It’s hard to say when Pat Baron “got bit” by the ukulele. He picked up a $12 dollar “object” ukulele, meant only for looks, about 10 years ago and has been playing ever since.
Baron says showing newbies the tiny instrument’s big possibilities in his ukulele shop is what got him hooked. “One of the things that’s almost magic is when people come and say they’ve never played anything, and I’ll teach them a couple of chords,” says Baron, owner of Ukuleles of Felton, one of the very few ukulele shops in Northern California. “Music is a primal thing. Hearing music can drive you to tears or make you happy.”
Since opening his store in November, Baron spends his days keeping up shop: to maintain inventory he orders a box of 26 low-priced ukuleles every few weeks. The walls inside the place are line with ukes, Hawaiian shirts, tikis, music books and ukulele paraphernalia, among other things.
Known as the Tiki King for his fondness for Hawaiian statuary, Baron built his first ukulele in 2001 with the help of local luthier Tony Graziano and others. He has since made about 15 (each one takes about 30 hours). Now he also makes graphic designs for ukulele bodies that are sold to thousands and has several solo CDs (plus one with his band, The Idol Pleasures), plus a personal collection of about 45 ukuleles.
“My wife likes to say that ukuleles are the puppies of the music world—they’re cute, friendly and happy,” Baron says.
The Tiki King writes ukulele songs for those to whom he’s closest: at his mother’s request he composed two songs for her funeral.
“She said, ‘Play it for me,’” Baron recalls. “And I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can.’ How do you write a song for someone who is dead and play it while they are alive? But she loved it. My mother was an artist. Her feeling was that you may never be rich if you do art, but you will be pretty happy.”
THE TIKI KING UKULELES OF FELTON
9235 Hwy 9, Felton. 831.704.7027
Open daily
