The founder of the world-famous Santa Cruz Guitar Company talks about the beauty of Mt. Madonna, the bizarre circumstances that brought him to Santa Cruz and the dawning realization that he’s not going to play for the Yankees.
What do you do for a living?
I make guitars at Santa Cruz Guitar Company and help people understand them.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing that?
I just recently came to terms with the fact that I won’t be playing professional baseball on this go-round. That leaves my love for writing and travel and finding things. There may be some possibilities there.
What do you do in your free time?
I live on Mt. Madonna. I can’t get enough of the natural beauty and peace of mind there. My work is in Santa Cruz so in my spare time I commute. In my truly free time, I travel internationally in pursuit of responsibly acquired woods and advancing my craft.
What brought you to Santa Cruz?
I won a trip to the boardwalk selling subscriptions to the Fresno Bee when I was 9. I decided, on the spot, that I’d live here as soon as I got the chance. I got caught the first three times and was sent home. After a communard sojourn in New Mexico I was on my way to a real cowboy job in Montana when I met my sweetheart on her way from Manhattan to an art director job in Berkeley. We split the difference and moved to Santa Cruz. I can go anywhere in the world and never be disappointed to come back home.
What’s your favorite street?
In town? Peyton Street; one way, in the middle of town, walking distance to the hot spots. It was isolated and serene in 1973. I spent my wonder years there in a little shop learning guitar making.
Name something you’re excited about.
Checking my relevance. The simple moral compass stuff is timeless, though everything else is changing at an ever-increasing rate and there is no time to hang on to paradigms from my past just because they used to be relevant.
Name a pet peeve.
Selfishness, mine.
What are you reading?
Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb, a detailed account of the climax of WWII in the Pacific, and also The Jodo Shinshu Service Book of Shinjuku Faith, which illuminates the other side of the human experience.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the last three years?
That ordinary is a desirable state of mind.
Recent personal food trend?
I love to cook and I have a short attention span, so for the next eight minutes I’m stuck on pimento ahumado, chipotle and chocolate in and on anything.
