onefifty two

Dec. 2014 Vol. 8, No. 1

with traditionLearning

Rehab city in Orange County

Art in a permanent form Orange Coast College

152 is put together by students in Orange Coast College’s Feature Writing class, Journalism 117. The class is open for enrollment in the spring.

THE STAFF

Maddie Marks Michael Alcaraz

Rian HinesShotaro Hifumi

Front and back cover photos by Camila Prisco Paraiso

Contents

2

4

6

8

10

Green cleaning

A Huntington Beach laundromat promises short wash

cycles, friendly service and clean machines — all

while operating on solar power. — Shotaro Hifumi

Coloring outside the lines

Local tattoo artist Melissa Daye went to college to

study art and ended up using her skills on the human

body rather than canvas. — Shotaro Hifumi

Note to self

One Orange Coast College student plans to transfer to

a historically black college next year, following a long

family tradition. — Rian Hines

Costa Mecca

The city became the salvation of one OCC student

— just like hundreds of others seeking a sober life in

Southern California. — Maddie Marks

A slice of happiness

A once shuttered but favorite Irvine pizzaria gets a

new ower and location while maintaining the old

recipe and exacting standards. — Michael Alcaraz

An author’s struggle

For one OCC student, writing a novel was the easy

part. He didn’t expect selling his book to be the

challenge of his life. — Michael Alcaraz

11

Melissa Daye of Agape Art Collective in Costa Mesa, works on a client during a recent session. The 32-year-old Daye has been a tattoo artist for close to a dozen years and said it is the perfect way to blend her interest in art and in people.

3December 2014one fifty two

For some, ink is a way of life.

Melissa Daye, 32, a tattoo artist

and a painter, works at Agape Art Collective, a tattoo shop located in an alley off Newport Boulevard and Broadway Street in Costa Mesa.

Daye only works there on Wednesdays and the weekends, but she says her appointments are full. Inside the tattoo parlor, customers can buy clothes, earrings, hats, art and more, in addition to getting tattooed or pierced.

“I thought it was a good way to make money as an artistic job. I wanted a job that was artistic but had been involved in computers and when I got into it 12 or 13 years ago, tattooing just seemed to be a good choice,” Daye said. “After I went to high school, I entered University of Arizona as an art major on scholarship and realized that all the jobs I like are in art, which I really wanted to do.”

Daye said that it was fortunate that her career started just before the tattoo business reality shows because the TV shows brought tattoos to the main stream.

“Now tattooing has become socially and culturally acceptable,” Daye said. “But I do worry about young kids who are showing their tattoos off. They don’t have their

career yet or their family yet. It makes them limit themselves. Maybe applicants don’t mind, but people doing interviews do mind. People are making quick decisions. I warn them if they want tattoos in visual parts, but that is the way I make money. Ultimately I have a family, and I have to feed them. I just do it,” she said.

Daye has been tattooing for just over 11 years and moved to Costa Mesa from Tucson two years ago after her husband got a job here.

Jake Mello, 29, Daye’s boss and the owner of Agape Art Collective, said that she is pleasant to work with. Every tattoo artist at Agape has a different style so that the customers have options about who is the right tattoo artist for them, he said.

“Her work is good. She likes to do stuff that is different than most of us. Each one does something different,” Mello said. “So her stuff is maybe what people are looking for more than what I would do or what somebody else would do.”

One of her co-workers, Nick Smithee, 30, a tattoo artist, also likes working with Daye.

“She’s a pretty awesome artist. She paints really well and tattoos really well,” Smithee said. “I have learned a lot from her.”

Daye said that there isn’t a problem of tattooing people

with diseases because she keeps her station clean and never reuses needles.

However, there are two big threats for tattoo artists.

“Hepatitis B is the most dangerous because it can live two weeks. If some blood gets on something and it is not cleaned, it is going to be a problem,” Daye said. “The second issue is staph infection. It is an infection which stays for life.”

Daye said she keeps her tools

clean and prepares for tattooing her customers.

Niki Trueb, 20, a Vanguard University student, came to Agape Art Collective to get a tattoo of the latitude and longitude of the African city where she volunteered, for her first tattoo with Daye.

“Your job is holding your position. Relax,” Daye told her as she sat on an operational chair.

Local tattoo artist Melissa Daye wanted to study art, but never thought aboutusing thehuman body as her canvas.

