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Focus On The Westside Industrial Area
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA 2 Long Beach Business Journal
August 13-26, 2013
A Westside Story: Community Involvement Shapes The Westside Industrial Area And Business Community ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Staff Writer WEST PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY
ong Beach is a city known for its neighborhoods, each with a signature personality, from Cambodia Town to Retro Row. In this quilt-like network of neighborhoods, the Westside has been regarded by some as a stepchild overlooked by the City of Long Beach. Even so, the rich history of the Westside is rooted in the origins of the International City, and its industries have supported the local economy for more than 100 years. When the Port of Long Beach was founded in 1911, it didn’t take long for businesses to crop up alongside it. The oil rush of greater Long Beach, immortalized in Upton Sinclair’s novel, Oil!, also contributed to the influx of industry to the area. Some of the original businesses are still there today – Phillips Steel, for example, was
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founded in 1915 and is still fully operational under the Phillips family. In the throes of World War II, the United States Navy purchased 100 acres of land on Terminal Island and
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founded a naval shipyard for the upkeep and repair of its war-worn fleet. Pat Cullen, owner of Westside business Dion & Sons, Inc., grew up on Caspian Avenue, just north of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and recalled the presence of the Navy as having defined the area for decades. Nancy McCrabb’s father founded Cowelco Steel Contractors in the Westside in 1947, shortly after World War II’s end. Apart from the metal work, machinery and oil-related businesses generated by the port, much of what she remembers from that time are barefooted children running through the dirt roads to and from their homes and “shanties” nestled among naval housing. By the 1970s, the Westside remained largely unchanged in appearance. Although the area running from Anaheim Street to PCH was full to the brim with industry, it was lacking the basic infrastructure needs that were at that point complete in most other parts of the city – features like street lights, pavement, sidewalks and gutters. The dusty roads McCrabb and Cullen remembered from childhood were still dusty. Septic tanks could be found throughout the alleyways, Cullen recalled, because of a lack of sewer service. Tony Rivera, chair of the Westside Project Area Council (formerly the Project Area Committee),
MAGNOLIA INDUSTRIAL GROUP
expressed a sentiment felt among the Westside business community at that time: “It was like a little piece of land forgotten to everybody.” In July 1975, the Westside Redevelopment Area and its community advisory committee, the Westside Project Area Committee (PAC) were formed to utilize state Redevelopment Agency funds to improve the area. The
Special Thanks A special thank you to the following companies whose advertisements made this section possible:
A.D.S. Paper The Berns Company City Foods Wholesale Coldwell Banker Commercial Blair Westmac/Jack Warshauer Crosby & Overton, Inc Hi-Standard Manufacturing INCO Commercial Lee & Associates LiNKS Sign Language & Interpreting Services Long Beach Rescue Mission Phillips Steel Company Sav-On-Signs Snugtop Spot Lighting Supplies Tell Steel
Photographs All photographs by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville.
Cover The water tower at the Snug Top facilities stands out as a landmark for the city’s Westside industrial area.
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA August 13-26, 2013
PAC was made up of community members eager to see the use of these funds to ensure the well-being of the Westside. According to Jane Kelleher, vice chair of the Westside Project Area the Long Beach Council, Agency (RDA) Redevelopment decided to take the Westside through eminent domain and redevelop the land, thereby forcing out existing businesses. About a month after the RDA was founded, Westside businesses sued over the issue. “Westsiders believed the city intended to raze the Westside through the use of eminent domain,” Kelleher told the Business Journal. Cullen said the plan was to use the land for large developments. Ultimately, the Westside won the battle in 1981. “It was the California Supreme Court that ruled that the city was wrong,” Cullen said. The court also ruled that the Westside PAC, which had been defunded by this time, must “remain intact through the entire life of the project area,” Kelleher explained. The RDA Westside Project Area was
Long Beach Business Journal 3
Daryl Phillips, president of Phillips Steel Co., is a third generation operator of his family business, which was founded in 1915. Phillips poses in front of the Phillips Steel Co. location at 1368 W. Anaheim St. For more information, call 562/435-7571 or email info@phillipssteel.com.
