Like O.B. scorned
An Ocean Beach jeweler inadvertently got the O.B. Farmers Market llama rides canceled—that’s when O.B. activists went off on him
Shane Smith never thought the Ocean Beach resident-activist bomb would blow up in his face. He and his wife Heidi have been running Blondstone Jewelry Studio in O.B. for 10 years, with Heidi making the jewelry and Shane running some of the business end. Other business owners warned him to not to criticize the local farmers market. People will go nuts, they said.
“I was like, ‘C’mon, no they won’t,’” Shane told CityBeat.
On Wednesdays, Blondstone’s block on Newport Avenue between Bacon and Cable streets is transformed into the Ocean Beach Farmers Market, a conglomeration of produce sellers, crafts vendors and prepared-food sellers. The market has been a part of O.B. for 17 years and has grown to the point where, on a good night, it attracts 3,000 people. It pulls in people from other parts of the city and residents who swing by to shop for vegetables, grab a tamale and let their kids go for a llama ride.
But as it expanded, the market also acquired a fringe of unlicensed vendors, some who’d set up tables on the sidewalk to sell handcraft goods, but others who’d sell imported wares from factories in China. In 2004, the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association (OBMA), the business-improvement district that runs the market, added a side parking lot as an artisans area, and it was this addition that troubled the Smiths.
“Wednesday night went from being my best night to my worst,” Shane said, sitting alongside Heidi in a back room of their shop.
Shane sent a letter to the OBMA, asking them to reduce the market back to its pre-2004 size. The OBMA declined. He and the association went back and forth for years, until last summer, when Shane called in the government. He contacted the police, the mayor and anyone else he could think of who might look at the permits for the market and other craft fairs that happen in O.B. throughout the year.
The wheels of bureaucracy began to turn: Inspectors from the city and county scrutinized the permits and began to walk the fair, talking to people and checking for violations. The OBMA made some changes: Many of the vendors who sold factory-made goods were tossed out, and the unlicensed table-top vendors were cleared from the sidewalk. The OBMA formed an artisans committee to screen crafts vendors and invited Heidi Smith to sit on it.
Vendors who work the market today told CityBeat they’re actually pretty happy with some of the changes, since it’s easier for people to move around the market and there’s a greater focus on handmade goods. But O.B. residents are fiercely protective of what some call California’s last real beach village. This is the neighborhood that held rallies to stop Starbucks from opening and stared down an international oil conglomerate that wanted to build a new gas station. Blondstone’s complaints to government officials were considered the wrong way of going about things because they invited unwanted outside attention, but the community remained mostly quiet.
But then came the llama removal. As part of their inspection, county health officials found that the market’s three riding llamas were kept too close to food sellers. For a brief period, the llamas were gone. Word spread through the community that it stemmed from Blondstone’s complaints, and the O.B. resident-activist bomb exploded: Groups of people started coming into Blondstone to complain and harass the clerks; Blondstone’s e-mail box filled up with messages telling them to get out of Ocean Beach; stickers were distributed through the market that read “No BS in OB.”
“Parents brought their children in here so the kid could ask, ‘Why did you take the llamas away?’” Shane said. “My wife was just devastated.”
The llama-permitting problem was soon fixed, but the neighborhood was on the alert. Shane’s attempt to shrink the market was processed by the rumor mill as an attempt to get rid of it entirely, along with the Holiday Parade and other local events. At the end of January, the O.B. Town Council, a citizens group, circulated a flyer inviting people to a meeting to rally support for the market and against Blondstone. Shane attended the meeting, and he said it was awful, with speakers attacking them and their store.
“It’s been the stress that’s been so bad,” Shane said. As he described these events, Heidi pulled her legs up on the chair and looked at her knees. Shane’s face was flushed, and he clasped his hands so tightly that his fingers turned white. “My wife has ended some days curled up on the floor, crying,” he said.
OBMA executive director Denny Knox says the community’s reaction is not her fault, but she feels the OBMA has bent over backward to accommodate the Smiths, yet they refuse to be satisfied. She said the Smiths have gone out to other craft events and harassed vendors and volunteers, and now they’re doing the same to vendors at the market.
She considers the Smiths bad apples in an event that’s good for the community and good for business.
“Shane Smith is the only one to ever complain about the farmers market,” she said.
But Shane says it’s because other store owners were too scared to speak up. CityBeat walked parts of Newport Avenue that are near the farmers market and found that while some stores described huge sales boosts on Wednesdays, others dreaded the night. Most nay-sayers refused to speak on the record for fear of local backlash, but Marcaine Sowards-Oelke, co-owner of Girls From the Park, is closing shop. She doesn’t blame the market for killing her business, but it didn’t help, she said.
“We got no business those nights, and we had to keep an extra look-out for shoplifters.”
Knox said the OBMA would reach out to those businesses, but she added that it had already explored many proposed solutions and rejected them. By now, the OBMA has resolved its permit issues with the city and seems content. The market is still thriving, and the llamas are back. It seems the only open question is whether Blondstone will remain at its O.B. location (there is a La Jolla branch). Heidi and Shane admit business is down, but they’re not going anywhere.
“I’ll never leave O.B.,” Heidi said. “Never.”
Comments
Thanks Eric Wolff for jumping on this issue - one of several bubbling issues in our great but challenged community of Ocean Beach. We at the OB Rag blog are happy that others find interest in our issues. We've had a lot of hits on the two posts (1/30/09, 02/05/09) on this issue by our writer/ reporter/ blogger Doug Porter. Check them out at http://obrag.org
Other issues in OB: our branch library keeps finding itself on the budget chopping block; gentrification; vacant storefronts on our main street; and more.
ten things to know about ocean beach
10) all girls named crystal came from there
9) drum circles, massage, raegae, tarot card reading, tweeking, chronic dope smoking, and being a vegetarian are considered degrees there.
8) names given to you by the guy who knocked you up 6 times like "waterfall, spring flower, jasmine, herbal essence, are really stupid once you quit smoking the chronic
7)booze is considered an essential part of a vegan diet
6) little boys with soft feminine hair down to their asses look totally gay
5)anal sex is considered hopi birth control
4)life coaches are usually lesbians
3) all of your kids have different dads who never gave you their real names
2) drum circle is the new name for date rape
1) hodad's appears to you to be the center of the universe
the jewlery girl is hot!!!!!!!!!!
Guy Lombardo, regarding your post from 2-13-09 @ 8:30am...It's sophomoric, poorly written and, above all, you're not funny
four things to know about Guy Lombardo:
1. His reduction of the 14,000 residents of Ocean Beach to a few trite, un-funny stereotypes makes him appear ignorant.
2. He doesn't know how to spell reggae or jewelry.
3. He is weirdly obsessed with human reproduction, sexuality, and rape.
4. Although the Canadian-born violinist/bandleader's easy listening orchestral music was derided by jazz fans, he was famously admired by Louis Armstrong.
5. He thinks he is funny, but he is not.
YES, THOUGH I DID GET A RESPONSE NOW DIDN'T I? I'VE ALOS HELPED EDUCATE THE PUBLIC. CLASS? WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED TODAY?
1)HOW 2 SPELL REGGAE
2) HOW TO SPELL JEWLERY
3) THE POPULATION OF OCEAN BEACH IS 14000
4) GUY LOMBARDO WAS A BANDLEADER
5)HE IS SOPHMORIC
6)HE'S NOT FUNNY
7)LOUIE ARMSTRONG LOVED GUY LOMBARDO? LEARN SOMETHIN' NEW EVERY DAY!
Today the class learned that Mr. Lombardo is:
8) Unable to learn. Despite being told and shown how to spell "jewelry".
9) Does not proof read anything he writes (ALOS ???).
AND!!
