#88. From Queens to Humboldt: Larry Goldberg’s Journey

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, and, uh, those out at sea, my good friend Larry Goldberg with Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt Podcast. Welcome, Larry.

Larry Goldberg: Thank you. It's good to be here.

Scott Hammond: It's great to see you, man. How are you?

Larry Goldberg: Good.

Scott Hammond: Tell us the Larry Goldberg story. Uh, what's, where'd you come from? How'd you get to Humboldt?

Larry Goldberg: Well, I grew up in New York City.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I was born and, uh, raised in Queens, New York, and I was there through high school. I went to high school in downtown Manhattan, a place called Stuyvesant, a very, uh, a math, science school, and it was in the

Larry Goldberg: '60s. And-

Scott Hammond: And this is with David Lipman, our, my friend.

Larry Goldberg: He, he was in my s- he went to my school.

Scott Hammond: Same class?

Larry Goldberg: I don't… I think we were one year apart, but we-

Scott Hammond: What the?

Larry Goldberg: … but we went to school at the same time.

Scott Hammond: But he migrated to Humboldt, too.

Larry Goldberg: Right. Right.

Scott Hammond: Small world.

Larry Goldberg: I don't know if he came the same time as me, but he, yeah, we both went to school there. And, um, I was there during the, the protests of the '70s.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, I was there in '69, '70-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … uh, right when the invasion of Cambodia happened and, uh, protests. I actually was part of an Occupy Wall

Larry Goldberg: Street-

Scott Hammond: What?

Larry Goldberg: … in 1970 when they bombed Cambodia.

Scott Hammond: How about that? Was that Abbie Hoffman's stuff or-

Larry Goldberg: It, it was, uh, uh, the same time. He wasn't there, but we were a protest. Uh, high school and college kids went to, uh, uh,

Larry Goldberg: Wall Street.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And we got beat to crap, I'll tell you-

Scott Hammond: Really?

Larry Goldberg: … by the construction workers. They, they came-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Larry Goldberg: … and they broke us up, and the police just stood by, and it was a riot.

Scott Hammond: So this was not police beating you. This is, this is citizenry.

Larry Goldberg: It was, it was the-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Larry Goldberg: … it was this, the, uh, uh, construction workers downtown, and they, they came, and they just were throwing rods and s- concrete and beating us up.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And it was a mess. I mean, it-

Scott Hammond: Different world

Larry Goldberg: … different world, you bet.

Larry Goldberg: You bet.

Scott Hammond: So you graduated high school in, in, in, in, in that-

Larry Goldberg: I graduated high school in '71.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Larry Goldberg: And then I went to Wisconsin. I went to a college, a small liberal arts college called Beloit in Southern

Larry Goldberg: Wisconsin.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Sure.

Larry Goldberg: And that's where I had a chance to do some exciting things.

Scott Hammond: That's a g- yeah, Wisconsin's great.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, it's really-

Scott Hammond: So Lipman went to U- UW.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: David Lipman. Shout out to Dave and Linda.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, yeah. Hey, Dave. Uh, he, he, uh, went to the university at Madison. I went to a small college called Beloit. And, uh, four years I was in, uh, Wisconsin, and I got the chance to really see the country-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and get to know Wisconsin and the Midwest-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Larry Goldberg: … and what have you. But during that time, I did some exciting, um,

Larry Goldberg: adventures.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, one adventure was, um, we had a program at the school called, uh, Work Study.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: That the school actually gave you a term off to work somewhere in the world.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Larry Goldberg: And they helped find jobs, and I found an amazing job crewing on a square rig sailing ship in the West Indies.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Larry Goldberg: And I sailed all through the West Indies as a, uh, I was 20 years old, and I was on the ship that was used in the movie

Larry Goldberg: Hawaii.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And it was the ship from that movie, and they were doing cruises in the, uh, Virgin Islands, and so I got to sail and really learned how to sail a square rigger, and then from that, I signed on to a hippie ship that was going down to

Larry Goldberg: Grenada.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And we sailed all the way down to Grenada and had some adventures and so forth during that time.

Scott Hammond: This is way before Jimmy Buffett stuff.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, yeah. Well, this was during, um, some of the early reggae.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Jimmy Cliff. I saw Jimmy Cliff in the islands.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that'd be cool.

Larry Goldberg: And that was really cool. Just when he was coming out with The Harder They Come and all of that. It was-

Scott Hammond: Was Bob Marley living at that time?

Larry Goldberg: He was going, but he wasn't really well known yet.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: He came later. This was-

Scott Hammond: Jimmy was first.

Larry Goldberg: Jimmy was first. Yeah, and there was a lot of other musicians back then.

Larry Goldberg: A lot-

Scott Hammond: How big was the ship from Hawaii? How big stem to stern was that?

Larry Goldberg: Uh, 110 foot overall, 25 foot beam, 150

Larry Goldberg: tons.

Scott Hammond: Very cool.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, it was a, it was a… I, I could actually show you a picture, but, uh, it-

Scott Hammond: No, that's… we, we wouldn't see it.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'll look at it after.

Larry Goldberg: We'll show you later, but it, it-

Scott Hammond: What's, and what's, what's a hippie ship?

Larry Goldberg: Well, a hippie ship, here's the deal. There were some hippies living on, you know, in Sausalito where they have the

Larry Goldberg: boats there?

Scott Hammond: Sure. Of course.

Larry Goldberg: The… Well, these folks were living on one of those, uh, houseboats.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: And they decided to buy a ship and try to sail around the world as a world educational school.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: But they bought the ship sight unseen that had been sitting in St. Thomas Harbor for over a year.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And when we got on, I mean, they didn't know what they were doing, but they hired us. We were s- a couple of sailors who-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … knew what we were doing. There was over a foot of growth on the bottom of the ship.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And when we got underway, we started leaking.

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Larry Goldberg: And I'll tell you what, we were, we started out pumping an hour every, I don't know, six, eight hours. By the time we got to Grenada, we were pumping every hour on the hour.

Scott Hammond: On the hour.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Constantly.

Larry Goldberg: I mean, it was, it was leaking like a sieve.

Larry Goldberg: But, uh-

Scott Hammond: The hippie ship

Larry Goldberg: … hippie ship. Yeah, it was, it was a, a ketch rig, and it was a 80-foot-long ship, and, uh, they had a bunch of kids with them, and, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I'm on

Larry Goldberg: … it was a school. It was a little school they were putting together, so.

Scott Hammond: Actually, the appropriate response would be, "Far out, man."

Larry Goldberg: Far, yeah, far out.

Scott Hammond: Far out. That's the-

Larry Goldberg: Or, or no, the other one is out of sight.

Scott Hammond: That would've been out of sight.

Larry Goldberg: Out of sight, man. Yep.

Scott Hammond: Maybe groovy was still there.

Larry Goldberg: It was still groovy. It, it was.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I said groovy to a young kid in Texas, and he looked at me and he goes… You know what that-

Larry Goldberg: What does that mean?

Scott Hammond: What do you mean by that?

Larry Goldberg: Well, I still say cool. I say, I say-

Scott Hammond: Cool's, cool's cool

Larry Goldberg: … cool, cool is cool, but out of sight-

Scott Hammond: Out of-

Larry Goldberg: … that's another story.

Scott Hammond: Out of sight, man. I'm still cool with cool Remember bitchin' came in and then-

Larry Goldberg: Oh, bitchin' was cool

Scott Hammond: … that really offended my uncle. He didn't have any part of that.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He goes, "Hey, you can't be talking like that around here."

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, and then later it's the bomb.

Scott Hammond: The bomb.

Larry Goldberg: The bomb, and it's the bomb.

Scott Hammond: We're gonna go linguistic here.

Larry Goldberg: You got it. Well-

Scott Hammond: And now it's, uh, something else.

Larry Goldberg: Well, after the s- the sailing adventure, I had another adventure a year later. I got to live in the Middle East for six months.

Scott Hammond: Very nice.

Larry Goldberg: We had an overseas exchange program, and we went to Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, and I got to live-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Larry Goldberg: … inside the old city of Jerusalem.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Larry Goldberg: Inside the wall.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And I was living by the Jaffa Gate, which anyone who's been to, uh, the old city will know where it is.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And the souk where they have the, uh, all of the s- the booths

Larry Goldberg: and stuff-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … where people sell stuff. And-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Larry Goldberg: … I lived in, in, in Jerusalem for four months.

Scott Hammond: Is that close to the Wailing Wall?

Larry Goldberg: It's not far.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: It's walking distance.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, it's not, not that far.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And, and this was 1974, and so this was a year after the Yom Kippur War.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: And so it was still kind of uptight. I mean, there was soldiers everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: Everyone had guns. But I was there as an overseas study program.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I was actually doing a research project on the Holocaust.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Larry Goldberg: I was interested in learning more about it, and I studied at a place called Yad Vashem.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And Yad Vashem is like the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And it was a mind-blower.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's-

Larry Goldberg: It was a total mind-blower

Scott Hammond: … been to the one in Houston. It was, it was life-changing.

Larry Goldberg: Exactly. Exactly.

Scott Hammond: You come away and you, it, it, you, it just changes your day.

