Article about Gryphon Strings and the housing market in Bay Area

[Jill McAuley]

Interesting, and slightly depressing article about how the insane SF Bay Area housing market affects small businesses such as Gryphon Strings - no specific mandolin content (apologies) but certainly relevant to any Bay Area mandolin folks as we're lucky to have them (and Sylvan Music, and Schoenberg Guitars) on our doorstep for mandolins, repairs etc.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/...usinesses-lose

[Br1ck]

I've had a long term relationship with Gryphon for decades, and I can certainly see the changes it has gone through as a business, established as it is, and my relationship as a customer has changed too, in the world of Internet sales.

As a consumer, I've always prided myself in being willing to pay for the fine service businesses like Gryphon provide, but now I'm retired, it becomes harder and harder.

Say for instance, I want a Collings MT. Now Collings has spent decades developing a reputation for consistency. I'd feel comfortable with one from pretty much anywhere. I have no problem paying a bit more to buy from Gryphon. Their overhead and quality of service as well as selection warrant it. But then I have to pay 8 3/4% tax on top of that. Now I'm not having money coming in like I used to, that is a chunk of change.
I can have an MT delivered from multiple places and save a ton. What I won't do is go play one at Gryphon to see if I like it then shop the net.Won't go there
The employee issue is nothing new in the Bay Area, but Gryphon also benefits from the insane wealth in the area, wealth that buys all those $5000 plus instruments hanging on the wall.

[Jack Roberts]

I saw the article. Gryphon is one of the best. Whenever I visited my Aunt in Palo Alto I would pull into Gryphon for music, Keeble and Shuchat for cameras, and Beltramos for wine. (Beltramos is gone now.)

[CWRoyds]

I visited Gryphon recently.
Great store, and they were VERY nice and helpful.
Sad they are having such a hard time up there.

I am actually supposed to move up to the Bay area soon.
It is rather frightening, as there really is nothing anywhere in the area that we can afford.
My partner is already up there and is currently renting a small room in a house with three other grown men.
None of them can afford to live in a private apartment or house.
They live in Mill Valley, which is pretty pricey, but it is beautiful and close to San Francisco.
I have searched, but I end up getting farther and farther out in the boonies before anything is even possible.
I went up there recently and we drove around looking at areas we could afford, and we simply said "No way I'm living here".

Life is too short to spend 1.5-2 hours in a car getting to work.
That means about 3-4 hours of your day is spent in the car.
That is nuts.
Something has to change, as the only people who will be able to afford to live there are tech millionaires.
Who are they going to get to do all the things a city needs to thrive.
Maybe there will just be a huge exodus of regular people from the area, and everything will go down the drain.
Then there will be a HUGE correction in real estate, rents, etc.
Maybe then regular folks will trickle back.

It is a little scary, as I have to sell my nice house in Los Angeles, and go rent a shoebox up there.
I have to go up soon, as I don't have a choice.
I am just not looking forward to it at all.

[BrianWilliam]

Hyper loop and self driving cars will solve the commute. Housing in desirable places will never be affordable.

[Jill McAuley]

I'm one of those displaced former San Francisco residents now engaging in a commute that varies from 90min each way (if I'm lucky), all the way up to 3.5 hrs each way if I'm unlucky. Mandolin content: all this commuting is eating into my mandolin playing time!

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

When we left the Bay Area back in '05, we thought prices were already too high; little did we know that now those prices are practically a bargain. Over the years we kept thinking we would eventually move back, but unless we win the lottery, it's just not in the cards for us. Or maybe the leaning Millenium Tower would eventually have a fire sale and let us mortals move in for a couple years before they tear it down

As for Gryphon - I definitely understand and can sympathize, but the trouble extends far beyond the store. Think of all the teachers, city workers, childcare workers, firefigthers and police personnels - all of whom aren't making those Google wages. How far do they have to commute to be able to work and serve their community? Like everyone said - it's just not sustainable.

[Folkmusician.com]

This hits close to home for me. I really feel for Gryphon. It is a crazy situation where you make 6 figures and need roommates to survive! Even if you can make a comfortable income, the quality of life really suffers when you have those terrible commutes.

I was born in Santa Cruz, CA. My Grandma owned a dress shop and did ok, my parents were artists and did ok. A good portion of my extended family lived throughout the area (from the Bay Area, down through Carmel). Now, just about everyone has relocated. Either forced, or tempted by the sale price of their homes.

