40 Years Set in Stone

In the frigid Scandinavian winters, paver manufacturing froze.

His business in Denmark was booming, but Ole Hjorth-Olsen fixated on warm, sunny California, where he had vacationed in 1981. It was during the cold months that he scouted Orange County locations, eventually shipping equipment to what would become a new home for Olsen Pavingstone, Inc.

It took five cold winters, but he couldn't have picked a more fitting holiday to land in San Juan Capistrano. It was on Thanksgiving Day of 1986, that he, his wife, Anni and their daughter, Pernille arrived.

It took more than year, but he eventually tapped the American market. His pavers now lay across San Juan Capistrano, Legoland and the Villa Portofino in Palm Desert. This year the business celebrates its 40th anniversary.

"I accomplished the American Dream," Hjorth-Olsen said. "To get to this point in our business, we worked very hard, with long nights and even Saturdays and Sundays."

In 2002, when her mother fell ill, Pernille Olsen-Trujillo started taking on the bulk of the work. Her father remains a presence, still driving fork lifts at their Ortega Highway address.

She said the company's successes today are sweetened by the challenges her parents faced when they relocated.

Pavers traversed Ancient Egypt and formed roads across the Roman Empire. They were used after World War II to reconstruct ruined European byways. In most parts of the world, their sturdiness and durability were trusted.

But in America, the Olsens quickly learned that unlike in Europe, clients preferred aesthetic over function. By offering more colors and textures, they found a place for their product in a new market dominated by concrete and asphalt.

"They are not set in cement," Olsen-Trujillo said while observing sample pavers at the company's showroom: tumbled, beveled and green, butternut and "mission." "I can pop out two pavers right now if I wanted to."

One of her most popular colors is the Talega blend, a mix of brown, mode and tan with a grayish hue. It's named after the housing tract in San Clemente—a project Olsen Pavingstone Inc. contributed to.

"We are the primary paving stone company in Southern California that is still here today. My parents overcame many challenges in trying to sell paving stones to society as a whole," she said.

Though Olsen-Trujillo faces her own challenges in the recession, she has something more than a bank account to fight for. Her parents "worked so hard for 40 years to get where they are today, and I want to continue that tradition and legacy."