“Working In The City” is The San Diego Sun’s feature Q&A series with downtown San Diego business operators. It’s a way to get to know the city by meeting the people who work here. This is the 24rd in an ongoing series.
Company name: Meyer Fine Art (2400 Kettner Blvd, Suite 104, Little Italy’s art and design district)
Principals: (Husband & wife) Gallery Owner & CEO Perry Meyer and Gallerist & PR Director Kathi Meyer. We’ve both served on the Little Italy Association board and diverse committees.
What happens here: One of San Diego’s most prestigious fine art galleries, we focus on original graphics, limited edition prints and other works on paper, specializing in 19th century to 21st century artists.
Art work: Some of the artists of international prominence include Roberto Matta, Salvador Dali, Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Francisco Zuniga, Hans Bellmer, Jean Kazandjian and Andre Masson.
Specialties: The gallery inventory also includes a complimentary selection of paintings. A special offering is The Argillet Collection, original Salvador Dali etchings, consigned directly from the inventory of Dali’s art publisher’s daughter. We also represent the art estates of mid-modern artist Clay Walker and illustrator/stamp designer Howard Koslow.
Art education: As gallerists, we are known for curating our exhibitions and educating visitors on artists, genres, media and more. Our art backgrounds provide a wealth of information for visitors interested in a more in-depth experience. People have said they loved the “tour.”
Start up story: Meyer Fine Art has been in the art and gallery business since 1978. Perry sold original works on paper to corporations, law firms or individuals. He also kept on top of the art world. With a keen eye, knowledge and a life-long love and passion, Perry opened the public gallery space in June 2006. When Kathi’s biotech career ended, she became a full time gallerist (it helped that she’s from New York and her father was a renowned illustrator and stamp designer). Their son and daughter have also helped with various exhibitions.
Commute: My family moved from Chicago to Point Loma in 1965. For 40 years, my wife and I have commuted to downtown from University City, 15-20 minutes each way, Wednesday to Sunday.
Best aspects of working downtown: Visibility for the gallery to a diverse clientele, locals and tourists, in a destination neighborhood. With our proximity to the San Diego airport, many individuals drop in going to and from flights.
Worst aspects of working downtown: Parking. It seems to deter visitors from evening gallery receptions when we’re competing for parking with restaurants.
Big-event bumps: Not really. We’re in the north end of Little Italy, somewhat remote from the center of neighborhood action. We do try to market to those big events via social media, posting images that connect to the events, i.e. a print of a baseball field during a game.
Homelessness: There are times when the unhoused are quite visible on our sidewalks or in doorways. Generally, they’re present but not interacting with businesses or people. We’ve had a few instances when police have been contacted to intervene with rambunctious individuals.
Business friendliness of the city, on a scale of 1 (easiest) to 10 (hardest): 9. It took two years to get a stop sign put in at a nearby major intersection. In order to attract more visitors and make the experience more pleasurable, the city needs to upgrade the environment – pave the roads, put in more crosswalks and make parking less of a challenge.
Celebrity sightings: Adam Arkin was in north Little Italy for a movie production. One scene had him run through the gallery.
If your business starred in a movie, what would it be called: Something parallel to Midnight in Paris. On a trip to Paris, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s at midnight. He goes back in time with some of the Jazz Age’s icons of art and literature. One prominent salon is Gertrude Stein’s, a central location where characters like Picasso and Dali would meet and discuss art. Mandy Patinkin would be a great actor to portray me in the movie.
Favorite downtown business that isn’t yours: Petco Park. We support the San Diego Padres and watch the game broadcasts while our son attends almost every home game.
Best insider tip for running a downtown SD business: Have integrity and be informative. SDSun
