Universal Reprographics, Inc. Using Digital Technologies to Succeed in a Male Dominated Industry By Karen Serrano Universal Reprographics, Inc., a woman owned business since 1989 was started in 1959 as a small reprographics company by a father and son team – Ben and Richard Gerson. Richard’s son Mark took over as President in 1986. In January of 1989, a tragic accident occurred and Mark was killed. Having lost a son and President, Richard Gerson decided he wanted to sell the company. Rikki Gerson had other ideas and approached Richard with a five year plan that would take Universal Reprographics, Inc. into the future. Rikki had been with Universal since 1973. Her family owned a blueprint company. Rikki felt that with the proper education, training and plan, she could keep the business and help it grow. Up to this point in time, Universal focused mainly 011 engineers, architects, designers and contractors. Then the rececession came, taking its toll on the building industry. With building permits in California being 40% of what they had been 5 years prior, Rikki knew there had to be a change to the way they approached business. Diversification was the key. By tradition, Universal was a reprographic company. They made copies of large documents, either blueprinting them or copying them. Rikki had read about how the reprographic industry was moving in the digital direction and she knew that in order to stay in business, Universal had to go to where the growth was or risk losing the business. At this same time, XEROX had approached Universal with the idea of high speed digital copying in a small format environment. This idea fit in with her idea to diversify their core business. This became part of her plan but she knew that starting off in this business was going to require capital and flexibility. In her time of need, Rikki says, “XEROX was there with some great equipment at a time when Universal had some big decislons to make. XEROX financing made it easy for Universal to purchase the necessary equipment togetstarted.” This was to become the beginning of a very strong partnership. In 1992, Universal was the first reprographic firm, in the Los Angeles Area, to purchase a XERoX DocuTech, a high speed,135 page per minute, digital copy machine. This proved to be the catalyst to an entire new world for Universal. The XERllX DocuTech allowed Universal to provide scan to print and high speed “print on demand” capabilties to their long time traditional customers. At the same time, however, it allowed them to move into new markets, such as, entertainment, advertising and financial printing. In addition, they were able to print software manuals and to keep their “customer’s documents as current as the~rproducts.” All this growth occurred while retaining their core blueline customers. In fact, in order to keep up with print windows, Universal has since installed a second fully-networked XEROX DocuTech. Over the years, Rikki’s digital plan has expanded into other areas. In October, 1996, Universal became the first reprographic customer in the Downtown Los Angeles Area to install a fully-networked XEROX DocuColor 40. This Digital Color printer prints at 40 pages a minute and prints onto heavy weight glossy stocks. According to Rikki and Madeline Wilson, Universal’s Sales Manager, “this new addition has allowed them to provide their customer’s with new options.” In addition to printing glossy covers, fullbleed tabs and brochures, the speed and reliability of the equipment allows them to meet their customer’s turnaround requirements and run jobs up to 2,500 sets in length. This was unachieveable prior to the XEROX DocuColor 40. In fact, in the 4 months since the XEROX DocuColor 40 has been installed, Universal’s COLOR business has risen 48%!! Over the past 35 years, Universal has grown from one 900 square foot building with 3 employees to 6 locations and 105 employees. Universal’s blueprinting core business is now only 35.7% of their total revenues. If Rikki Gerson-Parry had not had the plan and her team of managers, Jim Cox, Patrick Parry and Madeline Wilson had not had the commitment to the XEROX technlogy, Universal would not be what it is today – a leader in the digital reprographics industry. As Rikki says, “In order to succeed in today’s world, it is important to build partnerships. There’s a lot of competition out there for both Universal and Xerox. XEROX has the technology and the support. That is why we chose to partner with Xerox. While the traditional busines* as we know it, is still 35.7% of our busines* the Color and Digital “shte of the art’r equipment is the future for Universal.” We believe with this vision, Universal Reprographics, Inc. is definitely on the leading edge and they will definitely be around in the new millineum.

