Labor Shortage? I recently read yet another article on the painful shortage of trained automotive technicians. Demand is growing for techs; dealerships and garages are straining to find new ways to attract good people. But, Houston, we have a problem. I know a lady (yes, lady) who has spent the last two years in school, learning to take cars apart, diagnose them, fix them, and put them back together again. She’s been taking night classes and weekend classes in addition to full-time day classes. She was named “shop foreman” her last two semesters in school – the person responsible for making sure work gets done correctly. She has never been late to class hasn’t missed any classtime. She is always cheerful and helpful. She has been awarded a certificate in excellence for her academic achievement. Sounds wonderful. Right? Any shop in its right mind should be falling all over itself to hire this person? She actually did get a job – offered to her by a tire store. After two weeks of changing tires, going home with bloody, bruised arms and legs, she had to be convinced that this was not for her as she would probably not be getting much in the way of diagnostic and repair work at this shop. So, what’s the problem? She is young, smart, and extremely motivated. Legal issues? Are the shops afraid she will sue for sexual harassment a month into the job? She’s made it through a couple of years of school without suing anyone. She can probably go a few more. Just plain chauvinism? In 2004? Anyone out there with any solid answers? Any shop owners out there who can pacify the fears of their service managers? She’s back in school at West Valley Occupational Center – fixing cars for free – while the painful labor shortage grows. William Adelman Woodland Hills

Credit Unions Get Down To Business By SHELLY GARCIA Senior Reporter Credit unions are finding yet another new business opportunity in the relentless spate of bank mergers business banking. As banks grow larger and larger they have become less interested in making micro- and small business commercial loans, and credit unions are stepping in to fill the gap. The number of credit unions that have moved into business banking is still small, but those who do are seeing the number of loans they make rise substantially. At the same time, a number of other credit unions have begun to explore similar moves. “Because they’re generally good, solid loans, their numbers add up quickly on the balance sheet,” said Richard Cooper, vice president of government and community relations at Chatsworth-based Telesis Community Credit Union, among the earliest entries when it began making business loans about two-and a-half year ago. “They’re generally low delinquency and a loan with a business is usually one of the first steps where you’re going to be working with that client on a variety of levels.” Credit unions, which evolved as financial institutions for members of a specific group, usually employees of a large company or a labor union, have in recent years expanded their membership to the general public and, as they have, they have also increased the personal banking services they offer. So that now, most credit unions are competitive with banks in the personal banking arena, offering a complete range of products from home mortgages to car loans and online banking options. In a sense, credit unions have taken over the role once played by community banks, most of which have been swallowed up by far larger banking institutions. Now, a similar pattern is emerging with respect to business banking. With community banks taken over by super banks, there are fewer and fewer outlets for business lenders seeking loans smaller than $5 million, the area in which credit unions typically operate. “What I’ve seen is there’s been a vacuum,” said Marge McNaught, vice president of lending and technology at Premier America Credit Union in Chatsworth, which entered the business banking sector last year. “As the banks have pulled away from the micro and small business market there is a vacuum that the credit unions are stepping in to fill.” Premier America currently offers products for commercial light duty vehicle loans, residential income and commercial property loans. “We think it’s going to take some time to develop those relationships,” said McNaught. “It’s not knocking us over yet, but we hope to grow it.” Wescom Credit Union, which opened its third San Fernando Valley branch, in April announced that it was entering the commercial real estate market. The credit union hired Dean Lambertson as vice president to head the unit and plans to focus on multi-family residential property as well as industrial, retail and office property loans of up to about $5 million. “We’ve been doing one- to four-unit residential lending and we’ve had lenders inquiring about larger investment properties,” said Lambertson. “We’ve never had a product we could support the membership with.” But those banks that entered the market earlier are reporting considerable success. Building a portfolio Telesis followed a typical route in building its business lending segment, beginning with real estate lending services and later expanding to business banking and SBA loans and now has a business loan portfolio totaling $240 million. In addition, Telesis runs a credit union service subsidiary that partners with other, smaller credit unions across the country for business lending. “It distributes the risk of the loan and it also allows us to fund more loans in our individual areas,” said Cooper. As of the end of 2003, credit unions still accounted for only 0.03 percent of business lending by all depository institutions, according to the industry trade group, Credit Union National Association (CUNA), and only a little more than 2 percent of the loans they make are for business clients. But the statistics don’t tell the whole story because credit unions typically make such small loans that their numbers are dwarfed by traditional banks. According to the Small Business Administration, credit unions accounted for 298 SBA loans amounting to $33.4 million in 2003, up from 63 or $7.7 million in lending in 1999. The average business loan they write amounts to just $112,073, SBA data shows. Still the activity has been brisk enough to prompt a reevaluation of an existing cap on the amount of business lending credit unions can do. A bill currently before Congress seeks to raise the cap to 20 percent of total assets, from a current limit of 12.25 of assets. “There is a growing number of credit unions that are at or near that cap, and that has the effect of drying up the available funds for small businesses,” said Mark Lowe, a spokesman for CUNA. “The loans that credit unions make for business purposes tend to be around $100,000, and banks generally don’t make business loans of that size.” More experienced staffing If only the largest credit unions have entered the market so far, it is because making business loans requires a different level of staffing that smaller credit unions simply cannot afford. “Doing business lending is a slightly more sophisticated operation than doing auto loans, which has been the bread and butter of credit unions,” Lowe said. “It’s considered, not just by credit unions, but by everybody, a more risky venture.” Credit union loan officers typically have less experience than do those who specialize in business banking. “You can have a loan officer with two or three years experience write car loans all day,” said Cooper at Telesis. “When you’re talking about tens of millions of dollars you have to have somebody that has the expertise.” Many credit unions don’t have the resources to hire those experts, but those who have entered the market point out that business banking can subsidize the cost of providing other member services and diversify a credit union’s lending portfolio so the risk is spread over a larger group of loans. For all those reasons, more and more credit union officials say they are considering a move into the market. “We are in the very preliminary stages of looking at it,” said Mike Gomez, CEO of Fiscal Credit Union. “It will probably be a year or two before we jump in. There’s some great growth opportunity there, especially when you’re talking about small business. They tend to be neglected by the banks.”

Lending a Hand Burbank mortgage firm, propelled by a young ownership and staff, grows quickly to find its place in competitive industry By SLAV KANDYBA Staff Reporter Six telemarketers chatting with clients out of a residential home and a dining room functioning as an office has faded into memory, but at one point that’s just about all First Security Lending of Burbank had. When Justin Aldi and Ronnie da Motta, a pair of friends since ninth grade at Burbank’s John Burroughs High School, decided to start the mortgage lending company in 1998, each had chipped in $1,000 of “essentially (our) life savings,” Aldi said. There weren’t many other company assets at the time other than its owners’desire to succeed. At the beginning, the pair got backing from independent mortgage broker Steven Fisher in Sherman Oaks, and set up their branch office in Aldi’s Burbank house. “Every month we put all the (commission in the bank) we never took (much of) the money from the loans we closed,” da Motta said. “We pulled just enough to pay the bills so we could expand and grow.” Over the next six years, it paid off. At 29 and 30, Aldi and da Motta, respectively, have a mortgage business that handled close to a half-billion dollars in loans last year. What’s remarkable is that they have done it almost purely without any formal advertisement other than handwritten flyers they distribute door-to-door throughout Burbank. That growth has led to better office space, too. First Security now occupies a spacious office building in the shadows of the offices of entertainment companies in Burbank. Aldi and da Motta say it’s their energy that makes the difference. The fact that they are in the same age group as their loan officers doesn’t hurt either. “We can relate to most of our loan officers,” da Motta said. “Everyone is equal