JOHN BERGMAN
In high school I worked at Lou Amrofell's men's and
boys clothing store in San Bruno. I thought that I wanted to own a clothing
store when I grew up. After high school graduation I joined the National Guard
along with Mike Klingler and Mike Berges from our class. We were out in 6
months after basic training at Fort Ord. After that I went to college and
worked at Ross Department store down the street from Lou's store.
Ross was a kind of general store that had everything
for the family from over-alls to farm tools. I helped change the way they did
business by buying the young men's clothing and eventually opening a men's
store across the street from the original Ross store. Bill Izacson bought the
company and formed Ross Shop for less and went nation wide. I finished college
and went to work for Western Electric as a draftsman in the Power Section where
we drafted power stations for the phone company. In 6 months I was promoted to
"Checker" which meant I checked the other draftsman work.
This job lasted 2 years when one day I went to lunch
with my supervisor John Kalmetta who told me that I had a great future to W.E.
I asked him how much money he made after 25 years with the company and had hit
his highest position. When he told me tat he made $25,000, I gave him my
resignation and became a plumber making more money then I did as a draftsman. I
hated Plumbing as I was the absolute worst plumber in the world. I got married
while I was a plumber and one day my new wife Gay Lynn and I went out looking
at open houses, (not that we could afford one). A young lady named Shirley
Elkins an agent had an open house at a beautiful Spanish home in Millbrae. They
were asking $27,500 more that I could even afford. She told us to come back
after her open house and she would show some other properties. We did and on
the way from her open house to the car she dropped her purse and several checks
blew down the street. I ran after them and picked up over $3,000 in un-cashed
checks..........! I said that it isn’t good to carry around so much money, her
comment was, “I didn’t have time to get to the bank this week”, I said...
"Tell me about real estate"...... While doing my apprentice for
plumbing, I went to school for my real estate license
After the Army, I moved to Santa Clara while I
worked at Western Electric. Then I moved to Millbrae into an apartment on El
Camino. I drove to San Francisco to work as a plumber. Then got married in 1967
and moved to a Millbrae apartment. After the 5 year apprentice was over as a
plumber. In my last year of plumbing I got my real estate license. One day and
after almost falling off of the new Bank of America 57 story building I was
working on as a plumber, I quit my job and went into real estate full time in
late 1967. Business was good to me and we bought a brand new condo on Darby
Lane in San Bruno. We had a son named Scott Gardener Bergman in June of 1970
while in San Bruno. I had a good successful start and wanted my own real estate
business a year later. In order to open your known real estate office you have
to be a sales agent for two years minimum, so I Then opened my first RE office
in San Mateo under my Brokers name Trotter Realty and we moved to a great
neighborhood off of Hillsdale boulevard on a cull-d-sac and my daughter Tiffany
Faith Bergman was born in October of 1971. From there we moved to a new home in
Hillsborough and built a new home on Blue Bell Lane.
Gay and I were married in 1967, had two children and
divorced in 1974. I hired the top agent in the area away from a competitor and
ended up marrying her. Her name was Klara Yewdall in 1976 and divorced in 1979
in a very messy divorce. (This one cleaned me out). I had opened a total of
eight offices by 1976 with more then 300 real estate agents working for me. I also
had a business with a partner in Hawaii called “Tropical Pleasure Cruses”. We owned three 100 foot steel hull ships
that did dinner cruses on the Honolulu bay.
One day in late 1979 my partner called and said that
he had the Miss Hawaii pageant scheduled to come aboard one of the ships during
the pageant. I felt a business trip coming on and went to check it out. On the
ship were the judges, girls, media, sponsors and governmental officials, I
immediately sponsored a girl.
I ended up bring one of the girls running for Miss
Hawaii home. I was 37 and she was 19. I ended up marring her in 1983 and this
marriage lasted until 1989. By that time I had retired to the wine
country. However, I got interested in
vineyard and wineries and started a new business still in real estate but my
new direction was now wineries and vineyard properties. I wasn’t looking a new
wife, I felt that three was enough, I was done with marriage.
Then one day in late 1989 while getting my hair cut,
I met my future sole mate Wynne Marie Edwall. We played together for six years
when we finally made the decision that we were meant to be together for all
times. We met in 1989, married in 1996 and haven't looked back once. She truly
is my best friend and trusted partner in life. I can't imagine life without
her. I really don't know how she puts up with me at times, but I am grateful.
My first 20 years in the real estate business was in
the SF Peninsula specializing in residential and commercial and development
real estate and my next 20+ years in real estate specialized in Winery and
Vineyard sales and I’m still going.
While in the wine country, my children got married
and gave me 3 grand children that I am so happy when they all come over and
hang out with Grandpa.
We belong to the Porsche Club of America and like to
auto cross and do a lot of back road driving, visiting wineries, small back
road historic towns and joining in with our fellow club member. We had their 35th
and 40th PCA anniversary group meeting at out home with over 130 people
and 75 vintage Porsches. The 4th just happened in July of 2009. We
also have a vintage 1961 190SL Mercedes Benz and belong to the Mercedes Cub as
well. We hosted an event for the group of 75 at out home in May 2009
Both Wynne and I like to auto-cross, travel and
entertain. Our family likes to swim here and go to Hawaii to our home in
Princeville, Kauai and hang out snorkel and read on the beach.
Two years of Architecture and many years of learning
different aspects of real estate, vineyard operations, running wineries and
giving seminars on both. In the early 1970’s I use to take a millionaire to
lunch once a week to learn how they did it. I taught real estate sales and
still write today for the wine and vineyard owners as to what is happening in
our industry. I have been writing real estate articles for the industry since
1970 and still do. Now the articles are all related to the vineyard and winery
business. Every quarter of the year, I write an article of how the
vineyard/winery business is doing and it is mailed out to 4000 winery and
vineyard owners in Napa and Sonoma Counties. If anyone is interested in seeing
any of them, go to my website at www.bergmanvineyards.com
check them out. Our website was voted the number 1 Vineyard Educational website
in the nation 4 years running. I have given accredited seminars to appraiser in
Northern California related to values of vineyard and winery properties.
I believe that retirement means "Doing what you
love". I meet some of the most interesting people in the world, sell
larger then life wineries and beautiful vineyard estates and live in one of the
most beautiful places that exists, plus I end each day with a glass of fine
wine and great sunset and my best friend.
I am retired doing what I love........ I’ll probably
die writing a contract