The Atascadero Printery will open for the first time in 20 years. See the progress
A historic building in Atascadero will open its doors to the public for the first time in over 20 years this weekend.
The Atascadero Printery — originally built in 1915 but closed to the public since 2003 — has been undergoing renovations in recent years, spearheaded by the Atascadero Printery Foundation.
Located at 6351 Olmeda Ave., the foundation bought the printery from the city in May 2017, and has been raising money to finish its rehabilitation, with the ultimate goal of reopening the building as a community and event space.
“There’s so many needs that this could fill for programs that just don’t have a space, and nonprofits to have an affordable place to use for meetings and fundraisers,” foundation president Karen McNamara said.
The renovations include full retrofitting and plastering of the walls to make the building safe to enter, digging up a filled-in indoor pool, transforming a large storage room into a performing arts center and adding a basement speakeasy bar.
All in all, it will cost around $2.5 million to get the building up and running again, McNamara said. So far, the foundation has raised $750,000 to begin the retrofitting process.
Though the building has a long way to go until it is ready to permanently reopen, the public will be welcomed inside to see the building’s progress this weekend for the first time in over two decades — and people will be welcomed back again for a fundraiser gala in November.
The Atascadero Printery will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, McNamara said. Free group tours will run every half hour. Old printing presses, building plans and magazines will be on display, and guests will be able to use a “flop press” to print their own cards, McNamara said.
The building will open again on Nov. 9 to host a 110th anniversary gala for the printery.
Other events will be held outdoors on the property, including the final two concerts in the Tent City Limits concert series on Sept. 19 and Oct. 17.
“We’re hoping by showing everybody that we’re actually doing this — that it’s not just a dream — that we’ll get some more support,” McNamara said.
What renovations will be made to the Atascadero Printery?
Originally built in 1915 to house the Women’s National Publishing Company, the Atascadero Printery produced everything from national magazines on women’s education and rights to labels for seed packets and dehydrated food to be sent to soldiers during World War I.
The Atascadero News was also housed in an auxiliary building until 1949, and copies of the newspaper were printed in the printery, as well as supplements for the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Despite its namesake, however, the building only acted as a printery for around five years until 1920, McNamara said. It went on to house multiple junior colleges and youth services over the years until closing due to damage from the San Simeon earthquake in 2003.
Now, McNamara’s foundation dreams of returning the historic building to its former glory.
Renovations to the Atascadero Printery will finish in phases, with the first step being to finish retrofitting of the building’s structure, plastering the walls and securing them to the roof, McNamara said. All the window frames and glass will be replaced, too.
The main hall will be complete by Nov. 9 for the gala, which will be hosted in the downstairs space with original moldings, ceilings and floors in place. A ticket booth and lobby will be added for the event.
Most of the windows and the front doors have already been restored, with a grand entry arch leading into the main foyer with murals adorning the walls.
Long-term renovations include adding a kitchen, new restrooms, an elevator, a print museum with historic displays of original printing presses and a performing arts center seating 300 people, McNamara said. The foundation hopes to add a speakeasy bar in the basement, too.
This future work requires additional funding and some changes to the layout of the building, including tearing down some walls in certain places.
A sand-filled indoor pool that was put in when the building was a junior college needs to be dug out, as well. McNamara said it is believed that the abandoned furniture and contents of the old Atascadero News building were tossed into the bottom of the pool when the news building was torn down in the 1960s and later covered with sand.
“We have to dig it all out,” McNamara said. “We’ll put most of it back.”
How to support the renovations of the Atascadero Printery
With a total project price tag of $2.5 million, the Atascadero Printery Foundation still has a long way to go from the $750,000 it currently has fundraised to see its dream of rehabilitating the printery through to reality.
In addition to applying to grants to fund the work, the foundation will host multiple fundraiser for the project.
Tickets for the Nov. 9 gala will sit at $100 or $110 — to commemorate 110 years of the building standing, McNamara said.
“Every $10 per person adds up a lot,” she said.
With attendance capped at around 250, the event has the potential to bring in $27,500 in ticket sales.
The foundation’s Brick-by-Brick fundraiser aims to rack up another $250,000 by engraving bricks in donors’ names.
Individual donations to support the renovation campaign can be made on the printery foundation’s website at the atascaderoprintery.org.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 6:07 PM.
