Lorri's debut as an artist could not be off to a better start. After two nights of setting up at The Beach House in Rincon, Puerto Rico, she is selling her artwork almost as quickly as she can make it. The photo above shows her signing her first ever sale! Exciting stuff!
Lorri grew up watching her grandfather work with wood, and fell in love with the smell of sawdust. When she proclaimed her desire to be an artist and work with wood, I knew she could do it. I believed in her with all of my heart. She is smart. She has an eye. She is talented. But still, I warned her, she had never worked with wood before, or tools or saws, so be prepared to spend a year or two learning and creating pinterest fails along the way. Don't get discouraged I said.
I honestly couldn't even watch. It would be too painful. I left her to the workshop full of shiny new saws and paints and instruction manuals. Time, I told myself, and a few trips to the emergency room for stitches, and maybe, who knows...
A few days later she came and showed me her first piece. It was really good. When her scroll saw finally arrived, things got really crazy, and within a few days she was churning out amazing perfect little palm trees.
Here is the crazy thing. I can draw. Lorri can't. She couldn't draw a palm tree to save her life. But when she sits down at that saw, she has a vision in her head and just cuts to it and it always comes out perfect without a picture. While I can't cut anything besides big pieces into smaller ones. She is AMAZING! And every day she only gets better and she has only been doing it for a few short months.
It has been nothing short of inspirational to see her work develop every day, and being at The Beach House in Rincon, we have got to see that I am not biased, as many people are drawn to one piece or another and the response has been awesome. It has been an incredible experience and I could not be more proud of this emerging artist.
We could not have chosen a more beautiful perfect place in all of Puerto Rico to debut Lorri's artwork. But we did not choose The Beach House. The Beach House chose us. Or rather, Kevin, the owner, made space for Lorri when he heard there was no room for her work at the art walk downtown.
It was early last fall when we first went to The Beach House for breakfast. We were drawn by positive food reviews, and the amazing views overlooking the ocean and Desecheo Island. It was early and the chairs were still atop the tables, but servers found us a place and spent more time than normal making us feel at home.
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| View from The Beach House with Desecheo Island in the distance on the right. |
From the bathroom, a man emerged with a mop bucket and smile. He found a broom and worked his way along the business front, sweeping and wiping counters. When he neared our table, he stopped to lean on his broom and chat.
He was a retired New York Firefighter. I thought it was nice the owner hired this retired hero as a janitor to supplement his pension. But I began to worry about his future there when our talk ran into ten and then twenty minutes.
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| A rare glimpse of the elusive, photo shy, humble owner of The Beach House |
My fears for the poor pensioner were assuaged when I learned the humble janitor who rises with the sun to clean the bathrooms every day is indeed, Kevin, the owner of The Beach House. He talked to us that morning about the beauty and power of the place, the sound of the crowd in the evening in February when a whale spouts in the distance, and the energy of the place when the big waves come in. Like so many locals, Kevin is a man who loves his island, and has taught us how to love and appreciate it all the more.
In the days and weeks since that first meeting with that humble janitor, Kevin has become a dear friend of ours. I would love to be able to tell the story of the good things he does in the community, but he won't share them. I only hear secondhand accounts from people he has been there to help, or overheard phone calls where he is arranging to send chefs and supplies to earthquake victims. He was a 9/11 responder too, but he will only tell you about "the other guys" and their heroism.
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| The Beach House in Rincon Puerto Rico |
It is this same humble approach to the business every day that makes the place so special. We love the views and it is the best place in our book to watch the sunset. We love the mix of tourists and locals every night and how even the guests treat one another like there are no strangers. And we love, love, love the food. But more than all of that, we love the people at our Beach House. Kevin, his family, and the staff have become very much like our adopted island family.
Despite being there almost every day from sunrise until close (7am-midnight, 7 days a week, 365 days a year), Kevin is always the first to blame the good things about the business on the staff. In fact, if you go online and read about the business, this will probably be the only place you ever even see his name or his picture associated with it at all.
