Celebrating 50 years on Broad St.
Patrick Dyer has a confession to make: He’s afraid of a real job. To remedy this phobia he became an entrepreneur, a Mayor, a Vice Mayor, The President of The Chamber of Commerce, a member of city council, a Master Goldsmith, and the owner, along with his late wife Diane, of Utopian Stone––the longest operating same-owner business (50 years) in Nevada City. He also confesses to not considering himself an artist, but I’ll let that one slide for the sake of endearing humility.
You may know Pat––and if you’ve enjoyed the flowers on Broad St. you’ve met Diane, who was awarded the Dr. Leland and Sally Harris Lewis Visual Arts Award for town beautification––all of which will make what I’m about to say gloriously familiar, and for those who have not yet had the pleasure, I hope you experience the same ooey gooey perma-smile I could not shake while listening to the regalings of a craftsman so proud of his business and hometown that he outshone the gold surrounding our cross-counter conversation in his street-level store-front on the corner of Broad St. and Pine. “As a child, my father commuted back and forth from McClellan Air Force Base, so he chose to live in the foothills, as opposed to the valley, because the sun would be at his back during both commutes instead of in his face,” Pat begins, “I don’t know if it was a genius decision, but it was a decision that worked out for me because I met my wife of 57 years riding the school bus from Chicago Park to Nevada Union High School. She was a year ahead of me, but one thing led to another, and we got married shortly after. I went to college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where Diane had come down to live with me, and after three years studying Agricultural Business Management I said, ‘No, that’s not for me,’ and I never did graduate. I needed to do something that was ‘me’ (I wasn’t even sure what that was yet) but I couldn’t see myself sitting at a bank in Fresno financing tractors.”
Beneath the counter over which Pat and I speak lie hand-crafted necklaces, rings, and future heirlooms––all poised to absorb the personal story of those who will come wear them, all designed to last (and be handed through) generations, and all filled with gold pulled straight from the Yuba River or the (still-operational) 128-year-old 16 to 1 Mine just 35 miles Northeast of Nevada City in Alleghany, where Utopian Stone has unfailingly sourced it’s gold bearing quartz––placing themselves among the many who embrace the perpetuation of local cooperative relationships. The remaining 10 showcases feature custom carved, and very exotic, gemstones from around the world, mounted in custom made creations.
“I began working with a friend whose father happened to be a jewelry instructor at Sacramento State,” Pat says, “and that was back in the days when you could teach a subject without having necessarily some sort of a certificate that said you were qualified to be a teacher of that subject, as long as you knew the subject, you could become a teacher at the state level. He asked me to help him instruct in a bored housewives’ school down in Carmichael where the women wanted to do something with their evenings, so they thought they’d learn how to make jewelry. We ran a six week course, before which I said, ‘I don’t really know that much about making jewelry,’ to which my friend answers, ‘That’s okay, you can read my dad’s notes and you’ll be at least an hour ahead of the students you’re trying to teach. From there, I landed a job in Castro Valley working for Diablo Manufacturing and Visalia Saddle Company making Western silver saddles, belt buckles, trophy buckles, and conchos before the owner of the company was asked by some people from the University of Nevada, Reno if they knew of anybody who would be willing to move to Pyramid Lake, the Indian reservation in the town of Nixon 50 miles northeast of Reno, and he pointed to me. By then we’d had three boys. Marc, our oldest, (who now largely runs Utopian Stone with his wife Denise), and the twins Perri and Damon. Damon passed away before his second birthday, so Diane, Marc, Perri, and I moved out to Pyramid Lake, formed a school, and for a whole year taught 15 Paiutes the art of making Indian jewelry. We had to acquire the materials, the machinery, we had to remodel an old schoolhouse to be the shop, and since we lived an hour away from any place you could spend money, we brought back a sizable chunk of change in 1973 for a family of four. That was the money we used to start Utopian Stone.”
A custom goldsmith jewelry studio and gallery, Utopian Stone, as it stands today, was once the home of the State Board of Equalization, The Union, and The Independent Newspapers. The building has survived fire after fire, always rebuilt and reconstructed, and along with their children, is the result of Pat and Diane’s lifetime of patience, creativity, and love to both a town, and each other. “Diane was a certified Diamond Grader,” says Pat, “she raised a family, she had jobs, various assembly jobs and so forth, but mostly she was here, with me.”
Utopian Stone’s cases are filled with hand-crafted jewelry, 95% of which is made in-store by Pat, Marc, and Chad, a fellow goldsmith with generational experience. Their team––which also includes Sheila, affectionately addressed as “Rose,” their incredible appraiser––is close, made up of family and the few employees who “fit the mold” of what it means to create custom pieces for everyone from the first time visitor, to the grandchildren of decades-long clients. “I wouldn’t call it creativity so much,” says Pat, “but my free-spirit entrepreneurism I think I got from my grandfather. He owned a few gold mines, all of them failed. He had six grocery stores, all tiny. But he was quite the entrepreneur. Which I think is why my father went into government work, after watching what his father went through. I had real jobs, but they never were a good fit for me. I had too much to do on my own to be stuck doing something that someone else wanted done by me. So, we went out on our own and never looked back. But the artistry, where does artistry come from? I don’t think any artist can really explain that, but what I really enjoy is when someone comes in and gives us almost completely free reign to do whatever we want. I think my best work comes when there is no customer yet, when the stone dictates the design. We get a lot of uniquely shaped stones that allow for a good amount of diversity. Some are very geometric. Some are very organic. Some are very symmetrical. There’s a certain amount of busy work required just to do the projects, but I never let the busy work overpower the potential for creativity, because that’s when I do my best work.”
Over the years Pat has held public office, announced parades, contributed to the implementation and placement of highway 49 (keeping Nevada City on the map), and he and Diane have been among the few who helped to turn the tide on what it means to love and restore a town. He was awarded the Elza Kilroy award for outstanding service, the Stan Halls Architectural Award, and the David Irons Lifetime Achievement Award. “There’s a whole new generation of younger folks that are moving in here,” adds Pat, “and that’s just a normal evolution. I want them to appreciate the ambiance, the structure, and the facility that those of us who came before have created, and kept. The core of the town is still very special, and it’s going to stay that way.”
Celebrate Utopian Stone’s five decades in Nevada City seen through the one-of-a-kind pieces in their corner store. Marvel at the mining history artifacts, the nuggets of local gold, the landmark building, and say hello to Pat and his family, long time locals and family jewelers. “What I’ve learned is nobody needs this,” adds Marc. “It really doesn’t make any sense what we do, it works for us, but people don’t need it. You can’t eat it. You can’t sell it for what you paid for it, but in this profound way, these pieces are tied to a memory, an event, a celebration. They’re tied to a life, a lifetime of memories. And, it’s almost like we become part of that person’s family because we made it. We are their jeweler, and they let us know.”
301 Broad St, Nevada City, California 95959
