Photograph by Robert Scheer
Tree surgeon Blair Glenn stays in shape by spending his time climbing trees.
By Mark Kregel
Some do it for the love of the outdoors, some for the therapeutic benefits and some out of a need for physical activity. In Saratoga, where commuting to white-collar desk jobs is the norm, there are a few who choose to work with their hands.
It wasn't always this way. Arborist Blair Glenn remembers a time when most people did manual labor.
"It's amazing how people have evolved in Saratoga and the differences in lifestyles," Glenn said. "Fifty years ago, this was all orchards. People primarily worked with their hands."
Whether it is the gardener who plants flowers, the plumber who unclogs pipes or an artist who creates stained glass, all of these craftsmen put their heart into their work.
Garden Harmony
Jack Tomlinson has kept the Hakone Gardens landscaped in the tradition of classical Japan for 20 years. A self-described student of Japanese gardening, Tomlinson loves his work and his specialization.
"I really thought that I should do something every day that I love to do rather than something that makes more money," Tomlinson said. "The garden at Hakone is one of the most beautiful in the Bay Area. I love being in this environment."
The Japanese garden, in its serenity and its beauty, creates what he feels is an excellent working environment. Every day, Tomlinson checks on the health of all of the plants, carefully prunes trees and makes sure the garden is balanced in appearance.
Special attention is given to the bamboo garden, which features many species of Japanese bamboo that need special attention to thrive.
To learn these methods, Tomlinson has had to acquire techniques from gardening experts in Kyoto, Japan. He has traveled to Kyoto to study during his tenure as gardener for Hakone.
"I loved the opportunity to go to Kyoto," he said. "Kyoto is the center for Japanese gardening. The tradition is most evolved there."
Tomlinson's entry into the gardening world was indirect. He earned a B.A. in liberal arts at UC-Santa Cruz in 1973.
Soon after, he went to work for the City of Saratoga Parks Department. He started at the Hakone Gardens as an assistant to Tanson Ishihara, the original gardener.
During his tenure as an assistant, Hakone Gardens established close relations with gardening societies in Kyoto, Japan. When Ishihara died in 1980, Tomlinson was highly recommended for the gardener position by members of the Japanese Bamboo Society.
Today Tomlinson is focused on keeping Hakone in traditional Japanese form. He has just planted a garden of green-tea plants, which will later be harvested to make tea.
"I try to harmonize with the strong theme of the Japanese garden," he said.
Glass Classics
Mike Felix's downtown shop, Saratoga Door and Window, displays an assortment of custom stained-glass windows and doors with decorative glass. He and his workers make all of these themselves.
Felix takes great care in his work, which can range from the cutting and assembly of a lead-framed stained-glass window to the precision sandblasting of details on a pane of glass.
"You have to be centered and focused," Felix said. "You can't be thinking of other things when you're doing this kind of work."
It is this attention to detail the craftsman loves about his work.
"It's very therapeutic," Felix said. "It's relaxing to do work with your hands."
Felix left the busy world of advertising and broadcasting to pursue his interest in stained glass.
"The advertising world was very time-demanding," Felix said. "Things never stopped, and I never had a chance to think about what I was doing."
He was drawn into the craft through a special on stained glass that he was producing through Encyclopaedia Britannica.
"I decided to make a window to understand more about it," said Felix. "I loved it, as I was working with my hands again, like I did when I was in high school."
The project with Encyclopaedia Britannica was scrapped, but Felix decided in 1976 to open a shop on Big Basin Way. Twenty years later, he's still in business. He has since moved to a new location on Saratoga-Los Gatos Road.
The craftsman does both European-style painted glass and American-style texturedglass in the tradition of C.L. Tiffany, who, in Felix's opinion, revolutionized the craft.
Tom's Plumbing
"I never planned on being a plumber," said Joe Clarke, the owner of Tom's Plumbing.
He initially entered the world of plumbing out of necessity. Clarke was a geology major at Fort Lewis College in Colorado and had run out of money.