By Shotaro Hifumi

See ART Page 13

the linesoutsideColoring

Photos by Shotaro Hifumi

Melissa Daye has a steady hand as she works on a piece for a client at the Agape Art Collective in Costa Mesa.

Four years ago a high school freshman promised herself she would follow the women in her family in their educational tradition.

one fifty two4 December 2014

Note to selfBy Rian Hines

Photos courtesy of Grambling State University

Grambling State University is one of 104 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the nation.

On my wall, hanging above my bed, is a huge black poster

board with bold white writing where all my dreams, goals and future achievements are listed. In the center of the poster board is a glued half sheet of white computer paper that reads, “Ultimate achievement: One day graduating from an HBCU.”

HBCUs, more formally known as historically black

colleges and universities, are institutions established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community.

According to Hbcu.connect.com, there are 104 black colleges and universities in the United States with most of them located in the south.

There are seven schools not located in former slave states of the confederacy. These colleges are located in Washington, Detroit, Kansas, and two

schools are located in both Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Ever since I was about 8, I have been insanely obsessed with the idea of attending an HBCU. Graduating from an HBCU will be one of my most amazing accomplishments considering my family’s long history with the schools.

I remember in 2010 when I was starting ninth grade, I made a six-year plan after hearing my great grandma, my grandma, my

mom, aunts, uncles and cousins all tell me how great their HBCU experiences were.

The only thing I wrote on my plan was “I, Rian Hines, will attend an HBCU” and listed my top five college choices: Spelman College in Atlanta, Hamptons State University in Virginia, Louisiana State University in Louisiana, Howard State University in Washington and Xavier State University in Louisiana.

The first time I got really excited about attending an HBCU was my first summer back home after moving to California. I was 11 and my great grandma Gertrude Burns sat me on the kitchen floor with my older brother, along with some of my cousins, and told us so many great stories about how attending Lincoln University of Pennsylvania was the best time of her life.

“Going to school with people who are so much alike you yet so different at the same time makes for the best learning experience. You’ll get to hear the same stories from different people who lived them different from you,” she said.

Historically black colleges and universities have a separate ranking system from that of the Cal States and UCs. Keeping that in mind, just because they are ranked separately does not mean these schools are held at any lower standards than others.

“HBCUs are among some of the most prestigious schools and it is mind-boggling that some people still don’t even know they exist or how popular they are,” said Ronald Dorris, 57, an African American studies professor at Xavier State University.

My love for HBCUs began with my family, but it is so much more than that. I respect what the founders of these schools stood for and I love why they were created. The idea of a school specifically being made for my ethnic background excites me.

“Attending historically black colleges and universities is a very critical and very important part of my family’s history and I am so overjoyed for my daughter Rian to be following in my, and the ones who came before me’s, footsteps,” my mom Reva Hines said.

I have always been extremely enthused with the thought of going back to my home state of Louisiana and stepping foot on any one of those HBCU campuses, and looking around seeing people who all physically

appear as I do, racially speaking. I did my college tours down

south a few years back and it was an amazing experience. At every single school I visited, I felt this level of comfort that I had yet to feel in my visits with Cal States and UCs. I felt this unique sense of family — it was like a safe haven to me.

My aunt Rita Weary is a Southern State University alumna and she is the absolute

best person to go to when you are dealing with furthering your education at an HBCU because she has connections at almost every school imaginable.

“My sorority sisters and others that I met while attending Southern are all people that have become a part of my always growing family, and I think it is a blessing that I have sorority sisters working at schools all over the states of Louisiana and Texas because it has been so beneficial to all my nieces, nephews and grandkids,” Weary, 64, said.

Although most Historically Black Colleges and Universities are very diverse today, with some schools made up of up to 75 percent non-African-

American students as of the 2010-2011 school years, according to National Public Radio, I plan on attending a much less diverse school.

Starting with my great grandmother Gertrude, my family members attended historically black colleges and universities within the state of Louisiana and I don’t plan on breaking the tradition. In fall 2015, I plan on transferring to

Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana.

According to cappex.com, Grambling State was founded in 1901 as a public “colored industrial and agriculture school.”

Some HBCUs only require you to have a 2.5 GPA or higher, but the majority won’t accept anything lower than a 3.0.