bounded by the Terminal Island Freeway, the 710 Freeway, PCH and Anaheim Street – the industrial hub of the city. A Westside tax increment, a method of funding that uses tax gains
to subsidize private or public projects, was also established to help fund area improvements. Cullen and Kelleher said that relations remained contentious through the
’80s and ’90s when the city and RDA “borrowed against” the Westside’s tax increment funds to spend in other areas of the city. (Please continue to next page)
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA 4 Long Beach Business Journal
According to Kelleher, Westside tax increment funds were spent on Long Beach Convention Center improvements and used to fund the Los Altos Market Center on Bellflower Boulevard. “We started our own lawsuit against the city for not spending the money here,” Cullen explained. Again, the Westside won. According to Kelleher, however, to this date about 99 percent of the tax increment funds taken from the Westside have yet to be repaid. Despite these legal roadblocks, the Westside PAC successfully advocated for paved streets, sidewalks, gutters and street lighting. According to Cullen, much of these infrastructure needs were not in place when he took over Dion & Sons in 1986. By 1989, they were mostly complete. Rivera, who has been involved in the PAC for 10 years, said the visible transformation of the area was readily apparent. Gone were the dusty roads and seaside shanties of the ’40s. While many businesses now say the area still has many infrastructure needs, the
August 13-26, 2013
Current boardmembers of the Westside Project Area Council (PAC) visit a mural in the Westside industrial area on the corner of Cowles Street and Caspian Avenue. The Westside PAC was founded in 1975 as a community advisory committee to the Westside redevelopment area and now operates as a nonprofit organization. Pictured from left are: Paul Collins, Westside PAC treasurer and owner of architecture company PAC Design; Jane Kelleher, vice chair of Westside PAC and president of Sav-On Signs; and Tony Rivera, chair of the Westside PAC and owner of Easy Roll Off Services.
Westside PAC is frequently referenced for its contributions to modernizing the area and providing basic needs. Much to the dismay of nearly every
company the Business Journal reached out to, the Westside PAC was defunded with the dissolution of the state redevelopment program. It now functions
as non-profit Westside Project Area Council rather than a committee, and relies upon donations to continue its efforts. Although it is perhaps less
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA August 13-26, 2013
active than it once was, its efforts are apparent all across the Westside, including in the Snugtop water tower it helped put in place, which now serves as a landmark for the area.
Magnolia Industrial Group The Westside industrial area (refer to accompanying map) extends east of the Long Beach Freeway to an area now referred to as the Magnolia Industrial Group (MIG), which is a Property and Business Improvement District (PBID). The PBID is the area bounded by the 710 Freeway to the west, San Francisco Avenue to the east, PCH to the north and Anaheim Street to the south. (A PBID is formed through consent of more than 50 percent of the area’s property owners to submit to a fee based upon the size of their property. That fee is used to fund PBID activities.) Although the business activity is similar, the MIG is separate from the Westside Project Area Council. The two areas combined represent about 700 businesses and thousands of direct jobs. By the late 1990s, crime was a major concern within the MIG, according to
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Bill Townsend, president of the group and a principal and boardmember with INCO Company. Among the issues were prostitution, theft, littering and graffiti. Part of the concern of MIG businesses was that the police were stretched thin and unable to provide the security the area needed. “There was a recycling center in the center of the MIG, and people were literally stealing metal off buildings and taking it to the recycling center,” Townsend told the Business Journal. “It was terrible.” In 1996, after many of the property owners decided they needed to take control of the crime situation before it got out of hand, Townsend helped form the PBID. The intention was for property owners to pay to provide private security to help reduce crime. Michael Zupanovich, president of Harbor Diesel and Equipment (d.b.a. HD Industries) and treasurer of the PBID, said having private security is “the No. 1 thing” that has helped improve the MIG area. “The proof is that it’s working,” Townsend said. “The crime rate is low.”
Members of the Magnolia Industrial Group (MIG) Property and Business Improvement District (PBID) pose for a photo in the MIG area. From left are: Bill Townsend, president of the PBID and principal/boardmember of INCO Commercial; Mike Zupanovich, treasurer of the PBID and president of HD Industries; and Mike’s father, Jim Zupanovich, boardmember of the PBID and CEO of HD Industries. MIG was formed in 1997 to provide private security to businesses within its borders.
