New Product
Nomadix
www.nomadix.co
Nomadix LLC offers quality, sustainable towels for indoor and outdoor activities. Their main product includes a multi-purpose travel towel that can be used for going to the beach, camping in the woods or doing yoga. Large or small, all towel products are considered “super absorbent,” antimicrobial and slip-resistant as well as made up of certified recycled materials. The company has been making the towels for about 18 months.
“We launched this business out of necessity,” said company co-founder Chance Petersen. “Living in San Clemente, we do a lot of yoga and surfing as well as weekend trips to Palm Springs and Mammoth. We noticed we had a different towel for all of those activities. Most notably, our beach towel wasn’t very good for the beach. Those cotton terry towels collect sand, don’t dry quickly and get stinky. We also noticed how Stance, a San Clemente-based company, had turned something as simple as a sock into a strong business. We thought maybe there was room for towels under a similar model.”
The company’s founder further said that environmental suitability and product simplicity makes their own towel products unique in the market.
25 Years of Digital Photo Archiving
ZUMA Press
408 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente, CA 92672
949.481.3747
www.zumapress.com
By Duane Paul Murphy
Located near the historic downtown section of San Clemente lies the home of the world’s first digital agency for photography. Founded in 1993 and incorporated in 1995, Zuma Press Media Group represents more than 2,000 professional photographers and photojournalists directly, produces more than 40 million live images and uploads more than 21,000 photographic images daily from all over the world. The 25-year-old company, once originally based in Laguna Beach between 1993 and 2008, also provides images for various news and media agencies such as The Sacramento Bee, The Palm Beach Post in Florida, The Toronto Star in Canada, The Daily Mail in Great Britain, the London Evening Standard and the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
Scott Mc Kiernan, CEO and founder of ZUMA Press, created the first downloadable editorial picture website in 1992 after his own experiences as a war photographer during the Balkan Conflicts where the United States government created a digital bulletin board to log in military tanks in former Yugoslavia.
The name of the photographer-run company originated from Mc Kiernan’s black Labrador retriever’s name, which roughly means “new day” in the Mayan language. As a mentor to Michael Evans, President Ronald Reagan’s personal photographer, Mc Kiernan also assisted with captioning photographs of presidents within the archives.
“We do stories that need to be told,” said Mc Kiernan regarding his company’s mission. “Stories that need to be told are stories that are important and small issues that are critical to those who are involved.”
Mc Kiernan said he believes one picture can tell a whole story when conveying a message or representing an issue. Issues such as poverty and natural resources have been represented in the company’s portfolio from nearly every country in the world.
When asked about how social media impacts his business and profession, Mc Kiernan sees both positives and negatives of the platform. He said that producing good photographs can further generate content in an instant, but he also warned about doctored images and other forms of deceptive editing.
“If content is king, then visuals are your queen,” Mc Kiernan said.
Mc Kiernan also recommended various schools with strong visual arts programs for those who want to study photography or photojournalism as well as studying the works of various photographers at local museums, online portfolios and art galleries. However, he also indicates that improvements in mobile technology in the near future can further enhance respect for both the art form and the profession.
ZUMA Press Media Group properties include zReportage.com, Doubletruck Magazine, The Pictures of the Day and The KONA Gallery.
New Ownership
The Pier Grill
615 Avenida Victoria
San Clemente, CA 92672
949.498.2247
Facebook: @piershackandgrill
San Clemente Times
After a series of intermittent closures and re-openings of the Pier Shack and Grill, new owner Scott Shipley has revamped the cozy eatery with a refurbished menu and items made by local vendors.
Now named The Pier Grill, the business opened for regular hours about eight weeks ago. Shipley had to go through a lengthy process to get the agreement with the city to operate, but as soon as he was ready to open, he said they got started.
“I was awarded the lease on a Tuesday, we had our equipment delivered on a Wednesday morning, and by that Saturday we were open,” Shipley said.
Shipley owned and operated a couple restaurants in Vermont, one a Mexican eatery and the other provided upscale bar menus.
The Pier Grill is no exception for his creative outlet. Earlier this week, Shipley made a breakfast burger called the “Shark Bite,” which included a sliced quarter-pound hotdog or sausage over hash browns and an egg. This is not a normal menu item, but what people can find are items such as gluten-free fried pickles, various burgers and other quick-to-order food.
Shipley said he orders his products from several local vendors.
“It’s a concession stand, so it needs to be kind of easy and fun, but we also wanted really quality food,” Shipley said. “I also wanted to offer a lot of local, hand-made stuff, like necklaces made by a guy in San Clemente.”
Many other assorted items are sold at the business, including a limited selection of bait for fishers.
The Pier Grill is open 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Shipley said he wants to keep the business open year-round if it can be sustained, but he said he will likely close Mondays and Tuesdays after Labor Day, when the summer tourism slows down.
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