It doesn't take much to start up a small business in this country.
Some people say all it takes is location, location, location. But I know it takes more than that. It takes honesty, honesty, honesty.
Arts of Point Richmond had its holiday festival this year at 51 Washington Avenue, which is a ground floor office available for lease. We were there December 4, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. We are good at setting up and taking down quickly.
Altha Humphrey had an idea a couple of years ago of something
she had been thinking about doing for a long time.
She wanted to organize an arts group in Point Richmond.
Following her is Linda Drake, the current powerhouse
organizer of Arts of Point Richmond. Behind the scenes
literally in this photo is Richard Melvin whom you can see on the left.
Perhaps you discovered that you could make something like earrings or bells that someone else was willing to pay money for--or a small neighborhood newspaper, for example, that other businesses were willing to advertise in.
Phyliss Whiteman and Linda Drake at Phyliss's table.
Phyliss is selling her own handmade pottery. Behind
them is Linda Drake's table of her "Vintage
Views of Old Point Richmond" series of colored
pencil drawings.
Then you found out that there were numerous opportunities to set up a table and sell your stuff. You found out that it did not cost anything to get a seller's permit. Maybe it took you 20 or 30 years before someone told you that, but now you know. You found out that you could get protection from theft by purchasing a business license and they would send you customers as well.
You found out that having a small business increased your respect in the community by a lot, (which disappointed people who had other evil plans for you), and that you were suddenly a member of the club of people who were "their own boss," invited to mingle with other business people, large and small, rich and poor, at Chamber of Commerce mixers.
And you found out that you could sit at a Point Richmond Business Association meeting and be respected and be part of a club and hold your head up, maybe, as long as you didn't challenge some other business person in print even when he called you a nasty name, since he had decided to take over Point Richmond and he thought you were getting in his way by publishing a small newspaper while he was trying to let people know he was boss now. And he wanted people to know he was boss, not you and your newspaper, who had never claimed to be boss, just trying to make a few sheckles out here in the boondocks.
And calling me a nasty name was retaliation against me for writing a letter to the Alcohol Beverage Control Board saying that we already had enough bars in Point Richmond and they didn't need another full service bar right across the street from the Hotel Mac. The Hotel Mac did not ask me to write that letter. No one asked me to write that letter. I liked the Mexican restaurant the way it was. They had young people working there who were nice to me and did not give me a hard time. How do you think I feel going into all these restaurants where all the customers and waiters are over 50? I did not sign up to be in an old folks town like Rossmoor yet. I like being around young people. You know I was a school teacher for a while. I liked being a school teacher because I like being around young people. I know everyone does not feel that way. Like my mother for example. She applied to be in an old folks home more than 20 years ago. She likes being around people her age and she doesn't want to be around younger people except once in a while. Well, we're different. I am not like my mother. I like being around young people. I feel younger when I am around them. They make me forget about my troubles because I have to think about them and their problems. Of course they are not all nice to old people, but luckily I was around a few who were. I guess my mom wasn't so lucky.
That little Mexican restaurant already had a beer and wine permit which is enough alcohol for anyone. I did not recognize the names on the sign in the window about them applying for a liquor license. I did not know that it was the people who owned the Point Richmond Market who were asking for that liquor license. If I had known that, I probably would not have written the letter objecting to the application. I think they are nice people. Unfortunately they are not in the Point Richmond Market anymore, though there are some new people there who are nice too. Anyway, I am sure it takes more than one letter to get a liquor license turned down.
Well, sir, don't you realize that retaliation for calling the police is against the law? You got your bar opened and you got your permits so you didn't have to intimidate an old woman after all, did you? And when you call the police for help, they go to your bar, don't they? And nobody calls you a nasty name just because you called the police for help. See how easy it is to disrupt business around here? All you have to do is complain about something and the gang will retaliate. It's a gang when they don't want any complaints. They try to silence complaints with slander and intimidation, because some people don't know how to speak civilly to another business person in a business meeting.
The local bars have nothing to complain about, about me. They got plenty of money from me in the 30 years I was drinking in the local bars. And I was on welfare most of that time too. What do you think the taxpayers think about that? That was the kind of thing that my dad thought was a good joke on the taxpayers, maybe until he realized how sick I really was because his hiking buddies pointed out to him that I couldn't keep up with the people on the hike. It took him about 50 years of my life to figure out that I was sick and needed medical treatment for my throwing up illness. Then I was allowed to get cured of bullimia. I guess he liked me being sick because it kept me out of his hair. I was hanging out in the bar where I couldn't cause trouble for anyone. They could forget about me. He thought that the taxpayers could spend a lot of money trying to find out what was wrong with me, because he wasn't going to pay for my treatment for my eating disorder. When I got married and asked him if I could borrow money to pay the dentist because of all the tooth decay I got from the eating disorder I got when I was 16 years old, while I was in the civil rights movement, he said, "You're married now. Your husband can pay your dental bills."