here you can’t tell who the loan officer is and who is an assistant.” Because the atmosphere at work is so “casual but professional,” as evidenced by T-shirt-and-jeans style of most employees, the place has a comfortable, laid back feel. Getting into the business So how did the pair get into mortgage lending at such a young age? Da Motta, for one, says he “stumbled” into it, having accepted an entry-level job at WMC Mortgage Co. in Woodland Hills. Aldi, meanwhile, worked for a mortgage lender part-time while attending California State University Northridge. When he graduated, he worked for Heartland Mortgage for a while. He kept in touch with da Motta, and the two often referred business back and forth. It dawned on them that starting a business would be a good idea. So they did and that’s when the six telemarketers in Aldi’s house come in. That didn’t last very long, however. “After six months, we realized it was ridiculous,” Aldi said of the situation. At that point, the pair rented a 1,000-square-foot office on Magnolia Boulevard, hired several agents and “started growing,” Aldi said. The growth at first was slow, because “we didn’t want to expand beyond our means,” he said. But, “once we got clout we wanted to expand.” In 1998, the company financed $10 million worth of loans. That figure tripled to $30 million by 2000, and in 2003, grew to $450 million. In terms of gross sales, the company made $150,000 in 1998, compared with $10 million in 2003. Ninety percent of loans come from direct referrals, with about 40 percent in new purchases, 5 percent in commercial lines, and the rest from refinancing. Much of the financial growth is attributed to First Security having become a direct lender, da Motta said. “We fund the loans with our money and then sell to our own investors,” he said. “You inherit liability when you do that (but) when you take that internally, you don’t rely on other parties. We approve the loans.” As result of the growth, First Security is taking steps to expand. The company will soon open a branch in Monrovia, which will bring its total number of offices to four (the others are in Encino and Irvine). It has 90 employees, including 70 loan officers and assistants, and Aldi and da Motta want to add more. “We see ourselves adding additional staff as the market cools off,” da Motta said. The staff that First Security has now is essentially the same as when the company was first founded. There is almost no turnover and many new employees are in fact recommended by someone they know who already works at the company. “We don’t give people a reason to leave,” Aldi said. “Our guys from Day 1 are pretty much still here.” Both Aldi and da Motta live in Burbank and intend to stay there, while serving clients in most Western states, where they are licensed. First Security has cut itself a niche by making loans to people who would not typically be able to get mortgage loans from major banks. Although risky, the move has paid off handsomely for Aldi and da Motta. “Most of our success has been taking leftover business,” Aldi said. “We take a lot of non-qualifying business.” Vicki Robledo, a Burbank homeowner, bought her first house with a mortgage from First Security, refinanced it subsequently and is now in the process of refinancing for the third time to do an add-on to her house. “I hate to say it it’s almost too easy,” she said of working with Aldi, who she deals with directly. She was introduced to Aldi and da Motta at the very beginning of the pair’s business relationship when they were called J & R; Lending by her Realtor. “I call them whenever I have questions, whenever we do anything,” Robledo said. “I have the number memorized and their extension.” Robledo doesn’t use Aldi’s youth against him, either she praises it. “Justin is one of those people that age doesn’t matter,” she said. “He lives and breathes this stuff. Age hasn’t been a problem for us. I’m constantly recommending (First Security).” Sheryl Carey, a broker with Los Angeles-based Sepulveda Group Enterprises, has also known da Motta and Aldi since they worked out of Aldi’s home. “They were focused and really wanted to make a difference in the loan business. They will go the extra mile.” Creativity is a quality Carey also likes about them. “I think they’re extremely creative, I’ve never lost a transaction,” she said. “They’ll find some kind of program to put a buyer in.” Last but not least, Carey’s observations of what’s at the core of First Security are similar to those of the company owners themselves. “They have fun while they take care of business,” Carey said. For Aldi and da Motta, it’s exactly that: “It feels like you’re working and hanging out,” Aldi said. SPOTLIGHT: First Security Lending Year Founded: 1998 Employees in 1998: 2 Employees in 2004: 90 Loans Originated in 1998: $10 million Loans Originated in 2003: $450 million Goal: To expand the business by adding new agents and branching out into other areas of the real estate business. Driving Force: Youthful energy, casual and comfortable working environment, loyalty.