Larry Goldberg: Well, the thing I came to realize is I felt an affinity with… We didn't have any immediate Holocaust, um, uh, victims in my family, but I felt an affinity with the people of Ukraine.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And my, my people- … were from Ukraine.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And they, they were in Odessa, but before that they were in Kersten and, uh, some of the other. They, the shtetl, the, the little Jewish community, they're all gone.

Larry Goldberg: They're all-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … decimated.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Larry Goldberg: But they were in Kersten and some of the areas that we hear now on the news that they're fighting around, they, they lived there.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Larry Goldberg: So I had an affinity for what was there. And the thing you learn is that the Holocaust, we think of gas

Larry Goldberg: chambers.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And we think of, you know, all the people that were just herded in cattle cars. Back then, that's not how it worked. In, in Kyiv, they literally g- pushed everybody out, and they lined them up, and there was a, there was a ravine called, uh, Babyn Yar, and they shot

Larry Goldberg: everybody, 33,000 people in a weekend.

Scott Hammond: Crazy.

Larry Goldberg: I mean, it's, it's so insane.

Scott Hammond: Un- yeah, unbelievable, right?

Larry Goldberg: And the thing is, it's like th- there's nothing to relate… You- it's hard to relate to 'cause we, you know, have wars, and we have, uh, you know, there, there's, there is genocide. But it's like when it's, you're, you actually have a connection to

Larry Goldberg: it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: It was a connection. And-

Scott Hammond: So these were Nazis killing?

Larry Goldberg: These were Nazis, but not only Nazis. They, they used, um, they used a lot of Ukrainian and Lithuanian-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and other police.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And so what they, they used… Every country they occupied-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … they would find folks that would help them.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: And I would just call them helpers.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: And so they enlisted-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Larry Goldberg: … a lot of the police to do their dirty work.

Scott Hammond: Hard to imagine it today.

Larry Goldberg: It's, it's, it's im- but-

Scott Hammond: Mind-blowing

Larry Goldberg: … the thing that really amazes me, and the thing that I had a hard time with, is that these were some of the most sophisticated people in Europe.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: They weren't primitive.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: Germans were one of the most sophisticated people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And for them to do it, you realize anyone could do that.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Larry Goldberg: And I, I hate to say it, but I could see our country doing that as well. I mean, we could go down that route. I hope we never do.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: But it was a real eye-opener.

Scott Hammond: Well, history has this place called Rome.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And they, they, they went sideways and-

Larry Goldberg: Sure

Scott Hammond: … uh, it, it's, it, it, history would bear that out. So it sounds like you traveled the world, did a lot of stuff. So what'd you graduate with, is Beloit?

Scott Hammond: Beloit?

Larry Goldberg: Uh, Beloit.

Scott Hammond: Beloit.

Larry Goldberg: Beloit College. I, I got a f- uh, a, a undergraduate degree in philosophy.

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Larry Goldberg: So I, I gra- Yeah, so that… Well, actually, it was Eastern philosophy.

Larry Goldberg: That's what-

Scott Hammond: Oh, better yet

Larry Goldberg: … really fascinated me is I-

Scott Hammond: Recreation administration, Humboldt.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, there you go. All right. Yeah, that's cool. And so, uh, I, I, I graduated from Beloit,

Larry Goldberg: but-

Scott Hammond: Outta sight

Larry Goldberg: … outta sight.

Scott Hammond: If you might.

Larry Goldberg: Totally. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: If I may.

Larry Goldberg: It was wicked.

Scott Hammond: It was w- It was the bomb.

Larry Goldberg: The bomb, man.

Scott Hammond: We're not gonna stop with that.

Larry Goldberg: It'll just keep going.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: But after Beloit, I, uh, this, during Beloit, I traveled quite a bit, and I got to see the West Coast.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Larry Goldberg: And one spring vacation, we did a, uh, spring break of several friends of mine and we went to school. We did a car trip, and we went to San Francisco, all the way up Highway 1, uh, you know, 101 and 1-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … up to, uh, Seattle, and then back-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Larry Goldberg: … to Beloit, and we had a chance to see the whole West Coast. And this is, like, 1974.

Scott Hammond: Wonderful.

Larry Goldberg: And I, and I had a wonderful time, and it really-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … impressed me, and I said, "I, I wanna move there."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: And so I moved to the Bay Area in '75.

Scott Hammond: Really? What part?

Larry Goldberg: Uh, originally in, I was in San Francisco. I was in, uh, Noe Valley.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And Noe Valley back then was cool.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: It was really a nice, nice area.

Scott Hammond: Was it the bomb?

Larry Goldberg: It was wicked.

Scott Hammond: It was wi- Here we go again.

Larry Goldberg: Here we g- again.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: It was great. And, uh, from there I went to San Jose-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and then up to Oakland.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And then from Oakland, in 1978, I met a girl, as things happen-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and she wanted to go to Humboldt State-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Larry Goldberg: … and so she brought me up north, and it was an eye-opener.

Scott Hammond: Is this the girl you're still with?

Larry Goldberg: No.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Larry Goldberg: No. Not, not, not now. Her-

Scott Hammond: Happy 40th anniversary to you guys, by the way.

Larry Goldberg: Thank you. We just celebrated our 40th, uh-

Scott Hammond: Congrats

Larry Goldberg: … two weeks ago.

Scott Hammond: What's her name?

Larry Goldberg: Kathleen.

Scott Hammond: Kathleen. I think I've met her or seen her.

Larry Goldberg: I think you have.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, yeah. So she and I have been together 40 years now.

Scott Hammond: Shout out to Kathleen putting up with, you know.

Larry Goldberg: She, she is a martyr. She-

Scott Hammond: You and I have married up.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, we married up. I tell you, she must have done something terrible in her last

Larry Goldberg: life-

Larry Goldberg: … to deserve me. She-

Scott Hammond: Don't say. Come on.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, I am her penance.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's okay.

Larry Goldberg: Anyhow, um, the, uh, the thing was this, this girl that I was with at the time, her brothers were growers in Bryceland. They actually were marijuana growers back in

Larry Goldberg: the '70s.

Scott Hammond: Marijuana in Humboldt Cou-

Larry Goldberg: Marijuana in Humboldt County

Scott Hammond: … in Humboldt County?

Larry Goldberg: Can you believe it?

Scott Hammond: How could they do that in Humboldt County?

Larry Goldberg: I tell you what, back then it was outlawed.

Scott Hammond: Oh, it-

Larry Goldberg: It was, it was-

Scott Hammond: … it was heroin

Larry Goldberg: … it was underground.

Scott Hammond: Oh yeah, that w- you didn't d- know anything.

Larry Goldberg: You see that movie, you remember that movie Humboldt? There was that, a movie years ago about this kid that comes up from LA and he's just, like, taken aback.

Larry Goldberg: That was me.

Scott Hammond: That was you? Okay.

Larry Goldberg: That was me. I came up here with this, my girlfriend. She brings me to her brother's farm, and I'm seeing these plants that are 10 feet tall and six feet wide.

Larry Goldberg: It's like-

Scott Hammond: And loaded with, loaded with buds.

Scott Hammond: Oh

Larry Goldberg: … I have never seen pot like that before.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: And, but then they were getting 4,500, 5,000 a pound.

Scott Hammond: People were making real money 'cause s-

Larry Goldberg: They were making serious money

Scott Hammond: … it was scarcity.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Laws, supply and demand, and, and look what happened today.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Boom and super bust.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. Total bust.

Scott Hammond: And somebody mentioned that s- that our economy here at Humboldt's based on boom and

Scott Hammond: bust.

Larry Goldberg: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Timber.

Larry Goldberg: Right. Fishing.

Scott Hammond: Uh, the IT, fishing-

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … uh, dot-com. And now-

Larry Goldberg: We have the uni-

Scott Hammond: … and now weed.

Larry Goldberg: We have the university. We have the bay.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I got involved when I first moved up here, I started, I, I came up to do an

Larry Goldberg: MBA.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I did my MBA at Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And while I was doing that, I got involved in community development, and one of the things we looked into is what can we do to break that

Larry Goldberg: cycle?

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: You know, timber was not yet on the way out, but it was, it was, it, it was getting weak, you know.

Larry Goldberg: This was-

Scott Hammond: Signs of death were-

Larry Goldberg: … late '70s

Scott Hammond: … yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Sure.

Larry Goldberg: And I remember at the plaza, and I don't remember what year, it was, like,

Larry Goldberg: 1980 or '81-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … it was a serious recession. There were a, a handful of stores boarded up-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … on the Arcata Plaza. I-

Scott Hammond: And half of them were bars-

Larry Goldberg: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … back in the day

Larry Goldberg: … at, at least.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: There used to be, uh, the co-op used to be located on the Arcata Plaza.

Scott Hammond: That's right.

Larry Goldberg: And it moved, and this was after that, but there were all these boarded-up storefronts. I mean, it looked terrible.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I remember. I came up in '78.

Larry Goldberg: It was funky.

Scott Hammond: Remember the Boot Club?

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Sure, sure.

Scott Hammond: I went in there to shoot some pool, and it's all bikers, so-

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … what the hell am I doing here?

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. You gotta be careful what you, what you say and do there.

Scott Hammond: I think, be- and the Red Pepper.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, the Red Pepper. That was a great-

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: No, I'll, I'll give you one. I, my first job was at Fat Albert's.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. Down in Old Town.

