Who Do You Remember? In this issue, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal looks at some of the oldest businesses in the Valley. But old is a relative term in a place like Southern California, so we ask: What long-gone Valley businesses do you remember and miss? Peter Godfrey Owner Dragonfly Design Group Sherman Oaks The one that comes to mind first off, and not necessarily just for me but because I’ve heard five people complain about it, is Crown Books. My office is next to Borders and people are always saying I have to come here because my favorite store is closed. I was in the library and people are coming back to the library because Crown closed. I think it was in Studio City near Yellow Balloon and Long’s Drugs. Maybe another would be Hughes Market (bought out by Ralphs). Mitch Carson President Impact Products Agoura Hills Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor. They had two locations, one at Van Nuys Boulevard near Sherman Way. There was also another one on DeSoto off of Ventura. Huge portions of ice cream, very festive environment and lots of candies and goodies. You walked out of there with a light heart, very full and sent into a sugar coma. Anita Abernathy President Superior Collection Agency West Hills There are a lot of things that used to be at the Fallbrook Mall but are no longer. There was a place called Lindy’s and, basically, their color scheme was pink. That’s why I remember it, (that) and their slogan or catch-phrase was “keeping in the pink.” Their focus was health food. It was part of the Canoga Park area for many years. Other businesses I remember, like Gemco, have come and gone. A lot of farms have gone. Farming was integral for our area, considering California was known as the food basket of our nation. Philip Chow Graphic Designer Wagner Creative Tarzana There used to be this lunch place that we would go to for lunch. It was called You Are the Boss. It has changed owners a few times. It’s a little place; they have sandwiches and yogurts. It’s still open, just a different name and different owner. Maybe some of the menu items changed. It’s the unusual name. It makes me think of the old days that I worked at Wagner (when it was in Van Nuys) and old co-workers that are no longer here. Zachary Schuler President Cal Net Technology Group Reseda There was an old hamburger place; I think it was part of a chain. It was called Flakey Jake’s. And there was another place called Fuddruckers. They were hamburger type places and they seem to have disappeared. There was another one too; it was called Bonkers. Bonkers, I think, was on Ventura Boulevard. I used to go (to Bonkers) on birthdays as a kid. All of these places had kind of the same atmosphere, the same ambiance, and they’re gone.

A ROUNDUP OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY NEWS Continental Buys Medical Mart Continental Home Healthcare Ltd. of Glendale has acquired the assets of Medical Mart of Las Vegas, a home medical business with current annual revenues of $1.4 million. Continental acquired the assets and liabilities of the company with no cash payments but assuming $180,000 in debt. The purchase price is likely to be reduced further as a result of negotiations concerning vendor agreements. The principal and founder of Medical Mart, Tom Gray, will remain with Continental. The business is across the street from Las Vegas’s largest medical facility, the Columbus/Sunrise Hospital, and has constant walk-in traffic as a result. Medical Mart has operated in Las Vegas for 19 years and specializes in rehabilitation products and supply of ostomy, urological and woundcare products, areas that will augment the current product offering from Continental’s Las Vegas branch. The expanded product offering through the acquired supply line provides additional marketing opportunities to Continental’s preferred provider contract with the 130,000-member, Las Vegas-based Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union Welfare Fund. In addition, the company has a large contract with Pacific Care, an insurance organization, to provide rehabilitative products and supplies to its customers. City OKs Airfield Project The Los Angeles City Council has voted to allow Los Angeles County to build a large industrial park at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima. The council gave preliminary approval to the construction of six industrial buildings, with a combined 300,000 square feet, at 12653 Osborne St. The county owns the 18.3-acre site, which represents nearly 10 percent of the airport property, but because it is within city limits all development must be approved by the city of L.A. County officials will seek private bids from developers, who would build the industrial park and lease the land from the county. The site is within a federal empowerment zone and a state enterprise zone, both of which provide tax credits to companies that locate in high-poverty areas. Because the site includes some steep slopes, the size of the development may have to be scaled back to 200,000 square feet to avoid significant grading work. The effort to develop surplus land at the airport began in 1997 when Arc Machines Inc. moved into an industrial building there, keeping 250 jobs in the area. The firm, which makes high-precision welding equipment, moved from an older site in Pacoima. Syncor Acquires Radpharm Scientific The Australian subsidiary of Syncor International Corp. of Woodland Hills has acquired Radpharm Scientific Pty Ltd., a distributor and manufacturer of diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine and medical imaging. Radpharm, based in Canberra, Australia, distributes products to more than 160 nuclear medicine practices in Australia and exports to New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. The acquisition gives Syncor presence in Canberra, complementing its existing Australian radiopharmacy sites in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. Playboy Buys Vivid TV Channels Playboy Enterprises Inc. has agreed to acquire three X-rated sex channels from the owners of Van Nuys-based Vivid Video, one of the largest producers of porn movies, for $70 million. The three channels it is acquiring Vivid TV, Hot Network and Hot Zone carry more extreme programming than anything on Playboy’s three X-rated networks Playboy TV, Spice and Spice 2. Playboy’s strategic about-face underscores the growing acceptance of racier sex on television. Hard-core pornography has become increasingly popular and hugely profitable for satellite and cable operators, forcing Playboy to give up its singular devotion to soft-core programming. Negative EIR on Oakmont An environmental impact report released last week indicates building more than 57 homes in the Verdugo Mountains would have a negative effect on the air, wildlife and scenic vistas of the Glendale hillside area. The Oakmont V development “would directly eliminate at least 177 acres of ecosystem,” while “loss of the existing stream, riparian forest and oak woodland would be irreversible,” stated the study ordered by the Glendale City Council. The report was a revision of a previous environmental study that was determined last year to be inadequate. Its release begins a 45-day public review period.

