Business Review – February 2007

Napa Valley Marketplace Magazine Business Review February 2007.

Byron’s Auto Body
By Julie Gordon

Often when someone has been involved in a car accident, his or her insurance company will pay only part of what it costs to do a quality repair. Enter Byron Orris. The owner of Byron’s Auto Body in Napa, Orris says he tries to fight for customers’ rights when he works with insurance companies.
“The customer should never have to pay the difference to have their car repaired right,” says Orris, who has been in the auto repair industry for 35 years. “It’s not legal. The insurance company should do the right thing.”

Byron’s, at 906 Enterprise Way, has served the collision repair needs of Napa Valley for 27 years. Some common jobs include alignment, suspension work, air conditioning repair and mechanical repair. Byron’s also has a contract with Ian Cordle, owner of Dent Solution, to do paintless dent repair. Orris says his business works on all makes and models. The length of time it takes to repair a car depends on the type and severity of damage, points out Orris. He says most cars can be repaired in 10 days. If you get brand new parts, the repair will go more quickly whereas if you order used parts or parts that are cheap, it’s going to take longer, says Orris. He estimates his shop repairs 120 cars per month.

Customers who bring their vehicles to Byron’s for repair are leaving it in experienced hands: The average technician has been with Byron’s for 10 years, says Orris. One technician has been with the business for 24 years. All of the technicians are Lexis, Toyota and GMC certified. Mechanics are certified in air conditioning and suspension.

Byron’s has been I-CAR certified for about 12 years, says Orris. In order to receive the certification, employees have to take a class, undergo training and be tested on their welding, electrical and framing skills. I-CAR certification assures that Byron’s keeps up with industry standards.

It’s a family affair at Byron’s: Orris’ wife, Pam, handles payroll, accounting and office staff. “When you send her a bill, it’s paid immediately,” says Orris.

Mercedes Miller first came to Byron’s in 2001 after her son had been in a car accident. Over the years, Byron’s has fixed not only her son’s cars, but also her daughters’ cars and her own cars. She likes the service and quality of work that is done, she explains. “Whenever you call, you can always find someone who knows what point of repair your vehicle is in,” she explains. “The detail work is perfect. It’s like it’s come right from the factory.”

The Miller family hasn’t gone anywhere but Byron’s for auto repair since they’ve lived in Napa. “That’s because of the quality of work,” says Miller. “We wouldn’t trust our vehicles to anyone but Byron’s. We wouldn’t go anywhere else. We’re die-hard customers.”

Jim Lee has been a customer of Byron’s since it opened. He had his Honda repaired there after he was rear-ended on the I-80 freeway, and his wife had a door and rear fender on her Acura repaired as well. “Byron’s has always done a good job, and you can’t tell where the damage was and what it was,” explains Lee. “You usually don’t have to come back. They have friendly staff. They keep you informed. I’m happy with the quality of work.”

Orris launched Byron’s in 1980. Prior to opening his own car repair business, he worked for Jenson Motors in Napa and a dealership in East Oakland. Orris doesn’t actually repair cars himself; he leaves that to his technicians. Instead, he spends his days writing estimates, handling public relations and working with insurance companies.

“Insurance companies do not intimidate me,” he says.

http://www.napavalleymarketplace.com

Restaurant Review – February 2007

Napa Valley Marketplace Magazine Restaurant Review February 2007

Filippi’s
By “The Elusive Epicurean”

This is one girl in need of a budget. My parents first realized they’d created a monster when, in college, I took them to my favorite French bistro. The host knew me by name. As did our waiter. He sent us free desert.

In theory, I am still paying for that meal. Like the mythic Amish Bread Starter, which can be kept limping along indefinitely with periodic sugar infusions, there’s been a festering balance on my credit card ever since. So it is always nice to discover a restaurant where the menu is both kind to my pocketbook and yummy to my tummy. Filippi’s Pizza Grotto is such a place.

