About Us

America has many traditions…

…backyard Bar-B-Q’s, Groundhog Day, even the Presidential Pardon of the Thanksgiving Turkey. Though I don’t think we will ever know exactly when they started, Poker Night is an American tradition that must have existed in neighborhoods for well over a hundred fifty years. I can only speak from my experience and I found it to be uniquely entertaining, exciting at times and I am a living testimony that sometimes “poker night” can significantly change your life!  

I think people usually have poker nights, during the week, since it’s a convenient night that doesn’t conflict with weekend family gatherings. People in general need some social balance in their life and poker night is great in serving that purpose. Once this balance is found, and if the group has a decent chemistry, the draw can be overwhelming.  The attendance was excellent in Danny’s Tuesday poker night and it lasted over 10 years that I attended. (That’s more than 520, four to five hour sessions) No one wanted to miss a game and there are stories galore… For Example, Mike, a local lobster Fisherman occasionally brought a couple of lobster, to the game. On one hand during the night, whoever got the ace of spades and stayed in the hand to the end, got to take them home. What a Poker Night twist that was.

After 10 years we had a special acknowledgement night. We had flowers presented to Danny’s wife (Irene, God rest her sole…), who put up with all of us, for so long. We had awards for who was on the wall of shame the most. (“Wall of Shame” when you had to borrow money to stay in the game and the night came to a close, your debt was posted on the wall behind the water heater in the garage.) We had an award for the “Best Exit”. That went to Tom, a photographer, who with an untimely bluff, in a game of challenge had to pay all 5 players, the amount in the $12.00 pot. He owed $60.00 (in a nickel ante, quarter limit game) and with that being just a little more than he had on him, he stood up, smiled at the players and took off running home. We laughed so hard… his display was for our benefit since we knew he was good for the debt. Tom learned never entrust anyone with holding their poker face on his major bluff.  It was just another example of poker night at Danny’s Garage.

The game was put on by Danny Rockwell in a very nice home, on top of a hill with a great view of the Santa Barbara coast line. We played in his, always clean 2 car garage, in Carpinteria CA.. Carpinteria is a small town just south of Santa Barbara on the Pacific Coast. Danny was a very popular native and though in his mid 30’s, still held track records at the local Carpinteria High School.   The game was always set up and ready, with 8 folding steel chairs circling a folding card table, sporting a poker table top with felt in the center and a black plastic chip and drink holders around the outside. We played with quality clay chips that belonged to John Chufar. He played with Danny years ago and never came to collect them. There was a refrigerator in the garage to keep our beer cold and a water heater that marked the location of the “Wall of Shame”. Over the years that wall of shame became a time honored tradition with no arguments that I remember.

The game was “dealer's choice” and believe me we played every game you can imagine. Over the years we hammered out rules to play so many games (a lot were wild card games) and if you were new to our game, you were at a distinct disadvantage. We started at 8:00 PM, to give the working man a chance to eat at home and be ready for a late night of poker. We usually played until about mid-night or 1:00 PM but during the summer, sometimes longer…  We had lots of laughs and discussions on whatever came up. The guys would weigh in on anything, Politics, fishing, golf, money and investments. Over the years we all became good friends. I was introduced to Danny’s poker game in 1985, by an artist friend named Greg Neshiem, Whom I had just met shortly after we came to town. That night, my life took a turn, “for the better.” In the following months, I learned from Danny, how to fish in the Kelp beds for rock fish and drift the bottom for halibut. In the years to come, I would come home with a big paint bucket full of fresh rock-fish, huge spider crabs and often a nice halibut, from the great Pacific Ocean. I’d row out in a $60.00 inflatable raft, hook a piece of squid or anchovy, drop it down and I was in heaven. I had no money for a boat, and this little ocean front town was an expensive place to live. Carpinteria was a great place to raise a family, and now I had an affordable way to spend time in the great Pacific Ocean on the weekend , bringing home the bounty from the sea… Things were going my way.

