Episode 86 · John Ash · July 6, 2025
John Ash sits down with Scott Hammond to trace a long, winding path from Detroit and Navy photography during the Vietnam era to architecture, historic preservation, and life in Eureka. Along the way he talks about the student politics and concert promotion days that pushed him toward architecture, the shift from hand drafting to AutoCAD, and the local work and relationships that eventually brought him to Humboldt. It’s a grounded conversation about creative work, community, kayaking on the bay, and what he hopes a life adds up to.
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What this episode covers
- Growing up in Detroit, getting into photography young, and serving as a Navy photographer during the Vietnam War.
- How student politics, a Ford Foundation summer program, and an architect from Berkeley led him to change course and study architecture in Boston.
- Building an architectural practice in Los Angeles, doing historic preservation work, and adapting early to AutoCAD and other technology shifts.
- Coming to Eureka through the 1992 preservation conference and earthquakes, then slowly building a life and practice in Humboldt.
- Quitting smoking, taking up running and swimming, and eventually finishing the Canadian Ironman while running his firm.
- Founding Explore North Coast, getting more people out on Humboldt Bay, and why that work matters so much to him.
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Transcript
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Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, and people all across America, it's the 100% Humboldt podcast with my newest, best, not that, not that new friend, John Ash. Hey, John.
John Ash: How you doing?
Scott Hammond: I'm doing great, man. It's a good day in the neighborhood.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: What's new with you?
John Ash: Well, I won't be going to, uh, Friday night at the,
John Ash: at the club.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: So if you're there, I won't see you, but-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's true. Tomorrow's the 4th of July, and-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … there's a big celebration down in, in, in Old Town.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And the coolest thing about Old Town, which is right over here on the map in Eureka, California, is they do fireworks at 10:00 with a 100-foot fog ceiling.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It's, it's the-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … the best worst thing you've ever seen.
John Ash: Yeah, I call it poof and glow.
Scott Hammond: Poof and glow.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You've seen enough. I- You've lived here a number of years, right?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Tell you, I mean, the, I don't know how many times it's been an open sky. Not that many.
John Ash: Yeah. Well, there was. When I first arrived in Eureka and I got in- heavily into kayaking-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … uh, there was a couple 4th of Julys where paddled my kayak out w- with, uh, these other kayakers and we just laid back and watched the fireworks go off right above us. It was really, really cool.
Scott Hammond: That's cool.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: We went up the Sears Tower in Chicago.
John Ash: Oh.
Scott Hammond: And it's so high up you could look down on the fireworks-
John Ash: Wow
Scott Hammond: … from Soldier Field over at the Pier- Navy Pier, whatever that-
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And I've never seen fireworks from on top.
John Ash: Wow.
Scott Hammond: The other cool show, and I'm gonna talk about you in a minute, is, is, uh, Seattle Sound has a, Ivar's Sea of Clams
Scott Hammond: has sponsors a fireworks show that it would blow your mind. They're, they're… I, I had never before, dur- or since seen fireworks. But anyway, tell us the John Ash story.
John Ash: Where do you want me to start?
Scott Hammond: Let's start-
John Ash: Why don't you just ask me a question?
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Ash: Well, I was born in Vallejo-
Scott Hammond: Okay
John Ash: … California, and-
Scott Hammond: Start at the beginning.
John Ash: Yeah, right there. And it was during the Second World War, and my father was, uh, overseas at the time. And, uh, my mom was, uh, with, with my grandmother. She was taking care of my mom-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … and, uh, delivered me at Vallejo General Hospital in 19… May 9th, 1944.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Ash: Uh, we didn't stay there long. When my dad came back from overseas, he, uh, moved us back to Detroit-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … where that was where he's from, and that's where he met my mother. So I was raised in Detroit.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Ash: Yeah, uh, and what, what an inter- And that's before all the negative things happened there.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: Uh, and uh, I really loved it. I loved being part of an urban environment like that. That's when there was over two million people in Detroit.
Scott Hammond: It was vibrant, right? Motown and-
John Ash: Oh
Scott Hammond: … it was rock and roll city too.
John Ash: Yeah. Motown, uh, was going, uh, at The Rooster Tail, a nightclub on the Detroit River.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And, uh, things were really good, and, uh, uh, uh, it was a good place to learn. Got me a job working, uh, at General Motors. My uncle did. He was a VP there. And I remember, uh, first day… And this is when I'm like 17, right? It's like a summer job-
Scott Hammond: Right
John Ash: … uh, from high school. And they got me a job at the Fisher Body Plant, and that's where they make all the seat covers and convertible tops. And they roll out cloth, 200 layers, and then they cut it with this knife that every cycle of the blade sharpens that
John Ash: blade.
Scott Hammond: Is that right?
John Ash: And so this guy is showing me, an older guy, I'm, I'm 17, and he's cutting and he's talking to me, and he cuts the tip of his thumb off-
Scott Hammond: Jeez
John Ash: … right in front of me and squirting blood all over the, the, the cloths stuff. And, uh, I says, "Wow, that's really a hard way to teach a safety lesson." But anyway, that, uh…
John Ash: So when I was in Detroit, I finished high school and really didn't know what I wanted to do and really needed some direction.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Uh, so I had been doing a lot of photography, uh, while I was in high school. My uncle, when I was 12, showed me how to build an enlarger out of old
John Ash: oil cans.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Ash: And so I did, and I got into photography and, uh, started, uh, making my own pictures, got a movie camera, started shooting that, and, uh, was doing all the photography for the high school football games and for the-
Scott Hammond: Nice
John Ash: … high school newspaper and the yearbook.
John Ash: So when they, when I joined the Navy, they said, "Well, what, what do you, what kind of skills do you have?" I tested well.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
John Ash: And they sent me to the Naval Photographic School.
Scott Hammond: Where's that?
John Ash: Uh, Pensacola, Florida.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: Never been down there.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: So all of a sudden I'm, you know, close to the bayou and all the alligators and mosquitoes and everything, but I'm learning how to become a professional combat photographer.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: And, uh, uh, I spent four years in the Navy and, uh, during the Vietnam War.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: Uh, served on the, the Ticonderoga and the Constellation aircraft carriers.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And, uh, flew off the flight deck. Uh, I was with a aerial photographic squadron called
John Ash: VAP 61.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Ash: And we did mainly mapping, some reconnaissance.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Ash: Uh, but I did general photography, uh, uh, you know, just portrait photography for the Navy, uh, public information photography, hanging out of a helicopter on a harness with a 16 millimeter movie
John Ash: camera-
Scott Hammond: Wow
John Ash: … flying over, uh, ships, you know, just to get public information photography.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: And also- Uh, flew in a F9, uh, fighter jet sh- shooting other jets.
Scott Hammond: Really?
John Ash: Uh, so I had an exciting, uh, career doing
John Ash: photography.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Thought I wanted to be a photographer.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
John Ash: So when I got out of the Navy, I, uh, uh, went to college back in Michigan at the community college and decided I don't- I wanted to go back to San Diego where I was stationed-
Scott Hammond: Oh
John Ash: … in Miramar. I says, "You know, this weather is-"
Scott Hammond: Miramar
John Ash: … like night and day.
Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: My hometown.
John Ash: Oh, really?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Miramar has the big air show. America's greatest air show every year.
John Ash: I believe it.
Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh, three days of Woodstock.
John Ash: When I was there, there was no houses around the base. You could cr- crash an aircraft and not hurt anybody. Yeah. In fact, that happened.
Scott Hammond: Not to- not to them.