McKibben Communications LLC made Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing companies three years running. But while the Chatsworth-based provider of global programming services for pay-per-view, cable and other television formats was enjoying banner years in 1997, 1998 and 1999, it was also incurring substantial debt. So much so that when McKibben sought financing for the expansion needed to accommodate the growth, investors shied away. When one shareholder in the privately-held company finally did offer financing, it came with a caveat: McKibben would have to make the transition from a family-run operation to a professionally managed company with the kinds of systems, reporting requirements and fiscal disciplines found in publicly-held organizations. Ravi Patel, the firm’s chief financial officer, was named president and CEO in April, while the founders, Mark and Carol McKibben, moved into consulting roles. Patel spoke with Business Journal senior reporter Shelly Garcia about managing that change. “Mark and Carol had done a fantastic job of nurturing the organization and helping it grow. Entrepreneurs, especially if they’re family-owned, are more paternalistic and they’re very sensitive to employees. I wanted to make sure the employees didn’t feel that suddenly we were going to become a cold, hard organization. “The second major objective is to assess how we can get out of the debt situation. And the third objective was to reassure customers that the change of management was not going to be a change in service level. “One of the hardest things is to maintain employee loyalty. If the employees feel the founders were mistreated or let go unceremoniously, they become very disgruntled with the new management. Just the fact that they are actively involved in working with us, that’s a very visible sign that they’re still part of the company. “Being a CEO is a lot broader (than being a CFO). It’s not necessarily dollars and cents on a day-to-day basis as it is operational excellence, new customer development, employee training and motivation. And in the long term, my focus will be more in developing the strategic direction of the company.

Roberto Rodriguez always believed he had a head for business. So when it came time for his father to pass on the reins of his grocery store in 1990, Rodriguez jumped at the chance. “It was a small store back (in 1976), with a good clientele,” he said. Today, El Cubano Food Bag Market is actually two large stores in North Hollywood, generating a combined $25 million per year in revenue. The original El Cubano, at Victory Boulevard and Tujunga Avenue, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this month, allowing Rodriguez the opportunity to wax a bit nostalgic about its humble origins. “(My father, whose name was also Roberto) always had a good sense for business and knew what he wanted,” said Rodriguez, whose wife, son and four daughters now handle aspects of the family business. The elder Roberto Rodriguez’ dream was to open his own grocery store when he and his family arrived here from Cuba in 1962. But it would take until 1976 to finally established the Food Bag Market, later dubbed El Cubano Food Bag Market. Having run a small grocery store with modest success in the 1960s, Roberto’s father, Roberto P. Rodriguez, decided to borrow $23,000 and acquire the market, then about half the size of a chain-store supermarket, or about 7,000 square feet of shopping space. It was a risk, Roberto says now, but one the elder Rodriguez felt he had to take. “He wanted to start a bigger store that would serve the whole neighborhood,” Roberto said. Sales that first year totaled about $300,000, but with high food costs, steep overhead and the industry’s notoriously low profit margins, the family made just enough to keep the business running and food on their own table. “We had everybody working back then, my uncle, my dad, my mom. Everyone had to help,” Roberto said. The market, however, was miles and years removed from their native Cuba, where the family ran a small, neighborhood bakery. Rodriguez, his father, aunts and uncles left the island to escape Cuba’s economic chaos and dwindling liberties. “There was no way we could stay,” Rodriguez said. The family eventually settled in North Hollywood and acquired the market in the middle of a rapidly growing Latino community. “Grandpa really wanted to get back into the grocery business,” said Alex Rodriguez, son of Roberto Rodriguez, who is now general manager of the company’s two stores. By the time Roberto took over in 1990, annual revenue amounted to $12 million. But success did not come easily. There were battles with city officials and complaints from neighbors who first opposed the widening of the market’s parking lot and, later, the removal of a fence to expand the business. Both times, Roberto said, El Cubano won. “It was always one or two people who complained,” he said. He would later endure what he calls a five-year battle with the city’s Planning Commission in an effort to rezone a corner lot he had acquired at Sherman Way and Tujunga Avenue, the eventual site of the family’s second market. “If I had to do it again, I don’t know if I would,” Roberto said. Since his father’s death in 1993, Roberto, now 58, still attempts to continue his father’s vision for the company, providing quality products to an often homesick Latino market. Averaging a 1- to 3-percent