After MIG was formed, the Long Beach Police Department’s West Division opened on Santa Fe Avenue, contributing to the decrease in crime. The PBID has been reestablished a few times over the past decade and a half. Last month, it was reestablished for another 10-year period with 77.36 percent of property owners in favor. The
majority approval, according to Townsend, is more proof that local business owners feel the PBID is working. The industries and businesses making up Westside Long Beach have, as Cullen said, fought “tooth and nail” to ensure the Westside’s prosperity and wellbeing, so that it may continue to serve as an economic engine for the city. ■
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA 6 Long Beach Business Journal
August 13-26, 2013
Historic And Family Operated Businesses Survive And Thrive In Westside Industrial Area ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Staff Writer
ince the Port of Long Beach was founded in 1911, industries including metal fabrication, manufacturing and oil have dominated the Westside industrial area. Many Westside companies are family owned and date back more than 50 years. Proximity to the port and two major freeways makes the area an ideal location for businesses in these industries. Jane Kelleher, vice chair of the
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Westside Project Area Council (PAC), said the Westside industrial area is a “huge” asset to the city for its tax revenues and high-paying jobs. Tony Rivera, chair of the Westside PAC, said much of the same and estimated that Westside workers earn as much as $40 an hour. Almost any company located within the Westside industrial area and the property and business improvement district, Magnolia Industrial Group (MIG), can discuss how the recession hit Westside businesses hard. Those that
have made it through, many of which are owned and operated by second- or third-generation family members, attribute their survival and successes to diversification and perseverance. Steel And Metal Work Many Westside companies in the metalworking industry have had to diversify their services and service areas to sustain and build their businesses through the decades. Phillips Steel Co. is one of the oldest metalwork companies in the Westside and the city. It was founded in 1915 by
Paul Phillips, grandfather of current third-generation owner, Daryl Phillips. According to Phillips, the business operates quite differently than it did in the days of his grandfather. “In effect, we were the first recycling center in the City of Long Beach, although it wasn’t called recycling then. It was scrap metal, in those days,” Phillips explained. Over the years, the Phillips family noticed their customers’ needs changing. “We had people coming in selling us their scrap metals, asking where they
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA August 13-26, 2013
Long Beach Business Journal 7
The Berns Co., a family owned business operating in the Westside since 1956, and serving the material handling, heavy equipment, forestry, mining and railway industries is located at 1250 W. 17th St. Steven Berns, second generation owner of The Berns Co., poses with many of his employees, including a few of his family members. Pictured, back row, from left are: Christina Winn, Silvia Quezada, Helen Warren, Steven Berns, Brett Berns, Lewis Mangold, Gary Kirpluk, Jaime Guia, Dan Seymour and Jose Nepita. Front row from left are: Sergio Guia, Jaime Jr Guerrero, Kam Khuzaie, Trevor Jackson, John Vongsaham, Dale Seymour and Frank Nunez. For more information, call 562/4370471 or visit www.thebernscompany.com.
can buy materials for their own manufacturing needs,” Phillips said. Phillips Steel began a division to meet those needs in 1970. The company now deals in steel, stainless steel, aluminum and galvanized metal, and also sells related tools and parts. Another way long-standing companies have survived economic ups and downs has been by expanding physical service areas. Tell Steel, which sold its first piece of steel in 1959, is one such company. “The biggest change is the diversity of area we cover now,” Greg Moore, president of Tell Steel, told the Business Journal. Thirty years ago, Moore said Tell Steel was “more entrenched” in local business because of the plethora of machine shops and shipyards in the area, many of
which have gone by the wayside. “We had to diversify. Now we’ve got about a 60-mile radius we hit.” Cowelco Steel Contractors, a women-owned and third-generation family business, is one such company. According to Nancy McCrabb, former president and daughter of the company’s founder, Cowelco was down to 10 employees during the most recent recession. “We are up to 50 now. Most every one is full time,” she noted, adding that about 30 percent of them live in Long Beach. Founded in 1947, Cowelco blossomed through its work building portions of Disneyland in the 1960s. Tamery McCrabb, current Cowelco president and Nancy McCrabb’s daughter, said she has memories of
