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As a climbing gear historian one of my biggest dreams was to be inside the Chouinard tin shed in Ventura CA. In Gods miraculous ways one thing suddenly lead to another and next thing you know I am the honored guest standing in the building of where the “Big Bang” of American climbing gear all began. Yes Ventura California at the original Chouinard Equipment tin shed, Great Pacific Iron Works, Patagonia Clothing company.
Terri Laine and Val Franco with the Patagonia Archives put together a incredible three day dream trip for me. On top of being wined and dined, I got the complete tour of every building on the Patagonia clothing property. My first impression of the many people I met during the tour is that everybody was genuinely happy and it was very noticeable! I want to someday work at the Patagonia Clothing Company so I can walk around smiling all of the time! Terri showed me all of the amazing displays she has put together for Patagonia over the years. She is quite talented! It really made me psyched to create more displays for my museum. Between the Patagonia Corporate tour and the tour of the Patagonia Archives and the dozens of hands I shook and the constant history all around me, I was totally spinning by the end of the night! And that was just the first six hours of my three days with them! |
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The next day the fun continued! Digging through the Archives and holding so many amazing company artifacts. The items I was most mesmerized with is all of the old Chouinard and Patagonia posters, company advertisements, promotional trinket items, signs, and so many pieces of clothing…..faint! Yes it was a lot to be within!!!! Then Terri took me to the Tin Shed. At first we took photos of us standing in front of the shed, and one of the requirements of the adventure trip is to take photos of the Phoenix Rock Gym banner at the location of the adventure. Yes I picked the Chouinard Tin Shed as that photo location. I was totally in awe standing at the big sliding door at the shed.
You can’t just “walk” into the shed. The first view you see is the entire shop just as it looks in the history books. It is so awesome that the shop was kept original, dirty and intact. As the Archives honored guest I was allowed to photograph and touch anything while in the shed. Terri and I were in there for probably an hour and many times I found myself tearing up from the experience. The old Chouinard factory photographs themselves gives the viewer a feeling of rich history. Now add the smell of the old shop, the feel of the hammer in your hand, knowing you are standing in the place where many historic climbing characters worked, but also called home.
You can’t just “walk” into the shed. The first view you see is the entire shop just as it looks in the history books. It is so awesome that the shop was kept original, dirty and intact. As the Archives honored guest I was allowed to photograph and touch anything while in the shed. Terri and I were in there for probably an hour and many times I found myself tearing up from the experience. The old Chouinard factory photographs themselves gives the viewer a feeling of rich history. Now add the smell of the old shop, the feel of the hammer in your hand, knowing you are standing in the place where many historic climbing characters worked, but also called home.
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