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Ever wonder how people from other places got to your town to live or work, or both. There’s an interesting couple who can be found every day but Sunday at 540 Winsted Rd., Torrington — Nelson and Ginger Gonzalez.
There is nothing at all wrong with Harwinton but the rural setting and lifestyle is not for everyone.
So Nelson and Ginger Gonzalez, New York City natives, sold their Harwinton home and moved to a condo at what was once the Goodwin estates, in Hartford’s west end.
“A day or two after we moved, a police car went by with siren blaring,’’ Nelson said. “We looked at each other and said, ‘we’re home.’ ’’ You can take people out of the big city but you can’t take the city out of people.
Hartford isn’t exactly New York, but it is a closer facsimile and it makes access to museums and the arts much handier.
They are the proprietors of the Grog Shop in the shopping center on Old Route 8 in Torrington which is also home to Lowe’s, Big Y and other businesses. They opened the Grog Shop in 2001. They don’t mind the daily drive from Hartford to Torrington.
When Lowe’s was preparing to open, displacing Big Y at the south end of the plaza, the supermarket moved north and so did the Grog Shop. The move had no effect on business.
“We always had a vision about opening a wine shop,’’ Gonzalez said. “And this suited us perfectly.’’ Both possess a thorough knowledge of wines and neither Nelson nor Ginger ever saw a museum they didn’t like. They are both graphic designers and art is a passion with them. So this is ideal for them.
Nelson is 56. Both parents immigrated from Puerto Rico to New York. The family lived in a third-floor, walk-up, cold water flat at East 28th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Nelson said, “It was a neighborhood of three and four-story buildings, and ethnically, it was very much a wide mix.’’
His father was Bob, a machinist who worked with cut glass. Maria was his mother and his older brother was also called Bob. Continued…
“When I was five years old, we moved to Brooklyn,’’ he said.
He was a smart kid, a precocious student at Queen of All Saints School. When he was about to enter sixth grade, he got a scholarship to Trinity School, known as the best private school in New York City. Trinity was on 91st Street and he had to travel by train and subway, he said, “an hour and a half each way every day. It got kind of old, but it was worth it.’’
From there, it was off to Syracuse University and then back to the city. For three years, he drove a New York City taxi cab, and then he got a job in his graphics design field at Chemical Bank. Marie also worked in graphic design for the same employer.
“We worked on the 102nd floor at the World Trade Center,’’ he said. They were married in 1984 and moved Long Island City, Queens.
“During this time, we built a country house in Delaware County, New York,’’ he said. “We had it for 12 years. What a view! We could see from the George Washington Bridge all the way to the World Trade Center.’’
A number of relocations followed, including a move to North Bergen, N.J. They worked in New York City as free lance graphic designers, opening their own studio on 16th Street between 6th and 7th. Then he joined a major advertising firm, D’Arcy, Masias, Benton and Bowles (DMBB) and climbed the corporate ladder, making it to vice president and director of technology.
“My mother, who was 80, died in 2000, still living in Brooklyn where she had lived so many years, in a section called ‘Fort Green’ which has been designated a historic site by the government,’’ he said. “We were living in Westchester at the time. And finally, we moved to Harwinton.’’
They are frequent visitors to Wadsworth Atheneum, the Springfield Museum, the excellent museum in New Britain, the Hillstead Museum and others. “We are both painters, too,’’ Nelson said. “Though we used to do more of it.’’
There is a correlation between graphic design and wine.
“We know wine pretty well and after 12 year here, people trust our judgment about certain wines for various occasions.’’ Continued…
Ever wonder how people from other places got to your town to live or work, or both. There’s an interesting couple who can be found every day but Sunday at 540 Winsted Rd., Torrington — Nelson and Ginger Gonzalez.
There is nothing at all wrong with Harwinton but the rural setting and lifestyle is not for everyone.
So Nelson and Ginger Gonzalez, New York City natives, sold their Harwinton home and moved to a condo at what was once the Goodwin estates, in Hartford’s west end.
“A day or two after we moved, a police car went by with siren blaring,’’ Nelson said. “We looked at each other and said, ‘we’re home.’ ’’ You can take people out of the big city but you can’t take the city out of people.
Hartford isn’t exactly New York, but it is a closer facsimile and it makes access to museums and the arts much handier.
They are the proprietors of the Grog Shop in the shopping center on Old Route 8 in Torrington which is also home to Lowe’s, Big Y and other businesses. They opened the Grog Shop in 2001. They don’t mind the daily drive from Hartford to Torrington.
When Lowe’s was preparing to open, displacing Big Y at the south end of the plaza, the supermarket moved north and so did the Grog Shop. The move had no effect on business.
“We always had a vision about opening a wine shop,’’ Gonzalez said. “And this suited us perfectly.’’ Both possess a thorough knowledge of wines and neither Nelson nor Ginger ever saw a museum they didn’t like. They are both graphic designers and art is a passion with them. So this is ideal for them.
Nelson is 56. Both parents immigrated from Puerto Rico to New York. The family lived in a third-floor, walk-up, cold water flat at East 28th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Nelson said, “It was a neighborhood of three and four-story buildings, and ethnically, it was very much a wide mix.’’
His father was Bob, a machinist who worked with cut glass. Maria was his mother and his older brother was also called Bob.
“When I was five years old, we moved to Brooklyn,’’ he said.
He was a smart kid, a precocious student at Queen of All Saints School. When he was about to enter sixth grade, he got a scholarship to Trinity School, known as the best private school in New York City. Trinity was on 91st Street and he had to travel by train and subway, he said, “an hour and a half each way every day. It got kind of old, but it was worth it.’’
From there, it was off to Syracuse University and then back to the city. For three years, he drove a New York City taxi cab, and then he got a job in his graphics design field at Chemical Bank. Marie also worked in graphic design for the same employer.
“We worked on the 102nd floor at the World Trade Center,’’ he said. They were married in 1984 and moved Long Island City, Queens.
“During this time, we built a country house in Delaware County, New York,’’ he said. “We had it for 12 years. What a view! We could see from the George Washington Bridge all the way to the World Trade Center.’’
A number of relocations followed, including a move to North Bergen, N.J. They worked in New York City as free lance graphic designers, opening their own studio on 16th Street between 6th and 7th. Then he joined a major advertising firm, D’Arcy, Masias, Benton and Bowles (DMBB) and climbed the corporate ladder, making it to vice president and director of technology.
“My mother, who was 80, died in 2000, still living in Brooklyn where she had lived so many years, in a section called ‘Fort Green’ which has been designated a historic site by the government,’’ he said. “We were living in Westchester at the time. And finally, we moved to Harwinton.’’
They are frequent visitors to Wadsworth Atheneum, the Springfield Museum, the excellent museum in New Britain, the Hillstead Museum and others. “We are both painters, too,’’ Nelson said. “Though we used to do more of it.’’
There is a correlation between graphic design and wine.
“We know wine pretty well and after 12 year here, people trust our judgment about certain wines for various occasions.’’
And that’s how they came to Torrington and opened a business.