profit margin, standard for the industry, Roberto said he’s pleased with the company’s growth. Even more so since the opening of the second El Cubano Food Bag market in 1996. “We knew we needed another market when the parking lot at the first market was completely full all the time,” he said. Today, the two markets thrive at the center of North Hollywood’s large Latino community, said Alex Rodriguez. “People come to us because they know us and they know that we have the products that they want,” he said. Competition in recent years from larger supermarket chains like El Super and Grupo Gigante that also cater to the Latino community have made hardly a dent in El Cubano’s growth, Roberto Rodriguez said. “People want fresh produce and a variety of products that they can find here,” he said. But the competitive atmosphere requires him to stay on his toes. Roberto still gets up at 3 a.m. nearly every day to select fresh fruits and vegetables from suppliers in downtown L.A.’s produce market. “We’ve been here a long time and people have grown to expect the best quality,” he said. Jose Alvo, a customer from Glendale, said he doesn’t mind the 15-minute drive to the market from his home. “They have a lot of fresh produce and a lot of Mexican food that is hard to get,” he said. With more and more customers willing to drive a few extra miles to purchase fresh Mexican chili peppers and other familiar foods, the Rodriguezes say they still have room to grow. “We’re just getting started,” said Roberto, who hopes to open another store sometime in the next few years.

Reverberations from a slowdown in the telecommunications industry are being felt in the San Fernando Valley where high-tech firms that supply bigger companies are bracing for declining revenue and smaller profit margins. Nortel Networks Corp. has projected a $19.2 billion second-quarter loss and Lucent Technologies Inc. has announced it will lay off 1,000 people. Alcatel S.A. and Cisco Systems say they plan to reduce purchases and cut back on expenses. Experts say these moves could severely impact Valley firms that provide components and other hardware to these telecom giants. Bob Willens, an analyst with Lehman Brothers Inc., said Nortel’s massive write-down $12.3 billion of that $19.2 billion loss is an example of what’s in store. “There are going to be huge write-downs throughout the industry,” he said. The loss in value of assets will continue to impact an industry that’s been already rocked by slowing demand and increasing costs, he said. “It’s the whole industry, so you can’t say Nortel or the others are causing it. They’re being affected like everyone else,” said Susie Nemeti, a spokeswoman for Nortel supplier and fiber optics maker Optical Communication Products in Chatsworth Camarillo-based chipmaker Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. could be particularly hard hit, since about 90 percent of its sales are to Nortel, IBM, Lucent, Alcatel and Cisco. Lucent alone accounts for 15 percent of its total sales. Last year Vitesse posted $27.9 million in net income on $441.7 million in total sales. For the quarter ending March 31, Vitesse lost $11.2 million on revenues of $121.8 million, compared to a net loss of $16.9 million on revenues of $100.3 million during the same period last year. A net loss in 2000, however, was the result of a $45.6 million one-time charge the company took for the acquisition of software maker Orologic Inc. Vitesse last month announced it would cut 12 percent of its staff of 1,280 after it projected a pro forma loss of 6 cents a share in the second quarter, instead of the 3 cents analysts had expected. The company cited weak demand and key order cancellations. E. Michael Thoben III, CEO of Interlink Electronics Inc., a maker of broadband and consumer electronics in Camarillo, said local companies will be affected in one way or another by order cutbacks by Nortel, Lucent and others. “It’s hard to imagine that these companies won’t be impacted,” he said. Thoben said his firm deals with business telecommunications components, thus is not directly impacted by troubles at Nortel and Lucent, but it is not immune to the tech industry’s current slide. For the quarter ending March 31, Interlink had $733,000 in net income on revenues of $7.3 million, compared to $712,000 on revenues of $7.7 million in the same period a year earlier. But the company expects a second-quarter loss of between $200,000 and $300,000, based on lower revenue figures for the period. Lee Branst, a telecommunications consultant with Caracal Communications in Los Angeles, said companies like Westlake Village-based Diodes Inc. have an advantage due to their diversification as far as markets are concerned. “They have half their business in the U.S. and the other half in Asia, with a number of different companies,” he said. Still, Diodes’ fortunes have been impacted by the industry downturn, evidenced by a sudden drop in net income in the quarter ending March 31 to $521,000 on $25.7 million in revenue, compared to $3.1 million on revenue of $27.4 million during the same period a year earlier. The first quarter of 2001 was the company’s 44th consecutive profitable quarter, though Branst says he’s unsure how much longer that good fortune will last. In 2000, Diodes earned $14 million in net income on revenues of $118.5 million. What’s more, the tech industry’s woes figure to worsen, says Mark Donahoe, an analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. “There isn’t any good news on the horizon and it’s going to get tougher out there,” Donahoe said. “That’s why you see the big players cutting back as much as they can. “The smaller companies are going to take a big hit and a lot them aren’t going to be around.” Jerry Aarons, president of Arco Electronics of Agoura Hills, said his firm has already been impacted and he fears worse times ahead. “We do a lot of business with suppliers of Nortel and Cisco and we’re holding our own, but it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen,” said Aarons, whose company makes capacitors and electronic filters for telecommunications. Branst said the tech industry shakeout is testing the mettle of many local startups. “There were these startups last year that were getting new offices and new buildings and now they’re looking for buyers,” he said. “But unlike the dot-com meltdown, this industry has a solid product and some companies will go on in some form or another.” Some like Calabasas-based privately held startup E2O Communications, which manufactures fiber optic transceivers for fiber optic networks, could face tough times ahead, Branst speculated. “That entire fiber optic and wireless industry is going through a rough time,” he said.

Certainly the San Fernando Valley is home to thousands of small family-owned and operated businesses, but there are also several larger companies based here that started in the same way as single units – and have grown to become successful franchise operations with locations all over Southern California and, in some cases, as far away as Singapore and Japan. But whether they have remained a regional chain or spread out across the hemispheres, a few of these companies can trace their roots right back here to the Valley. Big Boy Grows Up Toluca Lake is home to the original Bob’s Big Boy. Built in 1949, the business evolved from a small hamburger stand called Bob’s Pantry in Glendale to what is now an internationally recognized slice of roadside Americana with more than 900 restaurants in operation worldwide. Parent company Big Boy Restaurant’s International Inc. now is headquartered in Warren, Mich. The original is at 4211 Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake. And by the way, the store, now operated by a franchise owner, recently brought back its 1950s-style carhop service, available from 5 to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The Original Pancake House The first International House of Pancakes opened July 7, 1958, also in Toluca Lake, by company founder Al Lapin. Today the company is based in Glendale and the IHOP name has become synonymous with pancakes. There are now 978 locations in 41 states, Canada and Japan. That’s a Lot of Tennis Balls In 1959, Norbert Olberz paid $4,000 for a small sporting goods store in La Canada Flintridge. Today, Sport Chalet has 22 stores from Valencia south to Point Loma and east to Rancho Cucamonga. And the flagship store has moved across the street from its original quarters at 975 Foothill Blvd. Sport Chalet now is a publicly held company with annual revenues of $214 million. Olberz and his family still own almost 70 percent of the company’s stock. Martha Stewart Would Be Proud The year was 1951 and Bernie and Eugene Gelson, sons of an Iowa farmer, had just arrived in Burbank to set up shop offering fresh produce and market staples at rock-bottom prices. That original Burbank store is no longer standing, but Gelson’s Markets now has 17 locations dotting the Southern California landscape (five still in the Valley), including two Mayfair Markets. A new Gelson’s market in Pasadena is set to open later this year. While that original store in Burbank merely may have featured low prices and fresh fruit and vegetables, today the chain is known for its high-end gourmet products. Gelson’s is still headquartered in Encino, but it is now a subsidiary of Arden Group Inc., a holding company headquartered in Compton. A Very Taxing Situation When David Lieberman decided that the time was right in 1966 to start a tax preparation and accounting services firm in Van Nuys, and followed that up two years later with a second San Fernando Valley location, he had little idea he would eventually be at the head of a franchising operation bought by one of the largest CPA firms in Europe. In 1970 he acquired six offices of a local tax/accounting firm called “Triple Check,” moved the chain briefly to Paramount and started bringing on franchisees in 1977. Triple Check became Fiducial Triple Check Inc. in 1999 when Lieberman sold it to France’s largest CPA firm, Fiducial Inc. Nevertheless, the company is still headquartered in the Valley, having moved to its current location in Montrose in 1998. The company was chosen as The Business Journal’s top Valley franchiser in February and now has more than 800 offices. The San Fernando Valley is also home to some of the biggest and best-known film and TV studios in Southern California. The entertainment sector has long been one of the region’s most prominent and profitable exporters and remains one of the Valley’s largest employers. A Ranch With Universal Appeal Universal Studios, once known as “Universal Ranch,” was established in 1914 on a 230-acre plot in North Hollywood as the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. The first full production completed on the lot was “Damon and