Southland Title Purchased Amid Probe by State By SHELLY GARCIA Senior Reporter Southland Title Corp., which has just paid two fines totaling $2 million in two years for alleged improprieties, has been acquired by LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., one of the four largest title insurers in the country. Richmond, Va.-based LandAmerica paid $90,500 for Burbank-based Southland and its Orange County and San Diego units, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents, about 5 percent of the amount Southland paid in fines to the California Department of Insurance as a result of charges that it offered illegal rebates and other inducements to real estate brokers. “With the conclusion and this final settlement we are glad to be given clarity as to acceptable marketing practices in this competitive market,” Southland said in a prepared statement. Southland and LandAmerica began negotiations in January, prior to the most recent Insurance Commission investigation. The companies have long worked together LandAmerica companies are among several underwriters Southland uses. “There’s four major companies that comprise about 80 percent of the title insurance issued in the country,” said Mark Dwelle, an equity analyst with Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. in Baltimore. “So these companies make acquisitions of title agencies in order to ensure their pipeline. They identify agencies that are well placed in attractive, growing markets and acquire them to ensure those agencies continue to place policies with them rather than a different insurer.” Dwelle was not familiar with the insurance commission case. Southland, which operates 30 title and escrow offices in L.A., Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and San Diego, had revenues from operations of almost $137 million last year, according to LandAmerica. The acquisition means the company can operate on a far larger playing field with more products and services. LandAmerica plans to leave the management of Southland in place and operate the company as a subsidiary under the moniker LandAmerica Southland Title. “This gives us the opportunity to service our clients on a completely national basis,” said David Cronenbold Jr., president of Southland. “As our clients expanded outside our operational markets, we have not been able to take advantage of our relationships to grow as fast as our clients need us to. The one stop shop and bundling of products and services is a must for them in their markets.” Southland in 2002 paid a $1.5 million fine to the state insurance commission after the company was charged with violating the insurance code by offering “illegal rebates” to real estate brokers who steered business to the company. As part of that settlement, Southland was required to place another $500,000 in escrow to be seized if the company were to be found engaging in further illegal rebate activities over a two-year period. Complaints received Norman D. Williams, a spokesman for the Dept. of Insurance, said that all companies licensed by the department are investigated periodically, but the examination into Southland was reopened in March when the commission received complaints about its activities. “We got numerous complaints that they were again doing rebates and kickbacks that they were doing several years ago,” Williams said. According to a release issued by the commission, an investigation of the complaints revealed “the compensation of employees for fraudulent and/or fabricated invoices and expense reports in excess of $47,000; providing food, beverages and entertainment in excess of $174,000, providing gifts and gift certificates in excess of $62,000; and providing business support services in excess of $218,000, all to benefit real estate agents and brokers.” The escrow account was seized as a result. “If an agent is enticed to submit all his business to one company, you can’t get the best deal,” said Williams. “The intent of what we are trying to accomplish is good for the consumer.” In its statement, Southland said that it was “one of many major title companies that went through a market conduct investigation by the Department of Insurance. We have cooperated fully with the Department during this process and per our settlement agreement of 2002 we have released the $500,000 held in escrow At no point has the consumer been negatively impacted by any of the marketing practices of Southland or any of our competitors. We will continue to focus on the superior service our company provides the real estate industry and consumers.”

VALLEY BRIEFS Local Franchise Sold A FASTSIGNS franchise in Studio City has been sold to Connie and Wade Palmer for an undisclosed sum. The Palmers are relocating from Dallas where Wade Palmer had previously been director of technical support at FASTSIGNS International Inc.’s corporate offices in Carrollton, Tex. The location has operated in Studio City since 1991. FASTSIGNS includes more than 480 franchises throughout the U.S. and internationally. The company develops and designs signs, banners and other graphics for businesses. PS Acquires Property PS Business Parks Inc. has acquired Fairfax Executive Park in Virginia. The Glendale-based real estate investment company paid $22.4 million for the property, a 165,000-square-foot complex that is 82 percent leased. PS Business Parks owns about 18.5 million square feet of commercial space in California, Texas, Florida, Oregon and Maryland as well as Virginia. Alliance Forms Think Tank The Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley has formed the Mulholland Institute, a think tank that will consolidate the organization’s research and analysis efforts. “We’ve been doing research since the Almanac came out,” said Bruce Ackerman, president and CEO of the Alliance of the organization’s four-year-old research efforts. “We realized we had this great resource and we weren’t packaging it as such.” The Alliance, which produces a variety of reports and analyses about the Valley with the assistance of economists, business leaders and academics, will continue to issue those reports under the Mulholland Institute moniker. The organization is also planning a new report, Prosperity 2020, which will seek to identify some of the prospects for and impediments to long-term economic growth in the area and potential strategies to meet the challenges. Toward