John Ash: And we'd, and we'd have to go out and shoot pictures of these crashed
John Ash: aircrafts-
Scott Hammond: Right
John Ash: … that couldn't make it, you know, but there was no homes out there.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, Miramar Base, it was all just a big nothing, right?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Just scrub, scrub.
John Ash: Big scrub, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Wow. Huh.
John Ash: So that was, um, a really interesting experience, but I fell in love with San Diego.
Scott Hammond: What a great town.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: America's greatest town.
John Ash: Is that right?
Scott Hammond: Greatest city. That, that's what they call themselves.
Scott Hammond: I-
John Ash: Yeah. Well-
Scott Hammond: It's hard, hard to argue another city. I guess you could
John Ash: … back, back in the, in the '60s, there was- wasn't the traffic there is
John Ash: now and-
Scott Hammond: Oh, boy
John Ash: … and so I, I transferred out to San Diego State.
Scott Hammond: Good school.
John Ash: And that's where I, uh, uh, you know, got involved and got involved in student politics and, uh-
Scott Hammond: Oh, really?
John Ash: … uh, I was the managing editor of The Daily Aztec and-
Scott Hammond: Go Aztecs.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, great school.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: We used to go out in high school and drink beer with those guys.
John Ash: Is that right?
Scott Hammond: All y'all, yeah. Though you guys are, like, pretty- … pretty decent fun when you're 17 or, or younger. Um, no, San Diego State's a great school, and, uh, San Diego
Scott Hammond: as a city is unmatched. What… So I moved to, from Sioux City, Iowa, to National City,
Scott Hammond: California.
John Ash: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Home of 32nd Street Navy's Navy base.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And back in the day, um, you know, it was open base. You could… The bus would, bus line would go right by the ships and dump everybody out. We'd go downtown and, uh, you know, just a bunch of feral hippie children goofing around and… But good days. C- And you're right, not crowded, not smoggy, not LA.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Beautiful.
John Ash: I, I had a girlfriend, uh, when I was at San Diego State that was up in LA, and it's like, you know, you'd leave San Diego, and you just start driving up, and the smog would start coming in-
Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh
John Ash: … you know. Uh, and you just realize, wow, just-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … I mean, LA was so bad then.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
John Ash: But that's all changed. You know, that's-
Scott Hammond: It's changed. You could see the mountains and stuff now.
John Ash: Yeah. Now, we did… I, I, I lived, when I was at San Diego State, uh, I got involved with student politics and a bunch of the people that were, like, the president of the student body, Ron Breen, and, and, uh, we started a commune. We rented a house in La Mesa.
Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.
John Ash: And, uh, uh, six of us lived in this commune, and we were all student leaders. We were running everything. We were running all the shows and things like we, we had control of the student budget and-
Scott Hammond: Wow
John Ash: … yeah, it was really something. We all got work study money.
Scott Hammond: Ah.
John Ash: And, uh, and we started doing concerts.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: So our first concert was with Quicksilver-
Scott Hammond: Sweet
John Ash: … and Leon Russell, Hot Tuna-
Scott Hammond: Wow
John Ash: … Pink Floyd.
Scott Hammond: This is going back a ways.
John Ash: Yeah, yeah. These were, they were, they were young. They were new.
Scott Hammond: These guys were all new. What, what, where was the venue? Was it at San Diego-
John Ash: Uh, well, we-
Scott Hammond: … the stadium?
John Ash: … did the sports arena.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: We were supposed to do it at Aztec Stadium-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … but, uh, because we broke a few rules in terms of how we handled the publicity, and one of the higher-ups said, "That's the reason to kill these guys." So they did. They kicked us out, and we c- couldn't do the concert. So we had two weeks to find a new venue.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: And we, uh, uh, finally made a deal with the sports
John Ash: arena-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … to move it there. So we went from an outdoor concert to an indoor
John Ash: concert.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: And we had to pu… So we rented, uh, uh, airplanes that were pulling these big banners to-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … announce the change in, in the venue. You know, and we filled up, uh, the stadium. The second one we did was at U- UCSD, and it was an outdoor concert.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: So-
Scott Hammond: Who was in that one?
John Ash: Uh, we had, uh, Hot Tuna again. We had almost the same lineup.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Ash: I forget. We had another couple other, uh, acts, but that was essentially it.
Scott Hammond: Was gonna say, Pink Floyd. Uh, Quicksilver I'm impressed with, but Pink Floyd, it's like, that… They, they weren't next level then. They were just-
John Ash: They weren't then
Scott Hammond: … nobody knew them.
John Ash: Nobody knew them. Nobody knew, uh, Hot Tuna either.
Scott Hammond: Right. Right.
John Ash: And even, e- even Leon Russell, you know, he w-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … he, he wasn't really out on his own that much-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Ash: … at that point.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: You know?
Scott Hammond: He's part of the Wrecking Crew in LA. They were studio musicians that did music for The, the Beach Boys and The Association. They wrote a lot of those tunes.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And played them. They were, they were the studio killer all-stars that would shift around. He came out of that, so did Glen Campbell.
John Ash: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Speaking of San Diego State, have I got a story. Um, you've heard of the Ramones from New York City, the punk rock band? So in '75 or '6, they played at San
Scott Hammond: Diego State.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And that first time I ever drank 151 Rum-
Scott Hammond: … and got slammed around in a mosh, what they call a mosh pit now.
Scott Hammond: It was-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … called slam dancing, and it was, uh, uh, it was one of those experiences you have to be there. I, I wouldn't do that today. It's not my ti- time, my idea of a great time.
John Ash: Yeah. Uh, 'cause y- y- you'd already know what the consequences would be, so.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
John Ash: Yeah, avoid… You know, at our age, we, we g- really go into avoid consequences.
Scott Hammond: Absolutely.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I'm not gonna do any hang gliding anytime soon.
John Ash: Yeah, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Forget it, man.
John Ash: Yeah, I th- I look at things and say, "Yeah, well, what are the consequences of that
John Ash: now?"
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You gotta weigh it, man.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So, so, uh, Vallejo to D- Detroit to, um, uh, in the Navy overseas. How many years in Vietnam?
John Ash: Four.
Scott Hammond: How about that? I bet that was an experience.
John Ash: It was. I mean, I didn't ever go over on the land.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Uh, we were always… We were there on a Yankee ca- called Yankee Sta- Station, uh, during the Gulf of Tonkin.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Right in the, uh… In fact, I, I've got a patch that says the Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: And, uh, because, you know, we had the whole Seven Fleet there and, uh, uh, you know, it was-
Scott Hammond: Right
John Ash: … quite a time. Probably the most exciting was being on a flight deck during night ops, watching these planes screech
John Ash: in.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: Just screech, and then they, they drop their hooks and drag that, that steel across and hit those cables, and th- all these red lights would go on, and-
Scott Hammond: It's a whole show
John Ash: … oh, it was, like, just mind-boggling.
Scott Hammond: And you could be right on the deck and watch that stuff.
John Ash: And you were on the deck-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Ash: … because you had, you had planes coming in, and you had to get their, their, uh, cassettes, their camera cassettes. These were cameras that with a 36-inch focal length on
John Ash: them.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
John Ash: And the negative size was 9 by 18.
Scott Hammond: Huge.
John Ash: Yeah, huge. Of course, now it's all digital. All that's gone.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, they got little cameras that are about that big. Speaking of the, um, Miramar, uh, Naval Air Show, um, that, that they do every year, it's in October, it's called America's Greatest Air Show.
