Who are you and what do you do?
I am Larry Allphin. My claim to fame is that I am the 3rd generation, owner, operator, of a family business that was started in 1923. So my Grandfather started our store in 1923 up in Oakland on Foothill Boulevard just off of Seminary Avenue . But event before that, before my grandfather opened the store, he and his brother had a business in Greybull Wyoming my grandfathers brother Owen had taken a correspondence course in how to grind lenses so he was like the precursor to an optometrist. They had a little shop in Greybull Wyoming my grandfather did watch repair he did a course on how to fix watches. and they also made caskets on the side . Greybull Wyoming is microscopically small, but it was a railroad stop so when grandpa did move to California, because of his knowledge and familiarity of railroad, he was able to get a Southern Pacific watch inspectors franchise. At that time if was a big freakin deal , there was no wireless communication so you had to have a watch that was keeping accurate time if you are working on tracks and its 5 minutes to 10 and the train is coming through at 10 you had to get you, and your crew off of there. So the company actually paid to have your watches maintained if you were an engineer or a master conductor it was a built-in clientele for my grandfather. That was a game changer in his life.
As Larry talks he continues to work on a project
So this is Boric Acid that is suspended in Alcohol, and when it heats up and the oxygen gets to the metal its what causes the metal to turn dark and ugly , with this stuff on here it lessens the firescale that occurs during the soldering process.
So a lot of history in the family, my grandfather after his service during world war 2 joined the firm, he went to a watchmaking school that was part of an adult education program in San Francisco, thats where he learnt to become a watchmaker and he ran the firm .
As you can see it was sparse with little inventory but nothing dramatic. Grandpa always did do retail sales of jewelry and at that time there were districts in Oakland. The Diamond district, the Seminary District, Lake Merritt and all that stuff. Very rarely did people go too much out of their district, unless they were going downtown Oakland for big entertainment he had a built-in clientele which was good for him. As a store we have always sold fine jewelry, precious gems and all that stuff. He always focused on service as well which is a good thing for him because in the depression although business was dramatically impacted, nobody was buying new stuff,, because he fixed stuff he was able to keep a little food on the table which is cool.
Were you working for the family, when did you start working?
That's interesting, I started by cleaning the glass for my father . I went to school here in San Leandro, I went to Roosevelt Elementary and Bancroft Jr High, Not middle school. The San Leandro high school. I would get off school when I was going to Bancroft I would take the AC transit bus down to my father shop and I would clean the glass and sweep the floor, get into trouble, so I have always been involved with it. My actual money earning career I was working for Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream when they had a manufacturing facility on College Avenue in Oakland and I was in there production department making ice cream, I drove a forklift for a while I got married and had a kid. As soon as I had a kid my father was concerned about my long range potential I guess (laughs) He said why don’t you come and join the business, that was the beginning of a great opportunity for me because I had the chance to apprentice with a retired goldsmith who worked for Shreves in San Francisco and lived here in San Leandro I got to take advantage of his knowledge, that was a fun thing to do. My father actually fired me twice which in retrospect was kind of cool, at the time not so much. Finally I joined the firm in earnest and used my goldsmithing skills, he was a watchmaker, I was the goldsmith and we had things covered.
Larry Continues to work
So what I am doing here is I have a clients engagement ring and wedding ring , when you wear them they rub each other and wears them out. If they are always going to be wearing those rings together we solder them together at the base. I heated it up and added gold solder. The wearing has stopped, they don't shift, they stay at the top.
When I started working for my Dad as an employee his shop was at 1336 East 14th, it actually a dog grooming salon now next to Tequila Grill, right next to Dr Flores, all part of the Best Building. I think dad opened that shop in 1974 after he moved from Oakland after my grandfather passed away. We were there for a long time and then had the opportunity to move over to Pelton Plaza, it was Pelton Center at the time. We were there for 12 years , then my Dad passed . The space next to me on Parrot opened, we were there for a while and finally when this little corner location (which was a flower shop) opened I asked my landlord if I could move in here . He was really gracious, he is an awesome guy and said sure. I got my smaller spot, perfectly located. I entend to be here until such a time as I actually retire. I want to take Alphion Jewelers to its 100th birthday.
You are quite the party thrower so I am sure it will be quite a shindig
I better start saving now
What do you love about San Leandro?