10) Doesn't know diddly about capitalization.
well, you don;t know anything about punctuation and have a terrible studder......... g g g g g g g g g g g g g g .the real point is that these are really nice people, trying to run a business. the property owners in ocean beach squeeze out the good businesses as do the few narrow minded locals, many of which aren't even true locals, they're just a small group of misfits with too much spare time as for your obsession with capitalization? i would say moneys little girl is a bit anal retentive.....that's right honey, just hold it in and you'll enjoy it more tomorrow!
Shane and Heidi may be "nice," but they ratted out the OB Farmer's Market to the government and the cops. That's just not how we do things in OB. They've brought all this scorn upon themselves.
And the argument that locals drive out all the good businesses is just idiotic. Locals support the good businesses. There are many, many thriving businesses in OB. The ones we try to drive out are the ones that are not a good fit like corporate chains and greedy, self-important whiners who threaten our way of life.
Guy Lombardo is a classic troll.
YOUR A SELF IMPORTANT WHINER D.A. I SURMISE THAT'S FOR DUMB ASS? OR AND I WAGE YOU DIDN'T GROW UP IN OB AS I DID OR MY KIDS DID THOUGH YOU CLAIM TO BE A LOCAL.AND TO SHOW YOU WHAT A DIM WIT YOU ARE.....I'VE BAITED YOU ON YOUR NONSENSICAL JIHAD WHILE YOU TALK ABOUT LOCALS AND NON LOCALS AND WHAT THE FRICK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GOOD AND BAD BUSINESS YOU ACE ! THERE ARE NOT AS MANY GOOD BUSINESSES IN OCEAN BEACH BECAUSE OF LITTLE PUSSY WANNABE LOCALS LIKE YOU. EVER OWNED A BUSINESS GAY MEISTER? SELLING USED CONDOMS DOESN'T COUNT! YOU FARMER'S MARKET DAY SAMPLES FOR DINNER BJ IN THE ALLY FOR A BUD PIECE OF CRAP! YOU'RE A PUSSY WITH TOO MUCH FREE TIME HOPING FOR PRISON TIME SO YOU CAN GET THE KIND OF SEX YOU REALY ENJOY AND BY THE WAY OB WANNA-BE SCUM-OB TURNING YOUR CONDOMS INSIDE OUT IS NOT A FORM OF RECYCLING
Since this article aired another major store front has begun closing it's doors. what so called locals don't understand is that they don't pic the businesses that bring jobs, industry, people, revenue to a downtown. Ocean beach has limited space in which a few though not all landlords are too greedy, now their properties go vacant, some for over a year already. You can pick your friends ,though you can't pick your relatives or your neighbors. who you decide to be friends with is a state of mind. Rumor and hate mongering won't do downtown Ocean Beach any good. This is not "THE GANGS OF NEW YORK" If Blondestone goes under who will come next. The Hemp clothing store went under as did many others..........and the economy is getting worse......Blondstone needs to extend a hand as do the people of Ocean Beach Merchants Association. Without the merchants crime is really going to rise, unless of course more booze markets move in or maybe more bars and those people who don't own businesses can either patronize them or not. times are hard under mining another persons income isn't the way to go about it for either party.
Despite his crude sexist and racist comments, Guy did make several valid points: greedy landlords have forced out businesses in OB, Blondstone and the OBMA do need to extend a hand, and DA Kolodenko lives with a parrot in OB ? and writes.
There's other issues in OB, but this one appears to have struck a nerve. Most readers of this issue on our blog have come to the defense of the Farmers Market, even though there are problems with it (vendors with crappy stuff from China, only 10% are now farmers).
