Il Pasticcio
Ahi Tuna Wrapped in Speck Ham with Carrot-Ginger Puree, Teardrop Tomatoes and Micro Greens. Il Pasticcio has a lot of bright surprises up its culinary sleeve this summer, not the least of which includes this highly flavorful dish. Executive Chef Mir Ali found inspiration from the classic Italian favorite, veal saltimbocca. Like traditional saltimbocca, the ahi tuna is wrapped in salty speck ham and seared to perfection, then topped with sage. The ham wakes up the flavor of the tuna, and the carrot-ginger puree adds illumination. Explains Ali, “I think this dish will be popular because it’s a way to present tuna in a playful way of Italian concepts and with a new twist, not to mention that it tastes as good as it looks.”
Il Pasticcio, 2 East Broughton Street, 912.231.8888,

The Express Cafe & Bakery
Whoopie Pie. Whoopie pie may be a staple of Northern diets, but as of late, it’s crossing into Dixie and has made a debut in downtown Savannah. The Express Café & Bakery bills itself as the only restaurant in town to offer this dreamy, creamy, chocolaty, traditionally New England treat. “It got its name from the sound Amish children made when they found out their mothers had packed it in their lunch pails,” explains Express Café owner Beth Meeks. Meeks wants to pay homage to the rich history of the whoopie pie, so Chef Des Woolford sticks to the original design: two soft cakelike cookies with a rich frosty filling of vanilla cream. It’s overstuffed, overindulgent and it’s flying off the shelf at Express Café. Go early: they sell out daily.
The Express Café and Bakery, 39 Barnard Street, 912.233.4683

Kirk Blaine has an advantage over most chefs. Every evening, he walks through Driftaway Cafe’s dining room and knows what customers will order even before they open a menu. “Our customer base comes in here five to seven times a week,” Blaine says enthusiastically. “We pack the house every night—not many restaurants can say that.” But there’s another reason Blaine knows all of the hungry faces lining Driftaway’s mural-painted walls: he’s been working there since he was 16 years old. He left for a short time to attend the Culinary Institute of America in New York City, but before long he was back in Savannah—mostly because he hated the cold, but also because of his loyalty to Driftaway owners Robin and Michelle Quartlebaum. “They are amazing owners who have given me the opportunity to explore with food.”

A large part of his success is due to his fascination—obsession, even—with food. A visual artist by nature, Blaine finds himself playing with his food in the best possible way. “It’s a different kind of art form that I’m still fascinated with,” he says about his beautifully balanced plates. “Visual art makes you feel emotional. Food art makes you feel hungry.” Put them together and what do you get? One delicious dish.

Blaine’s newest favorite dish, pan roasted Chilean sea bass with breaded squash rollatini, lightly sautéed baby spinach and a rich, glossy tomato sauce, was built from the the plate up. “The sauce is something I’ve been working on for about three years now,” he explains. “I figured out there was no simple way to make it, but now it’s perfect.” The sauce, at first sweet, slowly warms to a spicy finish, enhancing the supporting cast of culinary characters—the crispiness of the rollatinis, the quiet freshness of tender spinach and the sharp nuttiness of the sea bass’s buttery, caramelized edges.
Driftaway Café, 7400 Skidaway Road, 912.303.0999

Marty Daniel describes himself as a “gun guy.” Tall, lanky and unassuming, the Savannah native grew up tinkering with machines and parts, intrigued by the mechanics of firearms and fascinated by how things work and what was needed to keep them working. As he got older, Daniel channeled his interests into Daniel Overhead Doors and Fireplaces, a business that still stands after 20 years. But a new company targeting a completely different market has now replaced the businessman’s former mainstay. Operating from a new manufacturing facility off I-16 in northern Bryan County, Daniel is taking the world’s assault rifle industry by storm.

