Hard work and a passion for antiques paid off for Ron and Julie Palladino, and the 28-year veterans of the Santa Ynez Valley are grateful for the success that their treasures brought them. But one of their greatest treasures is the lucky coincidence that brought them to Solvang for the first time.

The couple met in Los Angeles, and opened a small antique clock repair shop. The little showroom on Santa Monica Blvd was only ten feet wide and 40 feet deep, but twelve foot ceilings provided the Palladinos with an expanse of wall space to present their antique clocks. There was no heat, but an artificial electric fireplace and a generous supply of Trader Joe's sherry kept patrons warm.

If Julie Palladino hadn't become anemic, the couple might not have discovered the Santa Ynez Valley. She visited a doctor, who wrote her a prescription that said "Spend a weekend in Solvang!" This unorthodox "medicine" appealed to the Palladinos, who immediately drove north. The smal Danish village they first saw in 1977 stole their hearts.

"The first time we came to the Valley," Palladino recalls, "it had just rained. The hills were green and the sky was bright blue. It was like stepping into paradise." Reluctant to go back to the real world, the couple began to consider the possibilities of living in "Danish Disneyland." They hesitated at first; as non-Danes would they be welcome residents? And Solvang seemed like an unlikely place to earn a living.

But the Palladinos were young and adventurous. They decided to abandon the big city and carve out a life in paradise. "Our friends and customers in Los Angeles were sure we had lost our minds," says Palladino, "but that didn't stop us from packing up everything and starting a new life in the country."

In 1977, the Palladino's opened their tiny new shop on Mission Drive, confident that their high-quality antique clocks and furniture would appeal to visitors. But local merchants told the Palladinos that they'd made a terrible mistake; "they said that no one can sell anything for over $20 in Solvang," says Palladino. "And after a few weeks, we began to fear that the locals were right." Then they made their first sale, to 14-year-old Jim Carricaburu. He bought an antique Japanese schoolclock for $95, now worth about $400.

A few weeks later, just when things were looking bleak, film director Arthur Hiller, whose film "Love Story" was then a hit, came into the store. Although he lived just a few miles from the couple's former shop in Los Angeles, "he'd never have found us there," says Palladino. He bought a rare eight-foot tall antique music box for $4,700, now worth about $45,000.

This was a huge sale in 1977, enough to pay the rent for 6 months, "although now," says Palladino ruefully, "that amount would cover one month's utility bills in our current showroom." From that point on, business began to boom. Within a few years the enterprise spawned Renaissance Design Center, servicing clients worldwide with a staff of 32 and over a dozen outside contractors.

"One of the most gratifying aspects of our business has been the friendships we've made with clients all over the world," says Palladino. "Arthur Hiller visited the showroom recently, 27 years after his purchase, to tell us how much pleasure the music box still gives his family.
Today, the Palladinos’ client file includes celebrities, Fortune 500 executives and world class shoppers from around the globe, a testimony to the fact that Solvang visitors DO spend serious money here.

"It's ironic," says Palladino, "that most Santa Ynez Valley businesses, don't understand that Solvang attracts big spenders—people who shop in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, London and Paris. "Only when businesses acknowledge and address this market, will Solvang finally rise to the level of Carmel and other prestige tourist markets."

Antique clocks, music boxes and watches are the Palladinos’ specialty, but they also deal in fine antique furniture and dozens of specialty antiques. Their 7,000 square foot showroom features high-end antiques from over 65 specialty dealers around the globe, along with their personal inventory of over 450 investment quality antique clocks, 100 music boxes and 200 watches.

The Palladinos proved what an excellent investment fine antique clocks are, by breaking the world record for an American antique clock sold at auction recently. The Philadelphia tall case clock had been in their personal collection for the past 16 years, and sold in Manhattan for $803,000. "It's a little known fact," says Ron Palladino, "that antique clocks and watches are among the most undervalued treasures in today's antique market, and because of this have tremendous investment potential."

Ron Palladino's custom furniture business, a side venture, is "the closest thing to a time machine we can find today" says Julie Palladino. "He works with people who love and appreciate the design and quality of 17th and 18th century furniture, but want it built to their exact specifications and prefer not to spend ten times as much on originals. He and his small, talented crew of old world craftsmen are able to create furniture equal to the finest antiques." Some of these pieces are time consuming; A recently completed table took six months to build and includes over 16,000 inlay pieces, created from six exotic woods.

In addition to their intensive business ventures, the Palladino's have been busy improving and developing Solvang properties. Their architectural acumen and style has impacted the Solvang landscape in the past twenty years, as they transformed many buildings into showplace properties, including the original Renaissance Showroom (now the Mole Hole),the Solvang Gaard Lodge (now the Solvang Gardens Lodge) and the Old Mill Shops (including the present day Solvang Antique Center and Cafe Angelica).

What's next for the Palladinos? "We want to have the flexibility to spend more time with our customers and friends in the future," says Julie Palladino.

"It's funny, but here we are, the merchants of time pieces, and time is the most valuable commodity for us." Ron Palladino agrees; "all the cliches about time, the musings of great philosophers, the complex theories of scientists and the incomprehensible nature of how it shapes and controls humanity are remarkably true.

To think we can control time is the ultimate folly of man. The best we can do is to learn to treasure time, and embrace it as the most a precious and irreplaceable element of our existence. We must learn to make the most of it.""