The Event of the Year : In 1994, the Fortunes of Many Valley Businesses Rose or Fell With the Effects of the Quake

What kind of year was 1994 for local businesses? According to economists, 1994 was a recovery year. But that glosses over the more complicated saga of Jonas and Judith Gurvis and their pet-supply shop in Sherman Oaks.

The Gurvises came out of retirement at the beginning of the year to run the business. On the day they were scheduled to take ownership--Jan. 17--the Northridge earthquake hit. It seemed a bad omen, but when their store, Animal Affaire, opened a few days later, it was a surprise success: kibble, cages and dog tags proved hot items for a few lucky months. Why? In a disaster, Jonas Gurvis explained, “people think of their animals first.”

So began a strange and chaotic year for local businesses. In search of our own set of leading economic indicators, we launched a highly unscientific survey of several dozen local businesses to find out how they did this year.

The survey detected signs of life in everything from dentistry to detective work. Gun shops did well, and so did pawnshops. It was a great year for Franco and Giovanni Skilan, restorers of antique pianos. And thanks to the fashion swing to a bustier look, it was a good year for David Norris, a Winnetka consultant who landed a sizable contract with a maker of parts for underwire bras.

But fashion didn’t help Vatche Mekhjian of Woodland Hills Furriers Inc., whose 27-year-old business has been in decline in recent years as his wealthy aerospace clients either lost their jobs or were transferred out of state. “I used to have 10 workers. Now there are only two of us,” he said. Disasters may prompt people to think of animals, but the same can’t be said of fur. “After the earthquake, no one was thinking about my type of business,” Mekhjian said.

Among those who did well, the most common explanation was the Northridge quake. “All of a sudden there is round-the-clock work. People who work on roads, plumbers and drywallers have tons of work now. They can get that tooth fixed that they’ve been putting off,” said Dr. Joseph Dautremont, a Woodland Hills dentist whose revenues jumped 15% from last year. Quake damage put a number of his colleagues out of business, Dautremont said. But those businesses “that survived the quake really did well.”

More than anything else, it was earthquake damage that helped make 1994 the busiest ever for Giovanni and Franco Skilan, a father-and-son team who refurbish antique pianos in their North Hollywood studio. The Skilans are craftsmen of several generations. Giovanni, the elder, learned the skill from his father in Italy.

In more normal times, the Skilans tune pianos and perform delicate restorations. But like country doctors dropped in a war zone, the Skilans have adapted to emergency surgery. “There were broken legs, pianos on their sides, damaged finish, broken pieces and chunks of pianos, chimneys fallen on pianos--all sorts of bizarre repairs,” said Franco, the younger of the pair and president of Precision Piano Service.

In the Skilans’ sunlit studio, a radio plays pop songs while the pair toil over pianos dating back to the 19th Century. Giovanni does the stringing, Franco the intricate woodwork. Signed celebrity photos on the wall depict the Skilans’ famous customers--Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example. Repair costs on quake-damaged pianos this year have been as high as $20,000 on one 1892 relic.

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On the floor, battered instruments lie on their sides or stand on hand-carved legs, their keyboards removed. Some, including a 100-year-old Steinway made of rosewood, are worth $20,000 or more, but that hasn’t stopped a few customers from abandoning them like puppies. Franco stores these stranded pianos in an adjacent room. It hardly matters, given the new demand. Franco estimates revenues are up almost 20% this year although, since the jobs can take many months, it will be a while before he will realize the benefits. “We work all the time,” he said.

The earthquake also has kept things busy at Iliad Bookshop, a used bookstore in North Hollywood. Sales of cinema books, first editions, and hard- and softcover works were up 20% this year, said owner Dan Weinstein. After the quake, “people didn’t want their books falling on them so they sold (us) their used books,” he explained. “A lot more come in, a lot more get sold.”

Post-quake castoffs have been a mixed blessing for Richard Phillips, a partner in the Buena Ventura Group Inc., a pawnshop and check-cashing service in Canoga Park. “People needed money. They were bringing in anything and everything” after the quake. Now “we are having a hard time getting rid of it,” Phillips said, ruefully eyeing a shelf full of toaster ovens.