Scott Hammond: We… My dad always would drag me along and want me to go. He lived in Oceanside, and he was a-
John Ash: Oh, yeah
Scott Hammond: … uh, uh, a P-51 pilot, World War II.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He's worked on Pendleton, but I, I finally went two years ago at, you know, age whatever I was, 62, and it was the coolest thing ever because you s- you s- all the hovercraft and the, um, the, the, the British, uh, whatever it is, and they have jet cars, and there's stuff-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … the motorcycle demo. I mean, the whole thing is a, um, really cool. Like, a lot of l- really cool aircraft in there, and it's all day, and it's three days, and it's free.
John Ash: That's in October?
Scott Hammond: Correct.
John Ash: I have to check that out because I go down there. I still… All these people that were in the commune are still in San Diego. They haven't left.
Scott Hammond: Let's go back to the commune. When you say-
Scott Hammond: … it, I think a commune, and I think Mendocino out in the woods.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: La Mesa didn't have that many woods.
John Ash: No, we ha- we rented a house, uh, 'cause we, we, we all had money. We were getting student, uh, activity fees, and we were getting, you know, work study, and I, I had the GI Bill, so I, you know, I was-
Scott Hammond: You guys are loaded
John Ash: … loaded in cash. But we rented this house, beautiful house, six bedroom. It had a swimming pool. I mean, what kind of commune has a swimming pool?
Scott Hammond: Just yours.
John Ash: Ours.
Scott Hammond: Smart guys.
John Ash: So we, we had some, we had some parties that, uh, you know, really, uh, created some records.
Scott Hammond: Some le- some legend back in the day.
John Ash: Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, so. And, uh, but that, that went on, you know, for, well, until I left San Diego State. I d- I didn't graduate from there because at that point in the summer of '71, uh, because I was a student leader, I got invited to a, a Ford Foundation experiment.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Ash: A Ford Foundation wanted to f- find out what was motivating student leaders and where they were gonna go and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … how they got along.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And the whole psychology, they didn't understand it, so-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Ash: … they wanted to find out. So they created this project.
John Ash: They had, uh, four professors from Berkeley and 12 graduate students that had wr- written this pro- fantastic project that Ford Foundation decided
John Ash: to fund.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: And what they did is they rented a fraternity house up at UC Davis.
Scott Hammond: Great.
John Ash: And they got 30, uh, male, 30 female students-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … s- some from small colleges, some public colleges, big universities, real mix, and brought us all together-
Scott Hammond: Huh
John Ash: … uh, in, uh, June of '71.
Scott Hammond: These are all student leaders?
John Ash: Yeah, well, there, yeah. Uh, from little colleges of 3,000 to colleges as big as San Diego State and bigger.
Scott Hammond: Sure. Sure. What happened?
John Ash: Well, we all got together, and, uh, you know, there was probably some smoking of
John Ash: weed and-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … taking of, uh, hallucinogenics.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: So we spent the first three weeks… You have to remember, that was the beginning of the women's studies program, the w- women's empowerment, uh, movement.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: We spent the first three weeks arguing about who was gonna do the
John Ash: dishes.
Scott Hammond: And-
John Ash: You know-
Scott Hammond: Right. The important thing, stuff, yeah.
John Ash: The important thing for me was one of the professors was,
John Ash: uh, uh, Professor Sim Van Der Ryn, who was an architect, taught architecture at Berkeley.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Ash: And he got us all involved in how to deal with the environment, how to create things, how to interact in terms of space.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And through that experience was like an epiphany. I left the, "I'm gonna be an architect."
Scott Hammond: Nice.
John Ash: I– "This is, this is who I am."
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Ash: And, uh, so I immediately started searching for architectural schools, and I ended up, uh, transferring to Boston Architectural College in
John Ash: Boston.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Ash: And I spent the next five years there.
Scott Hammond: Lived in Boston?
John Ash: Yeah. Loved it.
Scott Hammond: What a great town. That, that's arguably a great town too, right?
John Ash: It is.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: I, I, I lived in a,
John Ash: a loft-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … in Cambridge.
Scott Hammond: Far out.
John Ash: It was an old laundry building-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … that, uh, uh, had been converted to artists' lofts, and it was six stories of,
John Ash: of, uh, artists, musicians, and architectural
John Ash: students-
Scott Hammond: Huh
John Ash: … in Cambridge.
Scott Hammond: All the creative guys and gals.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: Yeah. And just, we were all there.
John Ash: We had the- We had the best parties that MIT and Harvard had ever seen.
Scott Hammond: The, all those guys came to your parties?
John Ash: Yeah, they came to our parties. Because… And I wasn't necessarily the host. I mean, they would mix, mix up.
Scott Hammond: Ah.
John Ash: But it, it became a really g- great experience for me and, and that's what turned me into being an architect.
Scott Hammond: Oh. And the social aspect of that, and that interaction, and all the BU kids, and the Cambridge and-
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Wow.
John Ash: Well, you know, that was a, one of the great things about, uh, Boston is that there's over 240 colleges and universities in that city.
Scott Hammond: 240?
John Ash: Yeah. It's such a young city of all these people that are going to school. Everybody that worked in a restaurant was going to college there.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: I mean, that, that was the standard.
Scott Hammond: That's what you did, yeah.
John Ash: That's what you did.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: And you lived off of tips.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: And you party at night.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: But y- I don't wanna make it sound like that's all I did was party.
Scott Hammond: No, but you're, you're, you're… It was, it was this, it was a portion.
John Ash: It was a portion. You know, it, it was, it was a good time. But I learned a lot. I had, I had s- I had some good, uh, professors, uh, there. Uh, uh, my mentor was a, a woman, uh, named Mariota
John Ash: Stevens, uh, that, uh, uh, was f- she taught both, at both MIT and, and at Boston-
Scott Hammond: Mm
John Ash: … Architectural College. And, uh, I met some really good people-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Ash: … and that inspired me in my, my work
John Ash: and…
Scott Hammond: Got your degree there?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
John Ash: And then I… Because you had three architectural colleges
John Ash: in Boston, uh, graduating architects, so there was like no jobs that paid anything.
Scott Hammond: Not there.
John Ash: Not there. So you had to leave.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: You had to get out. So I had a friend that had, uh, been at BAC and he had moved to LA, and he says, "Come out to LA because there's plenty of jobs out here."
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: And that's how I ended up in LA.
Scott Hammond: And the weather's better.
John Ash: Weather's a hell of a lot better, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Let's talk about LA. But first, hey, if you're just joining us, Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt podcast. My amazing producer, Nick, who's waving at you now, and, and my near, near and dear new best friend, John Ash, talking about, uh, his journey in, in, uh, in the '70s. You know, product of the '70s, that, that's what happened. There was a social aspect and discovery and women's rights, women's movement. The s- sexual, uh, uh, implications of that time period are there, the drug implications. It was, it was just a kind of a different, different head space around all that. I think people… I mean, I was very young, you know, 'cause I'm only, like, 40 right
Scott Hammond: now. Um, I'm kidding. Uh, I'm trying to observe on this and, and, and didact something profound. It w- it was a… I guess it was a period of discovery, right? People were just getting out of the '50s and '60s and, and doing new things.
John Ash: Yeah, you know, uh, and you hear this now, you know, "Well, you, you hippies, uh, you know, changed the world and it's gotten worse since then."
Scott Hammond: Mm-mm.