Complete with candles, checkered table cloths, and a sea of twine-wrapped wine bottles hanging from the ceiling, Filippi’s serves up traditional Italian fare in a casual and family friendly environment.

Tired of cooking for your brood? Head to Filippi’s. (The children’s menu has spaghetti, ravioli, and lasagna, and prices range from $4.95 to $6.05). Bring the kids, Uncle George, grandma, and Aunt Patty’s best friend’s second cousin’s pool boy, because you won’t break the bank, and, with a menu that includes pizza, sandwiches, veal scaloppini, macaroni, manicotti, and more, they’re all bound to find something they crave.

Taking your girl to the movies, and want to make a night of it? Head to Filippi’s. You don’t have to dress up extra special, and a proper meal really is so much better than a bucket of popcorn, don’t you think? Better yet, if you schedule your date Sunday through Thursday, you can take advantage of Filippi’s “The Feast” special, which includes a 10” pizza, Italian roll, two salads, and two spaghetti/lasagna combos for the – drum roll, please – unbelievably low price of $19.95. I feel like I’m hosting an infomercial!

Alas, I was not on a date, but I did have properly starved dining companions. Since I could afford it, I invited not one, but two of my coworkers to share in the Filippi’s dining experience. One of them, we’ll call her K, asked if I was going to write anything embarrassing about her. Well, of course not. Who does she think I am?

And then it was time to order and K gave me no choice. She ordered a cup of Minestrone ($3.25) and . . . a meatball. A meatball. Singular. One meatball. If you don’t want me to portray you as odd, you really shouldn’t act like a complete loon. At least that’s what I was thinking until the meatball actually arrived. It was massive. Others have likened it to a baseball. If we’d had the foresight to bring calipers, we’d have wagered on its size. It had to have been at least 4 inches round.

K’s Minestrone was chock full of vegetables. I’d been told that everything at Filippi’s was made there, using the freshest ingredients, and after seeing the Minestrone I believed it. I know what I’m doing the next time I have a cold: getting some takeaway Minestrone.

Coworker L had Cheese Ravioli with Marinara Sauce ($7.25), and you could have fed two off of the plate that came out. I had the Fettuccini with Chicken and Artichokes ($12.95 a la carte / $14.95 meal). The Fettuccini was creamy and satisfying, and there was such a shocking amount of chicken that I’m pretending this was a carb free meal. Allow me my little delusions.

So the next time you’re thinking about feeding your family something from the drive through, think twice. Feed them a real meal at Filippi’s. Oh, and what’s for lunch tomorrow? You guessed it. Leftovers. Yum.

 

http://www.napavalleymarketplace.com

History Article – February 2007

Napa Valley Marketplace Magazine History Article February 2007.

Depression Stories:
By Lauren Coodley

As California’s agricultural revenues plunged by $400 million between l929 and l932, its rural areas became poverty stricken. Two of the state’s chief products-tourism and specialty crops-made California particularly vulnerable. In the Thirties, life expectancy was 58 for men and 62 for women, the average salary was $1368 per year, unemployment was 25%, milk cost l4 cents a quart and bread, 9 cents a loaf.

The story of Napa in the Depression has yet to be thoroughly told. Recently, I found a fascinating article written by Rita Bordwell about that era. Bordwell recalled: “A friend of mine, a member of a union, rang me up one day and asked me if I would be interested in a position as secretary to the new business manager that the Central Labor and Building Trades expected to hire. He took me to the Labor Temple to meet them: Otis Brown, Carpenters; Earl McCall, Laborers; Earl Mack, Painters, Will O’Keefe, Plumbers, Will Gellinger, Lathers; Bob Findley, Electricians; and Washington Mannering, Garment Workers.”

In l938, this group hired George Bobst, who had been a labor leader in both San Francisco and Vallejo, as its business manager. Bordwell recalled that the first union office was on Pearl Street, in back of the Napa City Bakery. Bobst realized that they needed larger quarters. He surveyed the town and found the Prohibition Hall at Main and Vallejo Streets. The Carpenters Union, who had the most funds at the time, purchased it, and later on the other unions paid their share.

