by Meghan Helms
Assistant A&E Editor

The shop fronts of 24th in Noe Valley display colorful good from clothing to greeting cards but none rival in the color and splendor of the stained glass in the windows of Cradle of the Sun.
Dan Gamaldi, owner and artist at Cradle of the Sun opened the little store filled with different types of glass and glass works in 1977 after falling in love with the material at a class in the Sharon Arts Studio in Golden Gate Park and working with a glass master in Pennsylvania.
The colorful stained glass pieces adorning the windows of the shop are from all over the country along with the other glass pieces set up inside. Gamaldi only makes commissions working on a couple at a time, taking him 10-50 hours to create.
“It’s a fascinating material and it changes,” said Gamaldi. “A finished piece will change depending on the time of day.”
Gamaldi grew up all over the country never going to the same school for more than two years.
At age 17, thinking that he wanted to be an FBI agent when he grew up, Gamaldi won a contest and met FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. A picture of this encounter is taped up back in the work area part of the shop.
Sadly, according to Gamaldi, FBI agents are required to have 20-20 vision which he does not have.
Gamaldi offers glass classes teaching on a need to know basis for students age 16 and up.
“What ever they need to know I teach them,” said Gamaldi. “Plus they like the music so they stick around to listen to that.”
Creating things has always been apart of Gamaldi’s life. Wednesdays used to be craft night when friends would come over to create things such as macramé and leather purses now everyday he creates beautiful stained glass pieces.