Main story: South Valley’s ‘pirate village’ featured on Jeff Goldblum show

Nat Geo episode featuring beloved backyard landmark will stream on Disney+ starting Jan. 19

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By Marty Cheek

Rich Firato’s soul must hold a little bit of Peter Pan.

In the front and backyard of his home in a quiet neighborhood in east Morgan Hill, the owner of a janitorial business has created a fantastic “pirate village.” During the course of two decades his hobby has evolved to rival Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Ironically, Disney will soon share with the world Firato’s fantastic homage to the theme park’s buccaneers. Starting Jan. 19, the company will stream on Disney+ an episode of the National Geographic show “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” that will feature the famous film actor taking a tour of Morgan’s Cove.

The adventure for Firato and his “pirate crew” friends all started when Firato’s son, Nick, received a call from producers at Nat Geo, the company that produces the TV show where Goldblum discovers fascinating people and highlights their stories.

“Before Nick could even hang up with me, the lady called me,” Firato said.

The producers had seen videos on YouTube highlighting a Channel 7 local news report highlighting the mind-blowing Morgan’s Cove and were fascinated about possibly visiting the site. The woman asked Firato if he might be interested in working with them in producing a segment about his hobby. Firato definitely was interested. They set up a Zoom interview where Firato, as “the Benevolent Pirate” in his swashbuckler costume, chatted with the producers. They had a second interview with several directors, followed by a Nat Geo crew taking a tour of Morgan’s Cove to film footage to show the show’s directors and develop ideas for the shoot with Goldblum.

In May 2021, the actor prepped the night before his visit to Morgan Hill’s famous landmark by watching “Pirates of the Caribbean.” When he arrived at Firato’s home, two pirate crew members greeted him, “Big Al” Ghroso and Kevin “Fingers” Fernandes. Both had dressed in their swashbuckler costumes.

The three began the tour and Goldblum was fascinated by the unique details of Morgan’s Cove — including fake skeletons in pirate clothes, a treasure chests, and mermaid statues. He was especially impressed by an immense pirate “ship” — a replica Spanish galleon called “Lady Morgan” — that serves as the centerpiece of the front yard.

“He doesn’t want too much background when he comes,” Fernandes said. “He wants everything thrown at him as a surprise and he goes with everything . . .  He’s interested in every single thing that he can see and talk about and find out about.”

Before Goldblum’s arrival, the producers had told Firato’s crew to keep the actor moving forward as they’re filming. Fernandes tried his best by keeping in front of him as he talked to him. Finally, Goldblum ordered, “Don’t walk away from me!”

“I’m looking at the producer and I’m going, ‘Help me out,’ and they’re not doing anything,” Fernandes said with a laugh.

In full pirate regalia, Firato waited on deck of the Lady Morgan, roasting in the hot sun as Goldblum took his sweet time to reach the boat 20 minutes after his arrival. As the fictional pirate Vito Catana, Firato welcomed the actor on board and made him a pirate crew member.

One thing the show’s producers didn’t tell Firato and his crew was that Goldblum does not like weapons — including guns, knives and swords. So when Fernandes pulled out a sawed-off shotgun, Goldblum got nervous. Fernandes asked if he wanted to hold it and the actor backed away saying, “No, no, no.”

Firato tried to teach Goldblum how to throw an axe at a target. That training didn’t go well.

“He’s supposed to be a pirate, he’s supposed to be a gunner,” Fernandes said. “Why didn’t you guys tell us he was afraid of weapons? Oh, this is messed up.”

The pirate crew had set up a fake cannon on the ship that used a blast of compressor air to shoot tennis balls at a smaller target ship in the front yard. When the compressor went off with a deafening blast, Goldblum jumped “10 feet in the air,” Fernandes said.

“Then we find out he also doesn’t like loud noises,” he said.

The entire tour of Morgan’s Cove was recorded by a team operating cameras who caught Goldblum interacting with the crew and responding to the various pirate props. The actor asked a lot of questions, genuinely curious about Firato’s passion for pirates.

“He didn’t know what to think. We spent four hours in the front  yard,” Firato said. “He didn’t know there was a back gate.”

When they strolled through a foggy tunnel entrance into the backyard, Goldblum found himself astounded by the staggering details of even more of the pirate village. The tour meandered along a path that included a koi fish pond which featured buccaneer ships and other objects in the water. Goldblum looked impressed with the “poppy jasper mine” in one corner of the backyard featuring the gemstone only found in Morgan Hill.

Firato and Goldblum visited the treasure cave (in the home’s garage) as well as the small private museum in the yard that is devoted to telling the story of English privateer Sir Francis Drake’s visit to the northern side of San Francisco Bay in 1579. Calling the land “Nova Albion” and claiming it for England’s Queen Elizabeth, Drake is said to have buried a treasure trove of Spanish gold somewhere near Larkspur. Later in the tour, Firato invited Goldblum, a concert-level pianist, to play on the keyboard and sing sea shanties with musicians Richard Segovia,  Timothy Garry, Belinda Salvidge as the camera crew filmed the hour-long entertainment.

Hanging out in the comfy captain’s quarters in the backyard, Firato and Goldblum had a long chat about pirate lore and Firato’s fascination with pirates.

Toward the end of the day, Firato presented him with a wooden “treasure chest” built by Fernandes. It contained various pirate “booty” including a watch, a sample of poppy jasper, and the pirate-themed adventure time-travel children’s book Firato wrote called “Dartanian the Day Dreamer” based on Morgan’s Cove (The paperback is available at www.amazon.com.au/Dartanian-Day-Dreamer-JM-Firato/dp/164008665X.) The chest also included a copy of Firato’s grown-up pirate novel “Before the Hurricane” as well as a screenplay of that book.

Morgan’s Cove has evolved since Firato and his wife, Julie, moved into the house in 2000. Their new home’s backyard was overgrown with vegetation and messy eucalyptus trees and Julie wanted to tear it all down and start anew. Firato hired a man to help demolish the messy yard, a friend named “Doug the Fisherman” (Doug Penn) and “Terrible Timmy” (Tim Barci) who suggested turning the site into a pirate-themed “tropical island.” Over three years, they worked on the project, building props and displays around the swimming pool.

When Firato saw a YouTube video of a news report that a man in British Columbia had built a one-third scale version of a Spanish galleon, he called the man and offered to buy the ship. The man hired a team to take it down the Interstate highway to the Morgan Hill neighborhood. A giant crane lifted the ship over a row of trees and into the side yard and was soon christened “Lady Morgan.”

Firato admits he’s excited — and nervous — to see what the producers of “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” will reveal about Morgan’s Cove to the world when the episode airs.

“We have no idea what’s coming Jan. 19,” he said. “I don’t know how it’s going to look. I’m going to be watching and I’m sure I’m going to be surprised and say, ‘Oh, my God.’”