that end, a task force including Robert Scott, lawyer, businessman and executive vice chair of the Alliance, Joel Kotkin, senior research fellow of the Davenport Institute and Michael Shires, assistant professor, both at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy, along with Dan Blake, who heads the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University Northridge, are conducting roundtable discussions with business leaders in entertainment, manufacturing, real estate development, financial services and international trade. The report will be published and presented at the Alliance’s InfoSummit 2004 during the fourth quarter of the year. Northridge/Porter Ranch Chamber Moves The Northridge/Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce has moved to 9401 Reseda Boulevard. All phone and fax numbers, e-mail and Web addresses will remain the same. New Pat & Oscar’s Restaurant Sherman Oaks-based Worldwide Restaurant Concepts, Inc. announced that its Pat & Oscar’s Division has opened a new restaurant in San Bernardino. This is the second restaurant to open during the company’s 2004 fiscal year and expands the brand’s presence in Southern California’s Inland Empire to four locations. The company also announced that it has closed its only Phoenix location. Semtech Sales Up Semtech Corporation, a Camarillo-based producer of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors announced that net sales and income for its first quarter of fiscal year 2005 increased significantly over the fourth quarter and prior-year period. Net sales for the first quarter that ended April 25, 2004 were $61.9 million, up from $44.0 million in the prior year first quarter. Net income for the first quarter of fiscal year 2005 was $14.8 million or 19 cents per diluted share, up from $8.3 million or 11 cents per diluted share in the prior-year period. Right at Home in Woodland Hills Right at Home, a national home care company, recently opened an office in Woodland Hills. The West San Fernando Valley office is located at 19710 Ventura Blvd., Suite 201. The office will serve the San Fernando Valley and the surrounding area. Right at Home is a national franchise organization offering in-home care and assistance to seniors and other adults to help them continue living independently. Right at Home care providers are trained, bonded, and insured professionals who provide services from a few hours per week to around the clock, based on individual needs. Boeckmann to Receive Proclamation Karl Boeckmann will be receiving a proclamation at the Pierce College graduation ceremony on June 8. An accounting graduate of USC, Boeckmann served in the army for two years after which he worked in a private accounting firm for five years. He then began working at Galpin Motors where he is currently the vice president. An active member of the community, Boeckmann is very involved with Pierce College. As a member of Pierce College’s Auto Tech Advisory Committee, he has been instrumental in the expansion of Pierce’s Automotive Services program. In addition to donating equipment to Pierce College, he initiated the creation of the new Ford Technician Training Program, which will begin in fall 2004. Advanced Bionics to Be Acquired Valencia-based Advanced Bionics Corp., a medical device company controlled by Los Angeles businessman Alfred E. Mann has agreed to be acquired by industry giant Boston Scientific Corp. Advanced Bionics develops miniature devices for deafness, pain and neurological disorders. It has only one product on the market, a hearing aid implant, and had sales of $53 million in 2003. But the company is preparing to launch an under-the-skin device for chronic back pain and is working on other applications for its technology, including treatments for migraines, urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Boston Scientific will pay Advanced Bionics shareholders $740 million upon the deal’s closing, which is expected within days. The company also would make additional payments over the next 10 years based on the success of Advanced Bionics products. The companies said the total payouts could reach $4 billion if Advanced Bionics sales touched $1 billion in the next decade. North American Scientific Results Chatsworth-based North American Scientific Inc. reported second quarter net sales of approximately $3.5 million, a 20 percent increase as compared with net sales of $2.9 million for the second fiscal quarter of 2003. The net loss for the second quarter of 2004 was $3.9 million, or $0.38 per share, as compared with a second quarter 2003 net loss of $2.4 million, or $0.24 per share. The increase in net loss reflects a one-time gain of $600,000 in the fiscal 2003 quarter stemming from the sale of an investment in non-marketable securities, as well as an operating loss from an investment in a variable interest entity during the second quarter of fiscal 2004 of $200,000.

State’s Colleges Taking Brunt of Cuts in Budget By JEFF WEISS Contributing Reporter Last January when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger displayed his tentative budget, numerous people panicked over the proposed steep cuts to health services for the poor, transportation, and other social services. Four months later moving through the budget process there’s a little bit of relief, thanks to an influx of $2 billion in higher than expected tax receipts. However, while those components have escaped the Schwarzenegger scalpel, students and administrators in the Cal State, UC, and Community College systems face increased tuitions and the specter of having to turn away qualified applicants. While scheduled state transportation projects are not going to be delayed or axed, some politicians were disappointed at the decision to continue to take money out of the transportation fund and divert it to the general fund. State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) criticized this practice, as well as what he believed to be the state’s wasteful tendencies. “The budget still isn’t balanced. The state will spend $3.5 billion more than it takes in and the difference is papered over with borrowed money. The budget is growing faster than inflation and population growth. Inflation and population growth are at 4.2 percent, while the May revisions are at a 5.3 percent increase in spending. The outstanding general fund supported debt