11/25/04

LC041125

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

The strange brew of beans and politics that's at the bottom of
your next cup of coffee.

Frank Lanzas>> If I don't sell my coffee at a good price, then
my workers will be unemployed. They wouldn't be able to feed
their children, so is it fair? Is that a fair trade really?
No.

Val>> And then, the Southern California family that's been
giving coffee lovers something to smile about for three
generations.

Plus, a style of coffee shop architecture that's gone from
kitschy to classic.

All that and more straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> We're coming to you from a place that knows a thing or
two about a good cup of coffee. It's Portos Bakery and Café in
downtown Glendale and it's owned by a family with a reputation
for serving up great pastries and cakes and sandwiches made with
homemade bread. To wash it all down, they brew a mean cup of
coffee here, everything from a tame little decaf to a hearty
cappuccino. And speaking of coffee, we'd like to show you some
things you probably don't know about your favorite morning brew.
As Saul Gonzalez reports, it starts with the people who harvest
the coffee beans.

Saul Gonzalez>> Visit any busy upscale coffee house in America
where mochas and other drinks sell for three dollars or more a
cup and you might think the world's coffee economy would be
booming. However, around the globe, twenty-five million small
coffee farmers whose livelihoods depend on their crops are
getting poorer as prices on the international coffee market
plummet, reaching the lowest level in decades. One of the
country's hardest hit by the coffee crisis is the Central
American nation of Nicaragua. Here it's estimated one in three
jobs depends on the coffee economy from harvesting to processing
to exporting.

Frank Lanzas>> Coffee has been the number one commodity in
Nicaragua for many years.

Saul Gonzalez>> Frank Lanzas is one of Nicaragua's best-known
large coffee producers. Like many in his business, he blames a
worldwide coffee glut for his industry's troubles.

Frank Lanzas>> Right now, this year coffee production worldwide
will be around one hundred twenty million bags and consumption
is only going to be one hundred ten million bags, so there is
that surplus of ten million bags.

Saul Gonzalez>> Lanzas says that over-supply was partly created
by international development policies that encouraged other
countries to grow coffee, lots of it, thus flooding the market
with coffee beans and driving prices down.

Frank Lanzas>> The law of --

Saul Gonzalez>> -- supply and demand.

Frank Lanzas>> Supply and demand. And if the supply is way
over, you know, what the offer is, then coffee prices have
fallen to forty dollars per bag and our cost of production is
forty-five dollars per bag, so we're losing right now about five
dollars per bag.

Saul Gonzalez>> The falling price for coffee on the world
market translates into greater hardship for thousands of
Nicaragua's small coffee farmers. However, they see no other
agricultural alternative to growing the crop.

Antonin Garcia>> We don't live well. Life is so hard. We get
paid so little for our crops that it's hardly possible to
survive. We are suffering here. I don't know what it's like
for the rich, but here we are trying to make do with so little.

Saul Gonzalez>> Those workers who find jobs harvesting beans on
large coffee plantations earn only two to three dollars a day.
That's less than the price of a large latte in many American
coffee bars. And many of the workers in the coffee fields are
children, harvesting and sorting the beans to help their family
survive.

For many organizations that promote social justice, the human
misery and despair created by the crisis in the international
coffee economy have become too enormous to ignore. In response,
they're promoting a new way to buy and sell coffee, one which
they say is more ethical and could improve the lives of
countless coffee farmers around the world, including here in
Nicaragua. It's an idea called fair trade.

Heather Putnam>> Fair trade is when the consumer makes a
voluntary decision to buy coffee at a higher price to be able to
directly support the small producers that produce that coffee.

Saul Gonzalez>> Heather Putnam is an adviser to Seco Café.
It's a Nicaraguan agricultural cooperative made up of over two
thousand coffee farmers who sell their beans exclusively on the
fair trade market. Fair trade, Putnam says, has brought
tangible benefits to some of this country's poorest coffee-
growing communities.