Larry Goldberg: That was, it's now, uh, the Sea Grill.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Larry Goldberg: And I was a bartender at Fat Albert's.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Larry Goldberg: And I saw people there that had lived here, you know, all these years. It was a, we called it a meat market. I mean, it was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Larry Goldberg: … just a big hookup place.

Larry Goldberg: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Everybody would show up down there.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, it was a big party place, but Merv George used to play on a regular-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Larry Goldberg: … basis.

Scott Hammond: Shout out to Merv.

Larry Goldberg: Yep, and it was, uh, it was-

Scott Hammond: Legend

Larry Goldberg: … the scene. It was the scene.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And then Tomaso's was down there.

Larry Goldberg: Tomaso's was down there, and The Palace, it used to be, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Larry Goldberg: … uh, the, there w-

Scott Hammond: Chr- is that the Chrome Building?

Larry Goldberg: … Chrome Building. They were going. Do you remember Menorah Thai?

Scott Hammond: Sure. I used to eat there.

Larry Goldberg: I did too, and you know what? All the bartenders from that area would meet there after work, and so we'd work until 2:00 AM, 1:00 or 2:00, and they stayed open, and so we went over to Menorah Thai-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Larry Goldberg: … and hang out at Menorah Thai-

Scott Hammond: Delicious

Larry Goldberg: … after the, after hours.

Scott Hammond: Was that, who started that? Was it Steve Young or Youngberg's was-

Larry Goldberg: I don't recall

Scott Hammond: … somebody was a partner in that, I think.

Larry Goldberg: I don't remember.

Scott Hammond: They had the delicious peanut sauce.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, they did. It was real good.

Scott Hammond: I could just do shots of that.

Scott Hammond: So good.

Larry Goldberg: Well, back then it was totally exotic.

Larry Goldberg: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Larry Goldberg: … you know, there weren't any-

Scott Hammond: You had the low table, and you could put your feet-

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, you sat on the floor, right. I mean, it was really cool.

Scott Hammond: It's pretty cool.

Larry Goldberg: It was very cool.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it might be s- boss. Now we're getting-

Larry Goldberg: It, it was far out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, back in the day.

Larry Goldberg: Back in the day.

Scott Hammond: So you took me from, uh, from, from back east to up the coast, and so you came with a girlfriend. You studied, got an MBA, lived in Arcata.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, so we were living, uh, in, in Arcata to start with, and

Larry Goldberg: Bayside-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and around there.

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Larry Goldberg: And then she decided to, we, we broke up, and she joined the Peace Corps.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And she went to-

Scott Hammond: Perfect

Larry Goldberg: … Ecuador, and she went native. She actually married somebody from Ecuador-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Larry Goldberg: … and brought him back up here-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Larry Goldberg: … and then divorced him, and now she and her current, uh, man live j- just up the block from me-

Scott Hammond: Of course

Larry Goldberg: … in Trinidad.

Scott Hammond: Poetry of life.

Larry Goldberg: Small, small world.

Scott Hammond: That's how-

Larry Goldberg: Small, small world.

Scott Hammond: That's how things work. I-

Larry Goldberg: That is how things work.

Scott Hammond: It's so funny to, uh, to hear that.

Larry Goldberg: You know the saying back then, I think it's still true. When you go to a party, you see your past, present, and future all at the same time.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I ran into a guy on a pier in Oceanside that was the, worked at Gist Hall-

Larry Goldberg: Oh, no kidding

Scott Hammond: … Humboldt State.

Larry Goldberg: Oh.

Scott Hammond: "Hey, what's, what are you doing here? I, I'm on thank- Thanksgiving break. What are you doing here?"

Larry Goldberg: No kidding.

Scott Hammond: It was just, like, rando at the same time at the beach-

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … seeing the sunset.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So you just never know.

Larry Goldberg: Well-

Scott Hammond: So you got your MBA at Humboldt, and, uh-

Larry Goldberg: I got my MBA. I got my MBA

Scott Hammond: … and you met your wife. That's-

Larry Goldberg: Well, also, when I got involved, I got involved with a new program at Humboldt. I started working, this is the late '70s, this is '78, '79, uh, '80, that period. I took the first classes that Humboldt offered on alternative energy.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right.

Larry Goldberg: They started doing a renewable energy-

Scott Hammond: At the Buck House

Larry Goldberg: … at the B- well, before the Buck House.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Larry Goldberg: I helped build the Buck House.

Scott Hammond: And the yurt behind it?

Larry Goldberg: And all of that came later.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Larry Goldberg: I was there before that.

Scott Hammond: So I was in cluster for two years.

Larry Goldberg: Okay. All right.

Scott Hammond: So we took over the Buck, well, we … did all the alternative energy stuff

Larry Goldberg: I was there to build it originally.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. I helped-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Larry Goldberg: … build it. But that, I was taking the, the classes before the Buck House even

Larry Goldberg: existed.

Scott Hammond: Understood.

Larry Goldberg: They, they would, they had, uh, I don't know if you knew Mike Manidis.

Scott Hammond: I know the name.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, Peter Lehman.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, there were professors who were starting. I think it's one of the oldest renewable energy programs on the West Coast.

Scott Hammond: And now it's all fixed up and really hardcore, right?

Larry Goldberg: Oh, yeah, it's totally hardcore now.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: But back then it was revolutionary.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Larry Goldberg: And I, that was a minor, so I did my MBA in small business management, and I did a minor in alternative energy.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Larry Goldberg: And one of the things I got interested in, there was a grant at the time from the… I was working for a, a while at Redwood Community Action Agency-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … down in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And there was a grant that came available from the California Energy Commission for what was called a municipal solar utility program.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: The idea was they wanted to encourage solar, and they created legislation that enabled people who leased solar hot water systems to get the same

Larry Goldberg: tax credits-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … as people who bought them.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Larry Goldberg: And I got involved in the first solar utility in Northern California. And we got six cities and the county to form a

Larry Goldberg: JPA.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And we got involved with solar leasing, and I ran what was called a municipal solar utility, and that was my master's thesis.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Larry Goldberg: And that's when I got started in solar, and it's the same time Norm Ehrlich got started at Six River Solar.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: He started his business 1979, 1980.

Scott Hammond: Where you work now, right?

Larry Goldberg: Where I work now.

Scott Hammond: Is that correct?

Larry Goldberg: Right.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I've managed it for a while, and now I just work there as an independent

Larry Goldberg: consultant.

Scott Hammond: Is he still the owner?

Larry Goldberg: He's a part owner.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, we brought in new blood-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and so he's a part owner. There are three owners, and, uh, y- younger guys now. And, uh, they're, they're doing very well. I mean, the company's changed a lot, but it's been around 40 years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: 45 years now.

Scott Hammond: Solar's great. We have a, a f- like 45 panels on our house-

Larry Goldberg: There you go

Scott Hammond: … in, in foggy McKinleyville.

Larry Goldberg: Right

Scott Hammond: … and still love life.

Larry Goldberg: It, it works everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Works everywhere.

Scott Hammond: No, it, it's, it's, it's, the tech is just great.

Larry Goldberg: It, it's the bomb.

Scott Hammond: It, it is the bomb.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Uh, and it's, uh, happening. You might say it's, uh-

Larry Goldberg: It's hot

Scott Hammond: … m- a- it's hot. Uh, moving on from the- … descriptors. Tell, so tell me more about, um, did you ever work at the YES House, or Y-E-S?

Larry Goldberg: I know about it, but I didn't work there.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that was community involvement-

Larry Goldberg: Right. There was a lot of that

Scott Hammond: … on a different level.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. I was… You know what I worked on, is I got involved with the Redwood

Larry Goldberg: Alliance.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Larry Goldberg: And this is something a lot of people may not know. Back in 1976, we had a nuclear power plant here. A lot of people don't-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … remember that we had a nuclear power plant.

Scott Hammond: South of town.

Larry Goldberg: And they discovered an earthquake fault going right under the plant.

Scott Hammond: What a faux pas, man.

Larry Goldberg: Total. Total. But y- to their, to their credit, they didn't have the geology-

Scott Hammond: The tech

Larry Goldberg: … the tech that we had, you know, later.

Scott Hammond: So it was a m- it was a legit accident.

Larry Goldberg: It was, it was an oversight.

Scott Hammond: Ish. Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: It w- it was an oversight. I mean, you know, it's one of those things where y- you know, hindsight is 20/20.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, but in any case, some people got involved as interveners-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … to shut down the plant.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And a group formed called the Redwood Alliance.

Scott Hammond: Amazing.

Larry Goldberg: And I got involved in the early days of the Redwood Alliance, and our first thing was protesting at Diablo Canyon. And I was a protester down at Diablo, and I went down in 1980, and I got arrested. And we were fighting Diablo Canyon at the time-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … but we were also fighting to get Humboldt Bay decommissioned.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And one of the things I'm proud to say, it took 30 years-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … but we fulfilled our mission.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Very few groups that I know shut down because they fulfilled their complete mission. Our mission was to get Humboldt Bay down, decommissioned, down to the ground, and we got it done. It took 30 years.

Scott Hammond: And the rods and the waste are all gone, right?

Larry Goldberg: They're, they're actually on site. They're in, they're in, uh, dry cask storage. That's called dry cask, and they're, they're buried in these containers.