will go from $31 billion to $43 billion by the end of the budget year,” McClintock said. “However, I think the governor’s determination to avoid a tax increase is a very positive development. My district is seriously impacted by the loss of transportation funds. The budget proposes raiding $1.2 billion from the state’s highway account, which continues to delay progress on vitally needed highway expansions. The $1.2 billion rate compounds a bigger problem that began under the Davis administration that has left $3.7 billion owed to the transportation account.” Decision applauded While McClintock inveighed against the lack of transportation funds allocated, Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge) felt that the revised budget spared the transportation money, allowing businesses to benefit from this decision. “I think that the May revision is very positive toward business in that it included hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation and is likely to include up to a billion dollars more for transportation infrastructure that will benefit mobility for people and goods in the region and will benefit the economy,” Richman said. “However, I think that there is still some more work that needs to be done with the out-years structural deficit. The budget projections indicate a reoccurrence of the structural deficit three years from now, so it’s important that we work to resolve that structural deficit.” Through compacts with the Cal State, UC, and community college systems, the governor guaranteed increased funding for the next six years starting in the fall of 2005, in exchange for cuts this year. As for next fall, students can expect to see community college tuition fees rise from $18 to $26 a unit, and Cal State tuition to be hiked 14 percent for undergraduates, 20 percent for people in the teacher training program, and 25 percent for graduate students. “The budget proposal needs to be understood in context of the compact that the governor signed with the Cal State Chancellor,” said California State University Northridge President Jolene Koester. “It gives us hope for 2005-06 and the out years. It means that for 2004-05, we have a $20 million budget cut, and it means we will reduce the number of students from 24,390 full time students to 23,172.” New strategy Koester said the school has worked to admit students in the freshman class in a different way, giving priority to those in the region. The freshman class will be smaller, there will be less spaces for transfer students, and probably not as many graduates next June. Because the proposed budget calls for admission of fewer students into the Cal State and UC program, many of these qualified students will be diverted into the community college system. But cutbacks are also occurring at the community college level. “Last year was a very severe cutback that we still haven’t recovered from,” L.A. Valley College President Tyree Wieder said. CSU and UC students are being redirected to us and they think that they have a guaranteed seat. We operate by state mandate on a first-come first-served basis and I’m concerned that these students will wait too long and be turned, away,” she added. “The state gives us a dollar amount for X number of students, but we have a lot more adults ready for higher education than we have space for. In the past, we accepted students when we didn’t have enough funding but we can’t do that anymore. It impacts the length of time it will take for students to graduate and we don’t expect enrollment to increase. We were funded for 3 percent growth and that’s all we can accept.”

Rekindling Memories, Farrell’s Makes Return to Area By JEFF WEISS Cbuting Reporter Nearly any Valley resident over the age of 30 remembers the Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlours that dotted the area during the 1970s and 1980s. Featuring a turn of the century ice cream parlor atmosphere with employees donning pin striped vests, old fashioned ties, and cane hats, the stores became the site of many a young child’s birthday party and other celebrations. Under the aegis of founder Bob Farrell and then the Marriott chain, it swelled to 130 locations nationwide before being sold to a San Francisco investment group. The new owners tinkered with the concept changing it from a unique celebration restaurant to a traditional family style restaurant, a move that didn’t resonate well with the public. By 1990, there was only one Farrell’s left in America. However, in December 2002, Valley-raised Mike Fleming and his brother decided to bring the concept back to the area. Having grown up going to Farrell’s every Friday night, the Flemings retained fond memories of the place and worked out an agreement with the Kirin Group (the owners of Farrell’s trademark and license) to open the first new Farrell’s in two decades. Currently located at the Mountasia Fun Center in Santa Clarita, Farrell’s has performed well in its latest incarnation. “The food and ice cream businesses have changed dramatically over the last 15 years. There was no yogurt industry, people weren’t on low-carb diets, but we feel strongly that Farrell’s can succeed in the market today. We’re still in a testing stage, the jury is still out, but we want to keep the concept as close as it was in the past, while realizing that many young people would have little recollection of how Farrell’s used to be,” Fleming said. “We have to re-educate people to what the concept is. Business has been very good, we’re having challenges like any other business. Gas prices eat into consumer spending, we’re watching our revenues go up and down with the gas prices.” Richard Close of Sherman Oaks has fond memories of the ice cream parlors that were the site of many of his children’s birthday parties. “Farrell’s was truly a family ice cream shop, not like the places you have today where you run in, have an ice cream cone, and leave. It was a family birthday party thing for kids, with a lot of excitement and musical instruments. It was truly an institution in the San Fernando Valley,” Close said. Larry Mankin, president and CEO of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, says he believes the new Farrell’s will do well. “Just from my eyeball tour they seem to generate significant traffic and I think that because of its brand and its location, it should do well in this community,” Mankin said.