Blackie´s History
Blackie and Sara Gadarian's Story - 50 year anniversary
Blackie and Sara met in 1958 while working together at AiResearch Aviation Service Company at Los Angeles airport. Blackie was sub-foreman/chief mechanic, and Sara worked in the Personnel Office.
Blackie and Sara were married June 18, 1960 at City Hall in Costa Mesa. Both of them were divorced; Blackie had custody of his daughter, Cynthia (Cindy), 8 years old, Sara had her son Mark Richardson, 3 years old.
They moved into a run-down beach shack on Orchid Avenue in Corona del Mar, purchased in 1960. Blackie worked at Martin Aviation at Orange County Airport; Sara worked for an electronics company in Santa Ana.
Between 1960 and 1964, Blackie worked as a mechanic for a boat yard in Newport Beach, and free-lanced as a boat mechanic and bilge steam-cleaner. Sara worked as an office manager, secretary and sales assistant for several local companies.
In 1964, Blackie and Sara started Blackie´ s Boat Yard on Newport Peninsula on the site of a former gas dock. They obtained the marine railway equipment from the old South Coast Shipyard, and modified the property to do haul-outs, boat repairs and bilge steam cleaning.
Blackie and Sara moved to Begonia Avenue in Corona del Mar, where they raised their children until both graduated from Corona del Mar High School. Blackie and Sara later moved to an apartment on Bayside Drive, then to a home on Balboa peninsula.
Blackie´s Boat Yard repaired numerous wood, steel and fiberglass yachts, along with Navy vessels. Blackie became known in Newport Beach as a colorful character in many ways, and was frequently featured in news articles describing his protests against "City Hall" and even fighting the US government´s OSHA requlations.
Starting in 1969, Blackie and Sara began traveling to Hawaii, and decided to move there to go into the boat repair business. Many trips later, they obtained property in Lahaina, Maui in 1976 to start Blackie´s Boat Yard on an inland industrial lot for trailer-boat storage and repairs.
They ran both properties until 1979, when Blackie and Sara sold the Blackie´s Boat Yard Newport Beach business, and moved full time to Maui. Their residence was a condominium, Maui Eldorado at Ka´anapali. Blackie established Blackie´s Machine Shop at the Lahaina boat yard location, and did custom metal fabrication for hotels and commercial establishments as well as specialty machine shop work.
Blackie and Sara Gadarian - Aloha is a two-way street
In 1981, Blackie and Sara added a bar/restaurant building to the Lahaina property, and started Blackie´s Bar. It was an open-air restaurant with Mexican food and hamburgers, and also a jazz club featuring "straight-ahead" jazz 4 nights weekly with a trio, quartet or quintet of local musicians. Many famous jazz musicians from the mainland US performed with the group. It became the longest-running jazz club in the Pacific.
In 1995, Blackie and Sara sold the boatyard/machine shop/bar property to a gas station developer, and built a building on a residential lot in downtown Lahaina. The building housed Blackie´s Machine Shop and Sara's office. In 2009, Blackie and Sara moved from their apartment in Kaanapali to the downtown location, combining living and working quarters.
Over the 50 years, the Gadarians have traveled back and forth between Hawaii and California, and then to the East coast of USA, Europe and Israel. Favorite repeat US destinations have been Chicago and Washington DC, and overseas to London, Paris, the French Riviera, Italian Riviera, Madrid, and Israel.
The Gadarians have shared mutual interests in jazz, dancing, beach-going, barhopping. aviation and nautical history, current events, and meeting people from all parts.
Blackie and Sara´s children: Mark Richardson worked after high school in various Orange County restaurants, then moved to Maui and was a bartender and waiter. He met and married Cindy Lombardini on Maui. They moved to California, where he worked as beverage manager for several resorts and hotels. Since 1993 the family has lived in the Seattle area, and are raising three boys. Mark has his own business, Richardson Travel Company, specializing in golf travel and Hawaii travel.
Cynthia Gadarian graduated from UC Irvine, got her masters degree in Deaf Education from San Diego State University. She has been a special education teacher in California, Idaho, Washington DC, West Virginia, and Maryland, and has recently retired. She is currently teaching driving to students with special needs.
Blackie and Sara Gadarian - Just Married Photo
Blackie´s Videos
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The scholarship presentations are vocational scholarships given at Lahainaluna High School to graduating seniors going into the trades of automotive and woodworking/carpentry.
Scholarship Presentation - 1 Scholarship Presentation - 2