Larry Nelson, the late local business owner and longtime operator of Los Altos Pharmacy, stumbled into the pharmaceutical industry by chance, according to his son, Bart.
Growing up on a farm in the Fresno County town of Kingsburg, Larry was plowing his field when the local pharmacist came by, driving what his son described as a “nice and clean” vehicle.
The brief encounter inspired Larry to attend UC San Francisco to earn a two-year pharmaceutical degree, according to Bart. After graduating, Larry managed hotel pharmacies before moving to Los Altos, when he heard that a local entrepreneur was selling their space.
“(My father) took the bus and got off on the corner of El Camino Real and San Antonio Road. He started walking toward Los Altos,” Bart said. “When he heard a vehicle coming, he put his thumb out, and the farmer stopped. He said, ‘Son, where are you going?’ (and my father) said, ‘Downtown Los Altos.’”
Los Altos Pharmacy once stood as a bustling business for over 70 years, according to Bart.
“Back in those days, pharmacy and business were quite different. It was all reputation,” Bart said. “So he started in the middle of Main Street and developed trust in the community. That was his No. 1 quality.”
Alongside running the pharmacy, the late Nelson operated four other businesses in downtown Los Altos, including a liquor store and coffee shop, Bart said. Before pre-made tablets, syrups or liquids, Bart said pharmacies concocted doctor’s orders by hand. He said he admired his father’s ability to develop personal relationships with his clients.
“If it was Sunday night and the doctor was at the hospital and needed something, and the hospital didn’t have it, my dad might. He’d get a call from the doctor, and he’d go down, open the store, get what doctor ordered and drive it out to the family home. That was a different level of service than (what we see) today.”
Bart said he did not know initially if he wanted to be involved in the family business. It was only after working for other businesses that he joined his brother in running the pharmacy.
“I think when you have the opportunity to enter a family business, you have to give it a lot of thought,” Bart said. “When I ended up working for other independents and also chain stores, I quickly came to the realization that what my father had developed was something special.”
Liz Nyberg, former co-owner of the Town Crier and a customer who frequented Nelson’s pharmacy, said the store was a great place to meet friends. Although she did not know the late Nelson personally, she said she imagined his service ran similar to Bart’s.
“If you had some kind of an unusual drug required, they could make it on the spot, and Bart would come in even after hours to make something if it was urgently needed,” Nyberg said. “That was personal service. I would imagine his father did the same thing.”
Alongside serving as a gathering spot for acquaintances, the pharmacy became a comforting place for locals, according to Nyberg. She said that the woman at the cosmetic counter came to know her name.
“(With nearby) Kahn’s pharmacy and Nelson’s pharmacy gone, you have to go to a drugstore like CVS or Walgreens, and it’s certainly not the same kind of service,” she said. “They don’t know who you are. You have to wait in line. It’s not a small, hometown feeling.”
Bart said that his father’s background in agriculture paved the way for his legacy today.
“My greatest respect for his upbringing was the amount of effort he put into work, and he transitioned that concept of effort into his pharmacy and serving others,” Bart said. “Effort and service to others became a very standard evolution. It was all part of who the community was, and he was in the right community at the right time.”
This is the fourth in a series of articles about people who have shaped Los Altos.