***

Daniel’s unexpected success began in the late ‘90s, when he became frustrated with the way his personal M4 carbine rifle (a short, modern version of the famous M16) hung on his shoulder. The problem, a friend pointed out, lay in the way the strap, or sling, attached to the gun. Daniel cut off the loop that attached the sling to the weapon, moved it to a different spot, and welded it back on. To his surprise, the new strap positioning erased Daniel’s previous complaint; the gun fit perfectly.

Soon after his initial realization, Daniel began manufacturing other parts for his weapons and for those of a few friends. “I’d realize, this is a part I want that is not available anywhere else,” remembers Daniel. “So I’ll build it for myself, sell a few extras, and that’ll give me some money for some more cool gun stuff. So it was just supporting the hobby.” He operated his tiny gun business from a cabinet inside the garage and overhead door operation.

But soon, Daniel wanted to replace another part on his favorite semiautomatic rifle. He wanted to purchase a rail—a custom grip that replaces the factory-made hand guard underneath the barrel. From the rail, a variety of attachments can be suspended—from laser sights and flashlights to grenade launchers and infrared devices. Yet, according to Daniel, when he called the best-known manufacturer in the businesses, they blew him off. So, true to form, he started making his own rails. Less than a year later, when the U.S. Navy announced a proposal request from rail manufacturers interested in making the next generation of the specialty part, Daniel put in a bid and won.

“That kind of put us on the board as a competitor in the parts business,” he says. Today, Daniel’s company, Daniel Defense manufacturers every M4 rifle rail used by the U.S. military’s Special Operations troops, including Navy Seals, and Army Rangers, Green Berets, and Delta Force soldiers. They also make rails for all rifles used by the British military.

“We were taking parts that were on the market and saying, ‘what could be better about this?’” says Daniel of his company’s early edge. “It wasn’t so much a matter that we imitated everybody else; we looked at what everybody else did and found a better way to do it. And the customers responded to that.”

The news is filled with stories of firearm retailers experiencing a windfall in sales since November 2008, thanks to some consumers’ fear that the current administration in Washington will curtail gun rights, but Daniel’s success is much more than coincidence and timing. Daniel hired his first employee in 2004. Now his new facility on Highway 280 off I-16 in northern Brian County houses 125 workers. “There’s always some convincing to do,” Daniel says, “but the people that I’ve surrounded myself with are believers. They believe in me. They say, ‘We’re going to do something,’ and they do it. They’re on board.”

Daniel tells a story about one current employee who made an interesting pitch to get hired: “He called me up and said, ‘Hey, Mr. Daniel, I’m working at Home Depot. I like your products, and if you let me come over there and learn something, I’ll work for free.’ I said, ‘Well come on and go to work, but I’m going to pay you.’ He’s been a part of the team ever since.” Daniel adds that a lot of his team’s enthusiasm comes from the fact that they like what they’re making. “We have a lot of gun guys here,” he laughs.

Recently, the Daniel Defense team took its game to a new level, taking on the task of assembling completed M4 rifles. As Daniel explains it, the new enterprise began with a meeting of key employees in the conference room. “I sat them down,” he recounts, “and I said, ‘Hey guys, I want to build rifles, and I want to have that done in time for the big trade show in January. I need to have you all on board.’ And everybody raised their hand and said, ‘Let’s do it.’” At the show, Daniel remembers, “We knew it was going well, and we were counting orders in the car on the way home, and it was like, wow, we sold 8,000 weapons in four days! We’ve got some work to do!”

***

Daniel Defense’s staff includes people who specialize in everything from clerical work to hands-on tasks. The one thing that seems to tie the entire team together, however, is an intense interest in the finished product—high-quality semiautomatic weapons—and the customers who will be using them.

Controller Kelly Knight has a background in accounting at a variety of Savannah-area businesses but says he hasn’t really believed in a company for which he worked until now. “There is something about people actually liking your product that makes you want to come to work,” he explains. “There’s something about having pride in what you’re making. I’m not on the manufacturing side, but I still consider myself part of the manufacturing process. This is my product. This is what we’re putting out to the public, and the change has just been very welcomed.”

