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Somewhere around 1995 David Klinker and I found ourselves walking the same route to and from school.

We didn't have all that much in common. I had flunked kindergarten and was still learning long division while David was at the top of his college-prep math classes. As an eighth grader, I had already been busted sneaking beers out of my parents' fridge. David, on the other hand, was rebelling by taking his parents' television apart to see how it worked. But for whatever reason, a friendship that began out of convenience never seemed to go away (sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Klinker!). We spent the better half of our years at Coronado High School going to local music venues, playing video games and trying to persevere through on-and-off-again water polo careers.

David graduated high school in 1998, a year prior to me, and went on to UCLA. During his senior year of college he headed off to Spain for what was supposed to be one a year stint exploring Europe. As luck would have it, he met his wife, Marta, and didn't come home for three years. David and Marta have now been married five years and live in downtown San Diego's East Village.

After struggling through a tumultuous but insanely fun high school experience I spent one lousy year at UCSD prior to transferring to the USD. I graduated, did some time in New York City (in accounting) and returned to San Diego to complete a masters at SDSU. In 2007, I married one of my best friends from high school and a native Coronadan, Mandy. We now have the greatest daughter in the world and another little one on the way, and we love living in the historic Spreckels Building on Orange Avenue.

Suffice it to say, David and I are all grown up but still very much young at heart. Orange & Park is a project we are really excited about. It brings together a bunch of shared interests: design, business, the internet, and Coronado and San Diego. We have no idea where we will take this, or where we will end up—ultimately that will be dictated by you, the customer. We hope you enjoy this blog and our store and don't hesitate to shoot us an email with your thoughts!