PNA Profiles

DILIP PATEL

Dilip Patel bought the Subway franchise at 1801 Pico Blvd. in January 2000. He has been on a roll since (sorry, bad pun). Business is much better than he expected, and the Pico neighborhood shop is a consistent top corporate performer in LA County.

Dilip's quiet even, tone belies a flare to stand out when needed...the polka dot store front is all Dilip. His good business sense and community awareness are apparent. Everything is fresh, clean, and service is fast (up to 90 sandwiches an hour during the lunch rush). Meals are free on your birthday. He caters at great prices, tries to employ local help (currently 3 of 13), and covers any graffiti immediately.

Dilip is fully appreciative of his proximity to the College and enjoys the Pico location. He feels the Pico Streetscape has been a plus and has hopes for the PIO (the new assessment district).

Look for this piece of the neighborhood on TV. A pair of nationally aired commercials featuring the popular weight loss figure, Jared, have been filmed here. Three more are planned.

Subway 310 396 5551

JOEL PELCYGER

Joel Pelcyger is the founder and (still) head of PS#1, the progressive independent K-6 school started in the Pico neighborhood in 1971. Twenty-five years at the 1454 Euclid Street location has made them a fixture on the block. They have grown from one building to occupying an acre. A recent campus design, by SM architects Koning-Eizenberg, has replaced most of the adapted structures. What started as a 12 kid program is now an accredited California elementary school with 171 children. Joel says about 35% of the kids are from Santa Monica, a rough guess is 5% to 10% with a 90404 zip code.

Joel explains, "The PS stands for Pluralistic School... pluralistic in the multiple perspectives, approaches and voices that form the educational experience at PS#1. We also strive to diversify our student body in both ethnicity and socioeconomic status. A quarter of the students receive financial aid. Progressive education has a long history in this country. It refers to a child-centered program tailored to individual learning styles, developmental needs, and intellectual interests.

At PS#1 we blend age groups, accommodate the learning curve of the individual, stress cooperation & contextual thinking skills, emphasize direct experience and give children a voice in the process. There are two teachers per class of 20 to 25. A strong parent /social community gives our student genuine ownership of this place. Our kids leave here with real pride and a strong sense of person.

We have an active community learning program in which the kids and families are involved with various social service, charitable or activist organizations. All of these are Santa Monica based.

I am currently floating the idea to establish a bilingual academic and recreational summer program at our campus. I am always looking to bring people here that might not come otherwise.

You know, we don't compete here... we cooperate. To be effective for thirty years cooperation really, really helps"

PS#1 can be contacted at 310 394 1313 or http://www.psone.org

TOBY AND MARY MICHEL

Toby Michel is the man behind the art print studio - Angeles Press, one of only five stone lithography shops in the LA area. Twenty years ago Angeles Press started in a small studio on 14th & Broadway. Today it is set up in a wonderful light industrial space on 12th off Olympic. Toby points out the art service industry, like the artist, is disappearing from the area as dotcom and media production companies gobble up the available work space. Two hundred years ago when lithography burst on the scene, it was itself high tech. The printing method where one draws on flat limestone slabs revolutionized European advertising and attracted hoards of artists. Toulouse-Lautrec posters are famous examples of the technique. Today lithography is still a hand process that, under master craftsmen like Toby, produces a high quality, highly valued image.

Toby says, "I found litho in college and loved it. I am not an artist, but I can make art happen. The phone rings, and it's always a person wanting to create. My clients are corporate and individual, worldwide and local. Many choose to create right here; some send images to be transferred. I can also print photo gravure (another specialty hand print method) and monoprint. My client can be totally inexperienced and new to this. I have all the tools, knowledge and expertise. They bring the talent; I provide the know-how and this great space."

Mary Foster Michel is the main consigliere at Angeles Press and a watercolor artist. A SoCal native and surfer, Mary's work filters out our urban surroundings to focus on the natural things - beach, water, shells, flowers. She states, "I can make Hyperion disappear. I see what I want, what I want to remember." Her work finds its way onto walls by way of designers, commissions and direct sales. Mary's interest in art education has found her teaching or volunteering art classes in the various SM elementary schools.

Mary and Toby agree: home in Ocean Park, kids at Muir & SAMO and work 12 blocks from the beach (read: Pico neighborhood) makes life here fit in "the perfect one mile triangle."

Reach them at the Angeles Press web site

STEVE MARTINEZ

Once there was a preschool imp who tagged along with his mom to work. He would sneak into the boss' office, sit at the desk and play-act the big shot. His mom would chastise him and kick him out. Maybe not to spite his mom but,... Stephen Martinez is now that big shot, in that very same office, at that very same desk. Steve is the principal at the Edison Language Academy Charter School, a K-5 program on Kansas Ave., the very same school his mom clerked all those years ago.

Steve actually attended Will Rogers Elementary and graduated SAMO '68. He became a teacher and taught in the Culver City and Santa Monica districts. In '95 he took the helm at Edison. The Edison Spanish Immersion Program is based on a French model developed in the 1960's. Modern day cousins might be said to exist in the public Culver City example or the private Lycee de Francais in west LA. State and national recognition has brought many in the education world to visit the campus.

Steve says, "Our aim is to produce a bi-lingual, bi-literate, bi-cultural individual. Our families must choose to enroll. Most of our 440 students are Santa Monica kids, a good portion from the Pico neighborhood. Sixty percent come from Spanish speaking homes, forty percent from English speaking homes. There are a few homes that speak other languages. Though our program is bilingual, Spanish is the campus language... at the nurse, in the cafeteria or library. JAMS and SAMO have a curriculum that follows through with ours. The fourth Edison group will graduate SAMO in the spring. We are considered successful, and the 'numbers/comparisons' seem to show that... improved standardized test scores and college acceptance.

Currently our staff is focused on managing some physical improvements and, educationally, on evaluation of achievement. Socially, the comradery here is strong and the number of events can keep me out of the office long enough,... I suppose,... for some kid to sneak in."