Goodbye, David

This world lost a great and wonderful spirit and we lost a great friend this weekend: David Pfaff passed away in his sleep on Saturday. Our thoughts and love go out to his wife Liane and their family.

David was the course architect at Royal Isabela. He introduced us to owners (and now good friends) Stanley and Charlie Pasarell and Royal Isabela general manager Tito Lopez. Because of David, Ola Lola's is a regular stop for the Royal Isabela "gang" and their friends.

David also designed Ola Lola's.

Elaine and I were talking about changes we needed and wanted to make to Ola Lola's. One afternoon David was sitting at the bar and I said, "I know what you do and I know who you work for. I know there is no way on god's green earth I can afford you. But...we need to make some changes. I have an idea but I don't like it and I've gotten stuck on it. I need somebody to kick me in the butt and get me out of this box I've put myself in."

David said, "Let me think about it."

A couple of days later he came back with some rolled up paper under his arm. He said, "I'll show you this under one condition. When you build it, it has to have foot rails. A proper bar has to have foot rails." With my promise, he unrolled the concept drawings that a year or so later became the present Ola Lola's.

David loved to stand at the the little angled window so the foot rail under that window is "THE David Pfaff Foot Rail.

David was brilliant, incredibly talented, fun, funny and a wonderful great friend. For all his many talents as a designer and artist, his greatest talent was his ability to bring people together. We miss David when he's just off island. I can't imagine how much more we'll miss him now.

David was a regular reader of this blog, one of if not the first "follower." When I went more than a few days without a new post, I would send me an email chiding me, prodding me.

I wish he were home in Carmel reading this now.