7:00am | Aside from some arts coverage for Sander Wolff’s LongBeachCulture.org, my first bit of Long Beach journalism was a September 2006 piece I did for the Gazettes newspapers on H. Maxie “Max” Viltz and Village Treasures, her gift shop/boutique/gallery featuring authentic African and world imports.
At the time Max was in the process of opening a satellite location in the Queen Mary Seawalk to complement her home base in the East Village Arts District. In the ensuing half-decade much has happened (the nationwide economic crisis)—and not happened (the East Village has yet to cash in on its obvious potential)—and so this seemed like a good time to check in on one of the East Village’s true mainstays.
When I catch up with Max, the satellite location is long gone. “The timing was wrong,” she says, pointing to the bankruptcy struggles of the Queen Mary‘s then-operator, Seaport Development, Inc., in light of which “[no]o one was willing to put any real money out there to help bring in other businesses.”
She reports that even though the Seawalk was offering a good rental rate, potential businesses were reluctant to come onboard because of the sparseness foot traffic. “And they were right,” she laments. Soon the Seawalk location became a drain on her East Village store, and she was forced to close up shop there within a year.
Near the end of 2007 Max began really to feel the downturn in economy, a feeling that didn’t go away. “2009 was the worst,” she says.
In 2010 things began to pick up a bit for Village Treasures, but, in a story that echoes in spirit so many others I’ve heard from East Village businesses regarding treatment at the hands of landlords, unfortunate choices by the Lafayette Association of Homeowners (LAOH) helped torpedo her hopes of a prosperous holiday season.
“They told me they were going to have the building painted,” she says, recalling the skepticism she felt toward the LAOH’s claims when scaffolding went up late October/early November that the painting project would take a only couple of weeks. That skepticism was proven warranted when the scaffolding remained up through the middle of December.
Adding to her difficulties was that the lettering spelling out the name of Village Treasures was temporarily removed—and has yet to be replaced. “It was really challenging to do business,” she says. “[The LAOH] just really impeded my ability to get people in here. […] I was like, ‘Do you really think that’s fair?’ They said, ‘Well, we want to do what’s best for the building.’ But in the meantime new people passing by have no idea what the name of the business is.”
As if this wasn’t trial enough, Max says that when the LAOH told her they were going to redo her upper windows, they agreed to accommodate her by doing the work on a Monday and Tuesday, when she’s closed—but instead did the work on a Friday and Saturday, work that necessitated covering much of her merchandise in plastic.
That particular weekend happened to coincide with a walking tour of about 25 people coming through the East Village. “I could see people looking through the window trying to figure out what this business was,” Max recalls. “I’m sure [the Lafayette building] will be nicer, but have some consideration for the businesses. […] It’s been really tough, you know? You think you’re going to make a little bit extra during the holidays, but it was one of the worst months of the year.”
Max’s inquiry as to whether the LAOH would compensate her for the various inconveniences that hindered her holiday business was met with more than a “no”: they picked just this time to increase Village Treasures’s rent. When Max inquired of Phil Appleby (who put together the new lease for the LAOH) as to how the new rental figure was determined, Max says he told her the LAOH wanted “fair market value.” But when she asked what business district he had used as a comparison to the East Village, “He couldn’t tell me—’cause there isn’t anything, you know?”
To state the obvious, that the East Village has not been successful in upping its visibility hasn’t made things any easier for Village Treasures. “It’s just not a foot-traffic area,” she says. “And because of her the nature my inventory, I have to constantly bring in customers from other areas.”
It is partly for this reason that Max is transitioning into adding women’s apparel—not only African, but also contemporary Western styles—to what Village Treasures has to offer. “It’s a market that’s always there,” she says. “Women are always going to be buying clothing and accessories. […] I’m hoping it will be something that helps support the art part of the business.”
Max worries, though, that having so little art in East Village Arts District may be turning the area’s name into a partial misnomer. “Because so many businesses have left—particularly galleries—people go, ‘Where are the other businesses? Where are the galleries?’ They get disappointed because it’s not what they expect to see when they come here. A woman was in here today, and she said, ‘Someone told me there were galleries here.'”
Max also has misgivings about how the East Village’s traditional Second Saturday art walk has changed in recent years, noting that more vendors doesn’t necessarily mean more art. “I don’t want to talk bad about what anyone is doing,” she says, “but people shouldn’t just be able to go buy stuff and sell it; it should all be handmade. […] For me [Second Saturday] was always good, because at least it brought out a lot of people who [otherwise] may not have come specifically to Village Treasures, and they would discover it and maybe come back another night. It had been my best night because of [sheer] numbers. Not anymore.”
Some of the best news Max has received in the last five years hasn’t had anything to do with Village Treasures. In particular of late is that—as if she didn’t have enough on her plate, what with running her own business, the African Cultural Center (which she co-founded in 1988), and serving on the board of Arts Council for Long Beach (where she serves on the allocations and is vice-president of committee of organizational planning)—she was hired to take over promotions and marketing for Sea Bird Jazz Lounge, the space connected to Roscoe’s Chicken ‘n’ Waffles at 730 E. Broadway Ave. “We’re trying to bring traditional jazz back to Long Beach,” she says.
To make room for the women’s apparel, Village Treasures will begin an inventory-reduction sale sometime in February. “It’s kind of exciting transitioning into something that will bring in a whole different sort of market,” she says of her new venture. “And perhaps those new people will discover some of the other things that are here.”
It is typical of Max to look positively toward the future, even in the midst of present struggles. “Things are not particularly good, but I can’t dwell there,” she says with a smile. “I just have to take the steps to make it better. It’s all about being positive, and putting your energy into something you really want.”
Even if the lettering isn’t up, Village Treasures is still at 146 Linden Ave. (on the northeast corner of Linden/Broadway), 14 years and counting. Phone: 562.435.3110. Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m, Sunday noon to 5 p.m. (Monday and Tuesday by appointment only.)
Footnotes
1We’re going to eschew the journalistic convention of using the story subject’s surname. Max is almost too personable for that, and she is known only as “Max” around town, and that is that.