John Ash: You know, and I try to, I t- I try to tell people, "Well, you know, it was a period of change." And, uh, and they say, "Oh, no, you just wanted to tear everything down. You didn't have anything to replace it with." Well, you don't replace, uh, uh, principles and ways of doing things overnight.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: And I think that's still evolving. Unfortunately, the momentum was lost, and I think a lot of that-
Scott Hammond: Mm
John Ash: … that momentum was lost because of, of drugs.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: I certainly think, uh, that was a, a big factor of it.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: The other factor is that people wanted to get a, get a job and, you know, uh, make some money.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: I mean, all these people that, uh, were supposedly dropping out-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … all became, you know, venture capitalists.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: You know? And, uh, so that, that's where the m- movement was.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: That we gotta make a living, and so, and there was all these new ways-
Scott Hammond: Great point
John Ash: … of making a living.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I, I, I don't know what show. It was on CNN. It was called, I think, The '60s, and it kinda
Scott Hammond: chronicled the peak of Woodstock and, and the peace movement and how things… There was a new way of thinking, the age of Aquarius, all that, all that
Scott Hammond: happy stuff. And, uh, ecology and civil rights and computers were spawned from all of that kind of progressive sorta thinking.
Scott Hammond: Um, recycling, you know, that's, that's some bad stuff, uh, that came from there. And then you got, uh… But then they kind of, they kinda hit, uh, Richard Nixon, and then the Hells Angels concert at Altamont, and things really were not hippy-dippy anymore. They were pretty violent, and you're gonna get your ass kicked.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And it, it, and it kinda, and it spun off of the, uh, off of that. And then, then you got your h- hippy dirtbags after that. But it's kind of interesting that, that, that whatever that movement is, um, kinda died, but I would… You and I would argue it lives on in, in a lot of good stuff and a lot of great
Scott Hammond: people.
John Ash: Yeah, y- you know, it, it does, especially, like, I have, uh, friends that are my age that I went… And they're still doing things, you know. They're, they're… And we're, like, looking at,
John Ash: okay, so we're survivors, and, uh, what are we gonna do to… What, what kind of world are we gonna l- leave to the next generation? And frankly, it, you know, troubles me to see where things are going, that what, what's gonna be left. Uh, you know, it's very easy to have a dystopian attitude about-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: Where things are gonna go, you know? Uh, how are people dealing with technology, with all these advances in technology? Uh, when I started my architectural practice in my own office in
John Ash: '81-
Scott Hammond: This is in LA?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: What part?
John Ash: Uh,
John Ash: in Westwood.
Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.
John Ash: It was our first office, but then we moved quickly downtown to the Bradbury Building on Third and Broadway.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Which is a fantastic, uh, building.
John Ash: Um, and
John Ash: what you see i- is the advancement of technology. I was around, uh, when, in '82, '83, and I was an early adopter of AutoCAD, computer drafting.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Here you were,
John Ash: uh, having a, a room full of drafting tables and draftsmen and draftswomen drawing everything. Everything was lead on paper.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Right? T-squares, a slide ru- you know, all of that. There was no technology. You know, really, if you looked at the history of architecture and engineering, it had 100 years and there's been no changes.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: Still using the same kind of lead pencil.
Scott Hammond: Lead on paper.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: All of a sudden, AutoCAD comes around, or Autodesk.
John Ash: It's a-
Scott Hammond: Changed the game, right?
John Ash: Changed the game, and all of a sudden you could plot a
John Ash: drawing.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Now, when I first started with, uh, AutoCAD, it was
John Ash: with MS-DOS.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: Remember DOS?
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: Yeah. And, uh, and it had pin plotters, so when the paper would start rolling through, it was very slow, and the, these pins would be moving across the paper.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: Eh, eh, eh.
Scott Hammond: The big, old broad pri- printers?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Yeah. Of course, now that's all, you know, done away with.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: But, uh, that was a- adapt- adapting, uh, something that was very new, and it had to, and people had a rough time. Everybody thought, "Oh, we're gonna be out of work."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: In fact, the profession itself, we didn't know whether we should charge more for AutoCAD drawings- … or versus pencil, because we could reproduce that. Uh, and clients thought, "Well, you should charge less because now it's automated."
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: So you got, you got into this whole head thing of-
Scott Hammond: Right
John Ash: … of what, what is the technology, how is it gonna affect you?
Scott Hammond: What's it worth?
John Ash: And now we're f- you know, dealing with, uh, well, we've gone through a lot of different changes, uh, in te- uh, technology, but the biggest one I think we're faced with is with
John Ash: AI.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. We're gonna talk about that.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I have an AI, AI feature part of the new feature of the show.
John Ash: Oh, okay.
Scott Hammond: You wanna know what AI says about you? Well, you're gonna, you're gonna have to wait for a minute, John. So you're in LA, and so, uh, at some point you made the jump and, and worked there and then moved to Humboldt and came up. What, what brought you to the Humboldt County?
John Ash: Uh, I was on the board of the California Preservation
John Ash: Foundation.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Ash: Uh, a good percentage of my work was historic preservation.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Ash: Uh, I did the LA Coliseum after the Northridge earthquake.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Ash: Uh, did the, uh, LA City Hall.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Uh, documented that whole building in, uh, in terms of the kind of changes. So that was a, a, a real big part of my practice, and I got involved with the California Preservation Foundation, which is a trade organization of people involved, contractors, engineers, architects,
John Ash: historians-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Ash: … involved in s- re- rehabilitating historic buildings.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And I got on the board of that group, and we had, in 1992, we had our annual conference here in May.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Ash: And, uh, while we were here-
Scott Hammond: Here, Eureka.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
John Ash: And while we were here, we had that, those earthquakes. There was a 6.2-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
John Ash: … earthquake. And so all of the architects and engineers that were at the conference were enlisted by the county and the city to go around red tagging buildings.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
John Ash: So it was through that experience-
Scott Hammond: Oh
John Ash: … that I met various people in the city and, uh, building owners and, uh, got some work.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Ash: And, uh, got asked to come up and, uh, you know, d- do some work on some buildings.
John Ash: It's-
Scott Hammond: Who'd you connect with early back in the day?
John Ash: Uh-
Scott Hammond: Like city, city planners or-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … political?
John Ash: Primarily city planners-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … and a, and a few private, uh, building owners.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And, uh,
John Ash: uh, you know, I almost did the, the Vance Hotel, but I d- I didn't get that job and that-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Ash: … I was dealing with an Indian tribe. So it was, it, you know, it was kind of… But I always kept… I di- I didn't open up an office here right
John Ash: away. I, uh, I came up and, and would just stay here f- three, four days and-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … do my work and go back down to LA.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: But eventually I, uh, met my wife,
John Ash: and, uh, uh, uh, all of a sudden now I have two homes, one in LA and one-
Scott Hammond: Ah.
John Ash: … in Eureka. And I'm commuting back and forth.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Two weeks here, two weeks in LA.
Scott Hammond: How'd that go?
John Ash: Well, uh, that was a very interesting time. In fact, you know, it started back in, um, uh, really in 1997. That's when I first opened up an office. No, '90- '98. First opened an office here, and that's when I really started commuting back
John Ash: and forth.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Uh, on an airplane, learned how to fly.
Scott Hammond: Cool.
John Ash: Uh, flew back and forth between LA in my own plane. Drove 11 a- half hours, you know?
Scott Hammond: It's a grind.
John Ash: F- on the 5.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: You know, that, that was, that was what I did
Scott Hammond: So what, what pulled the trigger for you to move up here and move out of LA?
John Ash: Well, COVID. That's when I closed my LA office.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Ash: Uh, I was still doing this up until-
Scott Hammond: So you've been doing… Okay.
John Ash: 2020.
Scott Hammond: So I figured 'cause you s- you had the, the, the office down in Old Town, right,
Scott Hammond: for-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … many years.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I just rode my bike by there h- two hours ago. Did… Are you still there? I didn't see.