dy/airport/short/ A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority against the City of Burbank, saying the court has no jurisdiction to determine the case. For the time being, the ruling lets stand a state law that empowers Burbank to approve or veto the acquisition of land for a new expanded airport terminal. The Airport Authority had challenged that law, saying the federally regulated airport should not be subject to state law. The ruling has the potential to delay the building of a new expanded terminal, which the Airport Authority supports but Burbank officials consider too big. Burbank Mayor Bill Wiggins, in a prepared statement, applauded the ruling, calling it “an important victory for the people of Burbank.” Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill said the authority will likely appeal the decision in federal court or take the case to state court. Gill added that, despite the court’s dismissal, the Airport Authority will continue with its plans to acquire land for an expanded terminal. Douglas Young

WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURIAL TRAINING PROGRAM GETS NEW NAME -California American Woman’s Economic Development Corporation (AWED) To Be Called Women’s Enterprise Development Corporation (WEDC)- While the services and staff will remain the same, California American Woman’s Economic Development (AWED) Corporation will now be known as Women’s Enterprise Development Corporation (WEDC). The change was announced by John F. Walker, Jr., Board President. The non profit organization has offered low-cost, high quality entrepreneurial training in Los Angeles and Orange Counties 1991. Dr. Philip Borden, WEDC executive director, cites a two-fold reason for the change: “The new name will better reflect the broader scope and extended service area of our organization. Though we became a separate non profit agency from the founding New York operation, it was not until now that we have significantly augmented the original licensed program and training regime.” WEDC’s future plans include creating expanded alliances with other entrepreneurial and enterprise training, counseling and funding organizations, locally, regionally, and nationally. The new name removes the geographic limits from the organization. Borden adds: “We have gained extraordinary experience as a service organization headquartered in Southern California. The difficult economy and rich cultural mix help us develop effective strategies for a client base of business owners who truly need our programs.” WEDC ADD ONE Letty Herndon, vice president of government and community relations, concurs with Borden. “In our business courses, we teach students that business plans and missions must be re-examined from time to time to keep abreast of current trends and to re-address the needs of the client. The AWED to WEDC name change gives us an excellent opportunity to do that ourselves,” states Herndon. “Women-owned businesses continue to grow at an astonishing rate, and WEDC will be focusing on current entrepreneurial issues including improved access to capital, increased topic-specific business training, and attention to the enterprise development needs of underserved members of the community,” Herndon adds. The organization has been customizing the curriculum of its core programs, “Starting Your Own Business” and “Managing Your Own Business”, for a significant portion of its history. WEDC courses have been created that are language specific (Spanish, Korean, Chinese), geographically specific (South Central, East Los Angeles, South Bay, etc.) and enterprise specific (for child care providers, home-based business, non profit and arts organizations, etc.). WEDC has served the business needs of more than 9,000 entrepreneurs since 1991 through business courses, counseling, workshops, seminars, conferences and publications. All WEDC courses are taught by business professionals who volunteer their time to share their experience and expertise with WEDC students. WEDC also operates the Harbor Business Assistance Center in San Pedro, a full service business support center funded by the City of Los Angeles Community Development Department. It provides city, county and economic development services under grants from the Department of Justice, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Los Angeles Housing Authority and others. WEDC programs are funded by government, corporate, individual, and foundation financial donations and in-kind goods and services. For more information about Women’s Enterprise Development Corporation call 562/983-3747.

