Summer 2024

F ifty years ago, Bill and Jennifer Hill were a young married couple with a baby on the way taking a chance on opening their own art gallery in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Bill had discovered the charm of Carmel in the 1960s, when his older brother was stationed at Fort Ord and invited him to visit from Illinois and get out of the snow. Bill attended Monterey Peninsula College before heading back to Illinois to finish his college degree, but he and Jennifer visited Carmel as often as possible. Like his brother, Bill went on to serve in the army. After his service and receiving an MBA, the couple decided to try to make Carmel home. “I had asked Jennifer, ‘What am I going to do, sell seashells?’” Bill recalls at his prospects. But Jennifer encouraged him to meet with a head- hunter and he unexpectedly found a job at an art gallery, and they settled in town. “I loved it,” Bill recalls. “I didn’t realize I was visual. I was selling paintings extremely well.The owner got a little jealous, I think. After six months, I decided I would love to start my own little gallery.” 158 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 “Light and Laces,” by Stephen Pan. Pan comes from a family of artists and has been painting since his grandfather gave him lessons as a young child. He has been an award-winning artist since age 13.