And you know what? I continued to love my dad even while he was saying things like that to me. However, I did not see him very often after I left home. I loved him and I did not understand why he was so hostile to me. I thought I had not done anything that was so bad for him to stop speaking to me.
My dad talked about having me investigate white slavery in California when I was a child in New Jersey. My mother said, "No! Bill! No!" He didn't understand how sick I was. I believe his own father had had that illness. It was the illness of a cop who would lose his job if he could not fit into his uniform. That's how it was for police in the old days. That's why there were so many cops with that illness, and also addicted to weight loss drugs. I think it's not that way anymore. They had given my grandpa electric shock treatment to make him stop throwing up and he sat in his easy chair and got fat and died in his 60's. It was not a drug illness. It was involuntary throat muscles trained to be voluntary. I figured that out because they used to talk about a knot in the throat--his throat muscles. He died from choking on some oatmeal. Grandma did not know anything about the Heimlich maneuver. I figured that out later. But that's not what my parents told me. What they told me was that they had given Grandpa electric shock treatment because he had been accusing Grandma of having affairs.
About 40 years ago, I wrote a story about a man who had fallen down outside the Spot Liquor--there is a rooming house upstairs there, too. He wasn't a young man. He was an old man, maybe in his 70's. He had hurt his head and the emergency workers came with their lights flashing. I just happened to be driving by and saw the lights, so I stopped. The police do not like me to get too close to them when they are working, so I am cautious. He was lying on the ground when I got there. I asked the EMT's what happened to him and they said he had fallen and hurt his head. I published that story in my little newspaper. Well at least he had not been beaten up and robbed. That's a hard fall when you fall on the pavement. I don't know if he lived through it.
The customers of the Spot bar told me that was bad publicity for the Spot. The Spot closed for six months for renovation. The bartender told me that she had a friend in San Quentin and did I mind mailing my newspaper to San Quentin? She was not a new bartender. She had worked there for years. She had served me drinks too.
I guess people they did not like it that someone found out that old people were falling down on the pavement getting hurt because of the bad liquor being served in Point Richmond. They wanted people to fall down and get hurt and nobody find out about it. I did not write anything at all about the bar in that story. All I did was state the location where the man had fallen down on the sidewalk. He could have tripped on a buckled sidewalk. He could have slipped on a banana peel. He could have been drinking in his room for all I knew.
The bartenders worry about customers drinking in other bars and then coming into their bar more inebriated than they realize. They used to have a communication system among the Point Richmond bars. Some of the bartenders worked at all the different bars. They got layed off at one bar and then they went to work at another one. It's hard to find a good bartender. I did not write about the cause of him getting hurt. The bar customers were the ones who told me that the bartender had served him too much to drink.
That's what happens when a newspaper is silenced. I guess they wanted to get the old people out of the way so they could take over. I just thought you would like to know a little bit about the history of my little newspaper in this dive called Point Richmond. It used to be called Point Counterpoint until the British got into the act and wanted to enforce their copyright by hitting people with illegal drugs. Who cares about the bar patrons around here? The bars do, as long as the patrons are spending money there. You don't get a pension for sitting in a bar: you SPEND your pension sitting in a bar. Don't forget to leave a tip, or you might find out what the dark side of Point Richmond is like. If you don't have enough money to leave a tip, you shouldn't be in the bar. What happens when those customers get hurt or get sick? Who cares about them then? Can they go into a legitimate business without being slandered and intimidated?
And about that particular bar owner and his bar, I had said nothing at all uncomplimentary to anyone about him and his bar until he started in with the slander.
(l. to r.) Debbie and Mark Conrad, Richard Melvin,
Silvia Ledezma.
In your small business, you found out that now instead of having just one boss, now you had dozens of them, called customers. You found out that they were loyal customers because you treated them like they were your best friend. You found out that all your social life revolved around your business. You were respectful and polite to them. You smiled at them. You were scrupulously honest with them. So they kept coming back year after year to buy what you were selling and give it as holiday gifts to their friends and family. You got to know their family too. You were grateful that they continued to support your and your business.
Debbie and Mark Conrad. They are selling
hand forged metal objects. They are experts
at metalsmithing.
Richard Melvin hanging holiday
decorations outside. Since we were
not in a store front right on the
street, we needed to do something to
let people know they could find us down
this little alley/walkway.
Debbie Conrad adjusting the bells
that she and Ron make out of
recycled material. They really
have a beautiful sound. Check out
their handcrafted metal at
Evelyne and Ron Taylor.
We have a lot of married couples in this arts group. They are trying to warm up the
room for us on this rainy winter day. I might get an award with this photo. This is as far
as I go with love photography. Evelyne makes wrapped driftwood jewelry, decorated gourds and cards.
Sylvia Ledezma shows her jewelry, scarves,
T-shirts and other art objects.
Sasha Mosalov with a customer.
Sasha Mosalov explains handmade books to a customer. He has numerous hand crafted leatherbound book covers, one of a kind paste papers, monoprints and other items. You can check out his web site,
http://www.bookdestiny.com/, also
http://www.sashamosalov.blogspot.com/.