Heather Putnam>> They're able to invest in the schools.
They're able to invest in community houses, in infrastructure,
improving the roads, in transporting the coffee during harvest
time. There are lots of advantages.

Saul Gonzalez>> Unlike the conventional coffee economy in which
farmers sell to the middle men who make most of the profit,
growers in the fair trade movement sell their crops directly to
foreign importers who pay the farmers more than the current
international market price for coffee beans. At present, fair
trade coffee is bought for $1.26 a pound. That's more than
double the conventional market price. Nicaraguan coffee farmer,
Segundo Membreno, father of three who sells his crop on the fair
trade market, says fair trade has allowed him and his family to
live decent lives.

Segundo Membreno>> The importance of fair trade for small
producers is, of course, it pays you a better price for your
coffee, but that better price brings you so many other benefits.
You can fix a leaky roof, improve your home and buy medicine for
your kids when they are sick.

Saul Gonzalez>> In recent years, numerous fair trade coffee
brands which sell at a slightly higher price than conventional
non-fair trade labels have been introduced in the United States,
Canada and Europe. They are all identified by the fair trade
label. Seeing a market develop, socially conscious consumers,
Starbucks and other large coffee retailers, have started selling
fair trade coffee in their stores. However, it's churches and
their humanitarian arms that are playing an increasingly
prominent role in promoting fair trade coffee in the United
States.

Lutheran World Relief and Catholic Relief Services recently
announced campaigns to boost the demand for fair trade coffee in
the United States by urging millions of parishioners to buy and
drink the coffee during church-sponsored events. Religious
charities are also organizing trips to the world's coffee-
growing regions so that consumers can learn firsthand where
their coffee comes from.

>> "This is maybe how not to do it (laughter)."

Saul Gonzalez>> Kathleen Rudrud recently went on such a trip to
Nicaragua. She's led efforts to sell fair trade coffee at her
Lutheran Church in Southern California.

Kathleen Rudrud>> It's a personal coffee, so when I drink a cup
of coffee, I know the person behind the coffee. I know the
person that created this cup of coffee and it gives me a better
feeling that I've contributed maybe to a little bit better well-
being for them.

Saul Gonzalez>> Larger coffee producers, however, like Frank
Lanzas criticize the fair trade movement's emphasis on helping
small farmers. They argue that it limits the number of people
who benefit.

Frank Lanzas>> If I don't sell my coffee at a good price, then
my workers will be unemployed. They wouldn't be able to feed
their children, so is it fair? Is it a fair trade? Really?
No, it's just --

Saul Gonzalez>> -- you can't be part of that.

Frank Lanzas>> So it's not fair, you know. It's not really
fair. It's just for a specific people, for a specific market.

Saul Gonzalez>> In the United States, many in the coffee
business say the importance of fair trade has been exaggerated,
noting it only accounts for about one percent of the global
coffee economy. Its market share, they argue, will always be
modest because most consumers don't want to pay extra for
anything.

Ted Lingle>> People are reluctant to tie social causes to their
purchases.

Saul Gonzalez>> Ted Lingle is President of the Specialty Coffee
Association of America, an industry trade group representing
distributors and retailers.

Ted Lingle>> While there's a great deal of empathy for the
plight of the farmer and many consumers recognize this, when it
comes time to part with the dollars in their wallets, that's not
a strong enough motivation to get them to actually purchase the
product.

Saul Gonzalez>> Fair trade advocates acknowledge that paying
small farmers more for their crop is only part of the solution.
Some of them want to restore international production controls,
but until world supply and demand somehow become more balanced,
coffee growers such as Segundu Membreno can only appeal for help
from American consumers.

Segundu Membreno>> We the small farmers produce great quality
coffee. I ask them to drink it so they can help the farmers and
their families. They have to understand that their support
really helps us here.

Val>> Greater awareness about the plight of coffee bean
harvesters is having an impact on consumers. More of them are
trying to buy so-called fair trade coffee, so you can expect to
see more of it show up on supermarket shelves in days to come.

