Elvis, mail and love: Ventura’s Post Office Bill still sells stamps after 55 years

When Bill Pendergrass, then 20 and sporting a mustache to look older, started working at a downtown Ventura post office, Richard Nixon had just been elected president. The Beatles were still together. Stamps cost 6 cents.

It was Nov. 30, 1968. More than 55 years later, everything has changed, except for the time capsule that is Pendergrass who is known to thousands across Ventura County. He is Post Office Bill.

Now 75, he still works as a clerk at the office on Santa Clara Street, selling Forever stamps by the roll and explaining the difference between registered and certified mail at a corner window decorated with pictures of San Francisco Giants.