Specialty Items

Tom Ralston Concrete was at the helm of construction for  the Damon Gutzweiler Memorial Park we finished on March 12th  for the dedication held in a section of the Willowbrook Park.  It has large boulders that were handpicked by Architect Steve Sutherland from the Sierra Mountains.  Three of the boulders were cut and ground so that bronze plaques could be set grouted into them.  Three additional boulders were sliced and a large Precast concrete bench made by Paul Neall was set onto these rocks for a seating area. 

Mason Ralph Russo set in donor bricks surrounding granite rings that were inscribed with words and sentiments from the Santa Cruz Sheriffs, friends and Community members.  Tom Ralston Concrete laid out an poured walls, curbs, a center medallion and bases for masonry work.  Tom set in Damon’s bronzed boot impressions along with his wife Favi’s shoes, his 2 children, and his dog's paw prints all in bronze.

Tom said, “Setting in the bronze shoes and dog paws was incredibly emotional and sad and I felt a strong emotional connection to Damon and his family.  When the memorial ended I hugged Damon’s wife who had just made a tearful speech while holding her  small child.   While still hugging I told her about how emotional I was when placing the boots; we both began to shake and cry.  At that point my feelings were completely overwhelmed”.

Read article about the unveiling 

From 1975 until its destruction in the flood of 1955, Santa Cruz had a Chinatown located on River St. where Trader Joe’s, CVS Pharmacy and The Galleria are currently located. It was a bustling community of Chinese people. My Great Grandmother who was from Monte Carlo Italy worked there from 1900 to 1902! This memorial is in recognition and rememberance of the Chinese community.

Solar powered lanterns signify longevity, good fortune, and prosperity. Two plaques honouring the fourth Chinese community in Santa Cruz. The dragon is a symbol of power, strength, and good fortune in chinese culture paying homage to the tenacity, endurance and ingenuity of those who survived in Santa Cruz despite persistent anti-Chinese racism and hostilities.

This project is still a work in progress. Please enjoy the progress images here. We'll update them when we have more.

Check out a couple of News articles about this incredible Monument to the Santa Cruz Chinese Community.

Mockups

Pouring and Detailing the Monument

Lanterns and Dragon

Plaques

Chinese Characters

Progress

The owner wanted a bench to mimic the mountain Mt. Unhuman. I designed the curved bench to do just that; along with bronze 5-snakes 4-that have green LED eyes and they are chasing one that has red eyes.

Glass blower Peter Vizzusi created the blue "iris" while Stained Glass artist Susan Wagner fashioned the colorful stained glass wedges around the Gaudi eye of this Gaudi inspired piece for one of our projects. Like Gaudi's Casa Battlo in Barcelona we wanted to have glass smattered on the outside of the wall so we laid it out in a "template." The glass was transferred to the template on the ground with 1' wide clear tape and transferred to the wall; therein lay the difficult part pounding in each piece from the pattern. Random smattered glass went around the eye and the outside of the wall. The inside of the wall had a cantilever concrete seat with no visible supports. The seat faces the ocean for a splendid view. Glass runs around the outside of this undulated vertical and horizontally curved wall thanks for ceramic mosaic artist Kathleen Crosetti to give us tape and tips! The sun casts light through the eye in a remarkable way and at night is lit up with a designated light.

Tom Ralston Concrete was asked to help design the proposed Roundabout in front of the Santa Cruz Wharf near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Rather than using arrows that seemed unattractive and industrial I thought we could use dolphins that would point traffic in the correct direction of the flow of traffic. There are also traffic islands around the roundabout centerpiece that would be set in a nautical genre using an antique amber color with black barnacles and green seaweed.

Aesthetically the dolphins had beach glass, seashells, aquarium sand and each had a custom hand ground abalone eye. Each dolphin was acid stained in a particular way that gave them a very variegated and organic look.

The dolphins were made in 3-sizes: 8’; 6’; and 4’. The 8’ dolphins weighed almost 1000 LBS and had to be trucked in from our yard where they were constructed and then craned in starting at dark so that traffic would be less of an issue. We made break away forms so that when we lifted the dolphins only the two pieces of plywood remained for the straps that surrounded them for hoisting. All of the dolphins were placed on strategically placed pillars that were sloped toward the street. These pillars allowed the concrete to flow around and under each dolphin for additional strength and support. We poured a proprietary mix around the dolphins as well and then moved on to building and creating the 12-splinter islands around the roundabout.

Each island had multi-colored acid staining and used starfish, shells and small pebbles. Acid staining in veins on most of these surfaces that had steep grades made them like vertical concrete. Meandering through the mounds were rocks; four different varieties of large flat rock were turned on their sides and used to wind up and down throughout the mounds. They look like rock outcroppings on a windswept cliff but they twisted around in somewhat of a serpentine way.