John Ash: No. No. I retired-
Scott Hammond: You must have moved. Yeah
John Ash: … I retired in 2021.
Scott Hammond: I knew that.
John Ash: That's when I turned my license in and, uh-
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh
John Ash: … uh, got my insurance set and… 'Cause when you, when you, when, when you're have a professional license, it's like, it's like a doctor.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: If you wanna stop, you have to get tra- well, you understand, trailer
John Ash: insurance.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: You know? Uh, you have to… You wanna cover yourself so nobody sues you.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: But you have, uh, to do that, you have to promise not do any more work.
Scott Hammond: You gotta tur-
John Ash: You have to turn your license in.
Scott Hammond: Turn it over. Yeah.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. Wow. Hey, quite, quite a journey. And then your lovely wife, she's- she's amazing. She's part of an amazing family, right?
John Ash: Yes, she is.
Scott Hammond: You married up like I did. Good job, John. Way to go. So-
John Ash: I, I did. Yeah. I-
Scott Hammond: So Vietnam service, I, I know you were one of our Humboldt heroes where we a- we recognize a hero once a month-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … at our, uh, agency.
John Ash: I was honored. I think that's a great thing you're doing.
Scott Hammond: Thanks, man.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. You were gracious, and it's lovely. Every one of these is different, ev- uh, different… Somebody said, "Hey, why don't you take that and do something bigger, national or…" And I s- I said, "Why would you wreck it?"
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Why you…
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It's nice and modest, and it-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and it, nine years old, it's doing great.
John Ash: Yeah. Well, you know, things, uh, are sized, like what you're doing, are sized for our community.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And so they become important to our community. And, uh, if you try to, you know, make a bigger show of it and go, you know, it, it becomes something different.
Scott Hammond: Right. Uh, you and I are no longer spring chickens, but at one time, you were a pretty athletic dude, right? You were, you were Adonis of some sort. A man of athletic note.
John Ash: Yeah. Well, uh, you know, it's interesting, uh, how, uh, things evolve from, uh, doing a health thing. Like, I smoked cigarettes-
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh
John Ash: … uh, up until I was 38.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Ash: And, uh, you know, two packs a day, Marlboros, uh-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … uh, you know, when I went to college, you could smoke in a
John Ash: classroom.
Scott Hammond: During, during class?
John Ash: Yeah. At, at, our Boston Architectural College.
Scott Hammond: Or on, or on a, or on a plane.
John Ash: Yeah, or on a plane. Right. Exactly.
Scott Hammond: Why wouldn't you?
John Ash: Yeah. So anyway, I, I was a smoker, and I d- you know, decided that I, I needed to quit. Uh, that was s- something I really wanna do.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: So I signed up for a American Heart Association program, Quit Smoking in 20 Days.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And what they recommended is start running. Do… Start bicycling.
Scott Hammond: Do something.
John Ash: Do something that gets you outside, e- exercise. So I said, "Well, you know, running sh- I'll just buy a pair of running shoes."
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: "Some shorts."
Scott Hammond: It's cheap.
John Ash: Just got… And at first, you know, when I first started, I could run maybe a mile, and that was it.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: Uh, but I kept going, and you know, one thing leads to another. You say, "Well…" You know, if your friend says, "Hey, there's a 5K. Why don't, why don't you try it?"
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: "I don't know, man." And, uh, so you do it.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: And when you come back to your car, there's all these flyers on the windshield of the next event.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: So then, you know, you, okay-
Scott Hammond: Gotta go to that one.
John Ash: Yeah, gotta do that. Gotta do… So you do a couple more fives, and then somebody says, "Hey, let's do a
John Ash: 10."
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Ash: And so you start working your way up, and you start thinking, "Hey, I could, I could
John Ash: do that."
Scott Hammond: LA Marathon.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Why not?
John Ash: And, uh, w- so when I finally did my first marathon, which was the Long Beach Marathon, I decided, you know, if I could do a marathon after s- smoking all this time, I could… I wanted… One thing I've wanted to do athletic was learn how to swim. I didn't know how to swim. I almost drowned when I was 16 in Detroit. And, uh, so I decided I wanna learn to swim.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: So, uh, I go to this swim school in Beverly Hills called the Beverly Wood Swim School. It's mostly all one-year-olds, you know, with their moms sitting on the side-
Scott Hammond: And there's John
John Ash: … learning how to swim. Yeah. And, uh, but it-
Scott Hammond: "Mommy, who's the man?"
John Ash: … it's one-on-one, so the teachers… And the teacher said, "You know, don't worry. I wanna teach you how to swim. I can teach you."
Scott Hammond: Sure. Yeah.
John Ash: I said, "Okay." And she says, "You're probably the only one that's not peeing in the pool." So I, I went for it, and I did. I learned how to swim.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And I kept swimming and, uh… And then I g- I said, "Well,
John Ash: maybe…" Triathlons had just started at that point.
Scott Hammond: That's right. I think you mentioned you'd done-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … some triathlons.
John Ash: And so I said, "Well, I wanna try that." And so I, I got another s- swim coach.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
John Ash: And I put a, a lap pool in my backyard in, in LA.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, I, uh, I get that.
Scott Hammond: Hey.
John Ash: Wait a minute.
Scott Hammond: It's coming in. It's coming in hot.
Scott Hammond: The, um… No, triathletes are great. My, my father-in-law's from Torrance. He was a marathon runner.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He probably ran at Long Beach a number of times.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He's quite a guy. Hi- his… He was a pharmacist who still drank and, and used a little bit. Well, but he loved running. He'd run 20 miles on New Year's Day-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … as, as a rule. But qu- quite a guy. Uh, always athletic and just getting that whole endorphin hit.
John Ash: And I got hooked on that, and, uh, I loved it, and I started doing triathlons, short ones. You know, where you'd, you do a, a 10K run and, uh, you know, half mile swim-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Ash: … and, uh, uh, you know, 25-mile bike.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And then I just kept going. You know, I, I really got hooked.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: And started building up, and then came to my head that- I wanna do the Ironman.
Scott Hammond: No way.
John Ash: Ironman, you know-
Scott Hammond: In Hawaii? In Hawaii, at Kona?
John Ash: Uh, well, at that time, you had to qualify by doing-
Scott Hammond: Yes, you did
John Ash: … one somewhere else.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
John Ash: So, uh, and that was two and a half mile swim-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … 120-mile bike ride-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … and 26-mile run.
Scott Hammond: 0.2.
John Ash: 26.
Scott Hammond: 26 even?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Not a f-
John Ash: Oh, you're right.
Scott Hammond: Full marathon.
John Ash: 26.2.
Scott Hammond: Full marathon.
John Ash: Right.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: You're right.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: And, uh, so I said, "I wanna do that." And the one
John Ash: that was the e- easiest to get into was in Canada, in Penticton, so it was the Canadian Ironman.
Scott Hammond: Penticton. Where's that? What province?
John Ash: Uh, it's by Calgary.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Ash: It's between Calgary and, uh, uh, uh, Vancouver, you know-
Scott Hammond: No-
John Ash: … in the Canadian Rockies.
Scott Hammond: But not in the winter.
John Ash: No. It was, like, in August.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
John Ash: And, uh, so then I started training, and I would train, and you gotta remember, I'm running an architectural firm at this time, and got jobs and clients to meet, and, uh, got to make the rain. Uh, so I would get up in the
John Ash: morning, and I'd run for 12 miles through Beverly Hills and back. Uh, I'd run all the way down to Santa Monica and come back. I was living in Mid-Wilshire area at the time.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
John Ash: And, uh, and then at lunch, I'd go home because I had the
John Ash: lap pool.