Jason Smith works on the factory floor, assembling, double-checking, and test-firing completed M4 rifles. Smith describes the workplace environment as flexible, hands-on and devoted to detail. “No dings, no scratches, that sort of thing,” he says, are allowed to make it to market. “There are a lot of eyes that look at each part, a lot of hands on it. They check very closely.”

Smith also enjoys the products he builds every day. “I love guns, and working here has actually carried that to a whole new level. I’d never fired one of these before I started working here, and then I got to build my own rifle.” Smith says he shoots his M4 on weekends for relaxation and stress relief. “These weapons are a blast to shoot,” he says. “It’s awesome.”

As the “face of Daniel Defense,” sales representative John Holland presents the product to the customer and precisely represents the company’s target audience. The Marine Corps reservist and Iraq War veteran is preparing to don his uniform again soon and deploy to Afghanistan for at least nine months. But he knows that when he returns, his bosses at Daniel Defense will “welcome me with open arms, just like I’d never been gone.”

Prior to assuming his current role in sales and customer service, Holland supervised one of Daniel’s military contracts. As a Marine, he takes special pride in the quality and attention to detail Daniel Defense lavishes on each weapon and part it manufactures. “I told my guys that they needed to make it like they were making it for themselves,” Holland boasts. “You can’t slack off on it and cut corners, because people’s lives are going to depend on these weapons. If there’s a scratch on it, we’re not going to send it out. Of course, we get that mainly from Marty. He’s really meticulous about everything he does, and it kind of rubs off on everyone else here.”

Apparently, that attention to detail is paying off. Holland says, “We’ll get e-mails from guys in the field who say, ‘I used this rail in Afghanistan or Iraq, and it’s great.’ It is a good feeling. I know they’re getting used, and that makes me appreciate it more.” Daniel agrees. “I feel like we’re doing our part to give our guys what they need to win and, I think, to come home.”

***

Presently, the team at Daniel Defense is working to expand its growing business in complete weapon manufacturing and each new move is bringing the business further success. But with more than two decades of business ownership under his belt, Marty Daniel knows things could change in no time.

“Everything eventually cycles, and this business will eventually cycle down as well,” he reasons. “I need to be prepared for that.” If the past is any guide, by the time that happens, Daniel will already have something else up his sleeve.

The Product: Daniel Defense M4 Carbine

Description: Using 3D engineering technology, and a high speed production facility with state of the art machining equipment, Daniel Defense is now producing its own M4 Carbine with the goal of redefining the benchmark in small arms performance. In addition to being precision crafted to military specifications, this firearm also features the Daniel Defense Omega X Rail.

Price: $1699

Buy locally: Patrick’s Uniform, 2307 Highway 80, 912.355.0205, www.uniformsbypatrick.com; Dean Forest Road Guns and Ammo, 1550 Dean Forest Road, 912.965.0306, www.deanforestpawn.com

Marty Daniel’s Secrets for Success
We asked Daniel Defense founder and CEO Marty Daniel to give some thought to the steps taken to ensure the prosperity of his business.

Start young. According to Daniel, if you want your preschooler to make it big, get them started by watching educational TV programs that teach kids to solve problems and develop can-do attitudes. When the middle school years roll around, engage them in games like Monopoly so they learn to manage cash flow, or chess so they can teach themselves to always look a few moves ahead. In high school and college, he advises, “Get a job and learn how to work hard.”

Surround yourself with great people. This applies no matter what your age. According to Daniel, it’s especially important for youngsters to pick the right cohorts, but it’s equally essential for adults to build supportive and positive networks of friends.

Do something you love to do. Daniel Defense grew out of a hobby. Marty Daniel is proof that if you focus on something you care about, it will be a lot easier to make others care too.

