Ralph Garcia

In Memoriam
Ralph Garcia
July 28, 1929 - July 30, 2011
A lifetime resident of northern Calif., Ralph came to Santa Cruz in 1967 and made it his permanent home. Ralph loved life and everyone he came to know loved him also. One of my earliest memories of Ralph were his stories of his parents Mike and Pearl Garcie. His father loved to grow grapes and make wine, while Pearl loved to take their homes and make them beautiful show places. In his early years Ralph was a door to door milkman. I'm sure he was happy doing a job that in the 40's was so important and let him meet whole communities of familys and new friends.
During the '50s, he started raising his family and by the '60s he owned a local grocery store and his father grew grapes in his vineyards down the street. This was in a little town named Rutherford, it was in the heart of Napa Valley before the rest of us knew it was there.
I can remember his favorite vacation spot was Santa Cruz. He would make that his vacation destination for years until he moved his family here. Ralph moved his family to live on Depot Hill in Capitola. For awhile he spent his day fishing with his wife and enjoying the beach lifestyle. He eventually became owner of the Opal Cliffs Inn. It was a popular beer joint on Portola. He later tried his hand at real estate sales and also opened a hot dog stand across from Harbor High.
As a child, his folks would take him to a Hoffbrau in San Francisco where he could not wait to eat his favorite home-made hot dogs.
Ralph eventually landed on Capitola Rd and became a popular landlord that loved to fish and just take it easy. I believe some of his happiest years were just sitting on his patio and visiting the steady flow of friends that always knew they would be welcome.