It is a great area though, and apparently there is no shortage of people willing to pay the price to live there. Even at the low income brackets, people are suffering miserable living conditions and struggle to be in the Bay Area. As long as they are willing, I don't see an end in sight.

[mandroid]

I moved out of the Bay Area Long ago, only came back,(Napa) briefly, when I had Each of my Parents Memorials to attend.

[JAK]

Social Darwinism.

[Marcus CA]

The employee issue is nothing new in the Bay Area, but Gryphon also benefits from the insane wealth in the area, wealth that buys all those $5000 plus instruments hanging on the wall.

The article was interesting in that it was one of the few that didn't talk about small businesses unable to generate the sales necessary to keep the doors open in the internet age.

I would bet that Gryphon also benefits from the insane wealth outside of the Bay Area, as well, unless with local tech wealth consistently comes the desire for yet another high-end mandolin, guitar, or banjo. I would guess that Gryphon's prices are fairly competitive with most online music stores, and they give free shipping on new instruments.

[mandroid]

Becoming more of a Tourist town, Restaurants are short staffed, Here,

because of the few Rental Vacancies and market-rate Rent costs.

Un Affordable in a Minimum Wage + (Taxed) Tips economy.

[tiltman]

Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

Woody Guthrie wrote about this some time ago...
Not a new problem but an interesting slant on an existing problem.
We're seeing the same thing, to a lesser degree (knock on wood), in Portlandia.

Kirk
Portland, OR

[tiltman]

We're seeing the same thing, to a lesser degree (knock on wood), in Portlandia.

Ironically, we usually blame it on the escaping Californians...



Kirk

[Folkmusician.com]

Kirk,

I was just up in Portland and was shocked at how expensive it is getting. I guess Salem and Eugene are the #1 and #3 fastest growing real estate markets in the US right now. Unfortunately, Reno is #2 and it is getting crazy here as well! Wages haven't quite caught up yet, but it has to happen here as well... Too many people flooding in and not enough housing to go around.

[J.Albert]

BrianWilliam wrote above:
"Housing in desirable places will never be affordable..."

I reckon that depends upon what one's definition of "desirable places" is...

[dhergert]

Yup, close to home...

In the 70s and 80s my wife and I lived in a college community in the hills above St. Helena, about 70 miles north of San Francisco... Beautiful, idyllic. Wonderful memories. For a few years I commuted 45 minutes to music stores in Napa and around the Napa Valley to teach banjo and a little bit of mando, repair fretted instruments and perform. Then I got a job in healthcare and while there, started building a career in computer programming and analysis.

For very special occasions we would drive two hours down to Berkeley and San Francisco and visit the 5th String and other music spots. And we'd eat at Paprika Fono in Ghirardelli Square, visit Muir Woods and do other tourist trips. I never made it down to Gryphon while we lived in Northern California, but I did make it to a number of bluegrass and jazz concerts at Stanford, and we did go to the Grass Valley festival a few times.

Back in the hills above St. Helena, we were renting a converted garage at first, and a little later rented a small guest house, but it didn't take long for us to realize that we would never be able to own property there. And more, as close as we were to Silicone Valley, there wasn't anything in the Napa Valley or even further into Vallejo for either of us to solidify our careers... And to commute to the San Francisco area was unimaginable.

With this in mind, we made a big map jump down to a fairly rural community in southern California where we both have expanded and grown our careers. And we've expanded our music also. For the first years while down here, I had dreams of once again living in the hills above St. Helena, but realistically, it will never happen again. Costs are way, way too high up there now.

Sooo, for now we just have to endure and put up with owning a rural, modest 3 bedroom home, raising a family in it and commuting 5 minutes to work in our chosen careers every weekday morning. For the weekends, it's really tough living an hour away from Palm Springs, from the green mountain forests and from the beaches and tide pools. And when we do retire in a few years, we realize that we will just have to spend large amounts of our time driving our motorhome around to various jazz and bluegrass festivals around the country, jamming and visiting music stores all day long.

It's been tough and the prospects for the future are challenging, but somehow we've learned to live with the situation.

I am sympathetic to people who struggle to stay in expensive cities... And I have nothing but respect for the iconic Gryphon Strings, that musical oasis in a desert of inner city clamor, the previous source of my well-loved F9, and where I have since visited and met Frank while Richard was out of town... And I really hope they can find ways to keep their staff.

But sometimes people just have to decide what they want most in life.



-- Don