her grandfather talking about walking through the amusement park with Walt Disney, himself. The younger McCrabb explained that, while she has experienced “a slow rebound” from the recession, the company “is moving in the right direction.” Moore said his business is improving as well. “This year we’re talking about booking orders going forward,” while in the recession sales had been flat, he said. Tell Steel employs 48 people full time. Now that the recession is ebbing, Phillips is optimistic too. “We see a lot of opportunity on the horizon,” he said. Machinery, Parts And Petroleum Westside companies in the machinery and parts industries also diversified to beat the recession and adapt to changing times, including Cavanaugh Machine
Works (CMW). CMW was founded in 1948 and moved to Long Beach around 1997. According to CMW President John Wells, the business originally focused on ship repair but changed course to keep up with the times. “[Today] we have a really large heavy machine shop and fabricating company, and we manufacture parts for container cranes and container handling equipment,” Wells said. He attributes the company’s “booming” business to its diversification. CMW currently employs 30 people, and has been hiring more. “One of the interesting things we did in the last year or so was to fabricate all the support steel to move the [Endeavour] space shuttle,” Wells said. (Please continue to next page)
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA 8 Long Beach Business Journal
Steven Berns, a second-generation president of The Berns Co., has also gotten more creative. The business, which opened in 1955 and employs 40 people, manufactures machinery replacement parts and specializes in surplus material handling items. To expand business, Berns said he has started looking to overseas advertising, specifically in Dubai. Additionally, the company recently began selling on eBay, which he said has drawn interest from countries like Portugal. Overall, he is quite “pleased” with how business is growing. Mike Zupanovich, president of Harbor Diesel & Equipment, Inc. (HD Industries), said the company, which was founded by his father and current CEO Jim Zupanovich in 1971, has been “very fortunate.” HD Industries, located within MIG, is a factory-authorized sales, parts and service facility for a number of major manufacturers. The company has expanded the number of brand names it works with, which include Caterpillar and John Deere. According to Zupanovich, being conservative and cautious about growth has been one of their triedand-true policies. Dion & Sons, Inc., a petroleum dis-
August 13-26, 2013
tributor, has operated in the Westside since 1930. According to Pat Cullen, who has operated the business since 1986, the company has survived many obstacles, including being forced to move due to eminent domain in 1952. Since taking the reigns of Dion & Sons, Cullen has been able to form other petroleum corporations, such as Amber Resources, and currently operates seven locations. “We have grown very well,” Cullen said. Rivera of the Westside PAC estimates Dion & Sons is one of the highest producers of tax revenue in the city. Manufacturing And Fabrication Some of Long Beach’s largest contributors to tax revenue are located in the Westside industrial area, including those who manufacture specialized materials. Perhaps the most visible of these is Snugtop, with its name emblazoned across the Westside skyline on the Snugtop water tower. Bob Kyle founded the company in 1959, creating customized hard top shells for pickup truck beds. Snugtop is now owned by Hartmut Schroeder, who took over as president and CEO in 1989. “We are quite an exporter for the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles,” Schroeder said. Overseas,
Hartmut Schroeder, president and CEO of Snugtop, which manufactures hard top enclosures for truck beds, is seen at the company’s Westside headquarters at 1711 Harbor Ave. Snugtop was founded in 1959. Call 562/432-5454 or visit www.snugtop.com for more information.
Schroeder said Snugtop’s biggest markets are Europe, Australia and China. Snugtop sells directly to companies like Toyota and Nissan. Schroeder estimates the company currently employs about 200 people.
Greg Moore, president of Tell Steel, is pictured at the firm’s Westside headquarters at 2345 W. 17th St. The company, founded in 1959 by Tell D. Tuffli and his son, Don, has been employee owned and operated since 2006. For more information, call 800/724-8366 or visit www.tellsteel.com.
