Honoring the collective dream of Tin City

Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented posthumously to Mike English for creation of Tin City

PASO ROBLES — On Friday, July 19, the San Luis Obispo County Wine Community will be honoring those who have made an impact on the industry. One of those awards will be posthumous — the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mike English who passed away earlier this year.

Presented by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance (PRWCA), the award recognizes English for his creation of Tin City — an industry-disrupting dream that has become a beloved oasis for the community.

PRWCA Executive Director Joel Peterson told Paso Robles Press, “Tin City is special. Individually, it is a series of unique spaces for makers to craft, build, market, and sell products that were once just a dream. Collectively, it is so much more than that — an area for guests to discover, experience, and immerse themselves in a fun little pocket of Paso Robles Wine Country that houses some of the most talented winemakers around. Mike English’s hard work is evident, and we wouldn’t have Tin City without his vision and drive to build it. He will be missed.”

Those who knew English, knew him to be a dreamer, an encourager, and innovative.

“They call him a friend. They call him a mentor. They call him a teacher,” his daughter Brooke English told Paso Robles Press.

Originally from Southern California, he joined the US Army and fought in Vietnam before moving to the central coast to attend Cal Poly for ornamental horticulture and was one of the first students in the landscape architecture program. From there, he began his own landscaping business which evolved into a swimming pool business.

English’s creative and innovative mind would lead him to building some of the county’s most well-known pools like the one at Madonna Inn, Dolphin Bay Resort, olympic size pools at Kennedy Fitness — and that’s just a few. He would soon be known for his custom rock work that would be incorporated within a pool environment and featured in many parks and and establishments residentially and commercially throughout the county.

His custom rock work gave rise to “Sport Rock” a pioneering business that introduced the first mobile rock climbing wall called the Rolling Stone and brought natural looking climbing walls to national prominence.

Tin City origins began in early 1997 when a treasured log cabin Mike had built was destroyed in a mudslide, sparkinghis vision and providing the seed money to purchase land in North County. Later that year, he began construction on the first phase of what would later become Tin City. By 2000 he had completed his office and several buildings.

“With the evolution of the wine industry in the area and the growth and innovation that was starting at that time. And hehad come up with the idea back then to kinda create one building that housed four different winemakers so that they could all sell their wine within one building,” explained Brooke of the inception of Tin City.

He then reimagined this concept, and dedicated an entire building exclusively to wine production and tasting. That was when Andrew Jones came into the picture as one of Tin City’s first unofficial winemaker tenants.

“Kind of organically over time being in Paso Robles and just the evolution of the wine industry in the area and the growth and innovation that was starting at that time. He, alongside that, had started building some additional buildings. And he had come up with the idea back then to kinda create one building that housed four different winemakers so that they could all sell their wine within one building,” explained Brooke of the inception of Tin City.

That was when Andrew Jones came into the picture as one of Tin City’s first unofficial winemaker tenants.

Brooke adds, “They had a conversation together about how they could bring a winery into Tin City, which [was] a pretty unheard of concept of at that time for a winery to be in an industrial zone.”

Tenants of English all say the same thing: He was more than a landlord, he was their biggest cheerleader.

“He always encouraged you to go for it … he was never the bad cop in the situation. He was always good,” Jones said.“He always encouraged you to do the new thing, try the new stuff … Because that’s the way he rolled himself.”

Jones and English seemed to hit it off immediately with each other and would frequently be found bouncing ideas off each other in the parking lot.

Jones added “He was so proud of all of the people in Tin City and that we were on board, taking this whole thing that he thought might be a fun idea and be a cool thing and that we embraced it.”

Brian Terrizzi also came to Tin City in the early days with his wine brand Giornata. English was one of Terrizzi’sbiggest champions when he made the bold move to begin Etto and then the Etto Pasta Bar.

“We wanted to make Mike proud and make Tin City. Help him create his vision because he wanted to make something great,” said Terrizzi. “And I’m sure you go back there and there’s weekends where there’s hundreds and hundreds of people and everyone is so happy, and there’s kids, and there’s dogs, and there’s music, and everyone’s welcome. It’sjust a great place.”

As Brooke said, Tin City organically evolved as English got to know more and more people in the wine industry. He provided a place where small wineries could find a home and flourish in a unique, supportive community environment. He then welcomed Barrel House Brewing Company, Negranti Creamery, and more within his oasis.

“There’s just this attraction that started to happen with my dad starting to connect with other winemakers and talented entreprneurs who are also really innovative … my dad would collaborate with the different tenants of Tin City on their ideas and what kind of building they needed that allows them to do their best work, take this big leap, build out their dream,” said Brooke.

English was known for his infectious energy and ability to take big dreams and make them happen. Taking risks fearlessly is something Brooke said she proudly inherited from her father. Her father’s big dreams and collaborative spirit transpired into his tenants who continue to work together as a community.

Terrizzi compares English to Walt Disney — he created a legacy of dreamers and innovators. His creative mind knew no bounds.

“Tin City is a remarkable showcase of entrepreneurship and a culmination of dreams coming true,” says Brooke. “All of the business owners within Tin City have a special connection with my dad who helped pave the way for them to dream big and take creative risks while he gave his genuine support along the way. His legacy lives on through the encouragement and inspiration he’s given this community.”

The San Luis Obispo County Wine Community will celebrat this year’s award winners on Friday, July 19, at the California Mid-State Fair within Mission Square beginning at 6 p.m. The awards presentation is a free event with paid admission to the California Mid-State Fair. Before the awards presentation is a ticketed event featuring a walk-around tasting of the gold medal winners of the Central Coast Wine Competition (CCWC).