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Val>> You may dream of that perfect cup of Joe, but for one
Southern California family, coffee inspired a very different
kind of dream and they're living it right now. Philip Bruce
shows us what happens when you've got coffee in your blood.

Philip Bruce>> From the moment you meet him, there is
absolutely no doubt that Pedro Gavina loves his work and he's
really got a nose for it.

Pedro Gavina>> See, there I am picking up the smell. It's
clean, it's fresh, I can sense some acidity to it.

Philip Bruce>> This is how he starts the day with a nice
steaming cup of coffee. Then he has another and another. A
word to the wise, don't try this at home. Pedro is a trained
professional.

Pedro Gavina>> That's a good cup.

Philip Bruce>> Such is life when you're born to the beans.
Pedro Gavina has been surrounded by them ever since he was a
baby and every bit of coffee the family puts its name on has to
first pass muster with him in a hands-on, or make that, lips-on
taste test.

Pedro Gavina>> The coffee business has got to be a family
business or a personal business. You have to be proud of what
you're doing to do it well.

Philip Bruce>> He's one of the sons in Gavina and Sons, a
homegrown California coffee company headquartered in the town of
Vernon along Los Angeles's industrial edge. You can smell this
place at least a mile before you can see it and, once you get
there, you're engulfed in that warm familiar aroma that launches
so many mornings in America. Call it a coffee heaven, a place
where Pedro is right at home, always making sure that the
Gavina's well-oiled machine doesn't miss a beat.

Pedro Gavina>> I'm looking for anything that is wrong. You
know, whether a guy is sitting and talking or where he's packing
coffee wrong or the bags are not coming in the right way or
something, something that is not right. I like to see what is
coming out. I like to see what people are drinking.

Philip Bruce>> When your name is on the product --

Pedro Gavina>> -- you're very proud of it. You've got to make
sure that it's right. It's very important for us. To the whole
family, it's very important.

Philip Bruce>> There are three Gavina sons. Pedro is the CEO
of the company, but there's also a daughter, Leonor, and she's
just as involved in the business as the rest of them, handling
marketing and taking her turn with the production lines. In
fact, it's rare that some Gavina isn't on the floor here.

Leonor Gavina-Valls>> We're very hands-on. Sometimes I think
we're too much hands-on. We have to give a little and we don't.
We open the mail, we sign checks, we do everything.

Philip Bruce>> The Gavinas have a big piece of the American
dream and there's not a moment that they take it for granted.
How could they, considering that they all arrived here from Cuba
just over forty years ago broke and most of them barely speaking
English?

Leonor Gavina-Valls>> Sometimes I think, gee whiz, I'm
dreaming. This is a dream. I see myself as being in a small
place. In our previous building, we were cramped into each
other at a particular point in time. Therefore, the three
brothers and myself shared a room that was our office, so we
were literally pushing elbows to get by. Then coming here and
looking at this place, you know, it's like a dream come true.

Philip Bruce>> They owe it all to their father, Don Francisco
Gavina. Back in Cuba, he was the head of a well-off family that
owned a coffee plantation, part of a second generation to run
the business. Don Francisco grew up with privilege and was
educated in the United States. But the Gavinas' world came
crashing down when Castro seized power in Cuba. Don Francisco
gathered his wife and children and fled the country leaving
everything behind. When they eventually arrived in Los Angeles,
the Gavinas had nothing and Don Francisco, who was already
sixty, had to start over as a dishwasher and a waiter at a local
restaurant.

Leonor Gavina-Valls>> My dad, in a way, he persevered. You
know, he started little by little working very hard and he kept
on going. He never had something be a barrier to him.

Philip Bruce>> Through it all, Don Francisco still had a dream
to get back in the coffee business and he finally got a break, a
chance to buy a tiny coffee roasting plant once owned by the
Bob's Big Boy Restaurant chain.

