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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Turns out Santa's elves really do like making <br />toys. So does Santa. <br />They're doing their last-minute holiday thing <br />right now in a big facility in San Leandro - <br />working overtime making thousands of <br />plastic airplanes, boats, cars and other toys <br />for the Green Toys company. <br />Who cares if the elves are all people-size? <br />And so what if Santa, otherwise known as Green <br />Toys co-founder Robert von Goeben, doesn't <br />even have a beard? <br />The eco-friendly Green Toys is the only <br />major toy company in the Bay Area that <br />actually makes its playthings right here in <br />America as opposed to in China, where most of <br />this country's toys are manufactured. <br />If you're looking for anything resembling elfin <br />magic around here, this is it. <br />'Best job I've ever had' <br />"Just how cool is this, really?" 50-year-old von <br />Goeben said, spreading his arms as wide as his <br />grin as he strolled the plant the other day to <br />check up on progress. "Making money by <br />making toys… the best job I've ever had!" <br />He grabbed a freshly assembled blue and red <br />airplane off the assembly line and mock-flew it <br />for a second, then pointed inside. "See there?" <br />he said excitedly, talking loudly over the <br />constant thrum of machines. "We had them put <br />an eight-track player in every vehicle we make." <br /> <br />Sure enough, there was a wee impression of an <br />eight-track player in the cockpit. Just like there is <br />one in the school bus, the seaplane and all the <br />other gizmos von Goeben has helped design in <br />Green Toys' five years of existence. <br />"You know why we did that?" he asked, not <br />really wanting an answer. "It's because we can! <br />How fun is that?" <br />He even came up with theme songs that go with <br />each vehicle, to be played in his mind on their <br />tiny eight-tracks. Foghat's "Slow Ride" goes with <br />the race car and Steve Miller's "Fly Like an <br />Eagle" goes with the airplane. <br />Not that any customers know it. It's a little inside <br />joke. Again, he said, "just for fun." That word fun <br />comes up a lot with the busy elves, too. <br />'Make kids happy' <br />"You know," said assembly line worker Connie <br />Romero as she deftly pressed a tiny cockpit into <br />a plane chassis, "we're not just making anything <br />here." She added a wing assembly and her face <br />V ISITING S ANTA’S W ORKSHOP IN <br />S AN LEANDRO <br /> <br /> <br />December 23, 2012 <br />By Kevin Fagan <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />San Leandro, CA