Another big employer in the Westside is Superior Electrical Advertising, a custom electrical sign fabricator. Stan Janocha, chief operations officer (COO), who purchased the company in 1998 with CEO Jim Sterk, said the company employs 118 people, 40 percent of whom are Long Beach residents. Patti Skoglund serves as president. “We are probably the second biggest business on the Westside,” Janocha said, naming Snugtop as the first. Superior Electrical’s clientele includes big brands like Starbucks and McDonald’s. Their work illuminates nights at Disneyland, for which Janocha said Superior is the “preferred supplier.” Snugtop and Superior Electrical had their own share of difficulties in the recession. “It’s been a bit of a roller coaster,” Schroeder said. “We suffered like everybody else and we had to reduce our employment. But for the last two years, we’re hiring, and we’re hiring as we speak.” Janocha expressed a similar experience. “Before the recession, we had 175 employees,” he said. But things are picking up again. Of the company’s recovery, Janocha said, “We sometimes call it ‘the miracle on Anaheim Street.’” ■
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA August 13-26, 2013
Long Beach Business Journal 9
Infrastructure Needs Persist In The Greater Westside Industrial Area Despite Developmental Progress ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Staff Writer
nlike newer, pre-planned cities, the industries of the Westside sprouted out of the dust with economic urgency over 100 years ago. Much of the area remained unchanged until about the 1970s, when the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) and its community advisory board, the Westside Project Area Committee (PAC), were formed based on the needs of the business community. Since then, the RDA, Westside PAC and city have worked to improve the area’s infrastructure. In the late 1980s, the Westside industrial area finally received streetlights, gutters, paved roads and sidewalks. While redevelopment funds have dried up, the city and Westside PAC continue to work for infrastructure improvements.
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Mike Zupanovich, right, president of HD Industries, a division of Harbor Diesel & Equipment, Inc., poses with his service manager, Art Havens, at the company’s location within the Magnolia Industrial Group area at 537 W. Anaheim St. Zupanovich’s father, Jim, founded the company as in 1971 in San Pedro and moved the firm to Long Beach in 1974. The sales, parts and service company employs 50 people. For more information, call 562/591-2941 or visit www.harbordiesel.com.
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA 10 Long Beach Business Journal
August 13-26, 2013
Vice Mayor Robert Garcia, representing the 1st District that includes the area, said the Anaheim Street Improvement Project benefitting much of the area will soon be underway. Funded by the Port of Long Beach (POLB), the project includes repaving Anaheim Street from the Los Angeles River to 9th According to Bill Townsend, president of the Magnolia Industrial Group (MIG) Property and Business Improvement District, the trailer homes pictured here are Street. “It will be an entirely new a nuisance within the MIG area. People living within the trailers park them overnight in the area. “The police department is on it,” he said, adding that he believes Vice Mayor Robert Garcia’s 1st District office is working on resolving the problem through parking restrictions. street,” Garcia told the Business Journal, adding that sidewalk and “The Port of Long Beach and city Industrial Group (MIG) and president of the area, particularly along curb improvements are included. have been supportive,” he said. of Westside-based business HD Anaheim Street, is lack of access to “Some landscaping and beautifica- “Mayor Bob Foster has been very Industries, summed up the problem: high speed Internet. “A number of pro-business, as has our city man- “We are landlocked. We could grow Internet providers have not pulled tion will happen as well,” he said. the business, but we would need cable to this area, leaving us with Other city operations are also bene- ager, Pat West.” While Westside businesses’ most more property, which would mean fewer options,” Janocha explained. fitting the area. Stan Janocha, chief Phillips noted the same issue, as did operations officer at Superior basic infrastructure needs have been relocating.” Tony Rivera, chair of the Westside Greg Moore of Tell Steel. Electrical Advertising, said he is met, industry leaders in the area Other infrastructure issues, though pleased with the city’s graffiti indicated that they still face obsta- PAC, told the Business Journal that he removal services. “We used to have to cles to growing and maintaining has been working with several compa- not as rampant as they once were, connies looking to relocate from other tinue. According to Pat Cullen, presirepaint the front of our building all their business. Perhaps the most straightforward of cities to the Westside industrial area in dent of Dion & Sons, a project that the time, but they have stepped up these issues is that there simply isn’t Long Beach. “Some of the people began in the 1980s to install storm patrols,” he said. Daryl Phillips of Phillips Steel told any room to grow. Mike Zupanovich, want five or 10 acres, and we don’t drains and pumps to prevent flooding was never completed. Rivera the Business Journal that the city and treasurer of the property and business have it,” Rivera said. Another issue impacting a portion explained that the project had three port are positive forces in the area. improvement district Magnolia