Pythias.” Universal is now a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal, the French utility and media firm created when Vivendi bought former parent Seagram Co. in 2000. Universal Studios produces and distributes films, television programs and home videos. The corporation also operates 10 theme parks and more than 630 Spencer Gifts retail outlets. From First ‘Talkie’ to America Online Warner Bros. Studios was founded in 1923 in Hollywood by brothers Jack, Sam, Harry and Albert Warner. They moved the studio five years later to a 110-acre lot in Burbank following the successful production of the motion picture industry’s first “talkie” starring Al Jolson. The studio shared space for several years with Columbia Pictures, now part of the Culver City-based Sony Corp. Time Warner Inc., Warner’s parent company, merged with America Online last year in a $163 billion deal that made it the largest media company in the world. Welcome to the Mouse House Perhaps Burbank’s greatest claim to fame is its title as home to the “Mouse House.” The Walt Disney Company set up shop there on a 51-acre plot in 1937, paid for by profits from the successful animated feature, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Today the company is one of the top media conglomerates in the world with operations in television, film, theme parks and on the Internet. Disney owns the ABC television network, broadcast TV and radio stations, and has a financial stake in cable channels like ESPN (80 percent) and A & E; Television Networks (38 percent).

BizInk.com Year Founded: 1999 Core Business: Online printing service Revenue in 1999: $1.7 million Employees in 1999: 3 Revenue in 2001 (projected): $3.5 million Employees in 2001: 22 Goal: To become the industry leader for online print solutions Driving Force: The increasing complexity of doing business nationally and the need for fast flexible printing capabilities. online service thrives on clients seeking simplicity as their printing needs become more complex in the internet age Pancakes cost more in New York than they do in Oklahoma. In the South, they eat grits, not home fries. This year may be a winning vintage for Chardonnay, but not for sauvignon blanc. The variations in the cost of living, the vagaries of regional tastes and even medal-winning wines may make doing business across the country more complicated, but it is also fueling sales at one young company. In just two years, BizInk.com, an online printing service, has doubled its sales by tapping into the needs of national corporations to customize their printed materials everything from menus to stationery, brochures to product labels for the different units or divisions they operate. Since it began operation in September 1999, the Woodland Hills-based company has gone from three customers to 12 accounts that include IHOP Corp., Subway Restaurants, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Sutter Home Wineries. Sales have jumped from $1.7 million in its first year to a projected $3.5 million this year. BizInk works this way: A client sets up a master account with the communication materials it requires. If it’s stationery or business cards, for instance, a template with the corporate design including logos and other graphics is created and posted on a Web site. Each office then goes on line to order its own supplies, changing individual names, titles, addresses or phone numbers as needed. If it’s menus or promotional materials, individual regions can log on to change prices and menu items or specials and contact names for individual distributorships. The changes and revisions can be made almost instantaneously, so there is no waiting for proofs to be sent back for approval, and shipping is done directly from the Web site transaction. “The key is the Internet access,” said David DiTomaso, the largest Subway franchise owner in California with 16 stores. “The other is I don’t have to go to a number of different sources, pick up the phone and follow up. I’m pushing to get this on a big, corporate-wide level because I think it offers opportunities for everybody at Subway, not just me.” When IHOP developed menu inserts for its summer special, “red, white and blueberry pancakes,” the company provided a photograph of the new item with the advertising copy, and the individual restaurants were able to change the prices to suit their own markets. Sutter Home was able to design labels for the necks of its wine bottles, customizing each to reflect the particular category and competition each of the varieties had won. “It used to take eight weeks to get an accolade necker out,” said Barbara Washburn, manager of marketing services for Trinchero Family Estates, owners of Sutter Home. “We’re now down to 10 days, and the fact that they’ll take the image, print it and package it and ship it, makes it extremely turnkey.” A traditional printer would set type and send proofs back to the client, who would then have to mark up the corrections and return it for printing. Each variation on a single template would have to go through the same process. “Where something would take two weeks, it takes a few minutes,” said Scot Feinberg, BizInk founder and co-partner. Feinberg was running a printing company when he realized that he was fighting an uphill battle against the competition with little to differentiate his firm from any other. He hired eCybersuite, a company that provides technology