Farewell to Fort Sun Star-

Ex-Staffers Remember the Former Home of the Merced Sun Star

As of mid-May, only the sign in front of the former Sun Star building remained, as the building had been demolished and the debris had been moved to a landfill. Photo: Steve Newvine

In mid-May, the last dump trucks filled with debris from the former Merced Sun Star building pulled away from the G Street property.  

The building was constructed in 1971 and once housed the printing presses that produced the paper daily.

The building’s story began then as the paper's new home. A few years ago, when the paper consolidated operations to respond to changing readership patterns, it was sold to the City of Merced.  

Plans to build a police headquarters there never materialized. A fire linked to homeless camping inside made the building a safety hazard, forcing the demolition.

The structure served the paper's needs for five decades, but memories remain for the men and women who worked in the G Street headquarters.

“We used to call it the fish wrapper factory when I worked there,” said former Sun Star reporter Doane Yawger. Now in retirement, he writes for the Merced County Times. “After one of the general managers put a wrought iron fence around the perimeter of the building, some folks called it Fort Sun Star.”

One former reporter for the Sun Star recalled the story of when this wrought iron fence was installed, some staff members called the building Fort Sun Star. Photo: Steve Newvine

Nathan Quevedo’s first job out of college was on the Sun Star's copy desk. He was a Copy Editor and Features Writer before leaving for the Merced County Office of Education, where he is now the Communications and Public Relations Officer.

“In early May of 2004, we heard on the scanner that law enforcement had captured Tao Rivera, who would later be convicted of killing Merced Police Officer Stephan Gray. Sun-Star photographer Marci Stenberg waited outside the jail that evening to capture a photograph of Rivera. She happened to get him on the prison phone; that image would adorn the front page the next day.”

Nathan holds the distinction of actually yelling the words we’ve heard time after time in old movies that involve a newspaper going to press.

“Just after midnight, I went to the press room where the paper was published and yelled, ‘Stop the presses!’, so they could re-plate page A1 with the new picture. It was a surreal moment that doesn’t just happen in the movies!”

A handful of workers remained on site as what was left from the former Sun Star building was trucked away. Photo: Steve Newvine

Mike North, now the Public Information Officer for the County of Merced, worked at the Sun Star fifteen years ago, covering the areas of Livingston and Atwater.

”I’ll never forget rushing back to the newsroom after a late-night city council meeting and writing a deadline story at 10 PM while hearing the printing press firing up in the back.”

Mike shared how the building was full of energy in the early 2000s. “We still had the printing press, copy desk, and other departments such as advertising. And of course, Executive Editor Mike Tharp brought the most life (and life lessons) to the building.”

Changes in how we receive news led the Sun Star’s owner to sell the building to the City. The paper now publishes daily e-editions and serves those who prefer a paper copy with three mailed newspapers per week.  

So the memories remain, and the property at 3033 G Street will one day find a new purpose. A new company or an expanding business will start on the site, creating new jobs and hopefully new memories from the workplace.

And perhaps someday, employees in the new buildings that will occupy the site will devise a special name for their work home.

But for some, it will always be Fort Sun Star. -

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His books are available locally at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop, Bookish Modesto, 811 W Roseburg Avenue, in the Roseburg Square Shopping Center. Online, the book is on Amazon, BN, and at his publishing site Jack & Johnny (lulu.com) 

Steve thanks the former Sun Star reporters who participated in this column. He notes that Doane Yawger’s May 8, 2025, Guest Commentary on his years at the Sun Star is available at MercedCountyTimes.com 

Steve thanks the members of the Merced Rotary Club for their kindness at their May 14 meeting where he talked about his books. If your group is interested in having him speak, contact him at SteveNewvine@SBCGlobal.net