While applying to HBCUs, if you have over a 1500 on the SAT or over an 18 on the ACT these schools will not base your acceptance on your completion of the A through G requirements.

According to www.lbusd.k12.ca.us, A through G requirements are a sequence of high school courses that students must

complete with a C or better to be minimally eligible for admissions.

When applying to HBCUs it is important to note that they do not take your typical personal statements. Toward the end of the application process there are five questions, and you choose which to write about in an in-depth essay. For HBCU admission officers it is important that you make it personal. This separates you from the numbers and draws their attention.

“I kid you not, a potential student’s essay is the most important, and I mean important, part of their application process because we get to see who they really are in the story,” Grambling State admissions counselor Lakesha N. Kidd, 42, said.

My essay was very personal to me and it was hard for me to write. I shared a very emotional part of my trying high school career. I wrote about how much of a failure I was when it came to math and I wrote about how disappointed I was in myself, but also how proud I was to be overcoming that obstacle and writing that essay so I could get in to these amazing colleges.

A lot of people tend to attend historically black colleges and universities because not only are they really good schools but they are less expensive than Cal States or UCs. According to www.uncf.org, a large population of the non-African American students attending these schools are going for the cost.

Cost was actually a big determining factor in my choice to attend Grambling because it is a less expensive university and being that I wasn’t awarded any financial aid money due to my family’s income, I needed to attend a school that wouldn’t be so costly.

I was fortunate enough to have visited 36 HBCUs and I was blessed enough to be accepted to 13 of the 14 I applied to, with six of those being on the spot acceptances.

5December 2014one fifty two

6 December 2014 one fifty two

At 6 a.m. on Feb. 20, 2014, I got out of the car and stood on the

icy ground in front of the half-lit American Airlines check-in desk at O’Hare International Airport in my hometown of Chicago, and looked at my exhausted, emotional mother.

“It’s 45 days. I’ll see you in 45 days,” I said to my parents, eyes foggy partly from my tears, partly from the bitter cold. It was the coldest winter Chicago had experienced since 1978-79. Everyone was miserable enough as it was.

I was being sent to rehabilitation in Tucson for drugs, alcohol and depression. I never thought in a million years this would be my story, but I was on a quick road to nowhere. I had no idea how my life was going to change, but I knew it needed to.

I messed up. After being expelled from high school for possession and distribution of

marijuana, I kept running with my party girl act.

I brought drugs and my F-you attitude with me to the University of Miami and was asked politely to leave the school. I transferred to the Univers i ty of Colorado, B o u l d e r and failed out. I went back to my h o m e t o w n trying to make peace with my past and lost the trust and respect of my family and friends. I spent more days than not hidden in my apartment bedroom watching the bustling city of Chicago move by me. Ignoring everyone, going days without even the slightest bit of energy to shower, I hit my bottom. I needed to recover.

Going to a rehabilitation center was embarrassing, heartbreaking for my parents and my only hope.

I was on a red eye flight to the treatment center only two days after I called my father and

a d m i t t e d I needed help. Upon a r r i v i n g , I was welcomed to recovery.

L i t t l e did I know, r e c o v e r y was more than a 45- day stay in

a rehabilitation center. By day 43, I was all squared away to check into a recovery home in Costa Mesa, as recommended by the treatment program to continue my care in the largest recovery community in the country.

In Tucson, I learned the tools

to dig myself out of the gutter. That was rehab. What I did not realize were the tools I still needed to learn and maintain to keep myself out of the gutter. That is recovery. I had never heard anything about Costa Mesa before and here I was relocating my life there as a commitment to recovery.

Within three hours of landing in Costa Mesa, on day 46 of my journey in recovery, I found myself at a young people’s Alcoholics Anonymous meeting six blocks from the Newport Beach Pier. Surrounded by seat after seat of mainly 20 year olds who had gone through what I went through, knew where I had been and now seemed happier and healthier than ever, I knew I was never going home. Costa Mesa was exactly where I needed to be.

“You know, I had been to rehab three times before this on the East Coast, but coming here

Costa Mecca

This Orange County city often brings new light to the lives of young people with dark pasts.

By Maddie Marks

“I spent more days than not hidden in my apartment bedroom watching the bustling city of Chicago move by me. Ignoring everyone, going

days without even the slightest bit of energy to shower, I hit bottom. I

needed to recover.”

