The muscles of his business ripple with prestige and influence, though. This isn’t the 50-Cent Razor Strap Sharpening Parlor. Eponymous, you should know, is a far kinder term than what I have heard used around City Hall to describe the harried, frustrated, embattled, under-siege owner. For those persons out there in Newspaperland who are as unlettered as I, eponymous means a person or object who is so well-known that he or it becomes a lower-case euphemism. When ordering a soda, many people will offhandedly ask for a “coke.” For years, “coke” no longer has necessarily referred specifically to Coca-Cola.
Follow Surfas Across the Globe
Mr. Surfas’ diversified company routinely conducts business nationally and internationally, taking his Culver City identity around the globe. This is not an insignificant achievement. I am not yet convinced City Hall attaches any kind of prideful value to the attainments of Mr. Surfas’ business. Maybe such a sentiment, such a concern, is buried deep in the crevices of the hearts of the denizens of City Hall. But when your legacy is my marital resume, you should have stopped trying to interpret the misty inscriptions etched on hearts decades ago.
Advice at No Additional Charge
Former City Councilman Steve Gourley told me the other day that City Hall should hold Mr. Surfas’ hand. He said the Hall should reassure Mr. Surfas that he and his enterprise are crucial to Culver City. Then they should do something practical, like replace his soon-to-vanish adjacent warehouse. (We shall deal shortly with Mr. Gourley’s essay at the top of the page.) To this point, my sources say that only Mrs. Surfas has held Mr. Surfas’ hand, right or left, daytime or night-time. The message is uncomplicated: Appreciate what a gem of commerce is in our midst because every sign says it is going to leave Culver City.
Appreciate the Other Side, Too
Summoning the accumulation of 20 years of collected wisdom from inside of City Hall, Mr. Gourley says, See how the Redevelopment Agency has transformed Culver City into a handsome, much-admired community. At, I ask, what price? It is commendable that dozens of wonderful institutions have opened here, mainly or only because of the diligence, the vision, the imagination, the shrewdness and possibly the negotiating acumen of the Redevelopment Agency. But how many bodies of former businesses are lying in the path to glory that the celebrated businesses trod? I do not know the historical answer — it may be none. When the whole community comes together for three days, starting at 6 on Friday evening, to celebrate Fiesta La Ballona at Vets Park, Mr. Surfas will not be in a celebratory mood. If he sounds grumpy, it is because he will be preparing to become either the first victim in the history of the Redevelopment Agency or the newest, most pained victim.
