Travelling the Dusty Trail:
S
uddenly, my body is immersed in frigid air and my nostrils fill with scents of wood, metal, and dust. The fluorescent lights turn on, and I follow Oliver Sanchez into the depths of his concrete workshop. He continues walking to station after station, turning on individual lamps, kickstarting a buzzing sound. The first desk immediately lights up, revealing a whole collection of knick-knacks, each carefully arranged against a wall, behind a huge metal contraption and stacks of paper. I see old and new movie posters, bobbleheads, art prints, stuffed animals, and a sled. Among all these, a sepia-toned west-
ern poster suddenly captures my attention as it effortlessly occupies three-quarters of the wall. I immediately recognize
the familiar face on the poster: The Lone Ranger.
By Elizabeth Miotke
Oliver Sanchez is the owner of Notaro’s Graphic Services Inc. in South City, also known as South San Francisco: the Industrial City. He makes prints and die-cuts for customers interested in paper products, such as business cards and wedding invitations. With the recent advancements and high necessity for technology in the twenty-first century, Oliver has been struggling to keep customers entering his doors. While San Francisco was at one time the largest printing hub East of the Mississippi, Oliver Sanchez owns one of the few companies that is still up and running, offering service to anyone in need. His wife, Adah Lee, reflects on the current state of the company by saying “there are a some handfuls of people that still appreciate him and the company he has.� (Lee). Currently, he works with his daughter,
Dawn Pulos, to help incorporate
ecute. “When learning became more
ing credit, because he already had a
more modern techniques into his
important, I found out I couldn’t
job lined up once school ended. This
business, with the hopes of satisfying
grasp what teachers were teaching
was his first introduction to paper
a wider range of potential custom-
me...I was pretty much a failure in
and die-cutting, although he started
ers. At the warehouse, Oliver gives
school because it wasn’t diagnosed
out operating a forklift. Ultimate-
his absolute one-hundred percent,
that I was hard at hearing”
ly, Oliver realized he didn’t want
but realizes that tasks shouldn’t be
(Sanchez). Oliver decided
taken home. During free time, he enjoys being with family,ooking with his wife, golfing, and watching the Niners play at any restaurant that has cable– the simple things make life worth living.
Growing up with hearing dif-
ficulties, junior high and high school
“I couldn’t grasp what teachers were teaching me...”
to work a forklift for the rest of his
- Sanchez
shop owned by Tom Notaro – Mr.
life, so he decided to look into the other available jobs at the company, particularly the ones that made the dies. As years passed, Oliver decided he wanted to start his own company and stumbled across a one-man Notaro.
was difficult because instructions
to pass on receiving a high school
Mr. Notaro’s shop was locat-
became important to follow and ex-
diploma after realizing he was miss-
ed in a little alley in downtown San
Francisco. Every Christmas, for four
banana split in a bowl, it made me
shaped in order to create the “banana
years, Oliver visited Mr. Notaro with
feel pretty good for a young guy who
split” outline. This paper process
an offer to buy the company, but every didn’t know anything six months
was brilliant, until most recently.
year, Oliver was thrown out until one
With the introduction of Evites
day, he received a call. It was from Mr. Notaro. The offer to buy the company finally came through – the only problem was Oliver didn’t have any money. He borrowed money from Mr. Notaro in order to buy the company. From that point on, the company’s name never changed. Notaro’s Graph-
“There is a future, not a big future, but more in a way of an art form.” - Sanchez
ic Services Inc. still exists in honor of
and E-mail, there is less demand for cards, letters, envelopes – paper products in general. Any service is practically available online with the click of a button. Birthday invitations were simply created in five minutes, at no cost, within the convenience of a home and computer. The delivery was almost instantaneous.
Tom Notaro.
Within the comfort of Oliver’s prior” (Sanchez). He created his first steel-reel die while working at Prewarehouse, I ask him about his very
larger audiences, Oliver shows no
first project – “It was the outline of a
mier Mounting and Cutting Co., his initial job in the industry.
This piece proved signif-
icance to Oliver’s life – he still remembers it as his very first creation, and could possibly be considered a piece of history in the book of Oliver Sanchez. It was a physical thing, an object that took up space. It was personalized: special metals had to be bent and
While Evites have gathered
rancor to the new method. “I think every art form has its place. To get a
letterpress invitation sent to me, it’s a
Colorado with an Oldsmobile – it
business or not” (Pulos). Today, Oli-
good thing. It’s a more personal item.
was yellow, you could see us coming
ver stands as the sole owner of Nota-
It took someone’s desire to have an
a mile away. I was fifteen and didn’t
ro’s Graphic Services, Inc. A man who
idea put down on a piece of paper”
have my license, but he let me drive.
submerged himself into the industry
(Sanchez). Although the need for
It was the craziest trip” (Pulos). Being
at the young age of seventeen still
paper products is decreasing, some
part of a large family, Oliver realizes
continues to pursue a lesser-known
objects are simply irreplaceable, such
a good relationship is key to main-
career that shaped his life as soon as
as a nice wedding invitation or busi-
taining peace and happiness. He is a
he finished high school, and sees no
ness cards. “People are always having
grandfather to eleven kids, a dad to
regrets looking back on his life and
parties, always getting married, so
six more, as well as a loving husband.
career choices. “I lived a wonderful
knowing that makes my day go good.
life, but I really owe a lot of my ability
There is a future, not a big future, but
when the Lone Ranger will decide to
to Mr. Notaro. Without him, I don’t
more in a way of an art form” (San-
head out on the dusty trail, back to
think I would have really been able to
chez).
his home. With the steady decline of a
be a successful person as I was, or that
need for printed paper products, Ol-
I am throughout this life” (Sanchez).
Aside from the daily commute
However, there is no telling
between Mountain View and his
iver plans to pass down the company
warehouse in South San Francisco,
to his daughter, Dawn. Dawn will in-
Oliver also enjoys time spent outside
troduce more modern techniques and
the workplace. Although Oliver San-
technologies to the company in an
chez may recently be struggling with
effort to kickstart the business once
the company, he most certainly does
again. The possibilities
not let it drag him down, especially
are now endless with
with the support of his family. “He
the computer’s role in
is always positive...always laughing,
the printing indus-
always trying to see the best of things”
try, which will
(Pulos).
ultimately
enhance
Sitting in his daughter’s
burgundy painted dining room, I ask
the quality of Notaro’s
Dawn Pulos how it was growing up
by using old-style
with Oliver as her father. With some
techniques, as well as
hesitation and a smile, she says, “he
keeping up with modern
loves to dance! He always asked me
demands. “He is fighting to
what the latest dance move was. His
keep the doors open and is prob-
favorite song was ‘Baby Got Back’”
ably one of the strongest fighters
(Pulos). Dawn also mentions a road
in the paper business, because his
trip Oliver took her on. “We went to
doors are still open, regardless of