What I really love about San Leandro is probably a direct reflection the fact that I have been here so long, I like the roots, I like the familiarity, people in San Leandro tend to be community engaged, I like the fact the they are active and very supportive, my customer base is so nice. It’s corny and cliche but I do feel that most of the people that come in my shop are my friends. I think San Leandro is a great bicycle town, during the warmer month I actually commute to work on my bike. Right now it is a little too cold for me. I do believe that the public schools in San Leandro are excellent, my kids went to school in San Leandro for a while, a couple of the teachers that taught my kids are still my clients today, now my kids are all grown up. I also like San Leandro because of its proximity to other cities, as much as I like San Leandro, its really easy to go to Berkeley or jump on the freeway and go down to San Jose to a Sharks game. San Leandro’s a great town. Its in the slow process of reinventing itself even in the last 5 years I have seen some tremendous things happening and some way cool things happening in the near future with the Tech Campus. And from a selfish standpoint I am hoping all the people from the Tech Campus will find their way to downtown San Leandro (laughs) It’s 4 whole blocks, and my location next to the Englander is a good opportunity for people to at least notice me, I refer to myself as a barnacle on the hull of the Englander commerce. I so get a lot of casual walk in clients looking for lunch or beer.
San Leandro is a relatively safe town, we do have our challenges , SLPD is awesome, they are very good at what they do, they are engaged with the community, I think they really honestly care about their jobs. I’m saddened that sometime we have critics about our police department, the police department should have critics, but its also a challenging job to perform. I am a fan. I am elated at our elected officials, I’ve know Pauline for a long time, infact our kids went to Broadmoor Preschool program. The future I think is good, I like the Village Marketplace, I like the Habit Burger and Peets. Looking forward to Chipotle opening. In my view Chipotle is no competition to Los Pericos, they are two different versions of a themed food. I don’t see the big guys coming in and squeezing out all the little guys, because the little guys are doing a great job. If they are on the bubble we will try and support them any way we can.
A lot of people think I am the San Leandro Downtown Association and we are in charge of the market. We are not, we are volunteers to staff the information booth, because of my proximity to the market I volunteer to store the tables and the chairs and provide the electricity for the music, I volunteer to book the music for the market so I am kind of, in a good way, held hostage on Wednesdays during market season… which I like. At first when the market came I would sit here in the shop and stay open till 8 o'clock and drum my fingers on the counter and wait for people to come in as an economical development tool and I found that was not working. I decided to close at my regular 5 o'clock and volunteer in the information booth from 5 till 8. I get way more business referrals , I don’t wear the Allphin Jewelers shirt, or hat or buttons. But people say oh hi Larry, how are you doing, Oh I have got to get my watch battery replaced or a ring resized. Its a stealth way of marketing Allphin Jewelers and its fun, I love the market people, there are regulars. Peggy Collet who is the first shift volunteer who has been doing it longer than me is awesome. She has her customers I've got my Customers (people who attend the market). I like the market I am grateful that the City and PCFMA give us the opportunity to give input on the market . We will meet with PCFMA and the City and Patricia Minnis, Angle Sweet and we are going to try and make it even better. I am guessing the market is going to open the last Wednesday of March or the first Wednesday in April , It usually runs through October. Really looking forward to it coming back.
You talked about the Music and the acts here, you are also involved with another music based event with the Downtown Association.
Yes my secret passion , Sausage and Suds. I was involved with the very first Sausage and Suds committee , I am not going to take any credit for thinking it up, because I didn’t. It was actually 2 people , a gal named Nancy Cline , she was an economic development coordinator for the City of San Leandro and another gal named Rosie Rios ,
Whip out your wallet and check your dollar bills , It’s Rosie's signature as the treasurer that gets to sign all those bills , I doubt she signs them personally, but I have my little bill with Rosie with her real signature on top. She was instrumental in getting out first locally recognizable music act named Lenny Williams who played for Tower Power . I really like that , it's a tremendous amount of work but together by a whole bunch of volunteers that put crazy amounts of hours into doing it . When I am at the event and the people are there and having a really good time I really really feel grateful that I was a part of it.
When I came this year I was blown away, great event. You act as such a great MC, it seems so natural to you.
After 14 years I am sort of getting OK at it (Laughs) The millennials might say who is that old guy up there, but its fun watching the acts and enjoying the day and seeing everyone having a good time. Plus it makes money for the Downtown Association (beer sales). We take that money and invest it in events that don’t make money, we finance Bike SL and It’s a Wonderful Night, its good stuff.
