Page 20 - CMA PROfiles Spring 2020

FEATURED SHOP
GLENN POPE WOODWORKING

THE PURSUIT OF

happiness

by Carla Atkinson

Often you land in a particular career in a straightforward way: his plans and opened a solo woodworking shop in a different
You’re drawn to a certain kind of work, and you pursue it. location – the former lumberyard office downtown, which is now
And sometimes you land on what you love to do by running from the Calistoga police station.
what you don’t love. He began by repairing antiques – putting new spindles on chairs,
For Glenn Pope, sitting through college English classes helped etc. – and taking on small cabinetry jobs. When he needed to
push him toward a woodworking career. His distaste is so expand to a larger space, Pope found another unusual location:
memorable that it’s the first thing he mentions when asked how the hangar at the old Calistoga airport, where he shared an air
he landed in the industry. compressor with the airport business at first.

Pope’s realization that he didn’t want to follow the traditional In 1990, the business moved to a third, larger location on
college track led him to a cabinetry class at Laney, a community Washington Street in Calistoga. Pope built the 3,000-square-
college in his hometown of Oakland, California. His original plan foot shop with his current neighbor and fellow carpenter,
to get an associate’s degree in cabinetmaking didn’t work out, Wes Thollander, and another local, Steve Hawks, and the lease
but Pope says he got a solid background that served him well agreement he signed was written on a single sheet of legal paper.
when he went into business.
GROWING WISELY
“There has been a lot of ‘School of Hard Knocks’ learning, and As Pope built his business over the years, he got a California
that’s continuous, unfortunately,” he says with a laugh. “They’re cabinetry contractor’s license, added a few more employees
always coming up with new things.” and invested carefully in technology and machinery.

NAPA VALLEY ROOTS It’s easy to get swept away by the idea that business growth has
Pope and his wife, Cathy, were in their early 20s when Pope’s to be a literal thing — that true success is marked by a bigger
parents moved from Oakland to Calistoga, a historic town at the footprint, more employees, and more (and fancier) equipment.
top of the Napa Valley in California's wine country. Calistoga, But Glenn Pope Woodworking has thrived with 3,000 square
which can be reached only via two-lane roads, is known for its feet of working space and an employee head count in the single
wineries and hot springs. digits for the majority of its 44 years. The company currently
His parents connected Glenn and Cathy with a care-taking job has five employees, including Glenn and his son, Nathanael, who
in Calistoga that brought with it space for a shop, so the couple joined the business in 2013.
moved, too. While the care-taking job didn’t last too long and The shop is outfitted with great technology, but every invest-
the promised shop location fell through, Pope went ahead with ment made over time was based on need and common sense.

18 PROFILES SPRING 2020