He will tell you the business is great because of their amazing chef, Heriberto Sanchez, and the kitchen staff. He will blame the great vibe of The Beach House on the servers and bartenders and the energy of the island, and the amazing people who are drawn to Rincon. And he will blame his sons and family, who are partners in the business as well.
And when he does a great favor for an artist friend and lets her set up and show her work there, he will refuse any credit for that as well, and say simply, humbly, that "art is another spice in the soup that makes Rincon and The Beach House so wonderful. It is a soup. You're helping make the soup taste even better."
I believe that. Our Beach House family has made our time on the island so much more the memorable, and they have lent so much flavor to our lives. The smells of the ocean and the food, the sounds of the music and people, all swirl to create an amazing unique vibe at The Beach House. It really is a soup. It all has to be in there for it to work so well... not least of all... the secret spice... of one retired firefighter cleaning bathrooms, pushing brooms, and entertaining travelers with insider tales of whales and waves and island magic, and soup. We love our Beach House.
The Beach House is not only a great place for art, breakfast, lunch, dinner and live music sunsets. It is a great destination for your stay in Puerto Rico! Check out their website here:
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The Beach House also happens to be the ONLY Puerto Rican bar nominated for a USA Today Reader's Choice Award for Best Caribbean Beach Bar! Please hurry and cast your vote for them here:
This is not a paid advertisement. The views expressed are those of the authors and have not been approved by The Beach House.
Thank you for reading!
Buzz & Lorri Malone
Loved this post: your admiration for, and support, of Lorri's work, the success of her debut (YESSS!!!), and the fact that it's all taking place at The Beach House!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I had not been to the island in 10 years when we decided to return a year after Maria. We went to all of our old stomping grounds that were visitable (some of them were not re-open yet, like the majority of El Yunque. One of the places we visited was Rincon. I had fallen in love with the town a long long time ago when I still lived on the island, and my husband used to surf the big waves at Domes Beach. We wanted to stop for lunch somewhere there and so we did a quick internet search...The Beach House kept coming up. Normally I would not have stopped at a place with an English name (when we go to the island, we want authentic Puerto Rican food, as we can't find it at all up here in Maryland), but the reviews were so wonderful we couldn't ignore them.
When we arrived there, we were so happy we had let the place choose us. It was late morning, so a little early for lunch and there were maybe two other people at the bar. The views of the ocean and Desecheo were indeed incredible and the waitress that took care of us was lovely. She was American and was trying really hard to speak to us in Spanish. We switched to her language to make it easier and she told us her story. It was awesome.
The food was I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E. I am forever a fan of ahi tuna after the dish I had at the Beach House, and we declared their piña coladas the best on the island. (My husband is kind of a connoisseur.)
Really loved getting to know the people from this lovely place through your post! :)
Nicole! YES! I can't tell you how often we get in our car to go for a quick breakfast and end up driving across town back to the Beach House. And yes... we struggled with the whole "authentic" thing as well... but here is the thing... the entire kitchen and half the front of house in Puerto Rican... and more importantly... our flow is to people and places that express love. There is a love in the air there, for the island, for people, for music, for food. And you are as likely to meet a Puerto Rican regular there from up the road, or San Juan, as you are to meet a surfer from New Zealand. I love that Lorri's art is doing so well, but in all complete honesty, our greatest reward comes from having an excuse to get to sit at The Beach House at sunset and meet people and share a love of the place.
DeleteMy family bought a place in Rincon several years ago, and the first place we visit upon every arrival is the Beach House. If you want good vibes, good food, and good people...this is the place to be. And you nailed Kevin perfectly -- he leads by example. I also thought the same thing before I finally met him: "Who is this guy who is ALWAYS here, cleaning, mopping, lighting the torches at dusk...and he seems to know everyone!!"
ReplyDeleteLol. Right? I just showed him your comment. He laughed out loud. Love it.
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