Concrete has provided an art piece with function; this project can also serve to lift the soul and psyche of many of the harried individuals in traffic at the Beach Boardwalk.

Pouring the Indicator Stairs was challenging but in the end TRC after a significant setback was victorious. TRC was instrumental in designing and building the large lower concrete platform that rested and had to set up on the sand during the minus tide. Ralston used a custom mix design that he and Katha Redmon, Chemist for Granite Rock Concrete Company developed especially for this particular project. See words of praise from Keith Skaug of the Santa Cruz Long Board Union to the former Mayor Hillary Bryant. Read more about it in the Stairway to Indicators news item.

Tom Ralston was invited by the Santa Cruz Art and History Committee including local historians to design a Chinese Memorial in the Evergreen Cemetery. The memorial, the first of its kind, would recognize the Chinese presence and the vast contributions they made to develop Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Areas. TRC starts by excavating a dilapidated hillside in the Chinese section of the hillside digging footings, piers and an area to accommodate charcoal colored posts and an arched Gate. The posts and beam would have stainless steel Chinese characters that poetically speak to the toil and great efforts the Chinese had brought to the region. The characters powder coated red play dramatic on the charcoal self consolidated concrete. Master carpenter Rex Nicoliason and the crews of Tom Ralston concrete brought Tom's vision into fruition. A Spirit Money Incinerator (a ceremonial oven) is also displayed in the Chinese section of Evergreen. Read an excellent profile on this project featured in August 2014 Durability + Design magazine and a blog post by Tom.

The Cowell's Garden Project is located on beautiful West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz CA. Tide pool stepping stones fashioned by Tom Ralston Concrete will meander and undulate through the garden.

Ralston borrowed 13-different large stones from Granite Rock to make molds at The Bronze Works from the various rock outcroppings which will be laden with shark teeth, sea glass, shells and aquarium sand and finally acid stained with blends of different colors.

The Cowells Garden Project was well received and a Ribbon Cutting with left to right Sean Monaghan of the Bronze Works, Bill Goff of Tom Ralston Concrete, Santa Cruz Mayor Hilary Bryant, Tom Ralston and Designer Karen Toole featured in the picture below. View more images in the Cowell's Garden Blog Post by Tom Ralston.

The Three Princes Plaque was designed by Tom Ralston Concrete and Sean Monaghan of the Bronze Works. The plaque was to commemorate the first time anyone rode waves with a surfboard on Mainland USA. The Hawaiian Princes rode the Santa Cruz Rivermouth with large redwood boards made from indigenous Santa Cruz redwood trees at a local Santa Cruz mill. Tom Ralston Concrete was recognized by the State Assembly and is also in the Mayor's Proclamation for Three Hawaiian Princes Day on every April 9th from 2010 forward.

The Anne Clark Reflection Pond Project was a concept that TRC developed into a working plan that included blended custom colors, a water feature and suspended concrete steps in Saratoga. The adjacent patio had spacing and irrigation for ground cover installed by Shoreline Landscape and lent itself to perhaps an oriental feel. The small water feature in the middle sits opposite the indoor/outdoor fireplace.  When night falls, so does lit water into an already lit reflection pond bringing about a marvelous sight.

The Black's Beach Floors evolved from a conversation between the homeowner and Tom Ralston as they were discussing what would happen if a fierce storm hit the Santa Cruz Beach homes. Ralston suggested that there would be remnants of seaweed strewn about on the floors and the rest is TRC interior floor history. The homeowner, a sailor, took his boat out and harvested seaweed from the Monterey Bay and used pieces to make molds that were in turn used to make stamps. TRC only had 3/8" space for concrete thus an engineered cement was used. TRC built catwalks to emboss the seaweed into the quick drying topping mix; the seaweed was then carefully stained with 2-different brown colors delivering a very authentic looking piece of Monterey Bay seaweed. The remainder of the floors were stained a combination of green acid stains to mimic the Monterey Bay. Read more about it in CONCRETE Moves Uptown-San Jose Mercury News July 2011, Jan 2011 Concrete Decor-Project Profile and June 2007 Concrete Decor - "Special Effects With Concrete Stains Tips and Tricks that will Help Artisans Get Creative.

The Joyce Ellington Branch Library composition was an artful project that was recognized in 2009 for "Best Artistry" at the World of Concrete. The designer, Yuki Nagase who was brought over from Japan, sculpted a large granite center piece called "The Tree of Life-Many Hands". The Public Art Project, funded by donors and the City of San Jose, hired TRC to work closley with Nagase to bring the ideas and concept to fruition. It was a wonderful project that was seamless in its construction and artistic flow evidenced by the results. TRC poured colored Pami Pebble bands to house a round stained concrete medallion that had sandblasted branches colored with black acid stain.