Scott Hammond: Take a lap.
John Ash: And I, I, I'd meet my coach, and we'd, we'd swim laps. I'd swim laps. And then at night, I'd get on a stationary bike, and I had videos of the Tour de France.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: And I'd watch these videos of Tour de France on my stationary bike and,
John Ash: and ride.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Ash: And then on weekends, I would do a long bike ride. I'd do 100 miles.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: And also started doing century bike races.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: You know, and that was fun.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: 'Cause you had all these cyclists, and you'd get these long pelathons and-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
John Ash: … uh, so for that period of time from, like,
John Ash: 1983, '84, till I did the Ironman in
John Ash: 1990.
Scott Hammond: Wow, about that.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh. How'd you do? Did you finish?
John Ash: Yeah, I finished.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
John Ash: And, uh, 14 hours and five minutes.
Scott Hammond: Attaboy.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: I mean, it wasn't any world-breaking time.
Scott Hammond: That's pretty darn good.
John Ash: But, you know, you, uh, you, you… In fact, what you don't wanna do, you wanna finish within the cutoff at 17, but you, you… it's fun to drag it out, especially the run. You, 'cause you're talking with other people and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Ash: … and other runners, you know, and-
Scott Hammond: And that's on Kona, the island of Kona, right?
John Ash: No.
Scott Hammond: Or-
John Ash: It's in Penticton.
Scott Hammond: Oh, I'm sorry. You're, you're in Canada still.
John Ash: Yeah, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Ash: Now, in order to qualify to do Kona-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … you have to be in the top five of your age
John Ash: group, which I wasn't.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Ash: But, uh, I, I did go to, uh,
John Ash: uh, watch the Ironman there.
Scott Hammond: Oh, I bet that'd be fun.
John Ash: I, I would… Uh, and I would've loved to have done it, but-
Scott Hammond: It's so hardcore
John Ash: … by the time I finished the, the one in
John Ash: Penticton-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … uh, uh, you know, my firm was, you know, staff was saying, "You know, you, you, you're away a lot."
Scott Hammond: "You gotta, you gotta come back."
John Ash: Come back. So-
Scott Hammond: Well, it's a little selfish to train all that time, you know?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, I, I get it. My, uh, brother-in-law did the Western 100.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It was a 24-hour run.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He made it… You get the belt buckle if you make it in 24 hours.
Scott Hammond: He was… Shout out to Scott Hanson. Uh, 20, 23:56 and change. He just kinda squeaked in there, but he got the belt buckle-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … which is a big deal. Yeah, so, uh, I love that. So you had this athletic… Did you ever know Mike Pig, the local triathlete?
John Ash: Oh.
Scott Hammond: You ever talk to Pig?
John Ash: Yes, I do. In fact, I, I, I, I went to a triathlon training school in San Diego that he was one of the instructors.
Scott Hammond: Is that right?
John Ash: Yeah, at UC- at UC San Diego.
Scott Hammond: That would've been at the top of his game 'cause he was on tour.
Scott Hammond: He-
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He was the stud.
John Ash: Yeah. Now, he never did the Ironman.
Scott Hammond: No, he did all the… He did the-
John Ash: Short, short r- yeah.
Scott Hammond: The, uh, it was like a league or it was a tour.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It was an official tour.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: But he was always the point leader for, for a long time, right?
John Ash: Yeah. But, uh, got a little story. So when I went down to, to UC San Diego and, uh, checking in, they said, "Well, you know, uh, go over to the cafeteria and, uh, they'll… you'll see a bunch of guys there." And,
John Ash: and, uh, so I, I knew who Mike Pig was. I, I mean, he didn't know me, but I knew from the triathlon magazines and stuff-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … I knew what he looked like.
Scott Hammond: He was everywhere.
John Ash: So I go there, and here, here he's sitting there, and he's got two big cheeseburgers and a plate of fries.
Scott Hammond: He's training, man. He gotta get his calories in.
John Ash: You know, and I said, "Wow, that's-"
Scott Hammond: That's how you eat.
John Ash: "That's my leader, man."
Scott Hammond: I said, "If he can do it, I can do it."
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I love that. Yeah, I, uh, I really appreciate it. So yeah, architecture is a whole, whole different game.
Scott Hammond: I, um, I was, I was thinking while you were talking that saying that many things look so good on paper, but when you s- wh- wh- when you execute, whether it's a, uh, a building or an idea, it doesn't always work. It doesn't always translate. And I was… I was thinking there's, there's a principle in life where Joni and I have had these great revelation ideas, and they were… when you execute it, they were crap-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … for whatever reasons. And I know there's always that disconnect and, uh, that just occurred to me, and I thought you should know about that, so.
John Ash: Well, you know, um, it… I think what, what dr- dr… One of the things that drew me to architecture was I've always had a very vivid imagination.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Ash: And, uh, sometimes that's good, and many times it's
John Ash: not so good,
John Ash: uh, because y- you got wild ideas in your mind.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Ash: And, uh, so- Architecture gave me the opportunity to sit across from a client-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Ash: … and, uh, they would s- give me words of what, what they wanted, and that would generate images in my head.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Ash: And I'd learned to sketch upside down-
Scott Hammond: Oh
John Ash: … so that you could talk to me and I could, uh, run that through my imagination-
Scott Hammond: I love that
John Ash: … and, and sketch that out.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: So, you know, that, that was… In fact, one of the things that made me confident that I could be, when I decided I wanna write 12 years ago,
John Ash: uh, that let me believe I could do that because it was a matter of taking what was going on in my head-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Ash: … and turning it into words.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And that was fun. That was fun to-
Scott Hammond: Cool
John Ash: … to take these wild ideas and say-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Ash: … uh, that that's just fiction.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: That, that, you know, and you could, you can put that down and make good stories
John Ash: and-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … you can create characters and, and let them live in your
John Ash: mind.
Scott Hammond: And create poetry.
John Ash: You could create poetry.
Scott Hammond: You could s- song write.
John Ash: And I've done that.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh, I love it. I love the creative outlet.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, um, so I, I do the quiz show, so, so you get your chance to earn something from the prize bag here. So we're gonna, we're gonna break for that. Ready? If you're just joining me, this is John Ash, Scott Hammond on the 100% Humboldt podcast. So you get to eat… Question number one for all the money. You get to eat anywhere you want in the county. Where do you take your sweetheart? Where do you guys go?
John Ash: Mm.
Scott Hammond: I'm buying. Where are you going?
John Ash: Well, typically we just go to The Angler.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Ash: You know, that- that's our destination.
Scott Hammond: That's your go-to. Le- let's say, let's say they sh- they, they're closed that night. Where would you take her?
John Ash: Yeah. Well, uh, Brick and Fire.
Scott Hammond: Brick and Fire. Good. Delicious.
John Ash: Uh, let's see. Well, that's a g- really hard quest- Brick and Fire.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Brick and Fire.
Scott Hammond: And then… Or my friend Peter, after he goes to the club, they'll go off to go to McDonald's and get a burger.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He gets a Quarter Pounder. Anyway, question two. You get your whole day off. You get to do whatever you wanna do. Um, 9:00 AM, 9:00 PM. John, what are you up to? What are you gonna do with that day off? Anything you wanna do, no holds barred. You have to stay in the county though.
John Ash: Uh, well, I'd go for a bike ride. Uh, go for a walk in the Sequoia Park.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
John Ash: Uh, I love walking with my dog, uh, in Sequoia Park. I do that, uh, you know, maybe five times a week.
