Zo Office Supplies

This Little Lake Street building has the look of a small village workhorse — part storefront, part office, part practical Mendocino backstreet business space.

Overview

For many years, 45021 Little Lake Street was best known locally as the home of Zo Office Supply, the little Mendocino copy and office-supply shop that handled the everyday printing, copying and paperwork needs of the village.

Business records date Zo Office Supply to 1993, and a 2018 account by its owners said they had operated the copy shop for twenty-five years — putting its beginning right around that same year.

Zo's is now closed, but the building continues its long tradition of being divided among small local businesses and professional offices. Today Big River Acupuncture operates in Suite 2 at 45021 Little Lake Street, while Best Real Estate Services has also listed a branch office at the property.

Location

The property sits on Little Lake Street, just east of Mendocino's busier Lansing Street commercial area.

County property records identify the parcel as APN 119-160-29. The site contains commercial space as well as an approved single-unit rental, which helps explain the community recollection of lodging upstairs. County records use both 45020 and 45021 Little Lake Street for the property.

History

The biggest surprise in researching this address is that its history goes back much farther than Zo Office Supply.

Mendocino County's updated inventory of historic structures identifies the building as the Nolan Barn and gives its earliest documented year as 1911.

The county record adds one particularly colorful detail: it was built for Mike Nolan, described in the historical inventory as an infamous blind-pigger — an old term for someone involved in the illegal sale of liquor. The county's source for the 1911 date is the Mendocino Beacon of August 5, 1911.

That means this modest-looking commercial property began as a barn more than a century ago before being adapted to the mixture of retail, office and service uses seen there today.

By the 1990s, Zo Office Supply had become one of those uses.

Business records place Zo at 45021 Little Lake Street, Suite D, and date the business to 1993. Zo was not merely an office-supply store. Longtime owners described it themselves as the copy shop, and community memories remember the printing work done there for local residents and organizations.

Its role in the community can also be seen in public records. Local organizations including the Albion-Little River Fire Protection District recorded purchases from Zo Office Supply, showing the shop functioning as a practical supplier for organizations as well as individuals.

The building has housed other businesses as well. A 2007 Mendocino Art Center publication lists the Garth Hagerman Nature Photography Gallery at 45021-C Little Lake Street.

The Building Today

After Zo closed, the building continued to serve the same basic purpose it had developed over the years: small spaces for independent Mendocino businesses and professionals.

Big River Acupuncture currently lists Suite 2 at 45021 Little Lake Street and offers acupuncture and related treatment there. Best Real Estate Services has also listed a branch office at 45021-A.

A community memory also notes an Airbnb upstairs. Mendocino County records confirm that the property has an authorized single-unit rental, although the county listing does not identify it specifically by the Airbnb brand.

Why It Matters

What began as a barn eventually became the kind of building every small town needs — one that can keep changing without ever becoming especially grand.

For years, people came here for paper, copies, office supplies and printing. Today they may come for acupuncture, massage-related treatment, real estate business or an upstairs stay.

The uses keep changing, but 45021 Little Lake Street remains one of Mendocino's practical little workhorse buildings.

Community Memories

One community memory recalls that a video store may also have operated here at one time. I have not yet found a reliable record identifying the video store by name, so that part of the earlier history remains an open part of the story. Other replies remembered Zo's printing work, later real estate and massage-related businesses, and the upstairs rental.

Timeline

1911 — The Nolan Barn is documented at this site, built for Mike Nolan.

1993 — Zo Office Supply is established.

2007 — Garth Hagerman Nature Photography Gallery is listed at 45021-C Little Lake Street.

2016 — The property sells, according to public property records.

2018 — Zo's owners describe the business as a twenty-five-year-old Mendocino copy shop.

Later years — Zo Office Supply closes.

2026 — Big River Acupuncture operates in Suite 2, with other professional and commercial uses continuing at the property.

Sources & Original Research: Original photograph by Gee Bee — Buildings and Businesses in Mendocino, Ca. with history; original research, property identification and business-history compilation by Gee Bee for the infortbragg.com archive; community memories collected through the same page, including memories of Zo's printing work, a possible earlier video store, later real estate and massage-related businesses, and an upstairs rental; Mendocino County Updated Inventory of Historic Structures, 2026 — identifies 45021 Little Lake Street as the Nolan Barn, APN 119-160-29, earliest documented date 1911, citing the Mendocino Beacon of August 5, 1911; Mendocino County Town Plan and California Coastal Commission records — property and visitor-serving rental records for APN 119-160-29; Manta business records — Zo Office Supply, Suite D, established 1993; Anderson Valley Advertiser, December 25, 2018 and January 3, 2019 — Zo Office Supply as a twenty-five-year-old Mendocino copy shop; Albion-Little River Fire Protection District financial records; Mendocino Art Center, Spring 2007 — Garth Hagerman Nature Photography Gallery listing; Big River Acupuncture current business listing; Best Real Estate Services listing for 45021-A; Compass and public property records — APN 119-160-29 and 2016 sale information.