Give something back. For Daniel, a man of faith, this takes the form of giving a regular tithe, or ten percent of his income, to his local church.

The bottom line. “Take things a step at a time, use your mind and you can do anything. The real challenge is identifying the actual problems. If something is not going the way it needs to go, find out what’s the real problem. Usually, it’s because you haven’t identified the root problem and broken it down into steps you can solve.”

Ron Palefsky sits in the dead silence of his recently purchased converter van, swiveling in the captain’s seat, waiting for any movement from within the house he is watching. Hours pass. I want a coke, he thinks. I wish I could run down the street and just get a coke.

That’s impossible—he could miss crucial information and draw attention to himself.  Maybe a cigarette will help. He lights one, watching the cabin fill with smoke. He can’t crack a window to let the cool night air in without giving himself away, so he forces himself to stub it out slowly.

As Palefsky stares out onto the softly lit streets of Ardsley Park, it starts to drizzle. Tiny droplets of water gather on the van’s windows, blurring the view into splotches of colors. In the house beyond, there is no movement. Admitting defeat, Palefsky starts the van and pulls away, leaving the quiet neighborhood behind.

Palefsky laughs as he recalls this story. “It’s not as glamorous as people think it is. It really isn’t. Sometimes if you do it right, you’ll be sitting there for hours and hours.” His voice turns serious as he says, “You have to pay attention. You cannot be distracted.” This is the real life of a private investigator.

Palefsky doesn’t walk around in a tan trench coat, dark glasses or a fedora. He doesn’t slink secretly through Savannah’s alleyways or hide behind bushes. His neatly pressed collared shirt and colorful tie make him seem more like a businessman than a problem-solving, case-closing investigator but the truth is—he’s both.

“I’ve always been interested in business,” Palefsky says, referring to his past experiences as the owner of a bicycle shop, proprietor of a River Street restaurant and current owner of private investigation firm The Aaron Frederick Agency. He knows his business background sounds kind of bizarre, but each phase of Palefsky’s follows a common thread. “I’ve always been interested in dealing with people,” he says thoughtfully, perhaps thinking of his career with the Savannah Police Department, where he learned what “dealing with people” really meant.

While on duty one warm afternoon, Palefsky and his partner, Steve Smith, cruised down Jefferson Street slowly, casually scanning the road, making conversation with each other. They drove up beside a flashy, illegally parked Cadillac El Dorado  in a narrow side lane. Who’s got the nerve to do that? Palefsky thought. He rolled to a stop and slid his 125-pound frame out of the old Plymouth just as a guy wearing a green army jacket materialized from a nearby building. “I got it, I got it, I got it,” said the man, avoiding eye contact as he ducked into the car.

Palefsky looked at the Cadillac’s tag, turned and walked back to his car, all the while thinking: I don’t know. Florida tag. Maybe I need to run this thing. Within minutes the answer came back: Stolen car. The chase was on.

A blaring siren wasn’t enough to stop the thief as the two cars raced through the streets, but Savannah’s tricky squares and intersections were. Before long the man bailed out of the Cadillac, managing to escape quickly, expertly. After pursuing him for a while, Palefsky returned to the abandoned vehicle, found a weapon inside the glove compartment, and turned in the stolen car—but it wasn’t enough. All he could think was, I lost him. He got away from me. I didn’t catch him.

The next day, Palefsky was driving down Drayton Street in his private vehicle, replaying the previous day’s events in his head when his instincts kicked into overdrive. A man walking along Forsyth Park looked familiar—too familiar. This is just too weird. Palefsky thought, This looks like the guy from yesterday. On a gut feeling, Palefsky called and relayed his suspicions to fellow officers, who arrested the man on the north side of Forsyth.

And that was it: No dramatic foot chase, no criminal reaching a dead-end ally where he attempts to climb a chain link fence, only to be pulled to the ground by a leather-jacket-wearing, no-nonsense officer.