Roxanne Olsen is selling hair deocrations
in the form of poinsetta leaves.
Betty and Wayne Tarr. Betty is a
professional artist who creates
amazing cards for historic Richmond
landmarks. She was selling a 2011
calendar with a postcard of one of her
original paintings for each month. She
described to me the work involved in
putting them together. It's a lot of
work to make one. I bought one.
Harry Henderson and Lisa Yount have been a team
for a long time. They even gave themselves
nickname. They call themselves Lion Light
and Tiger Eye. They sell jewelry and cards.
Irene Hightower is offering cards with her
own photographs on them. What a beautiful
collection of photos they are!
Here I am--Jean Womack--with my large woodcut, "For Taz" behind
me on the wall. I do not get a chance to show this
very often because it is so big. The woodcut was
done in the memory of my son's classmate at
the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who was
killed in a helicopter training accident.
I am selling my own handmade jewelry, etched and engraved
medals, handpainted Easter egg tree decorations,
and fine art prints. My mother's parents were
Russian Jews who came over from the old country,
so the painting of eggs for Christmas decorations
is about all I have left of that cultural heritage. Now
I paint eggs on plastic which I first have to sand to make
the paint stick to the egg. I also decoupage
some of them.
So it's a lot of work
to make one of those eggs. They are for sale for $10 each.
Some day I hope to make decorated eggs out of brass,
copper, silver and semi-precious stones. a salute to the Tzar
who kept artists on his payroll who had enough time to
make things like that which had no use except
to look pretty. I guess that's what retirement is for.
I really do not want to get into that ideological discussion
of whether only useful objects should be made or if
we can make things that are just beautiful.
Guillermina understands that idea and she says her
favorite objects are country objects which are
things people actually used. But she has a lot of stuff
for sale that is just pretty to look at, too. The US wasn't
keeping its head in the sand while the Russian
revolution was going on. We were trying to find
out what the heck was going on there. So please don't
penalize us for knowing about that stuff.
Author Jane Vandenburgh and photographer Irene
Hightower. Jane was selling and signing her books,
which include A Pocket History of Sex, and
Architecture of the Novel, A Writer's Handbook
"We have an author!" Linda Drake announced
in a respectful and awestruck tone of voice.
Now the customers are coming in. This lady is
admiring one of Altha Humphrey's hand-knitted scarves.
Yusef Nabay and son Ismael Nabay. Yusef pulled
his hat down over his eyes to take a nap. Ismael
is imitating his dad, trying to get the hat at exactly
the same angle as his dad. Then he too, fell
asleep in his dad's lap. Yusef sells African themed
art objects at Farmer's markets in Point Richmond
and Pinole when they are open.
Pat Pearson and George Coles couldn't stay away.
Joan and John are happy campers
because they won a bottle of wine in
one of the hourly raffles that Richard
Melvin conducted. We did not serve
wine, but we raffled it off, so we were
able to promote the California wine
industry that is so important to so many
people, and still remain within the law
about serving wine in a place where
children are hanging out, without serving
food too, if there actually is a
law like that. Better safe than sorry.
Richard said we did very well with the raffle. Sorry I do not know what kind of wine it is except that it's red wine. Other prizes were dinner at the Hotel Mac. Thanks, Grif!
Ismael's mom came to help out with the sale.
So when you started up your small business, you found out that setting up your tent and your table was a little like having a party, only better because you had more money, maybe, at the end of the day than you did when you started, if you could resist buying what the other people at your party were selling. You found out that you needed to write everything down, save all your receipts and at the end of the year you hired a tax accountant who would get back nearly every penny you had paid to the government in taxes because she enjoyed finding ways to do that, and we don't call them loopholes, either. We call them tax breaks.
I think the government does that because they found out that the economic benefit of having a business outweighed the money that the business would pay in taxes. For example, a business might hire someone to help them, and then that part of the money that pays that person is spent on paying taxes. I am not an economist, though I did study economics in college. Congressman Garamendi (D, Walnut Creek) seems to understand how that works, so maybe he'll explain it to us one of these days. He is our favorite new Congressman, although George Miller actually represents our district. Miller already has the corner of the market on education and nourishment of women and infant children (he's sort of a Godzilla of the House of Representatives, having been there for 36 years) so there's not much left for Garamendi except small business tax breaks and transportation and armed services. He got the leftovers, you might say.
Arts of Point Richmond got this room for free for one day because we have been organized for more than a year and we have achieved a good reputation of reliability and honesty in that year we have been doing business in Richmond. We have been showing and selling our work at Farmers Markets and street fairs all year. We have been open and honest about what we are doing and we have let people know about our existence and behaved in a way that shows we are trying to make money, not just get a tax writeoff.
It is my hope that we will some day get a permanent location where we can have children's art activities similar to the Museum of Children's Art in Oakland. Of course I want to work there. I do not want to do all the work of creating it so that someone else can have the pleasure of being the chidlren's art teacher.