solutions for Fortune 500 businesses, to help come up with a way to conduct his business online. At first, eCybersuite founder and CEO Tom Pelino was not impressed. “I heard about a new customer of ours and I said, ‘What are we doing for them?” recalled Pelino, who eventually partnered with Feinberg in the BizInk venture. “Someone said they do business cards online, and I thought, that doesn’t sound so great.” But Pelino, who ironically attended high school with Feinberg although the two didn’t know each other at the time, soon realized that BizInk’s services went well beyond business cards. “We did a little research, some due diligence, and realized there wasn’t anybody out there (providing these services online),” said Pelino. It took about six months and an investment in the seven-figure range to build the technology the company needed, but the time and investment was well spent, the executives say. Where competitors who have since entered the market have developed the technology and then looked for a market, BizInk began with a market the company had already identified and then built the technology to suit it. As a result, clients say the sites are easy to use and far less expensive than competitive services. Much of the company’s growth so far has come from the customers that had worked with Feinberg and some of eCybersuite’s existing clients. “We feel as though we have enough customers, we’ve proven the concept and nailed down the internal systems,” said Pelino. “Now we’re getting ready to sell it on a larger scale.” The partners’ interest in expansion has been tempered by the current investment climate. Many venture partners want a larger stake in the company than the two are willing to offer and, so far, BizInk has been able to finance its operation through cash flow. “We don’t have to take money for the sake of taking money,” Feinberg said. If the right investor doesn’t surface, “we’ll just build the business slower.”

Listen to the chatter in Stan Nadel’s Hair Razor barber shop on Fallbrook Avenue in Woodland Hills and you quickly realize he’s doing the same thing he’s been doing for the past 42 years: giving good haircuts and providing his customers all men with a place to call their own. “It’s really the last place for guys to hang out, if you really think about it,” said Jack Silver, who patiently waited his turn one day last week, browsing through more than a dozen magazines piled on a small wooden table. A regular customer for the past five years, Silver doesn’t mind the wait. “It’s like going back home again,” said the retired shoe company owner. “When I was a kid, I went to a barber shop just like this and it was great.” The Hair Razor hasn’t changed much since the 1960s when Nadel moved the shop across the street, saying the traffic was better on the east side of Fallbrook Avenue closer to Victory Boulevard. Nadel opened the first shop when he got out of the Navy in 1958. One wall is papered with ducks, fishermen in boats and a marshy lake. Four 40-year-old hydraulic chairs, still in what look like mint condition, are lined up in front of large mirrors and a sparkling clean countertop with neat rows of scissors and razors but not a single blow dryer or jar of hair mousse. Nadel and his son, 40-year-old Craig, following in his father’s footsteps, average 30 to 40 customers a day for their $14 haircuts and the occasional shave. The Nadels won’t talk about revenue targets or profit margins or price structures. They just say they do well enough to keep going. “It’s a small place, but we get quite a few customers who still marvel at the fact that they can come to a place like this,” said Craig, who has been cutting hair next to his father since 1985. It’s a place where the barber asks about a customer’s family or a recent trip to the doctor. The customers one afternoon last week all knew each other and traded stories and one-liners. One customer spoke of his son-in-law, a second told the others about his last fishing trip, others chimed in with their own tall tales of fishing trips long past. “There are few places where guys can go to hang out. Women have the gyms, the salons, but guys don’t have a place sometimes,” Craig said. “So they come here and hang out for a few hours, get a haircut and have a good conversation.” The Hair Razor’s had its share of celebrity regulars through the years: country singer Johnny Cash, former Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, ex-boxer Carlos Palomino and actor Gary Sinise. “It’s the atmosphere here. It’s relaxed and everybody knows everybody else,” Craig said The shop, a male-dominated establishment, is also Vicki Martel’s workplace she shaves customers with a four-inch, single-blade razor. “It was tough at first, when the customers didn’t know me, but that went away pretty fast. Now they trust me. I guess they have to,” she quipped. As cheerful as the shop may be, it is part of a dying breed, said Frank Chirco, president of the California Barber Association, which he said represents more than 10,000 barbers across the state. “There are a lot more salons than barber shops and there are less barber shops every year,” he said. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 9,400 barbershops in the U.S. in 1999, down from 33,000 in 1972. “But we feel that enrollment at barber colleges are up and that’s good news,” Chirco said. Claude Gipson, director of American Barber College, the only school of its kind left in Los Angeles, said he graduates about 40 students each year. “It’s good self-employment for them if they become barbers, and that in itself is pretty good enticement,” he said. But even Gipson believes that barber shops will have to diversify beyond the traditional haircut and a shave if they want to stay in business. “You have to have someone who does a manicure, someone who does facials, who does coloring and everything else, or you’re not going to survive,” he said. That’s why three years ago Gipson’s school began offering courses in color application and manicuring, once the province of cosmetology schools. But Stan Nadel and his son Craig will brook none of that in their shop. As far as they’re concerned, a haircut and a shave are still good enough. “We do what our clients want and we do it better than anybody else,” said Craig. “Other people are doing coloring and perming and they can do that, but we won’t.”

Vincent Degani remembers the day he got his diploma from watchmaking school. “I felt really proud,” said the 82-year-old watchmaker. It was June 30, 1939 and Degani was following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Degani is still in the watchmaking game. The business may have changed a little, but every weekday Degani is at his Vincent Canoga Park Jewelers, the store he opened in 1960 on Sherman Way near Owensmouth Avenue, next to the old El Madrid Theater. One day last week, Degani was the model of concentration as he sat, bent over his worktable, patiently and delicately disassembling a small pocket watch. His hands were as steady as ever as he gazed intently through a special eyepiece attached to his wire-rimmed glasses. “For me, it’s fun work,” he said. “I can’t think of anything else I could be doing that’s as fun.” Repairing watches and clocks requires the skill of a micro-surgeon and the patience of a saint, he said. A native of Detroit, Degani grew up with a watchmaker father who encouraged his son even at the age of 5 to try his hand at the business. “I was always hanging around the shop puttering with watches, and my dad enjoyed that,” he recalled. After high school, Degani entered the Chicago School of Watchmaking where he later earned his diploma and joined his father in the family trade. But with the onset of World War II, by 1942 Degani was in the U.S. Navy. His return in 1945 was bittersweet. His father had died during his absence and the once-bustling family shop was shuttered for good. “I came back, my dad was gone and his shop was gone too. It was pretty sad,” he said. Undaunted, Degani pursued his career, eventually marrying and moving to California in 1948 where he accepted a job in a Reseda watch repair shop. By 1960, Degani had bought out the owner and started his own shop next to El Madrid Theater where movie fans would often come in with their damaged watches. When the Madrid became an adult movie theater in 1978, Degani moved a block over to Sherman Way, to a space with room enough for larger display cases and wider work tables. But the business was rapidly changing and watchmaking was already on its way to becoming a lost art. The advent of electronic timepieces and cheaply made, throwaway watches ate into his business. “People would bring in a watch and it would cost more to fix it than it was worth, so what could you do?” he asked. “You lost business.” Others in his profession threw in the towel, deciding they were too old or too stubborn to learn much about electronic watches. Degani said he tried to make the best of a tough situation. He learned how to fix the more expensive electronic watches, to clean them and replace their batteries. But as fast as they had gone out of style in the late 1970s, relatively expensive mechanical watches made a comeback in the late 1980s. “It was back in style all of a sudden. Who expected that?” he asked. As his sales increased, so did orders for repairs. Collectors in particular became his regular customers, with their 80- and 100-year-old watches. Degani today says he averages about 50 customers a day, many longtime friends such as Wendi Finch Hull, 36, of Woodland Hills. “We trust him. He’s nice, he knows what he’s doing and he has a good reputation,” said Hull, whose family have been regular customers since 1986. Degani’s situation, it seems, is not an isolated experience. According to the American Watchmakers and Clockmakers Institute in Cincinnati, there are 71 million mechanical and quartz watches in circulation in the U.S. today. Thirty percent will need to be repaired by 2003. Nancy Connelly, executive director of the National Association of Watchmakers and Clockmakers, said that is a growing demand that is not being met. “There are only about 6,000 watchmakers in the U.S., and there will be a need for 26,000 by 2003,” she said. Connelly explained that there are only 10 certified trade schools left in the U.S. that train watchmakers, not nearly enough to meet the demand. What’s worse, the average age of a watchmaker now is about 60 and their ranks have dwindled from 44,300 in 1953 to 15,500 in 1983 and to 6,500 in 2000, according to Institute figures. Those are statistics not lost on Degani, whose own son shunned the family store to work in Van Nuys’ Anheuser-Busch brewery. “But my grandson Greg loves the business,” he said. With or without Greg, the bespectacled Degani said he can’t imagine retiring. “They’ll have to bury me first.”