“It turns out he’s a federal fugitive,” Palefsky laughs, shaking his head as if to say “who knew?” It would be easy to chalk the arrest up to sheer luck, but Palefsky has other ideas. “I kinda always knew that I had good instincts. My problem was that I never listened to them,” he admits. “Any time I did, it was a winner.”

In 1992, Palefsky followed his instincts to Atlanta to take the test that would officially license him as a private investigator—a test for which there was no study material. “I went in and thought all I can do is go in there and be the best I can be, based on what I know and what I believe is right or wrong,” Palefsky says. He was banking on his experience as a police officer to help him through the exam, but then he overheard an experienced investigator saying, “The first thing you need to do is forget about police work.”

Palefsky thought to himself, Alright, what else is there? He soon found out. Palefsky says, “The first thing they wanted you to realize is you are nothing more than a citizen with a license to conduct private investigations. You’re not law enforcement. You don’t have the authorities and powers.” While that may be true, what Palefsky does have is one particular skill he learned in the force that he says is invaluable—and it might just surprise you.

“Write everything down,” Palefsky says sternly. “Write everything, document everything.” What about being able to see fingerprints with your bare eyes or analyze bullets under microscopes for potential matches? “We don’t do most all of the things you see on television. We just don’t,” he says, driving the point home forcefully. “And anybody who does, in my opinion, is asking for a lot of trouble.”

Palefsky prides himself on the fact that he’s no rouge investigator. He stays out of trouble by working hand-in-hand with many of Savannah’s lawyers. “I became keenly aware of what attorneys want, expect, how they want it, what they don’t want and what they really don’t want you to do,” he says. “You do that for enough lawyers in this town, you’re a well-trained PI after that.”

As Palefsky took (and passed) his PI test 17 years ago, no police work, television dramatization or attorney advice could prepare him for the surprises that were in store. Private investigation was about to teach him an important lesson: Nothing is as it seems.

Palefsky’s phone rang shrilly in the quiet morning. A woman (let’s call her Jane) on the other end asked Palefsky if he could help her find out information about her husband. “I don’t understand,” she said. “He comes home every day after work. He gets on his golf cart and goes riding back into the woods on the property. Then he comes back after a half hour or so. Something’s just not right.”

A few days later, Palefsky climbed into the golf cart beside Jane, mentally logging the elements of the case: suspicious-acting husband, plenty of open land and a golf cart. This didn’t seem like just another domestic disagreement. After several minutes of bumping along a well-worn path, Jane pulled into a clearing in the woods. “This is right around where he comes,” she announced.

Palefsky sat in the golf cart, looking around disbelievingly. “Ma’am,” he began, “do you see what’s here?” He eased out of the golf cart, pointing at overgrown plants that towered in the clearing. “Let’s count them,” he said. “One, two, three, four … ma’am, there are 15 marijuana plants here. I think this might be your problem.”

Less of an interrogation room bully and more of an armchair psychologist, Palefsky finds that half the battle in private investigations is getting to the truth of the client’s story. Sometimes the wounded, wronged woman in search of dirt on her cheating husband is not always the victim. “You can sit and listen to a whole story from a client. That doesn’t always mean that’s the way it is,” Palefsky says. “There are gonna be those that lie to your face and they’re going to be damn good at it.”

Although Palefsky relies heavily on his ability to read people, he also credits his perceptive qualities to the use of “professional and current” interview techniques. Establishing trust with the client is key. “Getting past the barrier, feeling like you have a rapport, and knowing that rapport is real might get you somewhere,” Palefsky advises. “The rubber hose days are long over.”

There are times when Palefsky’s instincts (and common sense) kick in way before the interview stage of an investigation. “I’ve turned down some jobs—I don’t care what it costs. As soon as they start off saying, ‘Look, I’m going away for the weekend. Can you put a hidden camera in our bedroom?’ The answer is no.” If Palefsky gets an uneasy feeling, he declines jobs with a polite, “I’m just so booked right now; I don’t think I can squeeze this in.”