Scott Hammond: You live over by the park?
John Ash: No, I live on the corner of Bohner and Jay.
Scott Hammond: Got it. Trying to think where that is. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: So what did you think when you– What kind of image did you get when you-
Scott Hammond: There's a crosswalk there.
John Ash: There is. Four of them.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Is that the bike lane, too, on Jay? Is there a bike-
John Ash: Yeah, there's a bike lane on Jay.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And I'm glad for it 'cause I just rode my bike down the, the, uh, bike lane on Jay all the way to the bay today.
John Ash: Yeah. And so you don't ride on the brand-new bike lanes-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … on H and I-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … that the city spent several thousands of dollars on.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: And you would like most bike riders that ride a lot-
Scott Hammond: They come over on Jay
John Ash: … they ride on Jay.
Scott Hammond: There's no traffic.
John Ash: No traffic.
Scott Hammond: Better.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. Funny thing, you'd mentioned two things. So, uh, for those of you that are new to Humboldt County, uh, Arcata's in the North Bay and Eureka is in the south. They just did this famous, uh, Humboldt Bay Trail they opened up-
John Ash: Mm
Scott Hammond: … five days ago, and it's magical, and we, we took the ride down, and so you can go all the way from North Clam Beach to the north. You see where that is? All the way down to the power plant. You don't know where that is, but it's South Eureka. It– I think it's 15, 20 miles.
John Ash: Great.
Scott Hammond: And it's, it's cool. So you can bike this thing now, and they celebrated that.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And we rode that, and it was, uh, uh, full of people on the way down. On the way back, it was magical on the bay as the sun set over Humboldt Bay, and it was warm.
John Ash: Oh.
Scott Hammond: And it's just a cool, a cool thing. And you did mention Sequoia Park. So our, our last guest, uh, Jim, um, uh, was– he's, he's the zoo director. You might know Jim.
John Ash: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: But-
John Ash: I know Jim
Scott Hammond: … he, um, he was telling us about the Skywalk, which is also cool.
John Ash: I was involved in the design of that.
Scott Hammond: Is that right? Okay.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Makes sense.
John Ash: Because that's been hanging around for about the last 10 years.
Scott Hammond: Excuse the pun.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Good one.
John Ash: Uh, when Gretchen Ziegler was the zoo director-
Scott Hammond: Okay
John Ash: … she was the one that initiated that originally-
Scott Hammond: Huh
John Ash: … uh, along with, uh, uh, you know, some of the other board members. Um,
John Ash: Jeff Lamory-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … uh, was part of that. Uh, and so when I joined the zoo board, because I was an architect, I got involved in the– I became chairman of the project committee and, uh, worked on that-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … uh, design. 'Cause it went back and forth-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … in terms of, of how to do it-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … where it was going to go, what, what was the mission of it, how much it was gonna cost. And, uh, it wasn't
John Ash: until Julie Bimbo, who never gets credit for much-
Scott Hammond: Hmm. Huh
John Ash: … uh, got involved with, um, uh, some of the sponsors l- like the, uh, uh, I forget their, their names, the Tran- the hotel,
John Ash: hospital-
Scott Hammond: The association, yeah.
John Ash: Yeah. And got them, talked them into funding it.
Scott Hammond: Smart.
John Ash: You know? And she really got that going and got that-
Scott Hammond: Oh
John Ash: … made that happen.
Scott Hammond: He said they took attendance from what, 40,000 to 180,000-
John Ash: Is that right?
Scott Hammond: … last year. Oh, phenomenal.
Scott Hammond: It's-
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: He said it's, uh, not regional now or it's, it's international.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Which is really cool.
John Ash: So that, you know, once we got the funding for it-
Scott Hammond: Mm
John Ash: … then it really started going, going forward, and, uh, uh, I think they did a great job of it. D- Gretchen, you know, and then she retired and Jim took over. Uh, and, uh, also J- Jim's a, a real avid, uh, uh, drone flyer.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. He's hardcore.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Nice guy.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You guys did a great job on that. It's a cool thing.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I love that. Yeah. So let's, let, let's do the AI, AI portion of the show.
John Ash: Okay.
Scott Hammond: So- AI claims that you're humble and approachable, and I, I don't know if you wanna comment. I think that's true. "Known for his approachable demeanor and willingness to lend a hand, Ash is a fixture at community gatherings and events." I don't know if that's 100%, but that's a nice compliment.
John Ash: Used to be.
Scott Hammond: Used to be. Yeah, that's fair. Um, "Both as a war veteran and a local leader, you– Ash exemplifies resilience, service, and hope." And, and here's, here's what I kinda like this one. I, I hope this is me a little bit. So I, I'm, I'm hoping to aspi- as- aspire to this. "His life work stands as a testament to the power of giving back and enduring… and the enduring impact that one individual can have on a community."
John Ash: Wow.
Scott Hammond: Thank you, AI. That's pretty high praise.
John Ash: That is. That, that's-
Scott Hammond: I don't, I don't wanna muddy it up at all.
John Ash: Yeah, no, no.
Scott Hammond: Sometimes AI gets it right, and other times it's like, "Huh." Um, "Story of courage, compassion, commitment, a reminder that true heroes are often not found in distant battlefields, but right here at home, building a better future for us all." Excuse the pun. Maybe designing would be the– would be-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … more of a pun.
John Ash: Yeah. So what I'm disappointed in, frankly-
Scott Hammond: Please
John Ash: … is that it didn't mention one of– that's in my heart, in my– deep within my soul is, uh, my, what I think of as my greatest achievement-
Scott Hammond: What's that?
John Ash: … here in Humboldt County.
Scott Hammond: Please.
John Ash: And that was founding Explore North Coast Kayak
John Ash: Association.
Scott Hammond: That's right. You mentioned that before. Tell, tell us about that real quick.
John Ash: Yeah. So when I got up here, I, uh, when I was in LA, I had a sailboat. I had a 32-foot Ericson and at Marina del Rey, and I would sail out to Catalina, and that was my-
Scott Hammond: Cool
John Ash: … that was my thing, my water thing, right? And, uh, I loved it. Uh, I learned how to sail when I was actually in San Diego going to boot camp. I– the weekend I was able to-
Scott Hammond: Mission Bay, yeah.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, cool.
John Ash: And, uh, uh, so when I got up here, sailing didn't
John Ash: fit. Uh, and I had sold my sailboat, uh, and so I talked to a few people about, you know, "Well, what do you do up here in the water?" "Well, kayaking."
Scott Hammond: Big.
John Ash: So I first tried river kayaking, and I, I said, "You could really get hurt doing this."
Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.
John Ash: And, uh, and plus, if you go river kayaking, you gotta go with other people because y- y- you, you go down the river, and you gotta have a way to get back.
Scott Hammond: That's true.
John Ash: And, uh, so I got into, uh, uh, ocean kayaking.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: And I bought a kayak and bought another one, and started kayaking, and I would meet people out on the bay.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: And I'd say, you know, "How about we, uh, connect up next weekend and, uh, uh, you know, leave from, uh, uh, Arcata and, uh, uh, or Mad River-"
Scott Hammond: Trinidad
John Ash: … Mad River Slough.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: Yeah, or Trinidad. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Big, Big Lagoon.