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THE WESTSIDE INDUSTRIAL AREA August 13-26, 2013
Long Beach Business Journal 11
phases and was paid for with redevelopment funds. Phase three was never completed, he said, due to the loss of that funding. Crime and issues of vagrancy continue to be problematic to the greater Westside industrial area. Despite MIG’s private security efforts provided by Platt Security, Zupanovich still sees issues. “The big problem we have being next to the L.A. River is with transients in the neighborhood,” he said, noting that many homeless people sleep in the brush that has grown wild in the riverbed. “I have been a victim in this neighborhood before,” Zupanovich continued. “I have had a knife pulled on me. We have had things stolen. It all comes back to these transients that were in the area.” While crime rates have gotten better, Zupanovich said he worries that, if the brush continues to thicken in the riverbed, crime rates will worsen. From an economic standpoint, businesses cited the loss of the state enterprise zone (EZ) program last month as
a big blow. The EZ program enabled businesses that hired residents within that zone to receive tax credits. Hartmut Schroeder, president and CEO of Snugtop, which employs 200 people, said he regrets the loss of the EZ. “We have taken advantage of that, as you can imagine, by hiring local people,” he said. Moore also utilized the EZ program. “We get large enterprise zone credits. We have hired a lot of people from the EZ,” he said. The program also made his business eligible for tax breaks on certain equipment purchases. If the resiliency of so many familyowned, historic businesses from the early 1900s to date is any indication, the Westside will continue to survive and thrive as community groups like MIG and Westside PAC continue advocating for the needs of local business. As Phillips put it: “We are a strong community, a tightknit community, and we support each other.” ■
More Westside Industrial Area photographs on the back cover
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More People And Businesses From The Westside Industrial Area
TDI Signs fabricates signs for many retail, restaurant and hospitality businesses. Above, owner Art Rivas (right) with his son, Andrew Rivas, showing a sign for Tilly’s, a large chain retailer. The company is located 1419 Seabright Ave. For more information, visit www.tdisigns.com or call 562/436-5188.
John Wells, president of Cavanaugh Machine Works (CMW), Inc., visits the heavy machining and fabricating area at CMW. The company was founded in 1948 in Wilmington, and moved to the Westside industrial area in 1997. CMW’s primary location is at 1540 Santa Fe Ave., with a fabrication/welding division at 1500 W. 16th St. Call 562/437-1126 or visit www.cavmachine.com for more information.
According to Janet McCarthy, president and CEO of Goodwill Serving the People of Southern Los Angeles County (SOLAC), 61 percent of individuals served by Goodwill SOLAC’s job placement and training programs are based in the Long Beach area. The nonprofit organization offers industry-specific training at its Westside Long Beach headquarters with programs for home healthcare, certified nursing assistance and loss prevention training. “All of our curriculum is developed based on the needs of the business community and the requirements of the state,” she said of the programs. In addition to its work placement services and retail shops, Goodwill SOLAC also offers interpreting services in American Sign Language and 26 spoken languages through its division called LiNKS Sign Language & Interpreting Services. “The fact that we here in Long Beach, one of the most diverse cities in the nation, we have a lot of languages and a lot of people that need assistance.” When funding is available, Goodwill also provides classes in general educational development (GED), financial literacy and work skills training. By providing the community with access to these services, McCarthy said, “Our ultimate goal is to move people out of poverty.” McCarthy is pictured beside a portrait of Goodwill Industries founder, Edgar J. Helms. Goodwill SOLAC’s headquarters are located at 800 W. Pacific Coast Hwy. For more information, call 562/4357741 or visit www.goodwillsolac.org.
Nancy McCrabb (center), former president of Cowelco Steel Contractors, is pictured with her daughters Tracy McCrabb (right) and Tamery McCrabb, current president. Nancy McCrabb’s father founded Cowelco in 1947. The Westside business is located at 1634 W. 14th St. For more information, call 562/432-5766 or visit www.cowelco.com.
Superior Electrical Advertising, a custom electrical sign fabricator, was founded more than 40 years ago. The company is the preferred supplier for Disneyland’s electrical signage. At left is CEO Jim Sterk (left) and Chief Operations Officer Stan Janocha, as Superior Electrical Advertising photo they pose with a sign for one of their most recognizable customers, Starbucks. McDonald’s is another major client. Pictured above is Patti Skoglund, president of Superior Electrical Advertising, which employs more than 100 workers. The company is located at 1700 W. Anaheim St. For more information, call 562/495-3808 or visit www.superiorsigns.com.