And he is booked—now more than ever. Sure, Savannah has its fair share of domestic, civil and criminal cases, but as the city becomes more industrialized, Palefsky finds himself swamped in investigations specifically for big businesses. Large and small companies are eager to screen potential employees more carefully, assess their workplace safety, and limit their liabilities in workers’ compensation claims. “This is not a little corner market town. There’s a lot of big business going on here—massive amounts of money are at risk,” he says. And he is just the man to protect it.

A local tour company contacted Palefsky, concerned about the large amounts of money that were disappearing nightly from their main office. The money was placed in a secure location, inside a locked office, in an otherwise empty building. The company’s executives held the only keys, and none of them had any motivation to steal money from their own business. “How on earth is this happening?” they asked Palefsky. “The money—how’s it getting out?”

Palefsky assured the company that he would catch the thief, thinking of techniques to go about the operation. There would be no hiding in the corner of the darkened office, tackling the supposed thief and handcuffing him to a desk. There would be no trip wires or heat sensing devices. There would only be a small camera, hidden in a corner. I don’t know what else to do, Palefsky thought as he installed the camera and pressed the record button. All he could do was wait.

Before long, Palefsky got a phone call from the company: They had been robbed again. The private investigator retrieved the tape from the camera, took it back to the office and pressed play. As he stared at the darkened, perfectly still office, something moved near the top of the screen. Palefsky leaned in closer to the television, the image reflecting off of his frameless glasses. A pair of legs appeared from the ceiling, then a body, and finally a head. The office, located in an old warehouse, had one flaw no one anticipated: plenty of overhead crawlspace.

“Solved that one,” Palefsky says, smiling. “That was kind of cool.”

Palefsky is good at what he does for a number of technical reasons, but perhaps the most important reason of all is the simplest. “I’m a nice guy,” Palefsky says. “I can’t change that. That’s who I am, and I think that’s what makes me different from most people in my business.”

But it’s more than just being nice—it’s about being fair and, therefore, professional. Palefsky, by personal rule, is careful not to point fingers at clients and accuse them of being bad. “Far be it for me to decide what their reasons are—I’m just there to collect documentation,” Palefsky says objectively.

“My only wish in this business is to become better at what I’m doing, to always try to become more professional in every kind of way,” Palefsky says. “If you do everything you can to get what [your clients] need, and you do it the right way, it’s out of your hands.”

Palefsky seems to have an answer to every situation, whether good or bad. According to him, his internal moral compass is rock solid and unwavering, guiding him through even the toughest cases. It seems that Palefsky plays by the book, sticks to the rules and defies just about every stereotype you can imagine for a private investigator. But if you press him just hard enough, he’ll tell you his secret, the token phrase that explains effortlessly and clearly why he excels at his job. “Don’t let anything surprise you,” he says mysteriously, closing his heavy leather binder resoundingly. “And that’s the truth.”
Ron Palefsky can be contacted through the Aaron Frederick Agency, 912.232.1505

Gadgets for Your Inner Gumshoe
Sure, real PI’s like Ron Palefsky may not have a use for them, but these super cool spy gizmos actually sold online and in specialty stores throughout the country give us a little hope that the private eyes of movies past aren’t all fantasy.

Rear vision sunglasses. These sleuthing shades look and work like a normal pair of shades, but have an added bonus: A special reflective coating that allows you to see in front and behind you—simultaneously.

Disappearing Ink. Hand a friend this pen as a gift, let them spend the whole day recording meetings, writing letters, even signing documents—the ink will be gone in 48 hours. When they act bewildered, be sure to shrug and say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Gets ‘em every time.

Self-Destructing Paper. If your ink isn’t disappearing fast enough, pop this special paper in your mouth—it dissolves instantly. No? Dunk it in a glass of water. It will have the same end result, just not the same dramatic effect.

