As Pleasanton residents pull out their holiday decorations, many have an ornament that is a little replica of the Pleasanton Arch, created by local artist Gary Winter. He also makes them as magnets.
"I've sold thousands of them," he said.
All his life, Gary's invented different art forms, including a spiral football, tubular furniture and jewelry. His nail art led him to meet President Reagan at his ranch in Southern California after he pounded out a Presidential Seal with more than 6,000 nails.
In 1995, Gary had the idea to create little versions of Pleasanton's charming old buildings and started on Main Street with Kolln Hardware and its distinctive cupola. He soon added other downtown landmarks including Dean's Café, Pleasanton Hotel, the old church on Neal Street, the gas station, Meadowlark Dairy and Museum on Main. Now he's replicated more than 120 structures.
Gary also does people's homes. Clients send him a photo and he makes a detailed 16- by 20-inch rendering using shadowing for a three-dimensional look. This he reduces and laminates onto wood.
I wrote a cover story about his endeavors called "The Man Behind the Miniatures" for the Pleasanton Weekly issue of Dec. 1, 2000. Pleased with the story, he came into the office one day with two miniature newspaper vans, 1-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches, and I still have mine on a bookshelf.
Gary, who will turn 75 on Dec. 27, was raised on his family's Sky Ranch in Castro Valley, then made Pleasanton his home. A few years ago, he relocated to Boulder City, Nevada, to live near his daughter Caterina, son-in-law Marc and granddaughter Elle, now 3-1/2 years old.
"This is the complete opposite of where I've lived all my life," Gary said the other day by phone. "I've lived amongst golden rolling hills and oak groves. Down here in the desert, I look out and it's nothing but red rock, massive ridges and mountains."
"I'm about 20 miles from Las Vegas, right at Hoover Dam. Boulder City is the city built for the people that built Hoover Dam," he added. "It's a cute little town, full of antique stores and stores with all kinds of knicky-knacky little stuff. It has about 16,000 people."
He lives downtown and just a mile from his daughter's family. The living room is his studio where he and Elle while away many hours creatively as only an artist and a toddler can do.
"It's not your typical living room," Gary said with a laugh. "It's my gallery, filled with 50 years of things grandpa has made, all the way up to his motorcycle, full-sized."
He created the wooden motorcycle as well as life-sized stick figures using two-by-fours when he had a workshop in the back of Richert Lumber on Sunol Boulevard.
Now while he sits at his drawing table, Elle works at a nearby little wooden table and will proudly hold up a creation and say, "Look, Grandpa." When he responds, "Wow, that's cool," her face lights up even more, he said.
When he first learned his daughter was pregnant he rejected the term "grandpa," he recalled, but has since changed his tune.
"My granddaughter can call me anything she wants," he said.
Gary is currently working on two miniature houses that people commissioned for Christmas gifts. He also creates miniatures for those who receive Pleasanton's Historic Preservation Awards each year. And he is working with Museum on Main board president Linda Garbarino for the museum gift shop to carry his miniatures. For now, Gourmet Works sells the Arch magnets and ornaments, which are also available at garyawinter.com.
In 2016-17 Gary began adding a heart to each Arch to remind people to think and act from the heart and to be positive. He created little gold heart pins and never leaves home without one.
Gary will be in town at Christmastime and is looking forward to hanging out on Main Street. If you don't know him, keep an eye out for a guy with a gray ponytail and wearing a tiny heart pin. Be sure to say hello.
Editor's note: Dolores Fox Ciardelli is Tri-Valley Life editor for the Pleasanton Weekly. Her column, "Valley Views," appears on the second and fourth Fridays of each month.
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