Scott Hammond: It would take a heck of a something to-

Larry Goldberg: The, uh, the trouble is there's nowhere to put the stuff

Scott Hammond: … and you can't shoot it in space.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-mm. You can't do anything with it.

Scott Hammond: I thought that was a good idea in college. I th- I, couldn't we shoot, shoot a missile? And they go, "What if the missile misfires like they all, many of them do?"

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know what? There was an interesting idea that somebody had, although I, I'm not sure if it was feasible, to take the waste and take it out to the deep ocean where the, um, the c- continental plates are, are im- are go- are turning in, back into the mantle. And if you drop it in this zone, it will eventually get sucked back into the Earth.

Scott Hammond: In eight million years it'll be safe.

Larry Goldberg: Exactly. Right. But in the deep ocean, it would be, you know, out of sight, out of mind.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: But, you know, we were protesting for that thing, that whole reason. It's too dirty. It just-

Scott Hammond: Mission accomplished

Larry Goldberg: … and we a- we accomplished it.

Scott Hammond: Is, is Diablo still running?

Larry Goldberg: Yes. Well, uh, that's a whole nother story. It's, it's running now, but it's, it's soon to be shut down.

Scott Hammond: Is that Edison? Or-

Larry Goldberg: Uh, uh, PG&E.

Scott Hammond: That is PG&E.

Larry Goldberg: That is PG&E.

Scott Hammond: That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hey-

Larry Goldberg: And they planned to shut it down a couple years ago-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and then they decided to keep it going.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, you know, it's clean, and it's producing, and they, the legislature decided, the PUC decided to keep it

Larry Goldberg: going.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: So it's still going, but Humboldt Bay is gone.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And we got it completely d- torn down.

Scott Hammond: Hey, if you're just joining us, it's my, uh, new best friend, Larry Goldberg-

Larry Goldberg: Mm

Scott Hammond: … telling us, uh, about his life and how it interfaces with Humboldt, which is, uh, we're, we're just getting started, so, uh, stick around.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So tell, so tell me more. You graduated, uh, Humboldt, and then what?

Larry Goldberg: Graduated Humboldt in, uh, that was in '83.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I got involved with, um, solar.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, I, I was an anti-nuclear protester, and I got arrested at Diablo, and I fought Diablo. I mean, I fought, uh, Humboldt Bay.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: But I figured you can't be negative all the time. You need to be pro something.

Scott Hammond: Good one.

Larry Goldberg: And if you're gonna be pro, I'm gonna be pro solar.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I started the solar utility at that time. That was '79, '80.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And we started leasing.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And we were leasing. We got investors together. We got, uh, the cities organized. We got a bunch of, uh, people interested in doing it. We managed to place 200 systems around Humboldt, which actually in a year or two is quite an achievement.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: This is 1979 we're talking about.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: But then, uh, Ronald Reagan got elected.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And when he did, he killed the tax credits-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … similar to what we're going through now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: He took the solar off the r- White House.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And essentially the program folded because all the incentives

Larry Goldberg: went away.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And without the incentives, you know, we just couldn't make the numbers work And the tech wasn't there either. The tech was… Well, this was hot water. Mm-hmm. Okay. Sorry. And solar hot water actually is very economical- Mm-hmm … and very, makes a lot of sense. Mm-hmm. But, uh, it's still expensive. It was $3,000, $4,000 for a system back then. But the panels were different. They were copper. You have copper panels inside pa- uh, uh, glass and, uh, you know, they heated up and they did a good job. Mm-hmm. It's not like what we have today, which is solar electric. Solar electric is a whole different story. Right. But back then it was a thing and it was doing great, but then all the incentives went away- Mm … and we're going through that now, and so we had to kind of retool. Mm. Mm-hmm. And I got involved with Redwood Community Action on doing efficiency. Mm. It struck me that, um, one of the keys in energy is efficiency. You wanna do what are called negawatts. Mm-hmm. And negawatts is, how do you save energy? And we managed to get some grants and some financing from the California Energy Commission, from, um, Western Area Power Administration, from some other grants. I was a grant writer. Mm-hmm. And we put together programs to work with specific target markets. Mm. So we did a program for motels. Mm-hmm. We did a program for tribes. Mm. We did a program for, uh, small retail stores. And we would go in and we would audit these stores- Mm … and figure out how to make them more efficient. Mm. And it was all about, uh, saving money. Wow. And it was a very successful program. People love what we were doing, and we spread out over… I had a contract for eight counties. Wow. And I had an office in Redding, I had an office in Eureka. We were serving all the way down to Sacramento and from S- uh, s- uh, uh, Santa Rosa north. Mm-hmm. And we were talking to motels, hotels, uh, t- tribes, local governments. Beautiful. We worked with lots of folks on helping make them more efficient. Mm-hmm. And that was a big thing. You were also at the ground floor of, uh, internet in Humboldt, right? Well, that's what came next. I remember that you were- That's- … at the office down by the Tri-City- I, I started the f- … downtown Yeah. As I like to say, uh, uh, Al Gore and I started the internet. Yeah. Good job. Yeah. Yeah. You've done w- You and Al have done great. Yeah. We, we worked together. Thank you. Yeah. We're good buddies. Thank you for that. Uh, he, uh… This is '94. Um, I started, uh, uh, first a bulletin board. Uh, one of the things about efficiency is we were talking, how can we work more efficiently? And a big part of it was telecommunications. Sure. We need to talk to each other. We need to be able to work better. Wow. And it's not just, you know, meeting each other on the street, but how do we work? And we started a bulletin board, and the bulletin board was internet email in 1993. And then eventually I developed the first internet company in '94, North Coast Internet. Remember that, yeah. Yeah. And that was, uh, the first of its, of a kind here. You were the guys in Arcata that had the, um… Was it Humboldt 1? Yeah. Uh, c- c- Oh, they, but they came later. That was- They were later than that … that was years later. Yeah. That was in the, the internet was more developed and- It was, it was already taking off. It was starting to take off, but we were the first on board, and we really expanded. The problem was my business model was to build it up and then sell it to Pac Bell. Mm. I expected that Pac Bell would roll up the internet companies the way they rolled up the Bell companies. They never did. They, they… You know what they told me? "We'll build it ourselves." Ah. Do you know about Pac Bell Internet? Anyone? Nobody- No … never happened. AT&T has some- Yeah. But I mean- … broadband, but yeah … they completely blew it. Huh. They thought they could do it on their own, and they didn't know what they were doing. They never did it. But we built the internet up, and I eventually sold that company. Mm-hmm. I, I was able to, uh, to sell that. And what I got into, which was interesting… Actually, I sold it to a group that was bringing it to cable- Mm-hmm … and it became Cox Cable. Right. And then Cox became Suddenlink, and Suddenlink became Optimum. Mm-hmm. And so all of the work we did is now in another form. Yeah. It's Optimum. You know- I worked for Cox and then Suddenlink for 10 years. Then you know. Yeah. Yeah. No, they were the progressive system in the day. And we brought the internet to them. Yeah. They, they're the ones who really developed it. But one of the things I learned in doing the internet was the business is not the connectivity. Mm-hmm. The business is the technical support. Ah. It's not enough to say, "I offer you a connection." Mm-hmm. You have to help people get on the internet. It's not like today where everything talks to everything. Right. Back then, if you had a Dell computer- Mm-hmm … and an off-brand modem and, you know, a Pac Bell phone line- Who knows what could happen?

Larry Goldberg: … it all had to talk to each other- Good Lord … and nothing worked together. So there's no protocols. Well, we developed the knowledge base- Mm-hmm … for how to support those customers. Okay. As a result, I developed another business- Mm-hmm … which was doing tech support. Mm-hmm. And the tech support business turned into a monster. I remember this, yeah. That took off. What happened was, after I sold the internet company, we began working with a company developing what are called knowledge bases. Mm-hmm. The idea was to integrate databases of know-how- Mm-hmm … so that people can follow a script- Mm … to fix a problem. Mm-hmm. So in other words, if you have this computer with this modem and this problem, this is what you do to fix it. And a lot of it was very technical. Mm-hmm. Sure. You had to know certain switches to turn and how to set it up and blah, blah, blah. Mm-hmm. So we got involved doing the tech support, and this company that we were working with had a major contract. Mm. And the contract was CompUSA. Remember them. CompUSA at the time was one of the largest r-retail inter… I mean, not internet, uh, computer stores. Computer retailers, yeah. They had 250 stores nationwide. They were huge. They were doing tech support for CompUSA, and we were doing their internet component. Mm-hmm. So in other words, when somebody had a computer- Mm-hmm … if an internet problem happened, they'd give it to us. They handle all the rest. Well, the owner of that company… We did that for about a year, and we were doing very well. I hired… I must've had 50 people working for me at the time. I mean, it really blew up. Wow. And then, um… And this is nine- Let me think. This is '96, thereabouts, '95, '96. And, um, the owner of this other company that I was working for said, "Larry, I have good news and I have bad news." And I said, "Okay, tell me." He says, "Well, the bad news is I can't handle this contract anymore. I just won the Toshiba laptop contract for USA."

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Larry Goldberg: He had to do all the Toshiba support for all the Toshiba computers in

Larry Goldberg: America.

Scott Hammond: Imagine.

