Talk:Porter Blanchard
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My name is Troy Wise. I was born in 1947, grandson of Porter and Betty Blanchard, son of Lewis and Alice Wise.
It has been amusing to read some of the accounts of the history of Porter Blanchard silver in California. Some of the dealers that I have talked to have some interesting misperceptions of who was making what and where. Since I was born in 1947, I only have first hand knowledge of events from the early 1950's on.
My dad (Lewis A. Wise) and Allan Adler apprenticed under Porter in the late 1930's at the Burbank shop; each marrying one of his daughters in 1938. I think the shop was on Magnolia St. but I'm not sure. Porter moved the shop to Pacoima, but I don't know when. He had a two-acre site with two houses on it; they lived in one and had the shop in the other. Most of the site was covered with orange orchard; irrigated from the swimming pool, which they dug by hand in the back yard. Sometime around 1950, they moved the shop to Varna St. in North Hollywood. They built two shops in the same block; one for hollowware, and one that my dad ran to make all the flatware. Allan ran the retail store on Hollywood Blvd.
In the summer of 1955 my dad moved our family from Pacoima to Calabasas and set up shop making all of the Porter Blanchard flatware. We had both house and shop at the same location dubbed Craftsman Center. It was the project of the same man (last name Hanson) that developed the neighboring Hidden Hills residential community and a similar subdivision called Rolling Hills on the coast. We lived on Craftsman Road along with a manufacturer of chinaware and a small toy manufacturer called Scandia toys. I still can picture the house and shop (white concrete block with crushed red brick roof) standing alone in the field with the Porter Blanchard logo weathervane on the roof and the hand carved sign with “Lewis A. Wise Silversmiths” around the logo hanging in the ivy covered front.
Dad had many silversmiths working there over the years; including some of my childhood friends. The only one that I know to still be in the silver business is Randy Stromsoe, who has a shop and gallery in central California.
At that time many stores around the country carried our silver, and I can remember dad making many trips to stores to give demonstrations. He was always giving demonstrations to customers or friends at the shop. He would usually make a teaspoon from scratch, adding their initials to the stamp on the back and then give it to them as a memento of their visit. I never saw anyone that was not amazed at the process; they all came away with a healthy respect for the skill involved. It didn’t hurt as a sales tactic either, most went away to reorder their priorities to include an heirloom silver set.
He occasionally took on students that never intended to become journeymen, just artists looking to expand their base. One man asked him if he could make a set of flatware that matched perfectly. He was talking of tolerances of +/- .002”. Initially he said no, but after thinking about it, he agreed. I remember him forging with a micrometer next to him. Eventually he was successful, but I remember his promise to never do that again. “Handmade silver is just that, it should not try to copy a machine”. Each set was unique. That was why we had customers send us one place setting of their pattern when they ordered additions to their set. We would keep the original with the new pieces as they were being made. When the order was finished, you usually couldn’t pick out the original.
I’ve seen many pieces of Porter Blanchard flatware offered on the antique market place. The description usually says that the piece was made by Porter in his Calabasas shop. In fact, Porter never worked in the Calabasas shop, and he didn’t make any of the flatware bearing his name after 1955. The Calabasas shop was always billed as Lewis A. Wise Silversmiths, makers of Porter Blanchard Silverware. I have been fairly isolated from the business after 1980, when I moved to Colorado with my wife, Teri, and our two children. It was only recently, when I started to compile my recollections, that I realized that there is very little mention of my father in any discussions of silversmithing during this era. I have found articles about Allan and Porter, but nothing but local mention of my father. Dad had rheumatoid arthritis in his hands and wrists, and took steroids and gold salt injections for as long as I can remember. My brother and I grew up next to the shop, learning the trade when we weren’t in school. I saw the toll inflicted by long days forging, filing, and all the other physically demanding tasks, and resolved not to end up in the same state. I encouraged Dad to sell the business while he was healthy enough to train new journeymen and provide consulting services for the new owner. Shortly after I left the state, and it was apparent that my brother was not interested in continuing the business, dad found a buyer.
I worked on and off for my uncle, Allan Adler in his Hollywood Blvd basement shop. I mostly did polishing for Allan, but managed to spend as much time as possible making jewelry. Both my brother and I never really worked at silver after the Vietnam War. We both flew for the military and found that flying was much more fun. Ralph got into design and manufacturing small aircraft, and still has hangar space in Mojave. I currently work for the FAA in Kenai Alaska.
