By Diana Brement,
JTNews Columnist
“I’m completely non-practicing and in fact a (polite) atheist with a very dim view of religion in general,” jazz radio host Dick Stein averred in an email when I contacted him for an interview. I assured him I couldn’t care less. What I wanted to talk about was that cultic Jewish practice — an obsession with food.
Stein, as he is called, has been rockin’ the jazz on KPLU-FM out of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma since 1992. Every Wednesday he co-hosts and produces a short eating and cooking segment, “Food for Thought,” with Seattle Times food writer, Nancy Leson (profiled Jan. 29, 2010). For Thanksgivukkah this past November, Stein and Leson invited traffic reporter Sprintz Arbogast (profiled April 26, 2013) and Shabbos Goy Nick Morrison, to talk about foodie approaches to this unusual confluence of Jewish and American holidays. The result, Stein says, was one of
the show’s most popular segments, which you can hear at www.kplu.org/post/happy-thanksgivikah.
Growing up “a big jazz fan” in New Rochelle, N.Y., Stein missed out on early rock ‘n’ roll “because I was such a jazz snob.” He would take the train to New York City to go to Birdland, “where they had an underage section,” sporting his tab-collar shirts and Slim Jim ties.
The Air Force brought him to Alaska, where he had a radio show. In 1976 he moved to Washington State. He worked as a freelance copywriter and voice talent on and off, and started a chimney sweep business before landing occasional work at KPLU which led, eventually, to a full-time gig.
“I’ve always been interested in food,” he says, and when he left home for college, and wherever else he lived, “I set myself a goal of learning to make the things I couldn’t get…that I had grown up loving,” meaning those New York delicacies like bagels and Chinese food, pizza, rye bread, even celery soda. There’s one exception. Stein has never made pastrami.
“My impossible dream,” he calls it.
When not on the radio or in the kitchen, you might find Stein at the casino. He’s been a serious poker player for many years, he says, and turns a profit every year. But you won’t find him hiking, skiing, boating or climbing. “Everything sedentary” are his hobbies, he says. “I don’t own one thing that contains Gore-Tex.”
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A few months ago I was flipping through my Money Mailer coupons, when a familiar face stopped me. “Hey, I know that guy,” I said.
That guy is David Calderon, Seattle native and owner of Kenmore Auto in Kenmore.
David grew up in Seattle’s Seward Park neighborhood where his family went to Ezra Bessaroth. His dad was always fixing things, and that inspired him. “Whatever he fixed, I was always there, just watching,” David recalls, adding that his brother had cars and enjoyed working on them, too.
“I just took an interest in cars…especially the older cars.” He currently has a 1957 Chevrolet two-door hard top “in really nice shape.”
David started doing car repair in 1981 at a used car lot, eventually branching out into his own business in Skyway. When cars became computerized, he got computer-shy, sold the business, and took a few sales jobs. One involved using an automated shipping system and he began to learn his way around computers.
“I really enjoyed it and understood it,” he says. Eventually, he realized, “I knew computers, I knew cars, it could be a good mix.” He started Kenmore Automotive in 2001 and slowly built the business, including hiring a manager who is still with him today.
He just began his 14th year in business, which he discovered is recession-proof.
“Instead of buying,” he says, customers “were fixing their cars,” a trend that has carried into the recovery. If David has a complaint, it’s that auto technicians are hard to find. The loss of auto shop in high schools and vocational training in general is “a big challenge for this industry.”
Before he went into the business, he and his wife Jeannette agreed he would not be “married to the shop.” He’s always operated Monday to Friday, taking a couple of vacations a year with Jeannette and their college-age kids, Aaron and Rebecca.
With many long-time clients, David is rightfully pleased with his good reputation.
“A lot of my business comes from word of mouth,” he says. “You can see the reviews online.” (Do that at www.kenmoreauto.com.) Customers tell him how much they appreciate an honest mechanic.
“I’m just a straight shooter,” he says.