Larry Goldberg: He said, "I'll give you the, the CompUSA contract."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And all of a sudden we got the whole contract for doing all

Larry Goldberg: CompUSA-

Scott Hammond: Buried

Larry Goldberg: … nationwide. We were th- 24/7, 365 and, you know, I went from 30 to 75 employees. I mean, I, it just exploded.

Scott Hammond: In, in Eureka?

Larry Goldberg: In Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: Right w- in, in two, by 2000 I was doing $2.5 million a year.

Scott Hammond: So you've done it all.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. Well, I did a lot. I mean, I'm not gonna say-

Scott Hammond: You've done it all

Larry Goldberg: … well, I did a lot, but the bottom fell out in

Larry Goldberg: 2000.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I started outsourcing tech support with all of these internet companies nationwide.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I had companies from Hawaii to Alaska to New York-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … who all wanted tech support, and I was their outsource tech support.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: So we did tech support for CompUSA, we did tech support for internet companies-

Scott Hammond: Crazy

Larry Goldberg: … independent internet companies, and others. And we were booming, and then the internet bust happened in 2000.

Scott Hammond: And it was over.

Larry Goldberg: Pretty much.

Scott Hammond: Ish.

Larry Goldberg: I mean, it's like I was doing great, but my customers were folding like crazy, and they just disappeared. So I had to move on. So I managed to get out, but at one point the company was worth a couple million dollars.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: By the time I sold it, I don't think we got more than half a million dollars for it.

Scott Hammond: Better than a sharp stick.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. I mean, it was done.

Scott Hammond: I have a question for you. The, the $2 question then is-

Larry Goldberg: Sure

Scott Hammond: … what keeps you motivated to innovate and serve after all these years? 'Cause you seem to be invigorated by Rotary.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: We're gonna talk about Rotary International-

Larry Goldberg: Yep

Scott Hammond: … in a minute.

Larry Goldberg: Yep, yep.

Scott Hammond: Uh, what, what, what do you think it is that keeps you doing, doing Larry?

Larry Goldberg: I, I like a challenge.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I like learning new things.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I like people, I like working with people, and I like tech. Um, I'm kind of a techy and I like… You know, I'm really into AI.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: I really love the stuff that's hap- I wish I had it 20 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: You know, I coulda used it then.

Larry Goldberg: I was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. ChatGPT's right here, man. I got all the questions.

Larry Goldberg: When we were doing our tech support, we were moving in that direction. I was moving to where a computer… We were trying to get a computer to answer basic questions-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … first. So when you call in, you know how they put you on hold? At the time it was, like, a minute or two. In that minute we wanted to say, "Did you try this?"

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: "Did you try that?" And we were doing the first initial forms of AI, which is to say, "What did you do to get where you are?"

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: And then by the time you were done with the easy questions, then our techs would take over.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Say, "You did this. You did that. Okay, try this now. Try that." And we were trying to get

Larry Goldberg: AI-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Larry Goldberg: … to do exactly that. But this is 1996.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no.

Larry Goldberg: You know? And it just wasn't ready yet.

Scott Hammond: It wasn't ready, and now it is. And I think it b- my biggest irritation is I'm getting an AI

Scott Hammond: response-

Larry Goldberg: Mm.

Scott Hammond: … to a hotel reservation.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I just want the live body, bro. Come on, man. I, I don't care where, who I'm ta- I just want a person-

Larry Goldberg: I hear you

Scott Hammond: … who, who can actually make a decision.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I had a subtle nuance. I wanted to ca- cancel and do this thing, and it's like I couldn't put that on a schedule.

Scott Hammond: Like-

Larry Goldberg: Well, believe it or not, AI, I hate to say it, does it better than most people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I mean, the thing is you could train a te- I mean, we have live agents, but people are expensive.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I mean, at the time, this is '96 or '98-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … I was paying 10 bucks an hour for techs.

Scott Hammond: That's big money.

Larry Goldberg: That was top dollar back then.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: You know, that'd be equivalent of 25 bucks, 30 bucks an hour today.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's real money.

Larry Goldberg: It was real money.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I'll tell you what, if you could get a computer to do it for next to nothing, you only reserve your talent-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … for the hard questions.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: That was the key is-

Scott Hammond: Correct

Larry Goldberg: … use your people for what they're good for.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: You don't want 'em to have to do the same stupid thing over and over.

Scott Hammond: Let AI tell them the hours-

Larry Goldberg: Exactly. Exactly

Scott Hammond: … and the days open. Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Right. Right. Right.

Scott Hammond: So a couple questions for you.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, and I'll let you just answer these in, in order and, uh, this is c- almost my quiz part of the show. 'Cause I wa- I wanna end in, in Rotary, and I wanna hear about your involvement, your passion.

Larry Goldberg: You bet. You bet.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause you seem to be a passionate president.

Larry Goldberg: I, I'm passionate about a lot of stuff.

Scott Hammond: A passion president.

Larry Goldberg: A passion president. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I, I kinda like that.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's boss, man.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, that's aces.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We're gonna come up with some more before the show's over.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So question. Uh, if you were to a, if-

Larry Goldberg: Dynamite

Scott Hammond: … if you were… Dyna- dynamite. They, they keep coming, Nick.

Scott Hammond: They're- It's okay, uh, and groovy. So if you were to write a letter to the, your teenage self-

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … in N- growing up in New York-

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … as an older gentleman with advanced maturity-

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … what would you write to young Larry? In, in 30, 40 seconds.

Larry Goldberg: Follow your passion.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Follow your passion. My dad was a CPA.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And he was a, he became a partner in what is now one of the largest accounting firms in America, Ernst & Young.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And, but he started in a very small accounting firm, and they got acquired early on. This is back in the '80s.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And he taught me, "Don't worry about the technol- the techniques. You can learn techniques."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: "You want the passion."

Scott Hammond: Like it.

Larry Goldberg: "Go for what motivates you." And it's this idea that if you love your job, you're never gonna work a day in your life.

Scott Hammond: Correct.

Larry Goldberg: You know? And that-

Scott Hammond: Or your education.

Larry Goldberg: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: You want, you wanna keep learning.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: One of the things that became really clear to me, and I could, I could tell any young person today, you're never done learning.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: You are gonna be learning your whole life, and if your job doesn't change, things will change around you.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: You have to be on… You have to be prepared for change.

Scott Hammond: Amen.

Larry Goldberg: Change is inevitable.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Now, I wanna teach everybody out there a very important thing. I'm a, a, I'm in- involved in climate

Larry Goldberg: change-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and issues like that, and one of the things that we talk about is

Larry Goldberg: evolution.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I wanna tell… This is something that I, I really try to hammer home. Charles Darwin never said the h- survival of the fittest. Never said it.

Scott Hammond: Never used the term.

Larry Goldberg: Never used the term. He said, "It's not the smartest that survive.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: It's not the strongest that survive. It's those best adaptable to change."

Scott Hammond: Adaptation.

Larry Goldberg: It's adaptation.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Larry Goldberg: And the key is be adaptable.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And the key, the term we use today is resilience.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: Resilience.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Larry Goldberg: Resilience is the ability to bend-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and to change and accept change. And the one thing I know from getting older, we tend to fall back on the w- things-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … we know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Embrace change.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Because it's change is inevitable, and through change, we grow.

Scott Hammond: Modern proverb, blessed are the flexible-

Larry Goldberg: There you go

Scott Hammond: … for they shall not be broken.

Larry Goldberg: There you go.

Scott Hammond: And I like that. Hey-

Larry Goldberg: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … next question.

Larry Goldberg: You bet.

Scott Hammond: Uh, if there's one message you'd want every Humboldt resident to hear today, what would that be?

Larry Goldberg: I'm gonna teach you a motto of mine.

Scott Hammond: Okay, go.

Larry Goldberg: Do what you can with what you've got, where you are, in the time you have.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful. Say it again.

Larry Goldberg: Do what you can with what you've got, where you are-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … in the time you have.

Scott Hammond: It's a good word.

Larry Goldberg: That's my motto. Now, my other-

Scott Hammond: It's all you can do.

Larry Goldberg: That's all you can do. But the thing is, you know, I learned this in, in my MBA program actually. I had a really excellent finance professor. His name was Tim McCoy. He's passed away, but he really was a fabulous professor.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: We were doing case studies of businesses.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And the way the class ran, he ran… It was a brilliant class. You'd get about a 50-page summary, and this is a real company. I did, um, you know Tabasco,

Larry Goldberg: the Tabasco-

Scott Hammond: Sure, from Louisiana

Larry Goldberg: … McCal- McCallumny or whatever it is.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Larry Goldberg: That was one of my projects.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And they told you the whole history of the company, all about the company, how it was founded, the key officers.

Scott Hammond: It's on every shelf everywhere still.

Larry Goldberg: Exactly, but there's a whole story behind that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and I, I might get to that. But the thing, the point is you'd get this big study-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and then they'd say, "Here's their problem. What is the next product they should develop?"