Living 14 miles from school, he had to hitchhike to class as he couldn't afford gas. His brother, Tom, suggested he move back to Saratoga and work for him. Tom had started the company in 1980 and had asked Joe to help him with the company continually since it opened.
"I was tired of being broke," Clarke said. "So I told myself that I was going to try it out for four years so I would learn a trade. That way, I would always have something to fall back on."
Six years later, Joe bought the company from his brother and has owned it since.
"I never looked back and felt that I made a mistake," he said. "I like looking back and saying that I did a good job."
He said he enjoys plumbing mostly because he enjoys the outdoors.
"All of my hobbies are outdoor hobbies," Clarke said. "[Plumbing] gives you a chance to be outdoors quite a bit."
Clarke was born and raised in Saratoga and graduated from Saratoga High School in 1980. Despite his reluctance to pursue plumbing at first, he comes from a long line of plumbers. Both his father and grandfather were plumbers, as well as his brother.
Saratoga Tree Service
As an avid rock climber, Saratoga Tree Service owner Blair Glenn wanted to combine his activity with making a living.
"I knew I wanted to work outdoors and considered forestry," Glenn said, "but it seemed to be too much of a police operation."
So upon graduating from Branham High School in 1972, he went to work with partner Paul Risk and his mentor, Dick Taylor, doing tree maintenance.
The job seemed natural for him, as he often climbs up trees as he used to climb granite walls.
In 1975, Glenn decided to strike out on his own, creating Saratoga Tree Service. Since then, he says, he's never been happier.
"I have a love of nature and trees. Taking care of them seemed appropriate," Glenn said.
Keeping a tree healthy is a hard job, Glenn said. In a day, he scales the trunks of trees, cuts loose any dead branches and in some cases cuts down whole trees if they pose a danger.
Glenn said the highlight of his career so far has been his certification as an arborist in 1988. Being a certified arborist takes several years of studying all aspects of tree care.
"It moved me up the ladder to where I had more self-respect," Glenn said. "I stopped calling myself a 'tree man' and started calling myself an arborist."
In his 25 years of tree service, he has had some close calls. Glenn recalled one time when a crane dropped a three-ton log on him.
"At that point, I decided to call it a day and go home," Glenn said. "I broke some ribs, and didn't know about it for a couple of days.
"You definitely have to be a 'thrill junkie' to enjoy this line of work."
Of all of the aspects of his profession, Glenn enjoys the close contact with others the most.
Since starting his business, Glenn has done a lot of work for the city of Saratoga, including a pro bono project on the corner of Quito and Pollard roads.
His adopted "park," in reality a vacant lot, is an example of what he calls the natural state of Saratoga, as the large oak trees tower over a field of wildflowers and play area.
"By adopting this park, I hoped to instill into the community an appreciation of what Saratoga used to look like," Glenn said.
After 25 years, he says his work gives the kind of gratification that no other work could.
"I love my job, " Glenn affirmed. "People spend a lot of their lives at work. If you don't enjoy your life, it isn't worth it."
Kitchen Perfection
Showcase Kitchens owner Joe Pruss believes the nature of his business is problem-solving.
"A craftsman is a problem-solver," Pruss said. "This work requires thought."
Although much of the business has stayed the same over the years, he now uses computers to show his customers what their completed kitchen or bath will look like.
At age 21, Pruss and his wife decided to buy a rundown house in Livermore and remodel it. A San Jose State University student, Pruss was working at Standard Brands painting supplies to pay for school.
"I decided to take advantage of my employee's discount," he said.
He then turned a dilapidated house into an investment that eventually paid for itself and was their home for the next few years.
He received a degree in mechanical engineering at SJSU and went to work for Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. But, after his wife was transferred to Santa Clara, Pruss decided to go into business for himself. He moved to Saratoga and started Saratoga Construction Services.
The company did general construction, running through a whole gamut of projects. He later found his niche with kitchens and bathrooms.
"The kitchen is the most difficult room to remodel--everything possible is in it," Pruss said. "It's the challenge I like."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, March 12, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.