...a brief history of the gallery

Nature Gallery is a story of a hobby that turned into a business. Neither my mother nor I had degees in geology….but we did love rocks and crystals. After a bout with cancer my mom (Norma) moved to San Luis Obispo to get out of the Los Angeles rat race. She looked for a crystal for her new house near Cal Poly University and found that there was not a single store in town that carried crystals. She was dismayed…and told her friend Marcia that she couldn’t believe that she moved to a town where you couldn’t even find a crystal! Her friend said, ‘Well…you’ll have to meet Ron, he's the guy in town to talk to about that stuff”. Norma met Ron and told him the story of not being able to find a crystal, and Ron said mysteriously, “Norma, you are going to open a Crystal store in San Luis Obispo.” Norma thought this was ridiculous since she had no money for stock, and besides there were no stores available for rent at the time. Ron insisted that she go back to check it out further. Norma went back to San Luis Obispo and went directly to the prime real estate office in San Luis, across from the Mission Plaza. She explained that she knew that there were no stores available for rent, but if anyone heard of something she would like to be contacted. The man in the office said “My name is Tom Coull and I own this real estate office and this building for that matter, and I’m just about to kick out Terrible Bob’s Earrings a few doors away. I was talking with someone who wanted to lease it for a childrens clothing store….what did you say you wanted to do? Crystals? That sounds great." Norma's new friend Ron consigned merchandise and jewelry for the store and taught us everything that he knew. Before long there was enough extra money to go out and buy our own goods. The gallery would never have gotten off the ground if not for Marcia and Ron (to both of whom we are forever greatful!).