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Larry Goldberg: "And you are the consultant-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and you need to come up with a report to give to the board of directors."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Larry Goldberg: And so you had two weeks to do this.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And e- it was a small class. There was only, I think, 10 of us.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And we all had these assignments, and one week it would be, you know, one person a week would give their report. And the trouble was you'd go to the library. We didn't have internet back then. We'd go to the library, and you start reading all these publications, and you'd read history, and you go to Forbes magazine.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: And, you know, you'd dig and dig and dig, and you find out, like, what's the industry looking like and what's the economy and… You know, you really can dig in.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And the trouble is, and I would, I would… You'd go crazy, and you'd say, "Well, what's the right answer?" And the professor said, "There is no right answer. You do what you think is best. You need to come up with your analysis."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: And guess what the analysis was for the M- McAllisty company for Tabasco?

Scott Hammond: Chipotle Ta- Tabasco. They do have it.

Larry Goldberg: Well, well, well, that m- that's a new thing.

Scott Hammond: Green, green, green Tabasco.

Larry Goldberg: Do nothing different.

Scott Hammond: Stay the course.

Larry Goldberg: Stay the course.

Scott Hammond: Good answer.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, because it turns out what they have, no other product can call themselves Tabasco.

Scott Hammond: No.

Larry Goldberg: They have a unique-

Scott Hammond: It's a trademark.

Larry Goldberg: It's a trademark, but not only that, they… It's on an island.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Larry Goldberg: They have the pepper-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and no one else can grow that pepper.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Larry Goldberg: They have a monopoly.

Scott Hammond: Here's a parallel company, sriracha sauce-

Larry Goldberg: That's new

Scott Hammond: … from City of Industry.

Larry Goldberg: Right, but that's new.

Scott Hammond: That's newer, but it's, it's-

Larry Goldberg: This is… We're talking about nine- This is back in, you know, the-

Scott Hammond: Oh, this is 60, 80 years ago.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. This is… I'm talking about we were studying this back in, you know,

Larry Goldberg: '97, '98.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: There was nothing like that. There was no hot sauce.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: There was nothing else.

Scott Hammond: But sriracha's positioned itself as, as a product.

Larry Goldberg: Sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: And the thing is there's a million products now, and now-

Scott Hammond: There is, yeah

Larry Goldberg: … they have, you know, ghost pepper and all these crazy, wicked things.

Scott Hammond: Oh, all of it.

Larry Goldberg: But the, the, the moral is you never have enough

Larry Goldberg: information.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: You need to make a decision.

Scott Hammond: Ah, at some point.

Larry Goldberg: That was the key. You have to make-

Scott Hammond: Make the darn, make the darn decision

Larry Goldberg: … You gotta make a decision. And the other thing that is part of my life, several years ago I developed a disease. It's been probably developing for several years, but it only got diagnosed about four or five years ago, where I'm losing muscle in my arms and

Larry Goldberg: legs.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And as a result, I can't do a lot of the things I used to do. I can't make a fist anymore.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Larry Goldberg: I, I, I'm, I'm losing strength. There's all these things that you can't do. And I developed… And this has happened during COVID.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: It wasn't related, but it was during that time I started developing, and I developed the attitude carpe diem.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Amen.

Larry Goldberg: Carpe diem.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: And for those who don't know, let me explain something about carpe diem. Um, I had– My father-in-law was a plumber, and he was retired. And later in life, he was in his, I would say, his probably his early 70s. He developed bladder cancer.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And they had to remove his bladder, and they had, and he, I think a kidney. I mean, he was in bad way, and he had to do dialysis.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Larry Goldberg: And he was on dialysis for years.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: I'm talking about, you know-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … five, eight, maybe 10 years. It was horrible. Dialysis is a terrible thing-

Scott Hammond: It's a hard way

Larry Goldberg: … but it keeps you alive.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: He decided finally that he just wanted to pull the

Larry Goldberg: plug.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And the nice thing is you don't have to blow your brains out. All you have to do is disconnect.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: You know, just say, "I'm done. You know, I'm not gonna do it." So my wife's a nurse, and she explained that once you pull the plug, you have about a week.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: That week he had was exceptional.

Scott Hammond: Really? Cool.

Larry Goldberg: He got to say goodbye to everybody.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: He got to talk to all of his family, all the people.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: And he did a remarkable thing that I'll never forget, and this is why I talk about carpe diem. He went out with my son and I. My son was a, was young. He was probably eight, nine years old at the time. He took us to Pearson's, and he said-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … "Buy everything you need to plant a garden."

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Larry Goldberg: "I want, I wanna have some flowers. I wanna have some, uh, uh, berries. I wanna have-"

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: "… some, you know, all these things." And he had us plant a

Larry Goldberg: garden.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And it was for his wife, Marie, but that's what he wanted to leave behind.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Larry Goldberg: And the thing about carpe diem, and a lot of people think it means just seize the day. It means more than that. It means plan for the future-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … knowing you may never be here to-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … harvest the fruit of the tree you plant.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful. Love it.

Larry Goldberg: So carpe diem.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Be here now, but think about tomorrow.

Scott Hammond: Hey, man.

Larry Goldberg: But you're, you're not focused on tomorrow. You're focused on here and now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. And, and maybe yes and both.

Larry Goldberg: Yes and.

Scott Hammond: So-

Larry Goldberg: Yes and

Scott Hammond: … here's a question.

Larry Goldberg: Sure.

Scott Hammond: What Humboldt citizen has impacted you the most in your history

Scott Hammond: here? And you can name a couple if you want.

Scott Hammond: I mean-

Larry Goldberg: Well, I, I-

Scott Hammond: … who's made an impact on your life?

Larry Goldberg: … I admire Wes Chesbro.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Wes is a friend of mine. And he-

Scott Hammond: Wesley, what's up?

Larry Goldberg: He was a, a assemblyman, then he became a state senator. And, you know, he's, he's worked in s- in, you know, Sacramento and all that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: But he's… Y- you know, in my tradition, we call him a mensch.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: He's a mensch.

Scott Hammond: He's a mensch.

Larry Goldberg: You know? He's the kind of guy-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … you wanna say, "He'll be there."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: You know, he's solid. Um, I've been in Rotary for almost 30

Larry Goldberg: years.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And I've met people in Rotary who I l- look l- I-

Scott Hammond: Some mensches?

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, there's mensches in Rotary. There's a man named Heider Regina.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Larry Goldberg: And Heid- you know Heider.

Scott Hammond: I know Heider.

Larry Goldberg: Heider's-

Scott Hammond: Shout out to Heider

Larry Goldberg: … Heider's a mensch. You know?

Scott Hammond: What a nice guy.

Larry Goldberg: Good guy. Good guy.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: And there's a lot of people like that. Um, there were professors I had, like this Tim McCoy. He's passed away, but he left a real impression on me.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And he, I'll never forget him, and I appreciate all that he, he did.

Larry Goldberg: Betty Chinn.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: I like-

Scott Hammond: Lovely

Larry Goldberg: … Betty, what Betty's been doing, I mean, she-

Scott Hammond: Sweetheart

Larry Goldberg: … lives, she lives it.

Scott Hammond: Says she sleeps four and five hours a night maybe.

Larry Goldberg: Isn't that amazing?

Scott Hammond: And she's out there taking care of people, man.

Scott Hammond: So-

Larry Goldberg: I'll tell you, it, and it's not easy work. It's hard work.

Scott Hammond: What's the best day of your life, Larry? What do you remember as one of the, one of the best days? I- it's hard to say one.

Larry Goldberg: We adopted my son at birth.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I was able to cut the cord.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Larry Goldberg: And w- he slept in our arms in the hospital

Larry Goldberg: that night.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I mean, we w- we knew the birth mother, and we were with her in the last stages of her pregnancy.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: And we were there at the birth. That was a wonderful night. I mean, he was just… We just slept together-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool

Larry Goldberg: … in one bed. We held him, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … that was a wonderful night.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Larry Goldberg: That was really good. Really good.

Scott Hammond: How old is he now?

Larry Goldberg: 30.

Scott Hammond: 30.

Larry Goldberg: Just turned 30 June 6th.

Scott Hammond: That's a nice… What was the worst day of your life, or one of them?

Larry Goldberg: You know, I, I don't think to… I had a really terrible disease a while back that really left me, um, d- debilitated.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, I had B- Bell's palsy-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … when I turned 50.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And it was tied in with shingles. It was really like, uh-

Scott Hammond: Rough

Larry Goldberg: … they're, they're related.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I was in such pain. I had this pain.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: It was a nerve pain.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Nothing would touch it.

Scott Hammond: My dad had shingles.

Larry Goldberg: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Tough.

Larry Goldberg: It was so painful. I mean, at one point, I just remember this, I couldn't move my head a millimeter either way without, like, a shooting pain.

Scott Hammond: Crazy.

Larry Goldberg: I had to literally stay in one position and just sit there, you know, lay in bed and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Larry Goldberg: … and I thought to myself, and this was pretty horrible, "If I have to live with this, I'm gonna kill myself."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And I'm, I'm a, I believe in life.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: But I'll tell you what, if I had-

Scott Hammond: That's crazy pain

Larry Goldberg: … if I had to live with that kind of pain, I wouldn't wanna live.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: That was pretty bad.

Scott Hammond: Awesome. Awesome pain.

Larry Goldberg: So, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Sorry. Yeah, I know.

Larry Goldberg: And nothing, and nothing touches it. That's the thing is like-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Larry Goldberg: … you, you know, they gave me this cocktail, and I mean, it was intense stuff. It didn't touch it.

Scott Hammond: Didn't even phase it. Wow.

