Longtime customers of Altadena Hardware, 849 E. Mariposa, will see the return of a familiar face: Don Thomas.  Thomas, whose family has run the shop for 80+ years, retired, sold the store, and with his sister and co-owner Shirley Harrington, moved to Washington State at the end of 2008.

But Thomas said things were not working out under the new ownership, and the store returned to Thomas family control in September, 2009.

Thomas said he's restocked some inventory and cleaned up the store debt, including reinvesting some of his own money into it, but "it's a real, real  challenge, and I'm not there yet  … it's coming along, it's looking promising."

Because Thomas lives in Washington state and has interests there, he can only come to the store every six weeks.  However, the longtime staff remains to run the store on a daily basis, including manager Eleanor Montes, a 15-year veteran.