John Ash: Oh, Big-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Ash: … Big Lagoon.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Uh, uh, so I started meeting people.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: And then I said, "Well, you know, why don't we exchange email addresses, and so we can do this and send out a nota- and I'll do that." So I started sending out notices and where we're all gonna meet, and so it started that
John Ash: way.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
John Ash: And, uh, my wife always says, "You know, you take a fun activity, and you wanna make it into a job." And, and that's exactly what happened. I s- I started, you know, getting serious about it, and then I met two, two of the people that had just started, uh, kayaking, Marsha and Simeon
John Ash: Tap- Taber.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Do you know them?
Scott Hammond: I know the names.
John Ash: Yeah, they used to own Simply Macintosh-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … in Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Ash: And, uh, so they got involved. So, and Marsha's an attorney, and she said, "Well, why don't we start a, an organization, a nonprofit?"
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Ash: Uh, and that's exactly what we did, and we started-
Scott Hammond: Nice
John Ash: … Explore North Coast.
Scott Hammond: It's still going?
John Ash: Yeah, still going, 125 members.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I got a client, she comes in all the time. She's got kayaks racked up. She, "Hey, just got off the bay," and-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … she's, like, into it. She's all-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … wet.
John Ash: It's a g- you know, a g- it was a great experience. I did a, a, a,
John Ash: a film kayaking around the bay-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … and, uh, this was when I was in Rotary, Eureka Rotary, and I brought it in and showed that at one of the meetings.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.
John Ash: And there was people there that had lived here all their lives and knew nothing about the bay.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Ash: They said, "Wow, I didn't know that was like that."
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: You know, you go, you go down to the South Bay, you know, and you see all these
John Ash: birds and-
Scott Hammond: Gorgeous
John Ash: … it's br- just beautiful.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
John Ash: They didn't know that existed.
Scott Hammond: I'm inspired to get out there. So when I was a rookie State Farm guy, I went down to… You ever know Don Brown, State Farm, in Fortuna?
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Avid kayaker. Built his own.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Cherrywood, beautiful. And he goes, "Get in the car. We're gonna go, go s- put some shorts on. We're gonna go get in the, in Hookten Slough. We're going kayaking." I go, "Heck yeah, we are." And I'm, I'm peeling off clothes and throwing off my sport coat. "Yeah, yeah, let's go." And he goes, "Scott…" And, and he had, he'd had brain cancer for, uh, cancer for many years, and he was, you know, in remission and recovering, and, and it finally took him. But the story is, he goes, "Scott, you live in beautiful Humboldt County. You gotta take advantage of this place. And isn't this beautiful?" And I go, "Yes."
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: "Yes, sir." And, uh, three or four hours of zen training and insurance in a kayak.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And he was right. You know, I'm looking at Hookten Slough. It's 70 degrees.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And there's everything, and we're, uh, the only guys out there in these 18-foot cherrywood, beautiful-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and it was cool. It was a good experience.
Scott Hammond: And-
John Ash: It is beautiful there, Hookten Slough
Scott Hammond: … so, so Joni, when you hear this, yes, I am committed to going kayaking. We'll start at Big Lagoon.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Or maybe, you know, at Dorney's, um- The, uh, the Humboldt State, uh-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … rowing house down there rents them.
John Ash: Yes, they do.
Scott Hammond: I'm gonna s- maybe we'll start there in the bay.
John Ash: Yeah, y- y- and, and there's another place over on Woodley Island, uh, called
John Ash: Humboldts.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Ash: And they rent them out. Uh, you can get them there also.
Scott Hammond: And Kayak Trinidad up in Trinidad.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And that Tr- that's a harbor to float in. I wanna do that.
John Ash: It is. You can go in the rock garden out there, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … it, it's just, uh, beautiful.
Scott Hammond: That's cool.
John Ash: And Explore North Coast has events every week. Uh, they meet in a different place. Like in, uh, Stone Lagoon, they have a, when you, uh, once every year they have a, an event where you, you kayak and there's this little island out there, and they all camp overnight-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Ash: … and cook salmon and, uh-
Scott Hammond: Man, I wanna… So how do we find those guys?
Scott Hammond: Explore-
John Ash: Uh, they're, they have a, uh, a website.
Scott Hammond: Explorehumboldt.com.
John Ash: No, explorenorthcoast-
Scott Hammond: Northcoast
John Ash: … .org
Scott Hammond: … .org. Explorenorthcoast.org.
John Ash: So I don't know if you had it on your list, but, uh, I know if I didn't say anything about it, my wife would say, "Well, why didn't you talk about your book?"
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, your book.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Go ahead, real quick.
John Ash: Okay. So real quick, I'm finished a novel, 8,000- 80,500 words. That's about 225 pages, uh, in a paperback. And, uh, currently I'm trying to find an agent because I wanna go with a, a major publisher-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Ash: … so I can have distribution.
Scott Hammond: Of course.
John Ash: And, uh, so,
John Ash: uh, and-
Scott Hammond: What, what's it called?
John Ash: Well, it's called… Glad you asked, Scott.
Scott Hammond: Funny.
John Ash: So it's called The Road to Oracle.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
John Ash: And it is a lyrical psychological thriller about twins, Kate and Nate Windsor, whose carefully controlled lives unravel-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Ash: … under the weight of childhood trauma and disassociative identity disorder.
Scott Hammond: Sounds like a lot of us.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That sounds great, John.
John Ash: So, uh, this is something I've been working on for the last three
John Ash: years, and finally I've finished it.
Scott Hammond: So you have a manuscript that you're submitting?
John Ash: Yeah, I have a manuscript and I'm querying agents, 'cause there's a whole process-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
John Ash: … that you have to go through.
Scott Hammond: This guy wrote a book, How to Become a, a Better Father: The Everyday Dad.
John Ash: Oh, th-
Scott Hammond: Yeah. A friend of yours, me.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, self-published.
John Ash: Oh.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, if I would've, I'd never, never took it to the next level, but that's okay.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Hey, real quick. How would, how would you like your legacy to be remembered? What's on your tombstone? What are we saying at your celebration of life? Briefly, what, what would, what would you want us to remember?
John Ash: Uh, that he spent his whole life learning how to love.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I like that.
John Ash: Yeah, 'cause it goes both ways. It's knowing people to love and being able to have enough self-worth to give love back.
Scott Hammond: Uh, give and receive. Hey, I'm giving that right now, and you're receiving a Dutch Brothers card because you answered the questions and the quiz-
John Ash: Oh, my goodness
Scott Hammond: … very well. Thank you, John.
John Ash: I am looking forward to using this.
Scott Hammond: Hey, man, they have, they have coffee.
John Ash: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It's really… It's, it's drive-through. You know about it. Hey, uh, so I just wanna thank everybody for joining us. Hey, we got voted, uh, top three, um, podcasts in, by the North Coast Journal and Best of Humboldt. I understand we didn't win, but, uh, Miles, congrats. You're amazing. But hey, people are, people are looking our way. Coming for you, Miles, next year, bro.
John Ash: So what do you gotta do to become number one?
Scott Hammond: You… Well, you have to jockey for votes. I should've s- done that on the podcast for six months-
John Ash: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … but I'm starting now, so we're gonna get we're gonna win it next year.
John Ash: Well, you know, I think you're doing a lot of great things, and I think that-
Scott Hammond: Thank you
John Ash: … Humboldt County is better because you're here.
Scott Hammond: Thank you.
John Ash: And, uh, I think people should vote for you and recognize that.
Scott Hammond: Hey, man, next year they're gonna have the, the polls are gonna be open. Uh, so if you, uh, would like to subscribe, like us, love us, make comments, social media, all the podcast, uh, platforms, uh, please do. We'll be back next week. Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt with John Ash. Thanks, John, for coming.
John Ash: Thank you.
Scott Hammond: Appreciate you.