porno/17″/1stjc/mark2nd By DAN TURNER Staff Reporter The porno industry thinks the latest tax proposal from the state Senate majority leader is obscene. Sen. Charles Calderon, a Democrat from Whittier, plans to introduce legislation that would impose a 5 percent tax on the sale of X-rated entertainment in California. The tax would apply to videos, CD-ROMs, pay-per-view movies, phone sex lines, magazines, and any other medium transmitting pornographic materials. Proceeds from the proposed tax would fund women’s services, such as rape crisis centers, battered women’s shelters and counseling for victims of sexual crimes. The tax, if approved, would hit particularly hard in the San Fernando Valley the world capital of the adult film business. About 70 percent of the adult videos made in the United States are produced in the Valley; of the $8 billion U.S. pornography industry, approximately $2 billion annually is generated by the region’s adult film production and distribution companies, estimates Paul Fishbein, publisher of the Adult Video News trade magazine based in Van Nuys. “This is an industry that has a lot of low-capitalized, small entrepreneurs. You can’t say there wouldn’t be businesses wrecked by a 5 percent tax,” said Jeffrey Douglas, a Santa Monica criminal defense attorney who serves as chairman of the Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment trade and lobbying group headquartered in Van Nuys. On April 1, the Free Speech Coalition marched on Calderon’s office in Sacramento with hundreds of cardboard covers for X-rated videotapes; the original plan was to give him the actual videos to demonstrate that pornography does not portray violence to women, but the Coalition decided to withhold the tapes so as not to violate the $50 ceiling on gifts to state legislators. They also presented the senator with a certificate giving him free admission to a strip club. Calderon was not present for the demonstration. Calderon believes that pornography is degrading to women, and that it regularly depicts scenes of rape and battery. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has generally forbidden special taxes against certain forms of speech, Calderon likens his tax proposal to the “sin taxes” imposed against cigarettes and alcohol and says it will pass constitutional muster once the final language is developed. “We’re doing the legal research now to try to hone our definition of pornography, because we’re not trying to censor or ban it,” said Pilar Onate, Calderon’s spokeswoman. “We’re just trying to tax it.” Onate said the Free Speech Coalition has not tried to contact Calderon’s office for a “reasonable, rational meeting” over the issue. Douglas argues that the proposed bill is unconstitutional, and based on a false concept that pornography promotes, or even portrays, violence to women. Because prosecutors around the country tend to bring obscenity charges against distributors of materials that portray rape, bondage and other forms of violence, it is now nearly impossible to find such content in adult entertainment, Douglas said. He added that studies have never proven a correlation between watching pornography and committing rape or other violent acts. “If you could bend the constitution to allow this kind of abuse, there would be no reason you couldn’t put a tax, say, on all the news stations that showed and romanticized the (Feb. 28) North Hollywood bank robbery,” Douglas said. “Not only that, but 40 percent of X-rated material has nothing to do with women. It’s all men, it’s gay. How do you justify taxing that in order to prevent violence to women?” he added. Outside the legal and moral arguments, few believe the proposed tax would have a serious negative economic impact. Economists consider the sex trade to be “non-elastic,” meaning that slight increases in price have little effect on demand. Fishbein of Adult Video News agrees with Douglas that a 5 percent tax would be both unconstitutional and wrong-headed. But it probably won’t have a big affect on the sex industry, including an estimated 3,200 California workers in production and distribution of adult videos (many of whom can be found in the Valley). “Just like a smoker is going to pay whatever kind of tax you put on cigarettes, a man who wants this kind of entertainment is going to pay the tax,” Fishbein said. The brunt of the tax impact will likely be borne not by producers and distributors, but consumers. In 1995, sales and rentals of adult videos generated $92 million worth of sales taxes in California, Douglas said, and the addition of another 5 percent tax would cost Calfornia consumers about $10 million a year for videos alone.

letter/smith/1stjc Supporters of plans for a new football stadium should keep one thing in mind: We may need new stadiums, but let the owners of the teams that wish to play in them, and make money from them, build them. We the taxpayers do not need to put our money out so that a small group of team owners can make many millions of dollars and pay millions of dollars in salaries, while we invest in their teams and regain nothing. According to the press, no new stadium is making money with the way their lease is structured. I have to pay for my buildings necessary for me to do business so should the team owners. There is no difference we are both out to make money. If a team owner realizes this, like the Los Angeles Dodgers, they will build their own stadium, not rely on the taxpayer to do so. GILBERT SMITH Encino