7December 2014one fifty two

[Costa Mesa] was the first time I didn’t think about going home once I saw everything it had to offer. The beach, the community of young people, all of the things to do sober, I’m having a great time,” said Zack Hill, 31, who came to Costa Mesa nine months ago from New York City for recovery and is now living in a sober living home near Newport Beach.

There are 33 registered residential treatment facilities and 65 independent sober living homes in Costa Mesa, according to the OC Register, all catering to people recovering from addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The facilities and sober living homes are home to seven to 30 people depending on the number of bedrooms, allowing people across the country to receive treatment for their addiction for between 30 days to up to a year before the resident must move out and live on their own again, according to the OC Register.

While the homes have become a Mecca for those in recovery, the presence of the facilities and sober living homes have created controversy for Costa Mesa citizens who have no affiliation

with the recovery communityAccording to an interview

done by the OC Register, neighbors of the recovery homes have complained

that “quasi-hospitals” have taken over their community. Residents detest the noise, excessive cigarette smoking and the mere fact that unstable people live next door to them.

On the other side, two lawsuits were just filed in federal court by rehab centers alledging that the city of Costa Mesa discriminated against recovering addicts by writing legislation designed to drive them out of town.

Having spent the last five years in and out of different schools and rehab centers, I was

blown away by Costa Mesa. It wasn’t like anywhere else I had ever been. This community truly inspired me. It wasn’t a smoky A.A. meeting in the

back of a church full of people complaining about their lives like you see in the movies.

When I sat down at a meeting at an A.A. Clubhouse in Costa Mesa, the walls were painted bright colors with the names of people who contributed to the club. Everyone was socializing. People were talking about the great things they were doing with their lives today. No one was miserable.

The vibrant colors on the walls, the young people, the weather — these are the reasons Costa Mesa has become the

largest recovery community in the country. It is not about the treatment center, or the sober living home. Costa Mesa is about what comes after you are released from rehab.

It is about recovery.The fellowship, the lifestyle,

the support of others who have gone through what you have gone through, and the motivation to move forward is what I have found through my recovery journey in Costa Mesa.

Nine months clean and sober today, I am doing the best I have done in school since my elementary years. I work a part-time job for a huge southern California apparel and footwear company. I shower daily. I have the energy to live life today because I agreed to continue my recovery in Costa Mesa about seven months ago.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m on vacation all the time, which scares me. With the beach, and the young people, I feel like I’m waiting for life to come back and test my sobriety. But, this is my life today, and I’m sober,” Hill said. “Being in recovery isn’t a vacation for addicts like some people think it is out here. We just chose a better way of living that keeps us sane.”

8 December 2014 one fifty two

A slice of happiness

There’s new sheriffs in the manufactured city.

They have come to take over Northwood Pizza in Irvine’s Northwood after the area lost its favorite pizza place in 2011. The new overseers are fighting hard to restore Northwood Pizza to its former glory.

Northwood Pizza opened in 1981. It was known as a place where friends and family gathered to enjoy top quality pizza. But, in spring of 2011, new owners arrived with plans to establish a seafood restaurant. This news broke after the quality of pizza had diminished for some time, customers say.

Veteran employees were let go and locals lost their favorite hangout spot. The town grieved. A Facebook page called Save Northwood Pizza was created and it received more than 1,000 followers in less than 48 hours.

Gabe Schneider and Manny Moya saw a chance to buy Northwood Pizza and opened

a new version of the restaurant in a smaller building across the street from the original. The pair secured the funds needed to buy the name and rights to the original recipe and the brand started over.

“The hardest part about getting Northwood Pizza up and running besides the money was getting the permits

By Michael Alcaraz

Gabe Schneider (above) and Manny Moya re-opened Irvine’s beloved Northwood Pizza after it closed in spring 2011.

9December 2014one fifty two

signed off,” said Schneider, who had been an employee of the original restaurant for more than 10 years.

In the new location there would be no room for sporting teams to have banquets.

There would be no room for a pool table, arcade games, air hockey or a claw machine.

Nor would the new location be able to sell alcohol. But those things did not matter because the same pizza with the same historic recipe would be sold again to the community.

In fall of 2011, Northwood Pizza opened its doors to a small crowd waiting outside. It was a huge victory for everybody within the community, Moya said.

Some wonder what makes Northwood Pizza’s pizza so unique.

