Victor Jaramillo has endured more than a dozen bee stings yet extracts honey from his hives without a protective suit. At 100 years old, the El Sereno resident in northeast Los Angeles runs a simple roadside stand selling his bees' products to loyal customers. His fearless approach stems from a lifetime with bees, offering lessons on their biology and the need to protect them amid environmental threats.
A Lifetime Devoted to Beekeeping
Jaramillo learned beekeeping at age 3 from his father and grandfather in Zacatecas, Mexico. He arrived in northern California in 1946 and later settled in El Sereno, where he opened his honey stand nearly five decades ago at 5236 S. Huntington Dr. The setup features a sign and metal table with jars of honey, royal jelly, and pollen; he operates Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. without social media promotion. Customers reach him via Metro Line 78 to the Huntington/Lifur stop, drawn from neighborhoods like Pasadena, Lincoln Heights, Alhambra, and Pomona.
The Hive's Inner Workings
Bees gather nectar in a specialized stomach, separate from their food stomach, then pass it mouth-to-mouth among workers, where enzymes create honey's consistency. They store it in wax-sealed honeycombs; a hive holds up to 60,000 bees this season. Worker bees, all female, labor until death after four months. Drones exist only to mate with the queen, who lays 1,500 to 2,000 eggs daily and lives up to five years. Jaramillo shares these details with his 15 children, calling the bees "like my daughters."
Harvesting Amid Challenges and Bee Protection
The family harvests up to 50 pounds of honey weekly, while monitoring for ants, wax moths, and providing vitamins or food during California's droughts when flowers dry up. Bees pollinate crops like nuts, fruits, and vegetables, which form nearly one-third of the human diet, per the National Institutes of Health. Global warming threatens them, making protection essential. Jaramillo warns against swatting bees, as their barbed stingers cause their own death within an hour. His daily honey intake, avoiding sugar, fuels his vigor; he survived COVID-19 and tumor surgery, using a cane he often sets aside.
