H.B.’s community elves work year-round to make and deliver handmade toys for the holidays

One could easily mistake the bustling Huntington Landmark community wood shop as Santa’s workshop.

That is, if you can look past the fact that these elves are retirees living in a sprawling, palm tree-dotted community of residents ages 55 and older in sunny Huntington Beach.

Huntington Landmark’s Toymakers club was conceived over 30 years ago by a resident who fashioned toys to take to patients at the Shriners Hospital in Pasadena, said longtime member and resident Jean MacLennan, 91.

Today, a cohort of approximately 15 members assemble in the community’s recreation center and collaborate to cut, assemble and paint wooden toys — mostly vehicles such as locomotives, race cars, monster trucks, tugboats, steam engines, trains and helicopters.

Though the group gathers on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to noon, members typically work cutting and sanding parts throughout the week, which might be the reason for the club’s prolific output.

MacLennan has been a part of the toy-making club since it started years ago and you’ll find him at a bench in the workshop most weekdays — other than Wednesday, which he said is reserved for bowling.

“It gives me something to do instead of watching paint peel and grass grow,” MacLennan said. Plus, “my wife knows where to find me,” he added.

MacLennan moved into Huntington Landmark in 1976, one year before he retired from IBM after a career of installing large mainframe computer systems.

Experience isn’t a prerequisite to join the club. The group will gladly teach one another the tools to get started and many expand their skills along the way.

If operating machinery safely becomes a challenge, then members adapt their roles. Two current members who are vision-impaired are tasked with sanding down already cut pieces.

Others outside the wood shop make bed linens and pillows and crochet blankets for larger toys, like a stuffed animal in a cradle.

Along the way, members design new toys or give their own flair to their projects.

Wood shop President Tom Humphrey pulled a tugboat from a display cabinet showcasing all the toy models.

“This is one of the cuter ones,” he said, looking over the blue-hulled vessel.

It’s also the most laborious design of the lot. The tugboat, which glides on four wheels, has four layers of wood glued together and, in total, 10 parts.

A miniature version sits on the shelf next to it.

“Kids love these little tiny ones,” Humphrey said, picking up a pocket-sized model.

The group even fashioned new designs to use the smallest scraps of wood, including a miniature bus, whale and race car.

The wood shop’s original setup included minimal tools — just a table saw, radial arm saw and band saw, MacLennan said.

It’s filled out over the years, though. Most of the group’s supplies now come from donations, such as paints from Dunn-Edwards Paints, and local organizations provide financial support.

Renkus-Heinz, a Lake Forest-based speaker and audio technology company, began donating pieces of scrap and unusable wood in the early 2000s.

“From an environmental standpoint, it’s a win-win,” company President Matt Czyzewski said as he toured the workspace Tuesday.

“We are really proud to be part of this,” added Chief Financial Officer Monika Smetona. “It’s a neat all-around ecosystem for what is scrap wood.”

Renkus-Heinz now supplies about 90% of the club’s raw wood.

Financial donations and a community-wide recycling effort generate money to pay for wheels and other finished components.

“The toys go to the neediest recipients we can find,” MacLennan said.

Since early November, the club has distributed 3,403 toys.

On Tuesday, Michael Callison worked on the monster trucks, which consist of four pieces of wood and take a couple of days to assemble. The club has handed out 113 of the boxy blue vehicles this holiday season.

Intervention Center for Early Childhood in Irvine is the club’s largest recipient. The organization, which works with young children with developmental delays, received 562 toys this year, including training aids like simple three-piece puzzles.

Another 447 toys went to the Santa Ana Unified School District preschool program and 524 went to Costa Mesa-based Walking Shield, which provides services for American Indian families. This year, the shop made a special order of 300 small helicopters for the Boys & Girls Club.

The group will give away as many toys as possible — meaning as many as they can make. Throughout its history, the club has gifted more than 56,000 wooden toys, Humphrey said.

“It’s pretty unique what we get to do here,” Humphrey said. “This is almost like therapy, using your hands, using your brain and being together as a group.”

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