forum/jb/1stjc/mark2nd PHOTOS WITH NASH, HAZZARD. Launched in 1994 in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake, the Valley Economic Alliance is charged with attracting and retaining business in the San Fernando Valley. One of its missions under new executive director Bill Allen is to change the public perception of the Valley. The Business Journal asks: What must the Valley Economic Alliance do to improve the Valley’s image? Larry Hazzard Senior Vice President Carter-Burgess “The implementation of light-rail transit through the Valley right down Ventura Boulevard would really do a lot to enhance the image. It would encourage redevelopment and businesses. And, most importantly, it would encourage people to work and shop in the Valley.” William A. Shroeder Bank of Granada Hills “They need to cut some red tape. In particular, zoning requirements are extremely stringent within the city of Los Angeles. We’ve had a problem trying to sell one of our properties. We’re selling a property that was formerly an auto repair center, and the buyers we have lined up want to keep the same use on the property. But at the last minute we found out that (the city) wants a completely different use there. There are other examples, but the end result is that the city needs to make things easier to understand and communicate more. (And that’s) one way to change the image.” James Kellingsworth Senior Vice President All-Pro Sports Inc. “I think a number of things need to get across in order to reshape the Valley’s image. I’ve lived here 28 years, and consider this to be my home even though I wasn’t born here. First off, we need a better airport either in Burbank or Van Nuys. This will right off the bat establish the Valley as its own entity, its own center of commerce. I also think that government should come to the help of the small businessman we’re already burdened with more rules and regulations than we know what to do with. I’d also like to see the Lakers move here, but I don’t think that’s about to happen.” Sandra Dropple Vice President Tunster/Lloyd Associates “Just drive around some of the streets in the San Fernando Valley and it becomes pretty obvious the VEA should push for more redevelopment. Los Angeles is the major government out here, but there are also smaller cities like Burbank. I think redeveloping some of our neighborhoods and shopping districts will go a long way in convincing people to visit the Valley. They are already making Ventura Boulevard better, but why should it stop there? I think even taxpayers would foot some of the bill if they knew it was going to directly impact the way their neighborhood looks.” Gela Nash Co-Owner Juicy “We work out of a business park in Arleta. What I’d like to see in these areas is more restaurants. People that come out here to work do it because they are close to their customers, and because space is cheap. But, we need a Starbucks or a Coco’s or anything out here. So, business groups should really focus on something like that.”

VALLEYTALK/1stjc/mark2nd Valley Helps Hollywood For decades, insiders have known that the real Hollywood or a good portion of it at least is located in the San Fernando Valley. With studios including Warner Bros. Pictures and Walt Disney Co. based here, the Valley has helped create the Hollywood myth. And now the Valley is helping to create Hollywood’s revitalization. The Valley Economic Development Center Inc. played a key role in developing an economic revitalization plan for Hollywood that is being released this month. The group was chosen because of its experience developing a similar plan for the Valley following the 1994 Northridge quake. A Different Kind of Fugitive It’s fast, dirty and invisible and if approval is given to Cal State Northridge’s University MarketCenter, it will be everywhere. It’s fugitive dust – technically known as PM10. What’s that, you wonder? According to the environmental impact report on the university’s proposed MarketCenter project, “fugitive dust” is the dirt that will be kicked up by construction. University officials aren’t planning to call in the FBI to deal with the problem, according to Frank Wein, the university’s consultant on the project. But they will cover the dirt mounds and water down the site twice daily. Down on the Farm Los Angeles may be the nation’s second largest city, but elements of the country life persist and, in fact, even constitute a public nuisance. City Councilman Richard Alarcon is pushing legislation aimed at regulating and controlling the noise generated from “farm animals, livestock and poultry.” According to staffer Annette Castro, Alarcon receives about 12 calls a month from residents of his Northeast Valley district complaining about animal noise mostly roosters and turkeys and has instructed the city’s Department of Animal Regulation to come back with recommendations on how to control the problem. That’s sparked some opposition from a group calling itself Stop Nasty Animal Regulation Laws, or SNARL. Headed by longtime Valley politico Walter Prince, the group’s motto is “Let the Animals Speak.” War of the Mayors Burbank city officials took their fight against expansion at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport to the grass roots last month, with a letter-writing campaign aimed at turning Glendale residents against the expansion. Burbank sent out 36,000 letters to Glendale residents asking them to “help end the stalemate” over the airport expansion by supporting Burbank’s scaled-back expansion plan. The letters, signed by five Burbank council members and one member elect, received nearly 2,000 positive responses within eight days of the March 20 mailing, according to a press release from the Burbank City Council. Not ones to be out-grassrooted, however, four former Burbank mayors and two former airport commissioners sent a letter to the Burbank City Council on March 25, objecting to the council’s ploys to “scuttle” the expansion and berating the council for misusing an estimated $27,000 to conduct the mailing. “They felt the time had come to assert themselves, and they decided to take the action,” said Airport Commission spokesman Victor Gill. Ovitz Watch The future of former super-agent Michael Ovitz, whose gigantic severance package following his resignation from Walt Disney Co. after only 14 months on the job infuriated Disney stockholders, has been a big question mark ever since he left the company in December. But scuttlebutt is building that Ovitz is planning to launch his own multimedia company, perhaps using some of the proceeds from his package of cash and Disney stock options worth an estimated $90 million or more. The Hollywood trade papers reported last month that Ovitz has hired David Maisel, former director of strategic planning and development at Disney, to act as his investment advisor.