“We kept the same original recipe. And I guess this is a blessing in disguise, but since we don’t have the storage space we have to order new ingredients almost every other day so our pizzas have the freshest ingredients,” Moya said.

The company works with local family-owned vendors so the pizzas are consistent.

Every repeat customer knows what to expect, said the owners. The menu offers pizza, sandwiches, wings and salads.

“This is the best pizza in the world,” said a customer to Schneider as he picked up his pizza to go.

“Thank you so much. I really appreciate that,” he responded.

The consistent pizza is back and filling many stomachs, but Northwood Pizza’s ultimate vision is to knock down the walls of its neighbors so they

can offer a great atmosphere for the community to gather like back in the day.

For now, their six tables will have to do. They also partner up with many local schools to do fundraisers.

Moya mentioned that kids tell their parents how much they love the pizza, and then parents try the pizza and fall in love.

If you scroll through Yelp, you

will find some nasty reviews. But when looking at the date of the reviews, they were posted after the first ownership change.

During the Moya and Schneider era, there has been nothing but five star reviews.

“Gabe and Manny have returned to the original, delicious recipe and quality standards, and it shows,” said Rachel R among other good things on Yelp.

“On a given week we sell 500 to 600 pizzas,” said Moya with a smile on his face.

“This past Halloween we had a two and a half hour delivery wait. By the end of the night, we were turning down customers because we ran out of supplies,” Schneider said with a smile.

The demand outweighed the supply.

“Gabe and Manny have returned to the original delicious recipe and quality standards, and it shows.”

— Rachel R.Yelp reviewer

Photos by Michael Alcaraz

Gabe Schneider and his partner hope to expand Northwood Pizza and provide for in-house dining. The beloved Irvine eatery closed several years ago but re-opened thanks to Schneider.

one fifty twoDecember 201410

I have been out in the com-munity trying to promote my self-published book, “A Hollow Fight,” after

graduating from college. Since March, it has been available in e-book and paperback format. I was hoping to be retired by now. Profits were supposed to override start-up costs, yet I’m still in debt.

The struggle of being an au-thor is real. I have tried many tactical approaches. I’ve gone door-to-door in the summer heat and only went to houses that had cars in the driveway to better my odds of making a sale. A common problem faced was dog’s barking. Homeowners would quickly say, “No thanks” to stop the barking.

I posted flyers on college campuses. From my understand-ing, the flyers were taken down because the advertisements were not school related.

I spammed reading and writ-ing groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. Friends contacted me privately and told me to relax on the social media advertisements. I got banned from forums and flagged on Craigslist.

My grey Prius has car mag-nets. The driver and passenger door magnets feature the cover of the book and a slogan that says, “Hollywood has not heard

of this story.” On a smaller magnet, the two rear doors have the cover of the book and ahollowfight.com. Quite often I catch people looking at my car, but never see a spike in sales.

For every book I read, I do a YouTube review and each vid-eo post has a mini commercial featuring my book as the official sponsor. I even made a How to Self-Publish a Book Made Sim-ple video and used “A Hollow Fight” as the example. All my videos have barely any views.

My book has been read in the U.S. and in countries such as Canada, Europe, Brazil and Ire-land. Thousands of people have heard my elevator pitch, but less than 200 people have purchased the fictional story about a home-less teenager, turned savage, turned amateur boxer.

Last summer I lived in Port-land, Ore. I went to farmers mar-kets with a sign that read, “Hear about my book in one sentence?” Although I sounded needy like the absurd homeless population, I managed to attract about two new paperback readers for every hour that I worked. It’s truly amazing how many people don’t have time to hear one sentence. I signed every copy telling each customer that “My autograph’s not worth anything.”

This approach seemed like a

good idea to reach a new au-dience because I did not go through a traditional publisher.

“My first book was with a traditional publisher and they never promoted like they said they would. My second book sold about 50 copies. My third book was published under a pen name, that’s why it barely sold any copies,” said Heather Hobson on LinkedIn, a four-time published author. “I let Amazon and my publisher sell the books. I try to promote. I have done postcards and bookmarks in the past. I do have a blog.”

She rescues dogs and when people read her blog about dog rescuing, they learn that she is an author as well. I went the humanitarian route as well and donate five percent of profits to the O.C Rescue Mission. People don’t buy products,

they buy emotion. Selling books would be much

easier if our books could be found at a major retailer.