Pedro Gavina>> It was probably a little bit bigger than this
room here.

Philip Bruce>> About the size of maybe a good-sized apartment?

Pedro Gavina>> Yes, seven hundred square feet.

Philip Bruce>> And that's how the business started?

Pedro Gavina>> That's how we started, that's how we started.
We'd roast a little bit of coffee. We tried to sell then
basically to the Cuban community here just espresso coffee.
Then the gourmet coffee started coming around and we took that
and we were a pioneer in that industry.

Philip Bruce>> Today, Gavina coffee isn't exactly a giant, but
it's giving the big boys cause to look over their shoulders.
The flagship Don Francisco brand is California's top seller and
it even beats Starbucks in supermarket sales. You may be buying
Gavina coffee even if you don't know it, like the next time you
grab a cup of Joe with your Egg McMuffin. Gavina supplies all
the McDonald's on the West Coast. At the same time, the
company's gourmet coffees have won over even the most
sophisticated palates. Wolfgang Puck is also a Gavina customer.

Pedro Gavina>> You know, you say this is what I want to do and
I will never give up. There's been times, you know, when you
say, well, maybe why am I doing this? Then you realize that's
your life. You know, this is what we do. We are a coffee
company. We're a coffee family.

Philip Bruce>> What makes this company special is the family
legacy that still inspires everything they do, the story of Don
Francisco's dream and how he made it come true. The three sons
and Leonor live that story. Their challenge now is passing it
on to the next generation of Gavinas, but the ones we met made
it clear that they get it.

>> I think it's a wonderful story and I'm very proud of where
our family came from. I think we have a big responsibility here
to continue the tradition and keep those core values alive in
our company through us.

>> You know, I've always enjoyed coming here ever since I was
little. You know, my father always believed we have to start
from the very beginning when we were here. So we had our
experiences working in the back of the plant, pushing the cans
through the canning machine and picking up the bags. Not even
running the machines, just making the boxes and putting the bags
away and counting them, losing count and starting all over
again. You know, it's something that -- you can't escape that
kind of, I guess, experience. It's something that will stick
with you anywhere you go.

Philip Bruce>> Don Francisco never lived to see all this, but
his presence is everywhere, and Leonor believes that somehow her
dad knows the family is still working hard to keep his dream
alive.

Leonor Gavina-Valls>> I know he sees us from up there and he
sees that we have been a big success and he's very proud.

Philip Bruce>> What would he think of this place?

Pedro Gavina>> He might get scared of it. I think the
technology for -- he would be a hundred years now. Today, it
might scare him, but he would be very happy and very proud of
it. It was him. Without him, it would never happen.

Val>> The Gavinas got their start by roasting specialty coffees
for ethnic cafes in the Los Angeles area. Today one of their
oldest customers is Portos Bakery here in Glendale. As it turns
out, the Portos are another Cuban family that came to California
with a dream and, like the Gavinas, they've found it.

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Val>> Before the days of Starbucks and the coffee beans,
Southern California's landscape was known for a very different
kind of coffee shop. They stood out not so much because of the
coffee, but because of the architecture and, as Saul Gonzalez
reports, the style even had a nickname: Googies.

[Film Clip]

Saul Gonzalez>> Southern California in the 1950's. From new-
fangled freeways to newly-built subdivisions, signs of progress
and prosperity are everywhere and people are enjoying the post-
war good life with gusto. And it's in this promised land of fun
and frolic that a new style of architecture is born, at the
neighborhood coffee shop. Nicknamed "Googies" after one
restaurant chain, it's a design movement that celebrates
flamboyance and embraces exuberance, turning humble hamburger
joints into architectural showpieces that still capture the eye
and imagination half a century later.

Chris Nichols>> It's Frank Lloyd Wright meets science fiction
meets World's Fair. They're so unlike anything else and they
just demand that you stop and pay attention.