valleytalk/24″/mike1st/mark2nd Valley marathon Another year for the L.A. Marathon and another chance for Valley residents to feel slighted. But don’t blame Councilwoman Laura Chick, who wrote a letter urging L.A Marathon Inc. the company that puts on the annual race to re-route the course into the Valley. “Why not run the L.A Marathon in the Valley the Valley is a wonderful place and has the same blue sky that other parts of the city have,” said Chick. She suggested the Valley, with its wide avenues, as a place that could easily accommodate a large number of runners. Chick says she doesn’t remember receiving any response to her request, but promises not to give up. “I plan to put it out there again,” said Chick. “There’s a tradition that big events don’t take place in the Valley. I can’t imagine that there’s one thing about the Valley that would make it any different than any other place in L.A.” Voice mail gatekeeper The days of getting anyone of consequence on the phone on the first try are pretty much gone, thanks to the ubiquity of voice mail. But Pasadena Mayor Bill Paparian recently took voice-mail snubbing to a new high (or low). Burbank Mayor Bill Wiggins recently put in a call to Paparian to tell him about a press conference Burbank was holding that day to announce a new compromise proposal for expanding the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. (Glendale and Pasadena want a much bigger airport expansion, and have been squabbling with Burbank over the issue.) Upon receiving Wiggins’ call, Paparian’s secretary informed him that the Pasadena mayor would be in court all day and would not be back at the office. To this, Wiggins asked to be put into Paparian’s voice mail. The secretary asked what the nature of Wiggins’ message would be. He said his call was about the Burbank Airport. “She said, ‘I’m not sure if that’s enough information to give you his voice mail,'” related Wiggins, who ultimately was refused access to Paparian’s voice mail and only allowed to leave a message with the secretary. Chilly reception The annual shareholders’ meeting of Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. last month was an unusually frosty occasion for more reasons than one. There was a wide variety of questions from the floor for Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner, with many shareholders expressing anger and frustration over the high severence package paid to former President Michael Ovitz and over the lucrative compensation package for Eisner himself. But one shareholder toward the end of the meeting expressed the feelings of many of its 14,000 attendees when she asked Eisner, “Why is it so cold in here?” The meeting was held at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, where a temporary floor was placed over the ice skating rink at the center of the arena (home of the Mighty Ducks hockey franchise). Eisner explained that the ice was causing the cold conditions, to which the shareholder responded that she was sitting in the stands several tiers above the ice. “Well, we also want to get this meeting over with,” joked Eisner, who by that time had been fielding uncomfortable questions for about a half hour. Mayoral courage Mayor Richard Riordan gave his all, or at least an unprotected forearm, last week in his never-ending support of the sciences. Students at Chatsworth High School invited the mayor to help test a robot they had built for a national engineering competition in April. The students directed the electronic critter to place a rubber inner tube over Riordan’s prone arm, which it accomplished with faultless accuracy. Though Riordan was “quite brave,” according to Assistant Principal Donna Wyatt, “the robot was under perfect control at all times. No one was in danger.” The mayor did not offer the students a tax break for developing the robot within city limits. Taking charge California Assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Burbank) has purchased (with his own money) a dark green General Motors EV1 electric car, for use in district duties. Wildman will be taking advantage of the public recharging station behind Burbank City Hall, when making the rounds of his district. The city has moved to provide free recharging to all EV drivers within the city. In the future, Wildman predicted, recharging stations will be “as numerous as fire hydrants.” He added that his grandchildren would be “shocked” to learn that people ever drove cars that weren’t electric-powered. Hopefully, Wildman’s grandchildren will find EVs with greater range than the 60 to 80 miles per charge that Wildman will get from his new EV.