“Each store has limited shelf space. The best way to get a book into our store would be to contact corporate, but that can be a difficult process because Barnes & Noble is associated with 5- to 6-million different books,” a Barnes & Noble sales-man said.

Although it’s a great challenge competing with a million other books, Hobson and I both agree that we love the creative process of writing a book and the posi-tive feedback that slowly trickles our way.

Throughout this experience I’ve learned that being an author is hard work and that the odds of

An author’sstruggle

One writer’s story about trying to sell a self-published novel.

By Michael Alcaraz

See NOVEL Page 13

Image courtesy of Michael Alcaraz

If you’re looking for a place to get your clothes cleaner, faster and safer

than ever before, look no further than the Perfect Wash Express Laundry Center.

The laundromat is located in downtown Huntington Beach on 17th Street and Pecan Ave-nue between a bar and a Mexi-can restaurant.

It offers free Wi-Fi, charging stations, seating at tables, vend-ing machines and drop-off ser-vices. And, it’s a dog friendly place.

Princess, a little Chihua-hua-mix pooch, welcomes customers when they enter the facility.

Things are simple at the laundromat and customers don’t need to bring quarters because it uses a card system.

To use the washing machines and dryers, customers need to charge a card in advance with cash, debit or credit cards. Also, they need to have a card to use the customer-only restrooms.

“Most laundry owners who use a card system actually charge a deposit for the card because it is a noticeable cost, but I chose not to,” Daniel Sof-ranko, 35, the laundromat own-er said. “I figured out that cards are great for regulars. I thought it was stopping goodwill to

charge a deposit. If somebody loses the card, we can make a new one at the register. I ask for $2 to keep it smooth and every-one seems to be OK with that.”

Sofranko opened the laun-dromat last summer. Perfect Wash is his brand and he in-stalled 30 washing machines and 30 dryers which are all solar powered.

The machines are also green, with the drums made of an-ti-microbacterial surgical prod-ucts so it is OK to wash baby clothes even after someone washed their shoes in the same machine, Sofranko said.

Additionally, the facility has attendants who constantly ensure that it is clean.

Sofranko said he wants his customers to feel confident and he enjoys keeping the machines clean — so clothes are clean.

Loads of laundry will nor-mally be done within one hour or less since the washing machines are set to run for only 18 minutes.

If customers want them to go longer they can push the Super Wash button, which extends the time to 33 minutes and includes more water in the washing and rinse cycle.

The extra boost a l lows clothes to get really clean and not smell bad even though pet

hair and other smells were on them.

“In fact, a couple came in twice this week because unfor-tunately there was cat hair on their clothes,” Sofranko said. “But Super Wash is a perfect setting. We don’t need to use a crazy product on it.”

Sofranko said two-thirds of his customers are female and three-fourths of them come by themselves, so he makes sure customers feel safe all of the time.

He also worries about the

cleanliness of the facility, that machines are available for use at all times and that he keeps his prices low.

Standing in front of the laundromat, security guard Kamearn Kas, 38, shoos away skateboarders riding up and down the block. He works a four-hour shift at the building every day.

“Hello,” he shouts to them. “Sidewalk. Let’s go. Thank you.”

“I’m here to make sure kids are safe and the businesses are

11December 2014one fifty two

In Huntington Beach, one laundromat stands apart from the rest with its committment to the

enviroment and cleanliness.

Green cleaningBy Shotaro Hifumi

Photos by Shotaro Hifumi

Huntington Beach’s Perfect Wash Express Laundry Center uses solar-powered machines.

making money. That’s about it,” Kas said. “Making sure there is nobody stealing any-thing.”

Customers say they like Kas’ presence and the laun-dromat.

Abby Wittenborn, 27, a server who lives a couple of blocks away, said she has used Perfect Wash Express Laundry since it opened last year.

“I like it. It’s really clean. My clothes come out clean, and a lot of laundry places are really dirty and the machines are really old and it is just really helpful here,” Witten-born said. “It is nice that my boyfriend comes. We go to have lunch next door when I take my laundry in. I like it.”

Jessica Regan, 25, a bar-tender and a Cal State Domin-guez Hills student, said she was at the laundromat for the first time after driving to a nearby dog beach and seeing the facility many times.

“I love it. It is better than the other ones definitely,” Regan said. “My apartment takes 45 minutes for the washing ma-chines. It’s too long. I’m going to use it again. Definitely.”