One night at the poker game, a friend of Danny’s from high School joined us. James O’Neil was an actor, who had just toured the country in the play “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I thought that was impressive but when I saw him at the Granada Theater in Santa Barbara as John Adams, in the play “1776” I was taken aback! Playing the lead role, he sang on stage no less that 5 solo songs. What a talent! He went on to open the very successful Rubicon Theater Company, with his wife and has recently added playwright to his list of accomplishments.  Jim and I became good friends and over the years, I played more golf and poker with him, than anyone else.

Poker night is a neighborhood game and as new people moved into Danny’s small hilltop community, his friendly nature drew them into our Tuesday night game of poker. The games would be crowded sometimes but always stabilized at around 8 regulars. Tom Murdy, Mike Nash and Jim Morris moved in across the street from Danny and built new beautiful houses with island views. Shortly after,  Brian Nash (no relation to Mike Nash) moved in next door to Danny and again, things started heating up. Once we had Brian’s wife’s join in our conversation from next door. Brian, an executive and partner in the silicone manufacturing business, was a regular and his wife wanted him to come home. She hollers out the front door, that faced the garage, “Brian, it’s getting late, time to come home”. Brian answers “I’ll be home in a little while.” She retorts, “You’ll be cranky in the morning.” In a, sing song just remember I told you so, kind of voice… This happened in front of all of us at the table and that phrase has since been the prompter of so much laughter, at our gatherings. I cannot imagine just how many times I have heard it recited with her particular voice inflection… Brian takes it very well. Danny, Mike, Tom, Jim and I were all the same age and I started golfing with these guys. I wasn’t very good but the chemistry was there and they put up with my lost balls and poor play in general.

Now established in the group, I asked to bring a couple of guests to the game. I didn’t know them but Billy Custer worked with my first wife and his father-in-law, who happened to be the Mayor of Carpinteria, Tom Lewis wanted to play too... Well we all hit it off and Mr. Lewis and Billy who were both golfers, changed our Tuesday night poker game into Tuesday afternoon golf and poker. As I stated earlier, I am not very good and the Mayer started inviting me to play with him at the golf course on the Seabee Base, so after a while my game picked up. Now these guys will stabilize the group for the next 7 years or so. The mayor, who almost never missed a game, was still holding office as Mayor, but was retired from Chevron. The rest of us were younger, family men. I was an independent insurance agent that specialized in 403-B tax shelters and did almost all of my business working with teachers, so during the summer I was off a lot, as well as around the holidays. I was Mr. Mom too. I was the nurturer in the family and with my work schedule and social life, that was fine with me. We had two great kids and my wife at the time was a business manager for a car dealership and our incomes together were enough to buy a 3 bedroom condo in a nice neighborhood. It had a small, but adequate patio in back with an attached garage and carport. We had now made a life in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. And things are about to get even better.

I get a call and it’s Mike Nash. He asks if I want to take Tom Murdy’s 10 foot aluminum boat out for salmon. They are all over the place just off the Carpinteria beach. So we launched from the surf and within a couple of hours of fishing, we had our limit. Four nice salmon and what an experience, I had never caught salmon before. So we loaded up and headed home, but when we got to his house, just across the street was Danny with a crew of guys about to leave on a 5 day trip, for opening day of trout season in the High Sierra’s. Danny knew nothing about the salmon, so we just had to pull in and show him what was swimming around just of shore, here at home. Danny was so torn, he almost canceled the trip. But he went anyway and Mike and I filled our freezers with fresh salmon fillets. We would go out in the morning and I brought coffee with cheese, crackers and smoked salmon to eat while getting our limit each day.  Simply put it was heaven on earth… When Danny got back, He took his 10 foot boat out and we ran into him and his son-in-law. We shared our smoked salmon with them and we all caught our limit again. . This was a special time in my life that I am sure I will treasure to my dying day. I fished with Danny and other adventurous friends in rafts most weekends, up and down the coast, catching dinner and we had so much fun. The rafts got bigger to about 12’ and the fishing experience was so cool, it’s hard to explain but picture this... You are in a blow up raft just off shore, the day is a sunny 80 degrees and the water is glassy. You just pulled up another huge spider grab that even with the legs folded up will be hard to get in your bucket. You are chewing on sunflower seeds with a cold beer in your lap and right in front of you, a group of dolphins come bobbing by… you just stop and watch… You feel so at one with your surroundings. It’s peaceful and now and this is my life.

