Longtime community supporter Gary “Goofy” Ryan is retiring from Goofy Graphics, the business he started in Morro Bay, and moving out of the area. Pictured are The Captain Clams: back row Bob Brooks, Dan Hayward, Forrest Robertson, Gary Ryan, and Mike Horton. Middle row: Danny Robertson. Front row: Tommy Reposa and Scott Mather. Photo courtesy of Scott Mather
Earlier this month several of us had the privilege to say “So long, thank you, don’t be a stranger, and good luck” to Gary “Goofy” Ryan, the longtime owner of Goofy Graphics at 925 Main Street in Morro Bay. Captain Annie, owner of Chablis Cruises hosted an impromptu retirement social.
Gary or Goofy, however, you may know him from the many hats he has worn in Morro Bay and throughout the United States informed us of the sad news that he and the love of his life, Diane, will be moving to Grass Valley soon, but the good news is Goofy Graphics will remain a downtown business operated by his daughter Gwen, who has been a full service operations partner in the business for years.
Gary’s parents and family started vacationing in Morro Bay in the 1920s and when it was time for Gary to settle somewhere he chose Morro Bay. In one of my past columns about Gary, he said, “I love the design challenges at Goofy Graphics and working with my daughter, Gwen. She runs the business and lets me go off and play.”
The joy that was felt at this gathering came from the many personal stories told by Gary and by other attendees who have known him and worked side-by-side with him over the years.
Most of us got to know Gary as a business owner that creates event posters and banners, as well as most of the storefront signage, including installation he has done himself throughout Morro Bay. Goofy Graphics has been a longtime member of the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce and regularly attends the Chamber Mixers. He has also been an official Captain for George Leage’s Tiger’s Folly, Captain Annie’s Chablis Cruises and Len & Midge Genteau’s Papagallo cruising yacht before they moved to the Carolinas. And he’s an airplane pilot and an original founder for the Estrella Warbirds Museum. He was also a member of the long ago Clam Taxi crew. For those not in the know, it was a 16-foot skiff that ferried folks back and forth to the Sandspit where they explored the closest, remote nature spot in SLO County, and dug in the sand for Pismo clams.
I, personally, always think of Gary as the nationally known amazing music man – a banjoist with greatness – living in Morro Bay running a sign-making shop during the week before heading out to perform and coordinate the performers for multiple jazz festivals all over the United States. He helped to create the instantly and ever-popular Monterey Jazz Festival and earned a coveted “Dixeyland Monterey Musician of the Year” while performing regularly with Ryan’s Raiders. He’s shared jazz festival stages with Louis Armstrong, Firehouse Five, Dukes of Dixeyland, etc. etc. In the 1960s-70s, he toured nationwide with Mike Vax’s Great American Jazz Band.
“There are Rolls Royce music festivals,” Ryan explained to me back in 2006. “Monterey, Sun Valley, Mammoth Lakes.” New Orleans was his favorite. And at these events Ryan was regularly asked to organize the talent and sit-in for All-Stars. For over 60 years Ryan played 30 festivals a year but eventually chose to stay closer to home accepting only one or two jazz festival invitations annually. Meanwhile if he had the time, he would perform for local benefits, including the first Rock the Waterfront for the Morro Bay Maritime Museum.
Morro Bay has been blessed to have his time, expertise, organizational and business and creative skills plus his musical talents and friends. He often extended invitations to his jazz friends to perform here. I recall an event at the Inn at Morro Bay where several northern California banjo-greats would entertain on Amtrak then performed free at the Inn for the joy of hearing banjo sets. Of course, the tip jars were overflowing!
Indeed, I am a fan! In fact, Gary literally designed, promoted and produced the first music festival my husband and I attended in SLO County. His intent was to demonstrate how a jazz festival might grow into something much bigger for Morro Bay’s citywide benefit. “Why not Morro Bay,” were his thoughts as he performed at other jazz festivals? He invited jazz musicians he had worked with to perform at three downtown Morro Bay venues, including Coalesce’s Chapel, St. Timothy’s Hall and at what is now the Siren. The musicians would perform a rollicking set and then the audience could either stay for another set or move on to enjoy another group. Of course, adult beverages and dancing were available. It is still my favorite festival offering I’ve ever attended in Morro Bay.
Once I began writing for what was then called the The Bay News, I interviewed Gary and asked why he didn’t keep it going. Simple answer was he needed help. He was the music man and talent provider, not the event planner to coordinate a festival. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, but we didn’t bite to allow it to move forward.
Although on a tight deadline, I reached out to a couple people who told Gary “Goofy” Ryan stories at Monday’s retirement social. Kathleen Ruddell, owner of Ruddell’s Smokehouse of Cayucos, demonstrated Gary’s human-side and love for his friends and community. She said he literally got her through the loss of her husband, Jim, always there even long into the night on the telephone to console her sadness. Gary was always a shoulder to cry, a friend to tell stories with, a business owner to help newcomers navigate the city’s systems.
Scott Mather, formerly with the Morro Bay Harbor Department and president of the board of directors for the Morro Bay Maritime Museum, provided his favorite “Goofy” story — Gary’s “Magical Pelicans on Buoy 8.” Captain Gary was piloting the Tiger’s Folly around the bay when they cruised up to “thousands of birds, so many it blocked out the sunlight.” Gary paused the boat, picked up his banjo and “they magically flew across the bow as he played The Flight of the Bumblebees. Gary would add… “There was this one passenger crowding the front deck who annoyed many during the cruise. He was dressed to the hilt in his white leisure suit. The birds chose to leave him a gift as they flew over. He expected me to pay his cleaning bill!” Captain Gary is still laughing about it.
Scott wrote about another time: “Gary also would make up add-ons jokes to some historical narrations as he piloted the Folly during bay cruises. His Goofy humor added to the price of their boarding passes but were not always politically correct by today’s standards. One he included that demonstrated his humorous Goofyism was about the Morro Bay Painter Birds. “These birds have the city contract to keep the northwest side of the rock painted white as a navigational aid for mariners at sea.”
Speaking for so many of us who love and respect Gary “Goofy” Ryan, Scott probably said it best, “The most important contribution Gary made was giving Morro Bay a sense of community and a sense of place. You could always count on Gary to be there, to be uplifting and to make your day just a little bit better. Morro Bay is losing an icon. We wish him well on the next chapter of his life. Gary will be missed by all!”