The partners opened the business late last year intending to specialize in jewelry and musical instruments--not ovens, coffee makers, blenders, cookware, golf clubs or the other hard-to-sell detritus they’ve acquired since the quake. Loans peaked shortly after the temblor and have since tapered off, he said. Still, the pawnshop may turn a small profit this year, thanks mainly to steady sales of musical instruments and healthy Christmastime sales.

Certainly, the quake couldn’t have done much more for the Bottoms family of Valley-All Star Tarzana Moving Inc. in Van Nuys. “It has probably been the most hectic year of my whole life,” said Bev Bottoms, owner of the firm with her husband, Jim. “We turn down 10 times more work than we do.” Since the quake, the moving firm has doubled its staff from 20 to 40 and tripled sales, said Bottoms.

After the quake, “it was like ‘Run for your life,’ ” said Bottoms. “In the very beginning, everyone was scrambling for temporary places” and needed movers to haul their belongings. “Then in three months they were moving out again. Now, every day you find out there’s a (apartment) complex where people have to move out and they didn’t even know they had to until now.” Some residents who lost jobs during cutbacks last year are finally giving up and leaving, she added. “We get a lot of calls to move out of state.”

But the earthquake was not the only way to make money in 1994. It’s difficult to see any quake connection, for example, in the 22% revenue growth at Nick Harris Detectives Inc. in Van Nuys. Apart from the usual “bread and butter” business of spying on spouses, Milo Speriglio, agency director, said the increase is due to crime victims’ perception that the police don’t have time to properly investigate criminal cases. So increasingly relatives of victims hire private eyes at the same time as police departments do their work, he said.

The company also increased its business by videotaping employees collecting workers’ compensation checks. Insurance companies are eager to get their hands on videos showing supposedly injured workers moving boxes or bowling. And many laid-off aerospace workers are signing up for the agency’s detective academy, which offers instruction in the art of sleuthing.

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At King’s Gun Works in Glendale, manager George Merson attributed a 10% increase in sales this year to a steady upward trend in demand for firearms since the 1992 riots. And Merson noted that sales rise whenever public discussion turns to gun control--for example, during the debate over the crime bill earlier this year.

Another success story is Eisenberg & Associates, which owes its astonishing growth more to social than seismic changes. The family-run Encino company runs two door-to-door van services for children, KidsLimo and VanGo. The vans pick children up from home and drop them at school for a fee, freeing parents from chauffeuring their kids around. Owner Neil Eisenberg started the year with one van. By next month, he’ll have more than 20. The 18-month-old company now takes in about $40,000 per month, and he says he’s turning customers away.

Double-income families and divorced parents account for two-thirds of Eisenberg’s customers. Most children who ride the shuttles are regulars who use them every day to get to school. “We have found a particular niche that is badly needed,” Eisenberg said. But that doesn’t mean the business is easy. Eisenberg had to switch from cloth to leather van seats because so much chewing gum stuck to the cloth. He spends hundreds of dollars each month cleaning out the vans, and had to tone down their brightly colored, kiddie-themed design because older children were embarrassed to get inside.

No portrait of 1994 would be complete without some businesses that suffered severe quake damage. At Gold’s Gym in Northridge, less than a mile from the epicenter, one customer broke a hip when the ceiling came down during the quake. Between the cost of repairs--the company had no earthquake insurance--and lost business, the quake cost Gold’s Gym about $110,000, and the gym will post a loss for the year. “It’s been very, very hard,” said Marie Loyd, co-owner with her husband. The Loyds hope that because fitness enthusiasts are among the most loyal customers--some showed up the day of the quake because they didn’t want to miss their workouts--their business will rebound next year.

Loyal customers also weren’t enough to help Rod Perdeu, owner of City Tan in Encino. Perdeu, a former LAPD officer, said he has made money each year since he opened the shop eight years ago. His customers were the type to “miss a meal to get a tan,” he said. But 1994 was his worst year ever, and in recent months the shop has been losing money. “We are down 30%” in sales, he said.

Perdeu blames the earthquake, health worries and the advent of pale waifs on the pages of fashion magazines. So Perdeu is investing in a $15,000 tanning bed for long-lasting tans, and like most, he’s optimistic about 1995 and convinced that the trends are in his favor.

“They are getting away from grunge toward more of a classic look. Lavish, classy--and very tan,” he said.