Dyck's Masonry 1952- 1985

Now that I have your attention....
Dyck's Masonry was my fathers business based in Laguna Canyon.
As a teenager I was super embarrassed of my last name, and was always finding ways to hide that fact.
As an adult, I'm more than a little proud that our family name is behind some of the look and feel what makes Laguna Beach, Laguna.
Dad started his business in 1952, building our family home in Laguna Canyon in 1961.
He worked on countless custom homes, hotels, storefronts, built retaining walls, and even sidewalks...
If you have ever walked down Forest Ave, than you have seen my Dad's artistry (and walked on it).
My Dad pioneered the "Crazy Quilt" Brickwork technique that you see sprinkled around Laguna, namely, the Lumberyard shops & Restaurant, and the inlaid patches of stonework at the crosswalks along Forest Ave.
Dad also designed and layed all the brickwork in Peppertree lane, built Surf N' Sand Hotel, Vacation Village (now called the Pacific Edge Hotel), and did stone work at Ben Brown's.
Besides leaving his mark on Laguna, Dad did allot of work for the Marie Calendar's chain of restaurants all over Southern California, built the massive rock fireplace at the Rusty Pelican in Corona Del Mar and worked on the huge Pyramid shaped building near South Coast Plaza....I could go on, but the point I'm trying to make is that I am so PROUD of the legacy Dad has left our family.
Anyone who has ever appreciated the artistic beach-town feel of Laguna compared to other Coastal towns,  knows exactly what I mean!
Dad is 83 now, his memory comes & goes, his knees have worn out, and someday he'll be gone....but I know that I can always visit my hometown, walk down a street, and see him there ;)

Forest Avenue sidewalk

Lumberyard building, Forest Ave.

Peppertree Lane Fountain, Laguna Beach

Peppertree Lane

My Niece & I, and Tinkerbell circa 1983

Home Sweet Home, Laguna Canyon

Beach Boys 1972

That gorgeous boy eating out of my hand is my big brother Art....

It's my second Birthday and we are celebrating with cake in our backyard in Laguna Canyon.

I was lucky enough to be the "baby" in a family with 6 kids....lucky because I never had to share my things, and lucky because they all adored me (well, most of the time!).

I had 3 older brothers, and 2 sisters....my brothers were all tall, tan, surfer types with sun bleached hair and I spent a lot of time riding around on their shoulders...a great way to view the world when you're a little kid :)

It's no wonder I developed a deep appreciation for the California surfer boy.

I grew up at the beach, mostly Main Beach in Laguna, and sometimes Crescent Beach.

As a teenager I was pretty good at finding them to date, and ultimately married one from Corona Del-Mar.

The Canyon was a great place to grow up and I spent a lot of time exploring it with my brothers.

My Dad built our home in a stand of Oak trees on Stan Oaks Drive, and I lived there until I was 15.

Family hikes and horse back rides were common (we kept horses) and also adventures riding on the back of my brothers dirt-bikes, adventures because I usually ended up on my bum in a sage bush!!

I was a super odd kid, I think because my sibs were all so much older than me I spent a lot of my free time alone, building forts, reading in my treehouse, drawing, and writing stories for fun to entertain myself...this made me a bit awkward with kids my own age and prone to just being weird in general.

Family lore includes stories of me streaking through the house with underwear on my head to greet arriving company, also, I was fond of forcing male cousins and visitors to marry me in living room ceremonies in front of friends & family (you know who you are, and if you are reading this, I want Alimony!!).

Earliest memories include: watching my dog run around the yard while I sat on a warm blanket in the sun, scorching sand on the bottom of my little feet, being rolled in the cool surf on a hot day, the safety of my brothers shoulders....Thanks guys ;)

Home, is were I want to be...

Cool Treat on a Hot Day, 1970's style...

This morning I had an interesting conversation with my 10 year old about the cost of ice-cream, which got me all nostalgic for the ice cream of my youth...circa 1975
My hometown (Laguna Beach, CA) had two ice cream shops, Baskin Robin's & Swenson's.
Baskin Robin's was the better deal at 55 cents per scoop (square scoops!) and was by far the better deal....especially when my best friends Mom was working behind the counter...she would (almost) always give me a free single scoop of my fav mint & chip.
Swenson's had the bigger scoops at the outrageous price of $1...choc chip being my favorite there, as the had real miniature chips blended in (bubble gum was a close second).
When Dad was feeling cheap (or had more than a few kids with him), we would make a trip out of town to the nearest Thrifty Pharmacy for 35 cent (square) scoops of ice cream... unheard of now!! All 3 places had great ice cream...which makes me a little sad now that I have kids of own, why does ice cream cost so much?? seems like most ice cream shops sell only a specialized product at $3 per scoop or more....and doesn't taste near as good as it used to...outrageous! The only exception, in my opinion, is Gelato...a wonderful Italian ice cream of which I gladly shell out $3 and change for a single little scoop.

I go back to Laguna from time to time, sadly, both ice cream shops are long gone...but we did find a nice little Gelato shop at the end of Pepper Tree Lane (my Dad did all that brick-work), which I highly recommend to anyone who finds themselves in Laguna Beach on a hot day ;)