA, A, B, and Loss. The amount of air inside the shell indicates the egg’s freshness. Dirty and cracked eggs are removed as Loss eggs. Once graded, the eggs are placed in cartons, packaged, and shipped.
In 1981 Michel Brothers apply to the City for a change of use from a wholesale/retail egg processing business to office use.
In 1983 Michel Brothers sell their Venice based Santa Monica Dairy Company to Foremost.
Over time, additional adjacent Main St. property is acquired, and by 1971 the Edgemar Eggs / Imperial Ice Company property has expanded to 50,000 sq-ft (250 ft x 200 ft - 20 lots (7 to 16, and 34 to 43) Block P, Santa Monica Commercial Company Tract).