Talk a little about the Downtown Association
I got involved in the Downtown Association, I was conscripted/seduced by Ken Pon. Ken and I used to get up on Sunday mornings and go to the first incarnation of the farmers market, it was held at the San Leandro Library parking lot. It was not successful, there was another farmers market in Pelton Plaza That was not long range successful. It appealed to me for a number of reasons. Number one is I felt the big association for businesses was catering to big small business, not micro small business. I consider myself as micro as you can get. They cated for industrial and corporate stuff, and that is good, those people need an organization, but I found that the downtown Association could help micro Business people and people who wanted to get involved to market their business in a stealthful way, by volunteering and getting their names out there. It’s a fun organization , we don’t have a political wing, you won’t find us as a group endorsing candidates. We do like to make our voice heard on what might be good for the City, Thankfully the City is aware of that and will often come to us and say can we do a presentation on say the Village, here are some architectural renderings, check it out, give us some feedback and that process was great. Did it turn out exactly how we would have like to have had it? No, but we had input . They use us as a sounding board.
The meetings are on the 4 friday of the month, you often have SLDP there and they give a little report
Yes, the two things we like to have at the meeting. Number one is we like to have the police there, not that we want to hear about all the bad things what we like to hear how we can proactively insulate ourselves from crime trends. Don’t leave your iPhone on the seat of your car, Basic stuff, but when a police officer is telling you that its compelling. The other thing we usually have is someone from the economic development department from the City so people can raise their hands and say. I’ve heard (and this is True) that X is going to be opening at the village market place, which was not actually true. It is nice to have someone from the City to ask the questions to, usually Jeff Kaye, a wonderful guy.
This year there was the creation of the central Business district, I know you had some involvement with the process.
I was involved with that, the process is know as creating a community benefits district, the official name of the organisation was The San Leandro Improvement Association. Property owners are paying into this to create additional, not replacing city services, but creating additional services to keep downtown clean and safe, there is a map, goes from Bart to east 14th, maybe a block in. Its a weird map, doesn’t apply if its a residential property, all commercial stuff. Those funds give a consistent, dependable source of income for steam cleaning of sidewalks for trash and litter removal on east 14th street, cleaning up the little plaza and things like Joaquin Plaza because of the drought the fountain is off and the tile looks kind of funky so they are talking about getting that tile so it looks nice until such a time that we can put the water back on. Some district identity, street banners I have heard that there is a concept of replacing our really old plastic trash cans with something that is a little more relevant and sturdy.
I was the interim president of that organisation during the formation I am no longer the president but I am on their board of directors, I think it is a great idea and there is some good people who are steering that to benefit downtown.
I have noticed a difference in how clean downtown is
Some people seem to be very interested in the Stepping Stones organization and I know there has been outreach. We would like to bring stepping Stones back because its a win win, developmentally disabled adults doing some really important work downtown. I think we are trying to expand their role. No contacts have been signed, but I am very confident that we will come to an agreement with them get those individuals back out doing their job
Any Parting words?
As a micro business person I am acutely aware of the adverse impact that big box retailers and Amazon has on our community. You have to understand that Amazon kills micro retail. Amazon is really convenient and I will own up to it, I do use amazon, its because you can no longer get products locally because the big boxes took care of wiping out all the small retailers. I can’t turn the clock back, I can’t stem the tide, Its crazy easy to sit at the computer and say “oh Yeah, Click here I am going to get it tomorrow or the next day. It dramatically impacts small retailers. So be judicious about your amazon usage. Older people like me complain that I remember when we had Fabric Lane and Pennies and all the stores downtown, Blasedales Office supplies. The reality is that the community votes with their pocketbooks and that why those people are not here anymore. You can’t make a living if everyone is going to the big boxes and Amazon , its a challange. For me I am really lucky, I do lots and lots of service and jewelry is a trust issue. By the same token after Christmas I sized dozens and dozens of watches that were bought online because you can’t get your watchband sized online. but thats ok, in a perfect world I wish they has brought them from local merchants, or even local big boxes . The money goes back in the community. You spend local 60% of the money is going to stay in the community, spend at a big box it is something like 40%, you shop on amazon it’s 0%.
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I have brought watches to replace batteries, brought my wifes ring to replace diamonds. I wanted to add this story, I came in with my wife, she had Jewel to set. Larry was very honest and realised he wasn’t the person for the job, he gave me contact information for another craftsman . It always feels like you have the clients interest at heart. As someone coming into your store I so appreciate that honesty, someone who is not going to bodge it to make a couple of dollars. Come see Larry, he will look after you.
Sometimes it seems I spend half of my day sending people elsewhere (laughs) The people I refer people to in my opinion are quality people that do a good job. In your case the guy I sent you to is a old school guy like me. In my next life I want to be as good a stone setter as he is. Denis Quang over in Alameda on Park Street.
As a client, having a store like yours is amazing, to still have that service, and we have it Downtown in San Leandro, so thank you.
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