Bent Olsen is a man with strong traditions, and he doesn’t let unfortunate circumstances get in his way.

The fourth-generation baker and pastry chef has built a huge gingerbread house in Solvang every Christmas for the past 15 years, but this year he couldn’t display it in its customary place, the lobby of the Royal Scandinavian Inn, because the hotel is closed for remodeling.

So he made room for it in his store, Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery on Mission Drive, among the tables and chairs where diners sit to enjoy his smaller creations.

The fully decorated house, 8 feet by 11 feet and 10 feet tall, sits in the corner of the dining area just inside one of the bakery’s front windows, where both customers and passersby can marvel at it.

“A few years ago someone drove through our shop and we replaced the windows with sliding doors. Thank goodness we did that, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to get the house inside,” Olsen said in his Danish accent.

It takes Olsen and his wife Susy, along with helpers, about a week to complete the house, which they build in the driveway of their Solvang home.

The house requires an estimated 250 pounds of gingerbread dough, 150 pounds of powdered sugar and 3 gallons of egg whites.

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“I start out with making all the pieces, like the fireplace and the walls and the roof. Then it takes me about two days to put them together and another day to decorate it. In all, it takes me seven days for it to be finished,” Olsen said.

This is the 15th year that Olsen has been making his gingerbread house for spectators to view during the holidays.

“I make little gingerbread houses, too. I start those after the big one is done,” Olsen said.

Jim and Darlene Jensen of Lake Tahoe come to Solvang every year to visit Olsen in the bakery and look at the gingerbread house.

“I have been coming here since I was 5 years old. My parents were friends with the other Danish shop owners in town, and I’ve brought my children here every year as well,” Jim Jensen said.

He and Olsen converse with each other in Danish and talk about their acquaintances and their memories of Solvang.

“We love seeing the gingerbread house every year. Bent does such a wonderful job with it,” Darlene Jensen said.

Olsen has been a pastry chef and baker his entire life. Born in Aero, Denmark, he moved to Solvang in 1967, when he was 21 years old.

“My great-grandfather on down were all bakers and pastry chefs,” he said. “I love the creativity that comes with baking and learning new recipes. I go to every bakers convention I can find to keep up with the trends.”

Olsen learned to bake by attending school for four years in an apprenticeship program. He continued in Sweden at a pastry-chef school before moving to Solvang.

“I was supposed to go back to Denmark after a couple years, but I got this opportunity to buy this shop and I took it; 39 years later and I’m still here,” Olsen said.

Even during the nation’s latest economic crisis, Olsen stays optimistic about his business.

“I’ve been through three recessions, and it seems that business gets better during that time, because people travel fewer distances and they end up coming here instead of going to Denmark,” Olsen said.

His sons Thomas and Christian are also bakers, although Thomas owns the Red Viking Restaurant on Copenhagen Drive in Solvang, and Christian lives in Norway. They aren’t practicing bakers, but Olsen said they could take over whenever they wanted.

“I see my bakery and making the gingerbread houses continuing for a long time. I have great help, and I love creating,” Olsen said.

The gingerbread house will be on display through Dec. 31. To see it, go to Olsen’s Danish Bakery at 1529 Mission Drive, which is open seven days a week.

December 4, 2008