John English>> They are more Los Angeles in some ways than
almost any other buildings. They are quintessentially Los
Angeles. The Googie architects knew what needed to happen in a
building, what would work for the American public, for the
families, for working class families, middle-class families.
They knew that they needed to make them comfortable, make them
warm, make them inviting.

Saul Gonzalez>> Inglewood's Pann's Restaurant is a gem of
Googie-style architecture. Its lush landscaping, bold abstract
shapes and pavilion-like interior are all hallmarks of coffee
shop modern.

Chris Nichols>> Here, everything's in motion, everything's
moving around, everything's alive and organic. The rock walls
and the terrazzo floors, and it feels like it's just naturally
grown out of this island like a turtle mushroom or something,
you know? It kind of appears here and yet it's not just
organic, but it's dynamic and modern.

Saul Gonzalez>> Pann's also showcases how coffee shop
architecture of the 1950's married form and function, beauty and
utility.

John English>> They were thoroughly thought out. Nothing was
left to chance in these buildings. Every bit of space was
really measured out and thought how can we get a maximum amount
of seating? Technologically and aesthetically, they are
designed to be extremely efficient to work twenty-four hours a
day.

Saul Gonzalez>> Other Googies masterpieces include Norm's
Restaurant on La Cienega. Its allures are a striking
cantilevered roof and lavish use of glass that invites you to
look at the parade of people within. In Toluca Lake, Bob's Big
Boy gets attention with its towering signs, its soft curves and
neon glow. Coffee shops like these were built, of course, not
to be admired like a work of art. They were made to capture the
attention and cash of potential customers speeding by.

John English>> These buildings sitting out on the commercial
strip needed to stand out. The building as sign, the building
as billboard. It wasn't enough just to have a neon sign. The
building itself had to catch the motorists traveling thirty-five
to forty miles per hour, traveling down the boulevards of
greater Los Angeles.

Saul Gonzalez>> Louie Armet and Eldon Davis keenly understood
that coffee shop design was as much about advertising as
aesthetics. They were the architects who created some of Los
Angeles's most striking and successful Googie-style restaurants.
One of their masterpieces was Pann's.

Eldon Davis>> First of all, it had to be commercially
successful. I mean, you have a client. He needs something to
sell and that would be not high architecture. In fact, a lot of
the other architects called the things we did "Googie"
architecture and that was meant as an insult (laughter).

John English>> Now remember, these are criticisms coming from
the high art architecture establishment which was very one-sided
and was looking down at anything that didn't fit into their
picture of high art, of pure artistic expression. Anything
commercial, for the most part, was suspect.

Saul Gonzalez>> The Googie style might have survived the slings
and arrows of architectural critics, but not the wrecking ball.
Many of Southern California's most memorable coffee shops are
gone for good. Coffee shop aficionados say it's important to
preserve those restaurants that still stand and not just out of
respect for architectural history. To their fans, these
restaurants are profoundly democratic places where people from
different backgrounds and communities can come together for food
and fellowship.

Chris Nichols>> People have been coming into this place for
fifty years and they know their sons and their grandchildren and
they know the family histories and they've built relationships
here that have lasted for decades. I understand that churches
and civic centers serve their purpose and they draw people to
them. You know, that's been that way forever. But a coffee
shop or a bowling alley is an authentic crossroads. Everybody
can come here. Everybody can get together here and try to find
common ground.

Saul Gonzalez>> The Googies phenomenon shows that, at its best,
architecture can satisfy a craving for community as well as
style.

Val>> We hope you've enjoyed this special Life and Times blend
of coffee stories. We'd like to thank all the folks at Portos
Bakery in downtown Glendale for all their help. And that's our
program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times,
thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times --

The higher cost of learning. Are we pricing the middle-class
off the campus?

>> It's ridiculous in the sense that the University of
California Los Angeles is a public institution and, as such, it
needs to be accessible to the public.

>> You can have higher fees and higher aid such that it doesn't
reduce access at all.

Val>> That's next time on Life and Times.