I can't imagine anyone disputing the fact that high rents have made it difficult for some businesses to survive in OB, and it is also true that some landlords have even made sweetheart deals with unwelcome chains/corporations (Starbucks comes to mind). But I want to reiterate that many good independent businesses thrive and are supported by the local community in OB. I also want to reiterate that I never defended bringing vendors into the Farmer's Market who don't make their own goods. My criticism of Blondestone is not that they had no legitimate grievance; my criticism is in how it was handled. I think that contacting the mayor and police was overkill and not in keeping with the OB spirit. If Blondestone moves from OB, and people want to buy their jewelry, they will survive. They have a La Jolla location. I am not calling for their destruction - I just don't think it's a good fit for OB, and I have a right to say so. As for Lombardo, I think his own rhetoric speaks volumes about what kind of Guy he is.
Heidi and Shane Smith are not opposed to jewelry made in overseas sweatshops; they sell those very goods in their store, at steeply inflated prices, and often neglect to inform customers that they are purchasing jewelry made by minors in Bali. What the Smiths do oppose is competition--their cutthroat attitude is apparently extended to lowly street vendors who only materialize once a week, but apparently the threat is significant enough for the Smiths to have launched their years-long vendetta. If it hasn't been made clear already, the Smiths have no respect for OB or the locals--they view the Newport Ave. store as a necessary evil to help finance their La Jolla location, where most of Heidi's better work is for sale. The Smiths stay in OB thanks to the lower rent and the locals' tendency to support Newport Ave. businesses, and apparently their ability to bully the OB Merchant's Association into enforcing the elimination of any competition.
There is ONE aspect of this that I'd like to comment on. That is the fact that our business is definitely much slower on Wednesdays as a result of the Farmer's Market. Many years back, when the Farmers Market first started we were slammed with customers, but now Wednesday is our slowest day of the week. So, considering that, the Farmers market has really hurt my business. Our Wednesday clients become frustrated because they find themselves driving around for 30 minutes looking for a parking space. You can imagine that during the Winter months, having to walk many blocks in the rain after having your hair done is especially frustrating.
We now offer to pay their $5 parking fees on Wed's but that hasn't really helped either. In short our clients avoid coming to get their hair done on Wed afternoon's because of the parking issue. That cuts our income and that's bad for all of us.
There are many other 4900 block merchants who also share my feelings about this. Business for most merchants is down on Farmers Mkt days on the 4900 block.
I've suggested on a couple occasions to the OBMA that they rotate the Farmers Mkt to different blocks of Newport on Wed's (The 4800 & 5000 blocks). Another idea is to move it to the OB pier parking lot at the beach end of Newport Avenue, which seems to work out great for other OBMA events. For some reason they aren't able to do this, or haven't seriously considered it.
There has to be a way to make everyone happy. I personally LOVE the Farmer's Market and it does bring many people to OB but they seem to be mostly buying mostly fruits & vegetables. For the OBMA this is a money making venture as they rent the spaces etc. They are also aware that many merchants business's on the 4900 block are suffering because of the Farmers Mkt.
Paul Bolton
Th Electric Chair
I respect Paul's concerns, and in fact I am one of his customers. The Electric Chair is an OB institution. But I have to wonder if the loss of business on Wednesdays isn't offset by the presence of thousands of folks coming into OB who check out the shops as they walk the sidewalks and then return and get their heads done at EC because they saw the cool art in there. Or all the locals at the market who pass by EC on Wednesdays and remember they need to make a hair appointment. Or all the people charmed by the OB Farmer's Market who move to OB and become customers at EC. Here's an idea, Paul: hand out flyers at the Farmer's Market offering people five dollars off a haircut if they get it on Wednesday. I think it would be a huge hit.
My main point is that the Farmer's Market is only one day a week & not even the whole day, and i suspect that what it does for Newport merchants is probably ultimately more helpful than hurtful. But it's hard to measure.
I speak for myself when I say that the only reason I make the 10-minute trip to OB from Crown Point is to attend the farmer's market. If the window display of a store happens to attract my attention, it's equally likely that I'll step in to shop as I would peruse the vendors' tables. Obviously that's not the case for everyone. I think the point is to make the best of the situation on Wednesdays, and work with the farmer's market, not against it. I think Blondstone should be the model of what not to do.