The Art of Window Shopping

Strolling down Swarthmore Avenue, between Monument and Sunset, you might have noticed two trends: one alarming and one eye-catching.

The alarming trend: Businesses have been drying up, left and right, shuttering and leaving what was once an active cross-section of commercial activity. In just a few short years, The Prince's Table, A La Tarte, Roy Robbins, Wells Fargo, and, more recently, The Village Pantry, The Oak Room, and very nearly, Village Books. (Dante Palisades is currently planning an exit strategy as well.)

As for the eye-catching part: A pair of dormant storefronts has been decorated with the art of students from neighboring schools.

Witness on one side, near 1029 Swarthmore Ave., the windows that once showed off A La Tarte's offerings are now papered with colorful drawings from Palisades Elementary School kids. Meanwhile across the street, at 1030 Swarthmore, the photographs created by Palisades Charter High School photography pupils.

Shepherding the storefront display next door to Mayberry is Rick Steil, the popular PaliHi photography teacher who recently led a drive for new photography equipment and who in December garnered a $2,637.95 budget for more loaner cameras and a more sophisticated camera and a waterproof case, half of which will be paid for by the school’s Booster Club. At PaliHi, Steil, a freelance photographer with a quarter of a century experience, teaches 27 advanced students and 105 beginning pupils. He also runs the yearbook program of 25 students.

Steil, a graduate of the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, lives in the Alphabet streets with his wife Nicole and their two sons and has been teaching at PaliHi since 2008. After 25 years traveling the world, Steil has been sharing his expertise with Palisades High students and looking to expand the photography program there. 

Steil told Pacific Palisades Patch that it was Denise Martinez, manager of Swarthmore clothing store BOCA Woman, who led the charge to enlist schools to paper the storefronts with student art back in November.

"She knew of different people and organized the whole thing," he said.

Steil had no problem finding the artwork to fill the space. The problem was narrowing it down.

"Some of the work was from this year, some last year from a show at [the Palisades Branch Library]," he said. “It was kind of last minute. “I had a bunch of pieces of stuff I mounted. That’s something I really enjoy: getting our students work more visible.”

The photos are a mix of self-portraits, sensitive portraits, animals and landscapes.

Steil believes that this display of creativity from PaliHi's students will go a good way in bringing the teens some positive PR. He believes his school has, in recent years, received “a bad rap for noise and what not."

Meanwhile, Pali Elementary parent Alicia Wagner curated the show across the street from Steil's. The theme for Palisades Elementary’s kids was "What We Are Thankful For,” seeing that it was hung Thanksgiving week. As surely as some good soup might accompany a Thanksgiving dinner, the Pali El children also indulged in some good old fashioned Pop Art—Andy Warhol style—by illustrating their version of the Campbell's Soup can. The attractive images have garnered these kids more than a mere 15 minutes of fame around this community.

“I was approached by Denise Martinez to help coordinate with [Palisades Elementary Principal] Joan Ingle to get the students to create pictures for the empty storefronts in the Village, which were a bit depressing, especially as the holidays were just around the corner," Wagner said.

Her own Pali Elementary fourth-grader, age 9, contributed a drawing to the display.

“My daughter, Lily Wagner, was so proud to see her picture on the A La Tarte window brightening up the abandoned restaurant,” Wagner said. "She drew a picture of her and her friends."

Café Vida is next on Steil’s list. “We’re supposedly putting up in June; there could be a cancellation earlier,” he said, noting that one of the owners of the cafe had seen the storefront exhibit. “They contacted me from that show. I had the niece of one of the owners, she was a student.” A show at Mogan’s Café is also being talked about, he said.

Steil said that the show's run was originally intended to be shorter. He is pleased that the exhibit has continued indefinitely.

“It’s still up. It was supposed to come down after Christmas,” he said. “It looks better than having empty storefront."