Growing up coastal
Waldport kid looks to move
on and one day return for
the love of community
O
ne big dude, former Emo, ex-football
player, advocate for LGBTQ peers
and anti-bullying leader, or just
known as Nicholas Grant-Grierson.
He’s 21, works in his parents’ shop in
Waldport, the well-known and homey
Chocolate Frog, and has big plans to fi nish
a degree in sound engineering and music
production.
I don’t always riff with quippy inspirational
modern quotes, but here are a few from “Tiny
Beautiful Th ings” bestselling author Cheryl
Strayed, the inspirational voice behind “Dear
Sugar.” Th ey are apropos for millennials, that
group that is overtaking Baby Boomers in
sheer numbers — 73 million.
“Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and
realize there is no choice but to let go.”
”Accounting for what happened in our
childhoods and
why and who our
parents are and
how they succeeded
and failed us is the
work we do when
we do the work of
GO BENEATH THE
becoming whole
SURFACE WITH
grown-up people.”
PAUL HAEDER
”Be brave
enough to break
your own heart.”
”We must help ourselves. After destiny has
delivered what it delivers, we are responsible for
our lives.”
DEEP
DIVE
Nick strives to break out of any negative
space and move ahead in his life to not only
achieve his dreams but to one day return
to Waldport to help be the glue of what he
consistently calls – “coming together as a
community.”
Th e Chocolate Frog has been going
strong for fi ve years in Waldport, but now
the shop has been moved to Lincoln City, in
a space three times as big with a commercial
kitchen. His mom Leslie, and stepfather, Ken
Hohstadt, created a place of “happiness and
positivity,” Nicholas expresses. Th e concept
for the chocolatier came from the Frog and
the Toad story series by Arnold Lobel.
For Nick, maybe these Lobel lines
best represent the goodness of homemade
chocolates and various sundries his parents
sell under the moniker Chocolate Frog:
Frog said, ‘I wrote ‘Dear Toad, I am glad that
you are my best friend. Your best friend, Toad.’
‘Oh,’ said Toad, ‘that makes a very good
letter.’
Th en Frog and Toad went out onto the front
porch to wait for the mail. Th ey sat there, feeling
happy together.
Ken and Leslie saw the store as a godsend.
“Our little candy store is nothing short of
a miracle for us,” Ken said, “as we built it
out of nothing with most every expense
accomplished from out-of-pocket funds and
amazing friends that helped make it happen.
Due to the market and many other factors,
I went to work for the last four years as a
volunteer bartender/manager at our local
Moose lodge. I met my wife at work who
was in a bad way as well. After many years of
fund-raising events and fraternal activates at
Th e Moose Lodge we were able to leave the
lodge in very capable hands and open our
store.”
Nicholas worked at the store in several
capacities, but mostly as a volunteer intern,
working to fulfi ll some high school credits
and with an agreement with the Seashore
Literacy Center in Waldport.
“Th is is an amazing business which has
taught me so much about myself, but also
about customer service, things about this
community, and the wonderful people in
it,” Nick tells me as he gives out a few free
saltwater taff y samples (out of 32 fl avors,
licorice and huckleberry are customer
favorites).
Early Roots Spread Around
Nicholas is open about his life, about
being an “angst-riddled millennial,” and
about the dynamics of being raised by a
single mother after his biological father split
from the family unit.
His mom met his biological father in
Portland, a man who was originally from
South Africa, a military offi cer during the
apartheid years. Th e couple ended up on the
coast, as Nicholas’ father became a fi refi ghter
in Yachats.
Nicholas’ biological father is not
completely out of the young man’s life, as he
lives in Vancouver and the young man just
saw him this past January.
However, Nicholas raves on and on
about his stepfather, Ken Hohstadt, who has
been in his life for nine years. “He’s the best
father a son could have. He’s fantastic for my
mother, too.”
Nicholas goes back to at time when he
was living in Oregon City and Molalla. Th at
was from 2nd to 6th grade. He also discusses
how the family lost their house to foreclosure
in 2010. He has a half-sister, 20, Sierra who
lives in Salem, and an older brother who lives
in Portland.
Nick even did a stint in Pecos and Las
Vegas, New Mexico, working as an intern
with his father on the set of the TV series,
“Longmire,” helping with sound engineering.
It’s clear how important Waldport has
been to Nicholas’s spiritual, educational and
ethical foundations. Th e shop his mother and
stepfather started also has been a linchpin to
Nicholas’ outlook.
He even chuckles that a Canadian travel
magazine put the Chocolate Frog on its “Top
10 Th ings to Do on the Oregon Coast” list a
few years ago.
•••
Read on as Deep Dive continues at www.
oregoncoasttoday.com
Paul Haeder is a writer living and working
in Lincoln County. He has two books coming out,
one a short story collection, “Wide Open Eyes:
Surfacing from Vietnam,” and a non-fi ction
book, “No More Messing Around: Th e Good, Bad
and Ugly of America’s Education System.”
oregoncoastTODAY.com • facebook.com/oregoncoasttoday • November 22, 2019 • 5