Gay Wassall-Kelly
"Goof" is a slang word for stupid or silly person. Well, there were
no stupid people in the group of men that was formed by Dick Richard
at his Richard's Lido Market in Lido Village in 1956.
In 1948, Richard opened his market, an unusually plush supermarket
for those days. Most predicted it would fail within 90 days. Instead,
the market (Pavilions today) grossed $1 million in the first year of
operations.
In 1956, Richard decided that the flower shop (inside his market)
would serve the community better as a coffee shop. He also noticed
that while all the women were shopping in his market, their husbands
were in the car, waiting.
"Those guys are lonely and need some place to go in the morning,"
Richard said. "Let's have them meet at our coffee shop."
Richard wanted it to be very informal.
"The club had no dues, no rules, no purpose, strived to accomplish
nothing, thus 'Goofoffers,'" said Don Donaldson, a retired boat
builder from Newport Beach.
Local dentist Irving Laby and bank president Ned Hill headed up
the newly formed Goofoffers.
"Well, there was one requirement: Ned Hill would hold a mirror
under each potential member's nose," said Wally Ziglar of Corona del
Mar. "If you fogged up the mirror, you were a member."
George Grupe of Newport Beach remembers the first day that the
"old men's club" met.
"I walked in with about five other men where coffee was only 10
cents [with free refills] all day for us guys," he said. "There were
no women. The thing grew so fast we had to get the Mug Shop in Corona
del Mar to make cups for us. Each mug had our name on it, with a
picture of a man sitting at a desk with his feet up "thinking" about
making money [goofing off]."
Ziglar recalled, "You would begin every day in this small town
atmosphere, exchange jokes and talk politics. Oh, the chef was also a
big draw. We only knew him as Steve, and could he ever create
dynamite scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage. Plus, there was a
fresh bakery in the market serving fresh rolls and muffins."
Art Gronsky joined just before the market closed, "because I was
so busy with my fishing boats at Art's Landing," he said.
"John Wayne was a good customer of mine," Gronsky said. "I told
him he ought to come and goof off. We had a cup made for him. He came
two or three times, but the last time, his cup had been stolen. He
got mad and never came back."
Over the years, some say there were more than 1,000 men, a who's
who's of Newport Beach, including President Richard Nixon, Theodore