Airport Dan Fegar, director of planning and engineering at Burbank Airport since 1988, has been promoted to deputy executive director. In his new role, Feger will oversee and direct all aspects of Burbank Airport, including day-to-day operations, community and governmental relations, facility development, public safety and regulatory compliance. Following his nomination by newly appointed Burbank Commissioner Bill Wiggins, Pasadena Commissioner Chris Holden was unanimously elected president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority for the coming year. Holden, a city councilman and former mayor of Pasadena, succeeds Glendale Commissioner Carl Meseck, who served two terms as president. Chamber of Commerce The board of directors of the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce appointed Francoise Bergan and Lois Curran-Klein as interim administrators until a permanent replacement is selected for CEO Carol Amenta, who recently left the chamber. Both Bergan and Curran-Klein are board members and will assume day-to-day responsibility for the chamber’s affairs. Education The Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees appointed five Valley residents to the 15-member District Citizens Oversight Committee. The five Valley residents are: Bruce Ackerman, Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, Ted Kimbrough, Multi Kim & Associates and officer of Pierce College’s Foundation, Maria Reza, assistant superintendent for student health and human services, LAUSD, Scott Svonkin, chief of staff for state Assemblyman Paul Koretz, David Iwata, Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. Entertainment DTS Cinema Group has appointed Darryl Gray as special venues manager. In his new position he will oversee sales and installation of DTS cinema products to special venue locations and filmed presentations including large screen and motion-based ride films, theaters, museums, and road shows. Gray joins DTS from Isco Optic GmbH/USA where he was a consultant and technical sales representative. Prior to that he was an engineering consultant to San Francisco-based ClearVision 2000. Ed Neppl has been appointed vice president, controller for the Universal Studios Recreation Group. He replaces John Watson, who recently moved to Florida to become vice president, financial planning and analysis for Universal Orlando. Neppl will be responsible for all financial reporting, analysis, organization development, and financial systems implementation and maintenance for all of Universal’s theme park properties. Prior to joining Universal Studios, he served as vice president of finance for Pallotta TeamWorks, an event production company. Health Care Daniel F. Selleck has been named to the board of directors of Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Currently, Selleck serves on the board of directors of the Ventura County Discovery Center, the advisory board of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at CSUN and as a representative of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s L.A. business delegation to China. Manufacturing The California Manufacturing Technology Center (CMTC) has promoted Jim Watson to vice president of consulting services. Watson will be responsible for the strategic direction of CMTC’s seven regional centers, sales support and planning, and directing the activities of CMTC’s four practice areas. Previously vice president of business development, Watson has also served as general manager of Anchor Audio Inc.’s European distribution center. He has also held senior management positions with Supershuttle International, Needham Harper Worldwide and Western Airlines. Marketing Allen Stanfield has joined Glyphix as vice president of client relations. Prior to joining Glyphix, Stanfield was a vice president at the Patrick Marketing Group in Calabasas. He also held program management positions with PMG and Mueller/Shields Inc. In his new position, Stanfield will be involved in bringing on new accounts for branding and marketing communications for the Warner Center based company. Real Estate North Valley Area Planning Commissioner George Stavaris has rejoined Delphi Business Properties of Van Nuys after a 12-month stint with Cushman & Wakefield. Over the past two years, Stavaris has negotiated over 500,000 square feet in transactions for such firms as Sony Motion Picture Company, Warner Bros., Dreamworks SKG, Brown and Williamson Tobacco, and Andy Gump Inc.