Larry Goldberg: It's nerve pain, and nerve pain-

Scott Hammond: It's hard

Larry Goldberg: … is not affected the same way as-

Scott Hammond: Correct

Larry Goldberg: … other pain.

Scott Hammond: So q- another question. What do you find fulfilling?

Larry Goldberg: I love working with people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I love doing r- I like, I like, uh, collaborative

Larry Goldberg: projects.

Scott Hammond: I see that.

Larry Goldberg: You know, when I work with somebody, you know, "What do you think? What do you think?" And we, we kind of work.

Larry Goldberg: I, synergy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I, I find when I'm working with other people, we create synergy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I do solar design now. I design, and I install, and I sell, and I finance solar. And I work with, uh, my finance people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I work with the customer.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I work with my contractor, and we, we do a collaborative, and that-

Scott Hammond: S- synergy, yeah

Larry Goldberg: … it's synergy. And I enjoy that-

Scott Hammond: Call, call out Six Rivers. I mean, you can-

Larry Goldberg: Six Rivers Solar

Scott Hammond: … do a shout-out here.

Larry Goldberg: Well, I, I think-

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, Larry Goldberg with Six Rivers Solar-

Larry Goldberg: There you go

Scott Hammond: … on Broadway in Eureka.

Larry Goldberg: I, I, I worked there f- I started in 19, in

Larry Goldberg: 2017 as-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … general manager.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Um, I had to leave in, like, late 2018 just before COVID started. Uh, I had some issues. I had to leave, and I came

Larry Goldberg: back in '22.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I've been an independent consultant with them ever since, and I do mostly off-grid. I do a lot of, I do, I work with folks up in the hills. I work with a lot of the growers, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … also people who just wanna live out in the country.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Larry Goldberg: I also work with on-grid. I do both.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Uh, I'm starting to do larger projects now, talking commercial-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … things like that.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: I believe in solar.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: I mean, I really… I mean, for one thing, it's not hard to sell when you look at PG&E rates, what they are today.

Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh.

Larry Goldberg: Oh my God. I mean, I just tell people, "You like your utility bill? If you like it, I got nothing to say."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: "But if you don't, let's talk."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: You know?

Scott Hammond: Easy sell.

Larry Goldberg: Easy sell. Easy sell.

Scott Hammond: Easy sell, yeah.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So-

Larry Goldberg: So that gives me some pleasure-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Larry Goldberg: … working with people, coming up with ideas, and, you know, I like challenges. You know, it's, uh, nice to say, "Well, we can't do it this way. Let's try it this way." Out of the box thinking.

Larry Goldberg: I-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … I enjoy that.

Scott Hammond: I like it. I like the collaborative idea.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You're, you're all that. Uh, so what's soul-crushing for you? What just would zap your,

Scott Hammond: your spirit?

Larry Goldberg: The politics of today-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Larry Goldberg: … are really debilitating.

Larry Goldberg: Um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … I'm, I mean, for one thing, I like finding middle ground.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I, you know, I can work with anyone, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … I've worked with, uh, in, okay, I'm in Rotary.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Been at Rotary 29 years. There's every kind politics there.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Larry Goldberg: And we all get along.

Scott Hammond: Really well.

Larry Goldberg: We all get along.

Scott Hammond: Redding's great.

Larry Goldberg: Get along, get along great. I mean, we have… If, if you meet people once a week for lunch-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … you can't help-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … but figure out a way to get along.

Scott Hammond: Break bread and hang out.

Larry Goldberg: You break bread and ha- hang out.

Scott Hammond: Common, common cause.

Larry Goldberg: Well, our motto, which is really a great motto, it's service above self.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Right on.

Larry Goldberg: And it's about providing service. If you are down in your life, help someone else. And when you help others, you help yourself.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And that's the thing we all believe in. And whether you're a right-wing Republican, a left-wing, you know, liberal, we all have certain things in common. We all, you know, we're, we're Americans. We wanna try to get along. It's this, it's this, I don't know what you call it, this, this crisis we have today-

Scott Hammond: Divisiveness

Larry Goldberg: … this divisiveness that I just hate.

Larry Goldberg: I-

Scott Hammond: It's ran- rancor.

Larry Goldberg: It's rancor.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: And it's like you can't talk, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: It's like I, I'm used to talking through things.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy. Yeah, we fire each other before we could talk.

Larry Goldberg: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. How-

Larry Goldberg: Exactly

Scott Hammond: … I… Yeah. It, it, it's, it's a thread in the show here.

Larry Goldberg: It's frustrating.

Scott Hammond: Come up a lot, Larry.

Larry Goldberg: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: It's crazy.

Larry Goldberg: But I'll tell you what, what I find relief. I love music.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I go to a lot of music performances.

Scott Hammond: Tell us about those.

Larry Goldberg: Okay. So my hobby is recording, video recording musical performances, and I've been doing it for almost 15 years now.

Scott Hammond: I've seen you recording at different shows.

Larry Goldberg: I have, I have hours and hours and hours. I'm trying to build a website of all these local performances. Uh, if you remember the Kate Wolf Festivals.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Larry Goldberg: I have worked at Kate Wolf for 20 years.

Scott Hammond: That's out in Laytonville, Black Oak-

Larry Goldberg: Layton- Black Oak Ranch.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Larry Goldberg: I've been going there for 25 years, and I've-

Scott Hammond: There's some amazing shows right over the years

Larry Goldberg: … incredible… I mean, I've seen everybody, Taj Mahal and, you know, I, I mean, just, you know, Los Lobos, uh, y- just tons of

Larry Goldberg: great music.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I love music.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Music is what inspires me and what gets me going.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: But more than that, it's the community. It's the tribe.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: The tribe-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … gets together at these events. I've been working at festivals for over 20 years. I work security, and I help out, you know-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Larry Goldberg: … the festival.

Scott Hammond: And the festival's different from a show 'cause you're just-

Larry Goldberg: Well-

Scott Hammond: … gonna up to the Brit-

Larry Goldberg: You're gonna… You're f- the, the day, uh, you're there for-

Scott Hammond: Went to the Brit Festival

Larry Goldberg: … four, four or five days. I mean-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Larry Goldberg: … yeah, and we're-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you're gonna hang out and live.

Larry Goldberg: And it's 100 degrees, and you're hanging out at night, and you're getting loaded together and, you know-

Scott Hammond: All of it

Larry Goldberg: … all, all of it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: All of it. And i- I call it the gathering of the tribe.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: You know, it's a tribal thing, and we all get together, and that's my people.

Scott Hammond: It's primitive, but cool.

Larry Goldberg: It's pr- it's primitive.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: It's really cool. And I've been doing that for 25 years

Larry Goldberg: now.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Larry Goldberg: And I videotape a lot of the shows.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And so for me, sharing videos-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and sharing music-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … revives me.

Scott Hammond: That's great.

Larry Goldberg: And so I go to local shows. I go to Homebrews. I go to the, you know, Redwood Jazz Festival.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I go to, you know, all these local festivals.

Scott Hammond: The Steeple down in Ferndale.

Larry Goldberg: I go to all these shows. I try to record as many-

Scott Hammond: Beautiful

Larry Goldberg: … as I can.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And I post what I can, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Larry Goldberg: … eventually, I'm trying to build an archive.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Larry Goldberg: And I'm gonna have an archive of all these shows. And I mean, I got stuff going back to 2005.

Scott Hammond: You and I are archivists.

Larry Goldberg: Totally.

Scott Hammond: Kinda little different. So you go to Folklife Festival out in Blue Lake-

Larry Goldberg: Yes

Scott Hammond: … with Patrick and everybody?

Larry Goldberg: I have four years of that recorded.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful. Hey, Pat.

Larry Goldberg: I recorded, I recorded all of the Joni Mitchell tributes. There have been a Joni Mitchell tribute for years. I have four years of that. Um, they've been doing Bob Dylan

Larry Goldberg: tributes.

Scott Hammond: Bir-

Larry Goldberg: I've been doing that

Scott Hammond: … birthday party out at-

Larry Goldberg: The birthday party.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Larry Goldberg: I've been recording that for three years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I have years of this stuff. I'm going to, uh, at the end of the summer, and this goes out to anyone in Humboldt, if you can reach me, at the end of September, I do a video festival at my

Larry Goldberg: house.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: We do a party. It's called The Best of the Fests.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And what it is, four festivals in four hours.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Larry Goldberg: And I do, uh, Ten Mile Creek, which has taken over from, uh,

Larry Goldberg: Kate Wolf.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: I do, uh, folk- uh, Humboldt Folklife, uh, uh,

Larry Goldberg: Festival.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Buddy Brown Blues-

Scott Hammond: Great

Larry Goldberg: … and Dead on the Creek. Four hours of those shows, so an hour of each

Larry Goldberg: show.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's great. So Buddy Brown is still out at Blue Lake.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And where's, where's Dead on the Creek?

Larry Goldberg: Dead on the Creek is at Black Oak Ranch.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Larry Goldberg: They've been going there for a couple years now.

Scott Hammond: And the other one that took over Kate Wolf, is that this coming weekend? I think my son's going.

Larry Goldberg: No, the one that took over Kate Wolf happened, like, two w- three weeks ago.

Scott Hammond: That's already happened, okay.

Larry Goldberg: That's already, end of June.

