640 Mason
I always keep in mind that the highest purpose of our building is to serve as someone’s home.
I manage to a “Trophy Property – Pride of Ownership” standard.
I have over thirty years of property acquisition, construction and management experience focussed on long term building improvement and positive tenant relationships.
All facets of the property are considered comprehensively and continually evaluated.
Ongoing upkeep is looked upon as an opportunity to improve the property and I have experience in every type of building system from roofing to sewerage, boilers to elevators, – even artisanal craftspeople that do extraordinary plastering, sculpting and decorative iron work for exquisite entryways. I maintain my common areas to a high standard and am proactive, addressing maintenance issues well before they can ever become emergencies.
Waterproofing, working with insurance underwriters, structural and non structural aspects of planning for earthquakes are all considered in my comprehensive approach to best serve the tenant community.
The best way to connect humanity
Technology
Through Ojingo Labs, the company my family and friends helped create, we have embraced smart phone technology as the best way to connect humanity globally so that we can share innovative solutions. Communication is the key to gaining the knowledge and understanding which will allow the wide-scale adoption of a sustainable economy. Sharing insights, innovations and sustainable economic opportunities will allow us to live in harmony with the environment we all depend on. We can raise everyone’s standard of living and give every child the opportunity to grow into the most beautiful adult imaginable. We are sensory organisms: wired by genetics and programed by experience. We become what we think, and we can change at the speed of thought. Better parents = better children.
Harry Orbelian & San Francisco Global Trade Council
My father was the last of the traditional management to leave GUMP’S, when in 1978 he was invited to develop and lead the International Department of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. After close to 15 years of extensive world travel and major events, including hosting President Gorbachev’s 1990 visit to San Francisco (for which Bill Stewart and I collaborated on creating a custom surfboard for President Gorbachev), my father left to start the San Francisco Global Trade Council in 1992. Throughout the years of my father’s involvement with international trade and cultural exchange, he developed so many close friendships that they transitioned to “brotherhood” or “sisterhood” depending on the gender. My brother, my dear brother, my wonderful brother, were typical greetings my dad would share when on the phone or moving through a room. My dad’s brain connected to a phone line was the original internet. He was in contact with Mayor George Christopher, and communications technology pioneer and San Francisco Waldorf School founder, Henry Dakin on virtually a daily basis. After Harry’s passing in 2006, I made sure his creation, the SFGTC lived on and continue to be involved as a member of the Board of Directors. I remain committed to sharing the solutions we have now that can make this planet a paradise for everyone; smart phone technology can share, enable and empower the evolution of life in new, positive directions at the scale necessary to achieve significant change.
Richard Gump
I have had a lifetime of involvement with international trade, first through the association my father and I shared with GUMP’S, as Richard Gump and my father were very close friends. In 1954, Mr. Gump had Hawaiian Hula dancers perform at my Christening ceremony when he became my Godfather. Richard Gump was a big influence in my life, he took me to my first baseball game, shared an interest in herpetology, nautical architecture, history, guns, music, and art. He was an author and his keen interest in history gave him a special appreciation of indigenous people, their practical wisdom, ingenuity, appreciation of / ability to work with nature, and cultural development. He taught me how to watercolor, and when I was eleven years old, invited me to his home in Moorea, Tahiti, where he had a very deep relationship with the families he shared life with.
Eleanor Forbes
Eleanor Forbes was a top designer for Gump’s that I was lucky enough to meet with and be inspired by. I also had the fortune of spending time and sharing my ceramics with John Wheatman, who reinforced, in his own way, the tranquil seeds of Oriental aesthetic beauty planted by Richard Gump, his store, and Eleanor Forbes.
Cook’s Bay
I have photos of the Bounty entering Cook’s bay that he took from the beautiful retreat above Cook’s Bay that he built and later donated to the U.C. Berkeley as a marine biology research center. He enjoyed the nickname, “Captain Bligh”, even signing a simple watercolor we did together with that name.
Tree of Knowledge
I remember every conversation with Richard Gump as an adventure in discovering what triggered curiosity – which would always lead to learning more about a subject and ultimately finding that nothing was in a silo – everything was connected to a web of developments that was somehow connected to everything else.