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W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
November 2, 2009
Volume 38, Number 44
INSIDE
Party in the Office
The Comeback of Freshjive A Downtown-Based Clothing Line Tumbled off the Top of the Heap. Now Founder Rick Klotz Faces His Biggest Challenge Yet by AnnA Scott StAff writer
The L.A. Live theaters open.
2
A drop in area homelessness.
3
New memorial rises at El Pueblo.
6
Play 4th and Long Football and win prizes.
7
Celebrating the Chinese in Hollywood.
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A
decade ago, the clothing company Freshjive seemed poised to explode. The Downtown Los Angeles-based streetwear line, which had made its name in T-shirts featuring arresting graphics like Black Panthers logos and bright parodies of corporate touchstones like the orange Tide detergent bulls-eye, raked in $10 million a year in sales. Freshjive products were sought by large retailers, and in 2000 owner-designer Rick Klotz was even profiled, along with his then-best friend, American Apparel CEO Dov Charney, in a 6,000-word New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell titled “The Young Garmentos.” Klotz, according to the article, planned to grow his company threefold in the coming years. A lot has changed since then. American Apparel has grown into one of the nation’s most well known clothing companies, with more than 275 stores, $500 million in annual sales and a seemingly never-ending stream of news stories, only a fraction of them for its products. Meanwhile Freshjive, Klotz said during a recent visit to his headquarters on Olive Street at Pico Boulevard, today sells less than half what it did in 2000. In the past six years Klotz has weathered shrinking sales, personal disillusionment — to the point that he actually quit the business he founded — and family tragedy. When he finally returned, Freshjive’s finances, he said, were like “a jumbo jet about to crash.” Freshjive is no longer on the brink of disaster, generating about $4 million in annual purchases, but the label lacks the sales punch, visibility and swagger that it once boasted. Now Klotz is working on what, if successful, may be his greatest accomplishment yet — the comeback of Freshjive. Ironically, the crux of the effort involves selling clothes that do not say “Freshjive” anywhere, even on the label. see Freshjive, page 8
The Life and Times of the Sports Arena The Exposition Park Building Quietly Turns 50, and Keeps Up an Active Schedule by JAy bermAn contributing writer
A secret garden blooms again.
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19 CALENDAR LISTINGS 20 MAP 21 CLASSIFIEDS
photo by Gary Leonard
Rick Klotz is embarking on an effort to turn around Freshjive, the Downtown-based clothing company he founded 20 years ago. The brand, which once recorded $14 million in annual sales, now does about $4 million a year.
I
t’s been a long while since the Rolling Stones, The Who or Pink Floyd played the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Exposition Park, but Bruce Springsteen had two sold-out concerts there early this year, and you can’t do much better than that. The space age-styled landmark at Figueroa Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard marks its 50th year in business in 2009, but, like a film star reluctant to disclose his or her age, is observing the anniversary in quiet fashion. When asked if anything special is on the agenda to commemorate the halfcentury that has passed since then-Vice
President Richard Nixon dedicated the building on July 4, 1959, Jonathan Lee, marketing director for the Sports Arena and the neighboring Coliseum, said, “Not really.” The only indicator of that ceremony is a painting of Nixon and a plaque in the structure’s south foyer. Not that there hasn’t been plenty of celebrating along the way. The Sports Arena was the site of the 1960 Democratic National Convention at which Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate. It also was home to the Los Angeles Lakers from 1960 to 1967 — long before Kobe Bryant was born. see Sports Arena, page 5
photo by Gary Leonard
The Sports Arena in Exposition Park turned 50 this year. The building’s highlights include being the site of the 1960 Democratic National Convention, where Sen. John F. Kennedy was nominated as a candidate for president. At various times it was also the home of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings.
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles