This is to the Lee family, Bill Lee’s descendants. We are heartbroken by his passing April 5th 2021. We mourn his loss to his family and friends.
We here in Baywood / Los Osos feel his loss. The revitalization and beautification of Baywood. The Pier Walk the gardens in t he front and back of the Blue Heron. The music venues that these places turned into.
The Junefest and Bayfest in the back gardens and Monday at the pier starting at Coffee Shop at t he Baywood Pier t hen moving in front of t he Blue Heron. The Community Garden that helped many people i n our community, especially for the last 18 months, have fresh vegetables and fruit.
Since I came t o Los Osos/Baywood Park in 1992 the Coffee Shop at t he Baywood pier has been the place to be in the mornings. I personally have met many of my current friends at The Coffee Shop at the pier.
The members of The Baywood Navy “where we do not sail in water we can’t stand i n” started with Tim at t he Coffee Shop at the Baywood Pier.
Your father kept this Coffee Shop at the Baywood Pier tradition alive. The Merrimaker or marriagebreaker as the locals called it has been a part of this community since the 1940’s. Probably met more people here than at the coffee shop.
Whether stopping in for one after work for happy hour, or later dancing to the best local bands. It was where the locals went.
We laughed and cried at the events of the world together at the Merrimaker. We tried to fix t he local ones. We all had our opinions over the years but we are still friends, many to this day. The upgrade that your father brought was long needed (esp. the bathrooms). It continued to be the place to be in Baywood after dark.
We mourn the passing of Bill Lee, why do you ask?
The Coffee Shop at the Baywood Pier (Baywood Cafe) is not the same, not even close – we were friends with the baristas, we would walk in and they knew what kind of Cuppa Joe we wanted. The breakfasts, burritos, and muffins all made in front of us. Gone. We don’t even know if you’ll be open from day-to-day. The grounds are not swept, the tables on the sidewalk still piled up. No walk up counter, no friendly faces greeting us even before our first cup of coffee. No music playing. No Baywood Navy—most got a little older, but we can’t pass our knowledge on to those young sailors who needed to build a cardboard boat.
Gone is the Blue Heron. It has been many restaurants over the years. The Blue Heron transformation into a fine dining place was a work of art (I know it never made a dime) but other choices await.
Gone is the music, the many festivals, parties, special occasions. Zongo playing out in the back garden got all the locals dancing.
Gone is the Monday Beer at the Pier — just WOW. Seems like everyone came out to socialize with their neighbors and do a little dancing. It was a local gathering like no other around here. Music made Baywood go around. Gone
Gone is the Merrimaker with all its history, The laughs and cries of the years past – the memories. The music. If those jukeboxes could talk, of all the songs played! The friendships lost, the ones that could have been.
Shuttered since the pandemic but still closed. Why we ask? All his work in our little community that he loved, and the thought process that went into all his work, from his picks of flowers and bushes, his thoughts of the community garden.
Your dad did something to this little hamlet of Baywood. Not everyone was in sync with his way of thinking, the Coastal Commission for one, but he loved this community.
It brings tears to my eyes writing this for the memories I’ve had here, and the ones we are missing now because of your dad passing.
We wish you the best. He left you well off due to his hard work. His retirement just gave him more time to do his work here, in little Baywood, which he loved.
Only saw him in a suit a few times — a jeans and sneaker type of guy. Never passed any of us without saying hi and asking about us.
We need our coffee shop back, we need another choice of restaurants, we need to have a cocktail with our friend after a hard day or just to shoot the breeze for us retirees.
Please bring our little piece of this world back. We don’t know all the in’s and out’s of what your dad left you – but we see what he did for us in Baywood. Please, you have the resources to help your dad’s vision for this community, or know someone who will.
Please don’t let it slip away — everyday is a lost memory, lost meeting someone new, lost the smiles that we know and love.
Larry Sullivan
Los Osos