Posted on 04/06/2015 10:13:02 AM PDT by nickcarraway
San Diego Sand Castles offers three-hour classes that teach customers how to build the perfect sand castle on a San Diego beach
If you’ve walked by Dog Beach in Del Mar recently, you may have noticed some better-than-average sand castles. That’s thanks to a new startup offering a unique service that’s becoming one of the most sought-after attractions in San Diego.
San Diego Sand Castles is the one and only local company that teaches customers how to make eye-catching sand castles on the beach. The company is less than two years old, but it’s already reached the number one spot on Trip Advisor for San Diego attractions.
Founder JT Estrela stumbled upon the idea after being laid off as a charter school math teacher.
“I started doing sand castles, street-artist style, on the boardwalk in Pacific Beach, while I looked for jobs at night,” said Estrela.
After a while, Estrala realized he could combine his love for teaching and building sand castles and make money from it.
That’s when he decided to cash in his 401K and become a small business owner.
“It’s basically an art class, it’s very educational, so it kind of hit me in the right spot. It just took off from there,” he said.
Now San Diego Sand Castles has three instructors who teach three-hour classes every day. They have two locations: one by Dog Beach in Del Mar, and the other by Powerhouse Park.
When NBC 7 visited a class, Rachel Snyder from Chicago was building a sand castle with her family.
“It’s actually easier than I thought,” she said. “I thought it was going to break apart, but it didn’t.”
Looking back, JT says getting laid off from his teaching job was one of the best things that ever happened to him.
“All of us here at Sand Diego Sand Castles feel like we hit the San Diego job lottery jackpot, he said. “It doesn’t even feel like work.”
According to JT and his fellow “sculpting experts,” all you need to make a good castle is sand, water, a broken plastic fork for designs and a straw to blow away thesand. All of his materials are less than $5 each.
Sand Diego Sand Castles hopes to expand to other beaches in San Diego and possibly to other locations like Miami and Costa Rica. Right now, the company’s classes are available any day of the week and cost approximately $60 a person.
When is Apple’s iCastle to be released?
says a lot about the california mentality
He better make sure he has a few good liability insurance policies. When somebody has a sandcastle built and ‘Junior’ gets avalanched, parents or schools will be looking to blame somebody besides themselves. Fun idea though.
Sandcastle?
YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT!
I had an artist/sculptor friend that participated some when sand castles took off in the late 1970s/early80s?
I think money like $10,000.00 was involved in some way for big events.
April Fools, right?
That’s awesome. Instead of looking to the government to bail him out, he created a business. THAT is what the free enterprise market it all about, something O’Venal and his Marxist associates know nothing about. The business fills a desire that some people, with more money than brains, have. Good for the business owner. Will Moonbeam or O’Venal find a way to kill the business? I’m sure they’ll try.
Where’s that from - Del Mar? I miss the ones from IB every year. We just retired to Maine from Chula Vista - still 2 ft of snow on the ground!
That was from the British Columbia, World Championship of Sand Sculpture.
Spectacular - thanks for posting.
Lots of nice photos here.
Holy WOW - what a feast for these poor snow frozen eyes.
Unbelievable sand artistry. Love the tribute to Lady Thatcher - the sentiment more than the art.
So very cool about the guy in San Diego providing “lessons” for tourists. What a perfect business - peeps seem to love it.
It is a perfect business in so many ways, a beach lifestyle, that pays you.
Can you imagine? I had a friend, a weaver, who lived in IB, right on the beachfront, and had to move eventually because she couldn’t stand the sound of the ocean!
I lived 70 feet back, and I did not want to be directly on the bluff, because of the constant wind and chill and the spray.
As it was, plenty of spray mist was falling on my place, and my vehicles
It’s cold living on the beach in San Diego.
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