Small Business Los Angeles

Come on a Saturday, says Freddie Carter, the man who has owned Styles Ville for four decades. That's when you'll find a row of eight barbers, buzzing, snipping and shaping heads. That's when you'll breathe in the musky spice of peppery oils, hair tonic, after-shave and an incense called Black Love. That's when you'll hear the clamor of loud talk and quiet whispers, of dominoes slapped down by men playing in the back, and the slice and whir of clippers. Bzzzzz, slash, slash, slash. Bzzzzz.

Government-backed loans to small businesses were way up in the Los Angeles area over much of the last year, according to the Small Business Administration. During the nine-month period that ended June 30, lenders made 1,725 loans to small businesses in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, about 50% more than in the same period a year earlier. The dollar volume of those loans nearly doubled compared with the year-earlier period, to $850.8 million. The top SBA lender in the region during that period was Wells Fargo Bank, followed by Center Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Superior Financial Group and CDC Small Business Finance Corp.

Some of Los Angeles' newest political power brokers do not work in downtown high-rise corporate suites, but behind the counters in mom-and-pop businesses across the city. As the major corporations known for their political largess and clout merge, downsize or move out of town, small and mid-size enterprises are moving to fill the power vacuum created by the departure of such corporate givers as Security Pacific Bank and Union Oil.

Pledging that he would expand the city's effort to foster economic development, Rep. Xavier Becerra said Wednesday that, if elected mayor, he would make it easier for small businesses to thrive. "I want Los Angeles to be the premier spot for small businesses to locate," Becerra said during a midday news conference at a Hollywood audio and video store.

Scott Oshry and Sean Brosmith were classmates at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena when they decided to take their innovative CD storage system and build a company around it. Without experience or business education, the pair and their partners, Mark Chatow and Howard Sherman, learned the hard way how to package, expand their product line and set prices. The company's success--it was ranked 25th on Inc.

Half an hour before the lunch rush, the health inspector has made a surprise visit to the Daily Grill in Studio City. Flashlight and thermometer in hand, he tests the temperature of the meatloaf gravy, searches for crud under the grill and scouts the cooler for vermin that would jeopardize the bright blue "A" in the eatery's front window. But the guy in the white lab coat doesn't work for the local health department.

There's an easy way to tell how the small businesses along one block in Northridge are faring six months after the earthquake ravaged the area. Just look at the shopkeepers' faces. Laura D'Angelo is the owner of the Kids at Heart gift shop in the Northridge Garden Center strip mall on Reseda Boulevard, just north of the Northridge Meadows apartment complex, where 16 people died in the quake.

Since the Los Angeles riots dealt it $21 million in claims, Crusader Insurance Co., one of the biggest insurers of mom-and-pop businesses in central Los Angeles, has stopped writing new riot insurance and eliminated 85% of its agents there.

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to allow certain businesses to be excluded from the proposed Business Improvement District. Councilwoman Laura Chick, who has led the effort to improve safety and attract trade to the area, offered the motion to eliminate Canby and Etiwanda avenues and Gault and Hart streets from the district on the grounds that the areas would not benefit. Excluding those properties will not increase the assessments levied on the remaining business owners, officials said.

A Vernon-based maker of lingerie is counting on it. Shirley of Hollywood is one of eight small, local companies sending representatives to South America this weekend as part of a weeklong trade mission to drum up foreign sales. The trip will take the firms to the capitals of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, where they'll meet with potential buyers and trading partners, as well as U.S. government trade officials in those countries.

Not long ago, a man asked Josette Leblond the question that probably occupies the thoughts of many of the more narrow-minded customers who first visit her charming French country-style bakery: Why isn't this in Beverly Hills? Why keep it here? Here is a worn block on Jefferson Boulevard, in a gritty Southwest Los Angeles neighborhood that is home to the hard-working underbelly of the city.

This was personal. Or so it seemed for the dozens of protesters and devotees who rallied around tiny Jay's Jayburgers Saturday, a 44-year-old icon of Southern California's roadside past scheduled to be demolished this week. "You don't find many little stands like this around Los Angeles anymore," said architect Scott Fajack, a Jay's double-burger-with-chili fan for 11 years. "It's just a loss of another institution."

A Vernon-based maker of lingerie is counting on it. Shirley of Hollywood is one of eight small, local companies sending representatives to South America this weekend as part of a weeklong trade mission to drum up foreign sales. The trip will take the firms to the capitals of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, where they'll meet with potential buyers and trading partners, as well as U.S. government trade officials in those countries.

Why would anybody shop for shoes, when they can shop for wrapping paper? Who searches for the perfect dress when they can seek the perfect blank journal or daily planner? Not Karen Harper of Studio City. I ran into Harper at Studio City's A n B Stationery, an institution on Ventura Boulevard for almost 25 years. To those whose hearts don't leap at the thought of a new fountain pen, this is just another place to buy office supplies, cards and gifts.

Inner-city redevelopment may be the hot topic in political and academic circles, but Los Angeles County's black entrepreneurs continue looking elsewhere for economic opportunity, according to a Los Angeles Times Poll. The survey, which included responses from more than 1,400 minority business owners, showed that blacks are more likely than other ethnic minorities in the county to be considering relocating their firms.

To help boost fledgling businesses in Los Angeles, the City Council on Tuesday passed a package of tax reforms that includes a tax break on start-up companies' first $500,000 in revenue. The tax reform package--long heralded by Mayor Richard Riordan and business leaders--will also allow businesses the option of filing taxes for fiscal years instead of calendar years.

To help boost fledgling businesses in Los Angeles, the City Council on Tuesday passed a package of tax reforms that includes a tax break on start-up companies' first $500,000 in revenue. The tax reform package--long heralded by Mayor Richard Riordan and business leaders--will also allow businesses the option of filing taxes for fiscal years instead of calendar years.

After a Hungarian restaurant went out of business on her street in 1994, food marketing specialist Patti Londre had an idea. Why not convert the building into a customized headquarters for her own company? She had been thinking of moving her five-person firm into a larger space.

Linda Griego's experiences in small business and politics have made her a proponent of entrepreneurship. Born in Tucumcari, N.M., Griego was the first in her family to graduate from high school or college. She has been a Capitol Hill staffer and deputy mayor to Tom Bradley. Her businesses have included a struggling chili shop and the thriving Engine Co. No. 28 restaurant downtown.

It was the early 1990s, and Lilly Chang was at a major juncture in her career. The UC Irvine-trained MBA had spent her entire working life at medium-to-large corporations, but she was looking for something more. An interesting proposition presented itself when her father-in-law indicated he would be willing to sell her his company, Van Nuys Sheet Metal.