SMALLBIZ/VALLEY/1STJC/mark2nd Family-owned businesses contribute one-half of the gross national product and create one half of the jobs in this country. Most of the founders of these enterprises have worked long and hard to build an empire that supports a large number of family members and numerous employees, all of whom have depended on his drive, skill, instinct and creativity since the doors were first opened for business. In many cases, one important ingredient has been lacking the development of a plan for an effective leadership succession. This is critical to the survival of the family business as it moves through the transition of ownership and management from one generation to the next. It is interesting to note that less than 30 percent of all family businesses make it to the third generation. The founder is most often an optimistic and dynamic person, either male or female (for the purpose of this article, I will refer to the founder as a male), who has the ability to work with complicated ideas, create novel solutions to problems, has great intuition, is well-disciplined and focused, and has a clear vision of future possibilities. He works seven days a week, sacrifices family time when necessary to support the business and takes seriously his responsibility for providing for his family and the employees who trust and follow him. His employees know him as The Boss, and he knows everybody’s job and how it should be done. He can walk through the environment he has created and smell trouble before it is discernible to anyone else. He is the benevolent dictator of all he surveys. His employees feel close to him as he walks through the office or factory and speaks the workers’ language. The management style he projects is friendly and stern. A typical description of a family that is struggling with leadership succession is as follows: The founder (father) who is in his 70s and wants to slow down but doesn’t want to let go. He has an impatient wife who wants to spend the years left to them travelling together and spending some of the hard earned money they have accumulated. They have two sons and two daughters. One son is drawn to the business and has spent Saturdays and school vacations working in the company, while the other son and two daughters have created separate careers. The business-oriented son has learned the family business by osmosis but has also received the best education possible as he was smart enough to be accepted by one of the finest schools in the country. His MBA has thoroughbred quality. Now he is working full time for The Boss. The son has the ability to take charge, but a problem is brewing. The father will not relinquish authority but at the same time he gives the double message that the son should take charge. The Boss walks around slapping employees’ backs and collecting gossip, which he turns into critical attacks on his son’s management style. The son sees he can’t please the “old man.” They argue constantly with no resolution. Eventually the son becomes so discouraged he sees no other way but to leave the family business. Very often, the differences are a matter of style. The founder is a hands-on manager. He believes you come to work before anyone else and leave after everyone has gone home. He has no interests outside of the business. The son, in contrast, is involved in a variety of activities and takes an active role in parenting. He has no desire to make work his only endeavor. He believes strongly in delegating responsibility to employees and trusting that technology will replace hands-on management to a certain extent. Although his management style may be different from his father’s, his goals and dedication are the same. The first call made to me usually occurs when an argument between The Boss and the son has created a crisis. Upon close examination, the two protagonists have the same goals in mind and agree on their mission but have differing means of achieving them. Because this is a family relationship, other issues often emerge, and it becomes clear that taking a narrow view of correcting the business issues alone will not solve the underlying problem. The father and son have established a pattern of relating as parent and child, which complicates their day-to-day business relationship. If they were to seek therapy, there might be a series of individual and group meetings that could reveal unrealistic demands the father places on the son, and the son’s burden of living up to his father’s ideal of him. Or, in some cases, the original financial agreement may no longer be acceptable to the son as he steps into The Boss’s role. Or, simply, the father is unable to let go of the reins, wondering what he will do with his time and where he will get the emotional rewards he has received from being at the helm. Some of these problems can be resolved by counseling to clarify the father/son style of communication and relationship. The bonus, often, is a closer relationship between family members as an effective leadership process is established, which is so critical to the survival of the family-owned business. Lew Richfield, Ph.D., is a licensed family therapist in Los Angeles.

