The Spyrkas’ 45-year journey to today’s Frazier Park Lumber and Hardware—Ace Hardware

  • [Spyrka family photo]

    [Spyrka family photo]

By Gary Meyer, TME

Harry Spyrka was just three years old when he says he remembers being on a ship and taking his first airplane ride.

That was in 1962 when his German parents, Herb and Christine, moved the family from Gliwice, Poland, to West Los Angeles.

None of them spoke English, but they learned quickly.

After Harry began school, he would come home to teach English to his parents. Then they started taking English classes at night school.

Herb immediately began working as a mold-maker in a plastics factory.

“Dad and my uncle Joe were constantly remodeling the house in…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Published in The Mountain Enterprise exactly 45 years ago this week, this photo shows Christine and Herb Spyrka in their first few days (in 1976) running Frazier Park Lumber & Hardware at the location where Dollar General currently stands.

Above and right: The first section of concrete poured December 14, 1981, at the southwest corner of the new building.

Looking northwest from the rear of the building on December 31, 1981.

The front of the building began to take on its familiar recognizable style by January 9, 1982.

Above: Curt, Harry, Christine and Herb Spyrka with employee Barbara Schneider

Above: An April Fools’ Day, 1982, joke by signmaker Gene Drew

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This is part of the September 3, 2021 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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