Statistically, laundromats get business from locals — 85 to 88 percent of their customers come from within a mile, Sof-ranko said.

“But if you have a really nice store, you are going to be blown away by how far cus-tomers will come,” Sofranko said.

He added that several cus-tomers are within two or three miles and a few customers live in Garden Grove, but some have come from 60 miles away. Sofranko said he suspects some of these customers are coming down to the beach anyway.

The laundromat is four blocks from Pacific Coast Highway and 12 blocks from Main Street.

There are 18,000 people who live in apartments, multi-units complexes and houses within a mile, he said.

“We have something for everybody. The biggest part of

my customer base is from apart-ment laundries,” he said, adding that many apartment complexes have inadequate facilities.

“Four to six unit apartment complexes use one washer and dryer and get 10 to 15 loads of laundry in a day,” Sofranko said. “You are going to wait for neighbors to use them. Bring me 10. Bring me 30 loads. Knock it out in a few hours. When you are in the washer, in the dryer — 90

percent are done in an hour or less.”

Tonina Johnson, 51, the fa-cility’s full-time attendant, has been working at Perfect Wash since it opened.

She has been in the laundry business for 10 years and she was headhunted by Sofranko when he was just learning the laundry business and consider-ing getting into the industry.

“He listened to everything I told him. It is a pleasure to work with him — to be a part of what he’s doing,” Johnson said. “I be-lieve in his vision for this place and for the city, and we have a common philosophy of wanting to take care of the people in the community.”

They make sure to keep the machines clean and wipe away soap to help the machines last longer.

“I come here once a week. I think the owner is a good guy. He cares about the community, which I like. He keeps it really clean and brings in good peo-ple,” Jason Grace, 28, an Apple

account manager said. “I like to support local business and he has a good plan. It’s nice that there are more energy efficient machines that take less time, so it’s fun to come to.”

In terms of the environment, the washing machines only use one-third of the water per pound of laundry compared to standard 10-pound tumblers.

It doesn’t require as much water because it is so efficient.

Also, the laundromat has solar tubes for sun light so it doesn’t use electric lights.

Solar tube domes are connect-ed to a highlighted polished inte-rior tube defused to the bottom and it is used for electric light-ing, LED lighting for display cases and vending machines.

“In addition, I have a 120-gal-lon storage tank with no heating taking place but it is one of the most efficient water heaters anywhere,” Sofranko said. “Even the gas company rep-resentative said it is the most efficient water heater he had seen in his life.”

12 December 2014 one fifty two

“I come here once a week. I think the owner is a good guy. He cares about the community, which I like. He keeps it really clean and brings in good people.”

Jason Grace, 28, an Apple account manager

“Oh my God. OK. OK,” Trueb said.

“Deep breath,” Daye said with a smile.

Zzzt. Zzzt. Zzzt.“It hurts but bearable,” Trueb

said as Daye tattooed her right inside ankle. “I was so worried.”

The wound bled a little bit, but it faded away eventually. After she got her first tattoo, Trueb seemed really delighted.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so excited,” Trueb said. “It looks so good. That wasn’t what I expected. Oh my gosh, I did it. It looks so good. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.”

Daye explained how to treat Trueb’s fresh tattoo when she gets home.

“When you get home, give the tattoo a wash. Avoid soaking in a tub,” Daye said. “Wash really thoroughly. I recommend

Aquaphor to apply but you can use lotion too. Use them for two weeks, and wash the tattoo three to five times a day. Keep moisturizing. If it dries out, it is going to be really bad. Keep out of the sun, but showering is OK.”

Trueb went to Africa last summer for two months for an internship to teach English to both adults and children.

“My friend Britney brought me to get a tattoo here. She did it before,” Trueb said. “The time in Africa was very meaningful to me, so I decided to have this tattoo so not to forget the memory in Africa.”

After Trueb left, Daye cleaned her tools, the machines, ink and electronic parts and dumped the needle she used. Then she went to a computer room to get prepared for her next customer.

Thirty minutes later, another first timer Addie Zinone, 38, a

full-time mom and a non-profit organizer for Pro vs. GI Joe — which sets up video game competitions and workouts between athletes and troops all over the world — came in to get a three-inch tattoo of a cross on the back of her neck.