apparel/kanter/21 inches/mike1st/mark2nd LARRY KANTER Staff Reporter When people think of high-fashion meccas, the Northeast San Fernando Valley isn’t exactly the first place that leaps to mind. But a growing number of clothing designers, manufacturers and contractors have been fleeing the downtown L.A. garment district to set up shop in less-glamorous environs, such as Arleta, Pacoima, Sylmar and Van Nuys, turning the area into L.A.’s newest apparel center. “There’s a mini-fashion hub happening here,” said Gela Nash, co-owner of the Pacoima-based women’s apparel company Juicy. “It’s definitely growing.” What’s luring apparel firms away from the region’s traditional garment center downtown? Companies cite such advantages as a large manufacturing work force, an easier commute and fewer parking hassles, as well as the opportunity to lease or purchase more-modern, user-friendly digs. And there are other, less-tangible perks, as well. “There’s a different vibe here,” said Linda Meltzer, owner of Tease Tees Inc., another women’s casualwear firm in Arleta. “Going to the garment district is like going into a dark abyss. It’s noisy, it’s sweaty. Here, you see open space, hills, horses. “Downtown, I feel the pressures of all the garment companies around me,” said Meltzer, whose clothing is sold in Fred Segal and Urban Outfitters stores and scores of small, high-fashion boutiques around the country. “Here, it’s just me designing my own stuff.” It’s not just Meltzer. Apparel firms have been in the Northeast Valley for years. And while no one is keeping an exact count, apparel industry and real estate sources say that there are even more of them sprouting up in the industrial and business parks scattered throughout communities like Pacoima, Arleta and Sylmar. “There’s been a lot of garment deals in that area,” said Mike Daven, an industrial properties broker in the Sherman Oaks office of Grubb & Ellis Co. While lease rates in the area are about the same as they are downtown, Daven said that companies often can find newer, more spacious sites in the Valley than they can in the garment district. The move of apparel firms away from the downtown garment district is part of a long-standing, nationwide trend that has seen all manner of companies move away from deteriorating downtown areas and into new headquarters in the suburbs. Many of L.A.’s jewelry manufacturers, for example, also have been slowly migrating away from their traditional center downtown and into areas such as Glendale, Daven said. “There’s a limited inventory (of industrial space) downtown,” Daven said. “What is available is verging on functionally obsolete. Central business districts all over the country are falling off.” Downtown L.A. is in no danger of losing its status as the region’s preeminent fashion center. Both of the area’s wholesale markets CaliforniaMart and New Mart are located downtown, as are hundreds of designers and contracting shops. Indeed, the vast majority of L.A.’s garment industry continues to make its home in or near downtown. As a result, companies that locate outside the garment district often find themselves making a trade-off, said Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association. “All of the support services the buttons, the belts, the pleating are downtown,” said Metchek. “If they want to see new fabric, they either have to come downtown or have somebody come to them. You’re weighing being close to the market against the ease of being away from downtown.” That’s a trade-off most of the Valley’s apparel companies seem more than willing to make. “I’ll never work downtown,” said Angela Torti, whose sewing contracting shop, Angela Torti Fashions, has been in Pacoima for more than a decade and services many of the area’s designers. Most of her contracting peers in L.A.’s garment district ply their trade in old, dank, multi-story buildings, where they often lug merchandise up and down flights of stairs. In Pacoima, Torti leases a 13,000-square-foot modern, ground-floor factory. There is ample parking and most of her 85 employees live nearby, she said. “There’s a good supply of skilled machine operators in this part of the Valley,” said Paul Faris, owner of Faris Brothers of California Inc., a lingerie manufacturer in Sylmar. Besides, he added, most of his employees (most of whom live in the Valley or on the Westside) find that commuting to the Valley is quite a bit easier than driving to the garment district every day. “It’s a little nicer to be here,” Fares said. “It’s less of a trip to go to the Valley than to go to the downtown area.” Few of the area’s apparel firms have been able to completely sever their ties to downtown. Both Juicy and Tease Tees, for example, keep showrooms in the trendy New Mart building. But Meltzer said it’s always good to return to Arleta, far from the fashion industry buzz downtown. “I like to be away from it all, where I can do my own thing,” she said. “Downtown, it feels like people are always looking over my shoulder. It doesn’t feel as rat-racy over here.”