Year after year we took so many fishing pictures, Danny showed me how to dig clams with a pitchfork and we went after grunion at night, when they were running. They were the best halibut bait and were awesome to catch, but only with your hands and they come in by the thousands at night by the light of the moon at high tide to lay their eggs in the soft Pacific sand. All you need is a bucket to put them in and fast hands. It’s a life experience I will never forget.

So now following Danny’s lead, the poker guys are all fishing in rafts on the weekend looking forward to poker night. Well, Greg Nesheim has been running a trout derby at Lake Casitas for several years, with a really great turn out. So I threw out the idea at the poker table, why don’t we start an annual raft fishing tournament in the great Pacific Ocean? Idea’s start flying around, inflatables only, Pneumatic yachts, then Tom Murdy says it! We could call it “The Carpinteria Yacht Club!” “Inflatables only!”  And it was settled! We went to work, Greg Nesheim drew an awesome logo of a guy fishing in a raft with his legs crossed and one foot in the water with a hooked Great White Shark, mouth opened, just under the raft. A masterpiece! We gave it bright colors and put it on a tee-shirt. The shirt took on a life of its own. In the years to come, people reported seeing them as far East as Daytona Beach, Florida and as far North as Alaska. Everyone bought the shirts and hats’ our tournament was all set. The prize for the biggest fish the first year went to Mike “Grand Prize” Nash and that is just what he wrote on his entry form. Although, he had a commercial lobster fishing boat, he also got into the raft fishing with us. He brought in a nice halibut and posed for a prize winning picture. Then with the perfect day and a hint of magic in the air, we all decide to have a race. We had a small boat anchored fifty yards off shore and we lined up and ran carrying our inflatable yachts into the water, jumped in and rowed around the boat and back to the finish line on the beach. So it’s Mike Nash and I coming around the Clubhouse turn together. As we got into the shallow water I jumped out of my olive drab 12’ Sevelor Fishhunter “Yacht” first and very slightly edged Mike out on his yellow 9’ Sevelor Caravelle Inflatable “Yacht.” He came in with a broken paddle blade which was a huge disadvantage and I still think that if he hadn’t already won the fishing derby, would have pushed a little harder to win the foot race, pulling the yacht behind to finish in first... But for the record, I won the first CYC solo race, and with the 2 man race going to Danny and Greg. The Carpinteria Yacht Club was born!

Over the next 20 years we would produce literally thousands of t-shirts, golf shirts and hats to commemorate this annual event. The newspaper always gave generously to our cause with our raising money for local charities, they gave us front page pictures often and inside some years we had full pages dedicated to our activities. Then, a few years in, we started the annual tradition of the fisherman that takes third place, has to kiss the prize winning fish on the lips. The Coastal View News Paper never missed printing that picture and often on the front page. Everything was working and since I was the one willing to do most of the organizing, they called me Commodore at the poker games and it stuck! So now, I walked around Carpinteria with people stopping me saying “Commodore! When is the regatta this year?” The tongue in cheek “Yacht Club” was so much fun and I absolutely loved all aspects of planning things with the poker crowd. I went to the distributor of the rafts that we were using, for sponsorship with a picture of the group and every year after, they gave us rafts to give away in our raffle and our two huge, bright yellow regatta buoy’s came from Sevelor too. They gave us water balloon slingshots, inflatable freebies and other inflatable giveaway’s every year for our event.

Now as I look back, I was living a dream, happy as a clam and the turning point was an invitation to a very special poker night, in Danny’s garage…