Napa was full of jobless men and women. Bordwell explains: “Mr. Bobst operated an apprentice school at night to assist the unskilled workers. He spent most of the time in the field, contacting employers and employees, looking for work…The unions were unable to hire more office help, so often Mr. Bobst and I came back to the office in the evenings and on weekends. Often we had to wait for our paychecks.”

What were Rita Bordwell’s origins? Where was she educated? Was she married, and to whom? I know her only through her published article. She wrote: “I will admit the local boys did try to keep their workers busy, Sawyer Tannery, the prune plants and fruit sheds…but the waiting room in the Labor Temple was filled with unemployed men and women…John Steinbeck, when he wrote Grapes of Wrath, must have met some who came to Napa in broken down machines wired together, and in trucks with undernourished and sick little children. Mr. Bobst went to the Red Cross and begged funds and his wife Flossie made baby layettes for them.

“Mrs. Otterson (the longtime Fire Chief’s wife) had a kettle of beans and stew on the stove all the time to help feed those unfortunates. Union men’s wives donated blankets and Mr. Bobst put cots in his rumpus room; other families camped in tents on jobsites. Work was so scarce and we had so many unemployed workers that we had to divide the work, giving each two days and Mr. Bobst would say, ‘Well that will give them bread.’”

John Steinbeck himself described a typical diet in good times as beans, baking powder biscuits, jam, coffee, and in bad, dandelion greens and boiled potatoes. He created numerous fictional characters that experienced the Depression, yet for me, the real-life Rita Bordwell continues to fascinate. What I know about her is based on Nancy Brennan’s research.

Brennan wrote: “If there was a major effort required for anything in Napa, it was likely someone would suggest ‘asking Rita’ for help and most likely received it.”

Bordwell was secretary of the Napa Labor Temple for a decade, Fire Department historian, life-long member of the First United Methodist Church, and member of Order of Eastern Star, Keystone Chapter. If anyone has photographs or specific memories of Rita Bordwell, please send them to me so I can include her more thoroughly in our history.

Another Napan who interests me is Wash Mannering. Like so many people, I first met him as an obituary. I read that he quit his job as a fabric worker at Cameron Shirt to open the Fitch Grocery Store, which he operated with his wife at the corner of Oak and Seymour, the corner where I pushed my daughter in a baby carriage. Mannering, I learned, had been a member of the Garment Workers Union, as well as Secretary and President of the Napa Labor Council. He was a member of the State Grange. He and his wife worked at the monthly pancake breakfasts at the Grange Hall on Hagen Road.

The lives of working people have been little preserved in the historical record. Howard Zinn, son of immigrant parents, wrote: “I saw what hadn’t been told about labor history, what magnificent events had taken place, what struggles people had gone through, what sacrifices, what risks, what courage had been shown, what had been demonstrated about the possibilities of what human beings can do once they get together.”

Rita Bordwell, in the Sixties, tried to describe the feeling of living in Napa during the Depression, and by her words, she created a piece of what historians like Zinn call labor history. Wash Mannering’s story was told only in his obituary and leaves us wanting more details about his life. My work as a college history teacher has been to help students tell the stories of their own families, so that these people, and the events they witnessed, do not go unrecorded. As George Orwell continues to remind us: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

Rita Bordwell, “Napa County Labor Movement was Born of Depression,” Napa Register, March 30, l963.
Nancy Brennan, Napa County Historical Society, “This Was Napa,” Spring, 1998.
George Orwell, l984.
John Steinbeck pamphlet “Their Blood is Strong,” l938
Howard Zinn, Failure to Quit, 1993.

Lauren Coodley’s Napa: the Transformation of an American Town, will be published in 2007 in a new edition with additional text and photographs. She can be reached at lcoodley@napavalley.edu.

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