Scott Hammond: What was that called?

Larry Goldberg: That's called Ten Mile Creek, uh, uh, Ten Mile Creek Revival Festival.

Scott Hammond: Joni and I just saw the California Honeydrops up at the Brit Festival-

Larry Goldberg: Nice

Scott Hammond: … in Jacksonville.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, that must have been nice.

Scott Hammond: They're great.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He's a great guy. He, they were Oakland subway buskers.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, I like it.

Scott Hammond: And they-

Larry Goldberg: I like it

Scott Hammond: … they never, they don't have a setlist.

Larry Goldberg: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: They just go out and they have fun.

Larry Goldberg: I love it.

Scott Hammond: Oh, these gu- they're-

Larry Goldberg: Oh, that-

Scott Hammond: … coming in November to Arcata Theatre Lounge.

Larry Goldberg: I'll be there.

Scott Hammond: All right.

Larry Goldberg: I'll be there.

Scott Hammond: Maybe if I play my cards right, Larry will invite me to his house

Scott Hammond: because I wanna go to that thing in September, and Larry, it turns out-

Larry Goldberg: Ooh

Scott Hammond: … is a winner of the Tanzania 65% dark Dick Taylor chocolate bar. Larry, on behalf of, uh, a grateful universe.

Larry Goldberg: Thank you, and my wife thanks you.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you guys are gonna love it.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Remember, just a little piece at a time 'cause that's all you need.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. This is he- this is, this is jet fuel.

Scott Hammond: This is jet… You know what really makes the jet fuel fly?

Larry Goldberg: What's that?

Scott Hammond: A little, a little bit of red wine with it. Just a pairing. It, it's like-

Larry Goldberg: I, I was gonna say a little bit of rum-

Scott Hammond: And-

Larry Goldberg: … but, uh-

Scott Hammond: Rum could work

Larry Goldberg: … r- rum works. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a rummy.

Scott Hammond: A little Diplomatico.

Larry Goldberg: When I, when I started sailing, I got into rum.

Larry Goldberg: And-

Scott Hammond: Rum's amazing

Larry Goldberg: … yeah, a little shot of rum and, and chocolate, a nice, nice combination.

Scott Hammond: So there's this tiki bar in Alameda called, uh, The Forbidden

Scott Hammond: Island.

Larry Goldberg: Oh, I like it.

Scott Hammond: One of the original four or five in the Bay Area.

Larry Goldberg: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: My son was part of the Rum Club, so you could have a checklist.

Larry Goldberg: Nice.

Scott Hammond: And come in and, and just, uh, uh-

Larry Goldberg: I love it

Scott Hammond: … ex- experiment.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Chocolate rum, vanilla rum, pineapple rum-

Larry Goldberg: I'm always-

Scott Hammond: … coconut rum

Larry Goldberg: … experimenting. I love experimenting.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: That's great.

Scott Hammond: Rum's a whole thing. It's like-

Larry Goldberg: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … whiskey or wine or even, uh, beer, beer folks.

Larry Goldberg: Well, I've become a pretty good cook.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Larry Goldberg: My wife-

Scott Hammond: You don't say.

Larry Goldberg: Well, let me, let me, let me tell you a little s-

Scott Hammond: You do say

Larry Goldberg: … let me tell you a little story. This is how Kathleen and I met. Um, we both, my best friend and I met her at the same time, and this was in

Larry Goldberg: 1984, but he started dating her-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and I was already dating another gal.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: So we went to a party together that winter, and she's kinda shy. She's kinda introverted, not into a big crowd. So she was in the living room kinda sitting around. And I happened to just, you know, I didn't bring my girlfriend to the party. I was just there, and we sat down together. We're just talking.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: And the talk kind of moved around to food and, you know, and, and-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Larry Goldberg: … she said, "You know, I, I cook Spanish, Italian food." I said, "Well, I make a pretty good, uh, uh, um, uh, chicken soup. I make chicken soup." I mean, Jewish chicken soup is like-

Scott Hammond: Delicious

Larry Goldberg: … the best. My chicken soup can cure a cold.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Larry Goldberg: And she said, "Well, you haven't tasted my chicken soup." "My chicken soup can cure-"

Scott Hammond: Magic

Larry Goldberg: … "can cure a flu."

Scott Hammond: Cancer.

Larry Goldberg: "My chicken soup can cure a broken leg."

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Larry Goldberg: And it all escalates to that there's only one way to find out. We're gonna have a chicken soup cook-off.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Larry Goldberg: Couple months later, we're doing our different things. Couple months later, a party came up, and she said, "Okay, you wanna do the cook-off?" I said, "Yeah."

Scott Hammond: You're on.

Larry Goldberg: I made, I made some really killer Jewish chicken soup with chicken and vegetables, big old matzah balls. I mean, it was delicious, but she cheated.

Scott Hammond: What'd she do?

Larry Goldberg: She used two heads of garlic.

Scott Hammond: Aha. That's-

Larry Goldberg: I'm not talking about little pieces of garlic.

Scott Hammond: Heads.

Larry Goldberg: I'm talking about two heads of garlic.

Scott Hammond: And it just tasted like…

Larry Goldberg: When you make two heads of garlic, and she used two chickens and all this vegetables, kicked my ass.

Scott Hammond: Killed it.

Larry Goldberg: Killed it.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Larry Goldberg: But that's not chicken soup anymore.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Larry Goldberg: That's garlic soup.

Scott Hammond: That's garlic soup. Becomes garlic soup.

Scott Hammond: But-

Larry Goldberg: But the deal was the winner… The loser had to take the winner out for ice cream.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's fair.

Larry Goldberg: And I took her out, and she had just broken up with my friend.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Larry Goldberg: I had broken up a little while ago with my girlfriend.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Larry Goldberg: And we started dating, and that was 40 years ago.

Scott Hammond: That's Kathleen.

Larry Goldberg: That's Kathleen.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Kathleen. Shout out.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good story.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love that. So, um-

Larry Goldberg: But she's taught me how to cook.

Scott Hammond: She, she's your cook.

Larry Goldberg: She-

Scott Hammond: I got it.

Larry Goldberg: Yeah. And she's a good cook.

Scott Hammond: So shout out for Rotary real quick.

Larry Goldberg: You bet.

Scott Hammond: And then I'm gonna shout out and sign off.

Scott Hammond: But-

Larry Goldberg: Sure

Scott Hammond: … I wanna thank you and high-five across the table.

Larry Goldberg: All right.

Scott Hammond: Uh, what a, what a bunch of great… What a quick hour, dude.

Larry Goldberg: This is fun.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, super fun, man.

Larry Goldberg: This is fun.

Scott Hammond: Thank you for sharing.

Larry Goldberg: Sure.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, you're president of Rotary, Southwest Rotary.

Larry Goldberg: Just became president of Southwest last Friday in-

Scott Hammond: Give me Rotary in two minutes.

Larry Goldberg: Rotary in two minutes is, is it fair? Is it, is it… Does it, does it build friendship? Does it help the community?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Larry Goldberg: Is it beneficial to everybody?

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Larry Goldberg: We live by a principle of, um,

Larry Goldberg: moral-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Larry Goldberg: … and professional quality, and we work for our community. And the motto is "Service above self."

Scott Hammond: And there's seven or eight clubs. Garberville, Fortuna-

Larry Goldberg: There's actually-

Scott Hammond: … Ferndale

Larry Goldberg: … I think 10 clubs.

Scott Hammond: There's four or five here. There's Arcata, McKinley-

Larry Goldberg: There's four clubs in-

Scott Hammond: Two in Arcata

Larry Goldberg: … there's four clubs in Eureka. There's two in Arcata. We just formed a satellite club.

Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?

Larry Goldberg: So now we have an evening club.

Scott Hammond: Is that right?

Larry Goldberg: Yeah, so it's, it's on Thursdays, two Thursdays a month at

Larry Goldberg: 5:30.

Scott Hammond: Is it a Zoom, or is it…?

Larry Goldberg: Uh, no, it's at Old Growth Cellars.

Scott Hammond: Very cool.

Larry Goldberg: And we'll be promoting that.

Larry Goldberg: My club-

Scott Hammond: That makes a lot of sense, yeah

Larry Goldberg: … my club meets at noon on Fridays at the Elks. Anyone is welcome to join us. We're gonna have a lot of interesting programs coming up.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: May you have a great presidency.

Larry Goldberg: Thank you.

Scott Hammond: Yep. Hey, appreciate you being here.

Larry Goldberg: You bet.

Scott Hammond: And I'm gonna, uh, sign off with a thank you. Hey, it's Scott Hammond, uh, voted almost best podcast of the North Coast Journal. Made the top three. Shoulda asked for your vote way earlier.

Larry Goldberg: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: But, uh, Miles-

Larry Goldberg: You know better for next time

Scott Hammond: … Miles Cochran, you're amazing. So, so Miles got it again. He's, he's amazing, cool guy. Had him on the show.

Larry Goldberg: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And so if you, uh, know us, like us, subscribe to us, make some nice comments, uh, we'd love that. Larry Goldberg, thank you for your time.

Larry Goldberg: You're welcome.

Scott Hammond: Appre-

Larry Goldberg: Scott, it's pleasure being here.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate you being here, brother.

Larry Goldberg: You bet.

Scott Hammond: All right.