On a recent trip to southern California, my fiancee and I came across this view of the harbor at Dana Point. (Here’s another view from a slightly different angle.) Looks nice, doesn’t it.
When we saw this, it brought to mind a jigsaw puzzle that we completed about three or four years ago (and no longer have)(And yes, we’ve looked in the Thrift Stores we would have taken the puzzle to when we finished it.). It was a painting of this basic view, only with a wider field of vision. There is a restaurant patio in what would be the bottom left hand corner of the puzzle, the building on the right side of the picture isn’t there, and along the left hand side of the puzzle is a hillside dotted with condominiums.
We would like to find this puzzle again, for several weeks of combing through puzzle websites, eBay and Google image searches of various combinations of “Dana Point”, “harbor” “jigsaw puzzle” and a few other wild-ass guesses, we have nothing.
So, do any of you have the name for this puzzle I’m describing, and have an idea where we can get it?
I just went through a whole bunch of puzzle sites, but couldn’t find anything. Do you remember who the manufacturer was? Was it a local puzzle, or one by Milton Bradley or the like?
Was the scene of the harbor, like in your pictures, or of the town?
I collect puzzles, and I particularly like that kind of scene (I have one of the Spruce Goose and the harbor near it) but I don’t remember seeing that one.
No, we can’t remember the manufacturer. We did try looking through as many puzzle makers’ sites as we could find, but without any luck. And we go through about a dozen puzzles a year, so I’m well past remembering the useful details for this one.
It was a painting, and I think it was about 750 -1000 pieces. And oh yeah - they weren’t the standard shape/size pieces. This puzzle was cut into pieces of unique (to each other) pieces.
That’s interesting information. I was assuming a photo, and kind of ignored puzzles with a painted scene.
Now, as for the pieces, I assume they were interlocking, right? Were all the pieces unique, or did some have interesting shapes (like English wooden puzzles) and others have odd shapes to fit around them.
Anyhow, you’ve eliminated the mass market puzzle makers. I don’t do the expensive high class puzzles like Stave. I got through a dozen puzzles in a good month (where I’m watching lots of TV) so I’ve been through a lot of thrift store puzzles.
Again, do you remember if the picture was of the harbor or of the land?
Dana Point isn’t all that far from where my father lives. I’m not likely to visit soon, but if I do I might drive up there and look in gift shops. I’m intrigued now.
When I get a chance I’ll look at some of the puzzle makers who might do a painted unique pieces puzzle. You must go to a higher class of thrift shops than I do, I’ve never seen anything so interesting there. (Though I did get the Puzz-3D of San Francisco, still in plastic, for $10 in one. It sells for $60.)
The pieces were interlocking, but they were in unusual shapes. Also, the view was as in the photographs I took - the field of view was wider, though, and included the hillside of condos and the deck of the restaurant on the left-hand side of the puzzle. And as I remember more and more of this puzzle, the foreground had more colorful flowers in bloom instead of the green scrub that’s in the photographs.
We think that the painting was made in one of the houses that are across the street from where I took the picture - it seemed to be from a higher perspective to get the full harbor plus the hillside on the left.
You can get to the restaurant in question by taking Golden Violet Drive (I believe) from PCH and heading towards the ocean. Or you can go up the road at the north end of the harbor by the pirate ship, and then turn right at the top.
We already checked the gift shops in the harbor (there seems to be a million of them there) but it could have been out of stock and since replaced. Good luck, and thanks for your help.