“To me, a cross is important. It is a symbol of who I am,” Zinone said. “And when I was in college, all my friends got tramp stamps. That was terrible. Now they are mothers, and they are removing those tattoos.”

Zinone’s husband Greg started getting tattoos at Agape Art Collective about two years ago after he met Daye. Now he has five tattoos and plans to get a huge bird tattoo on his shoulder and chest.

“Your job is holding your position,” Daye said.

“OK. Let’s get started,” Addie Zinone said.

Zzzt. Zzzt. Zzzt.

“How is it?”“It’s not bad at all.”Zzzt. Zzzt. Zzzt.Twenty minutes later, the

cross tattoo was complete with blue and white contrasts.

“Wow. I love it,” Addie Zinone said. “Thanks so much.”

Daye mentioned that her customers are one-third first timers and two-thirds repeaters.

Thomas Robertson, 28, a worker at an industrial technology company, decided to get tattoos again since he met Daye through his friend who brought him to the tattoo shop.

“She is great,” Robertson said. “Everyone that sees my tattoos loves her work.”

Robertson already has several tattoos from Daye, and he is now covering his old tattoos of a sun and a Sanskrit mark on his back with a huge intertwinement of a mermaid and an octopus.

ART: Melissa Daye, 32, found her calling in permanent art at Agape Art Collective.From Page 3

going mainstream are slim be-cause there are many struggling authors trying to achieve the same dream.

However, if I can bring joy to the five people who have reviewed my book, I certainly have done my job.

I thought the struggle would be writing the book, not selling it, but it turns out it wasn’t.

In September 2013 I took a novel writing class. I thought about great boxing films like “Rocky.” All I would need is two main characters: a coach and a fighter.

While on the notion of film, the concept behind the movie “Into the Wild” stuck with me — living one with nature tied to no constraints.

At this point, I thought I was going to write a novel about a wild savage turned amateur boxer. I wanted the readers to feel for the character and grow attached so I made Mike Crow

begin the story as a troubled and fat homeless teenager.

I pitched the idea to a class of 23 writers and everyone laughed. Internally I was the one laughing because all their ideas except maybe one or two bored me.

My fingers hit the keyboard. Characters turned into words. Words turned into sentences. Sentences became paragraphs. Paragraphs grew into pages.

That semester I submitted two chapters. We were only supposed to write 20 pages. I had the whole expedited story broken down into 25 pages, but reduced the font size to make it closer to the length requirement. The teacher loved the idea, gave me an A, and asked “What hap-pens next?”

It was rewarding to hear those words because a few semesters prior, my creative writing papers would get marked up with red pen by the same instructor.

During this time, I separated from my significant other after

two and a half years. With noth-ing to do anymore, I decided to hibernate and keep writing.

The story continued to grow. I became the protagonist,

Mike Crow. I pretended I was homeless and walked from Ir-vine to Newport Beach without eating or drinking.

At work I day dreamed about scenes. While walking the dog I pondered about scenes. While in my other classes I thought about scenes. I hung out in nature and thought about the things I heard and the things I saw.

When I went to the gym, I pre-tended that I was a boxer. Every day I wrote. I would go to Panera Bread during the afternoon and visit Denny’s late at night to work some more. I can’t say how many Arnold Palmers I drank.

I acquired an editor, who hap-pens to be a good friend.

I flew out to New York to meet with him and we looked through it one last time with a microscopic lens. “A Hollow Fight is a tour de force. That

kind of book that makes you think, ‘Whoopee, it’s good to be alive,’” said Ethan Chandler, editor of the novel.

I hired my cousin to create the cover. His idea would become the face of my book and would be used for all introductory advertising and press releases.

I stopped writing at 63,707 words. I purchased an ISBN number, got it copyrighted and submitted it for technical review. After the 156-page book was rejected a few times because of formatting issues, it was approved.

Some great things take time to develop. Speaking truthfully, I could be rich if I had a dollar for every time a stranger said, “That sounds like a movie.” Society is more passive than active.

People like to relax and watch movies. It seems that not a lot of people like to work and read.

Realistically the book just needs to fall into the right hands before it takes off. For now, my wishful thinking keeps me sane.

NOVEL: One new writer discovers selling his book is harder than writing it.

From Page 10

13December 2014one fifty two

one fifty twoA student publication

by members of OCC’s Journalism 115 class