X-Ray Spray. Tired of trying to hold birthday mail up to a lamp to see if it contains money? Try this stupefying spray to turn paper translucent for 30 seconds—after that, it turns back into its original state. And yes, it only works on paper.
For more curious spy gadgets, check out www.pimall.com.

Teeter-toddler
/”tē-tər-’täd-lər/

n., A child who sits on a parent’s shoulders, usually a father’s, in order to better view an event occurring on adult eye level, such as Fourth of July fireworks on River Street.

Example:
As the first firework cascaded over the Savannah River and into the distant night sky, I could see an army of parents begin to mobilize. One by one, fathers lifted their little ones onto their shoulders for the best view of the pyrotechnics. From the wide-eyed smile of every teeter-toddler there, it was clear that the thrilling perspective from their elevated perch outdid the views of any box seat imaginable.

Submit your own Savannah slang to editor@thesouthmag.com. For more inventive words and phrases, visit writer David Gignilliat’s official Quixotica blog at www.quixoticawords.blogspot.com

Jade Kersey
Club 309 West, 309 West River Street

Bartending Since: 2004

Why Bartending: When her mother opened Club 309 West seven years ago, Kersey was forbidden from working the rather risqué watering hole. The SCAD fashion student soon convinced her mother otherwise and joined the close-knit staff. “It’s really like a big family at 309,” she explains.

Favorite Drink: “If anyone offers to buy me a shot, it’s got to be a Royal Flush [Crown Royal, peach schnapps and cranberry juice].”

Best Bartending Story: “We let our customers—girls and guys—get up with us and dance on the bar, so all sorts of crazy things happen. But if a group gets too rowdy we just hose ‘em down with the water hose. It gets their attention pretty fast. If not, we can always call on Big Joe, our manager, who’s been known to carry out guys by their belt buckles.”

Breigh Smith
Casimir’s Lounge, Mansion on Forsyth Park, 700 Drayton Street

Bartending Since: 2002 at various Savannah locations, including Deja-Groove, Malone’s, Sorry Charlie’s, Bonefish Grill and Bacchus Wine Lounge.

Why Bartending: Though Smith is studying to become a dental hygienist, bartending is in her blood—her biological mother once owned a bar in Savannah.

Favorite Drink: “Mint Julep. I love, love, love it.”

Best Bartending Story: “Bill Murray came into Sorry Charlie’s one afternoon and right away he gets this attitude with me. He made a crude comment. I looked at him and said, ‘I know who you are and I don’t care. So you can either get your head out of your [butt] and act like a normal human being or you can go find another bar.’ And you know what he said? ‘You have no idea how much I appreciate that.’ It was a complete turnaround.

Carol “Miss Carol”  Patton
Pinkie Master’s Lounge, 318 Drayton Street

Bartending Since: 1977, exclusively at Pinkie’s

Why Bartending: After years spent as a copy girl for the Savannah Morning News, Miss Carol was about to go back to school when a friend asked her to help out at Pinkies for a short time. She hasn’t left since. Why? “The people. The people are just great.”

Favorite Drink: “Gin and tonics and [Seagram’s] VO with Diet Coke.”

Best Bartending Story: “There was that time those guys from the movie Jackass came in. Some of them started acting up, throwing stuff around. Then, for no reason, one of them threw a barstool over the bar and it just missed me.” But as Miss Carol points out, Hollywood isn’t all bad. “When Josh Lucas was in Savannah filming Undertow, he and the whole crew came in every single night we were open. And he was so cool—one night he even took the trash out for me.”

Primitive sconce. With bands of brushed steel over frosted glass, these sconces would make any wall look cool. The contrasting materials are retro-deco-futuristic without being kitsch, and will transform a space with gleaming beauty. Keep an eye out for the desktop version.
Buy locally: Circa Lighting, 405 Whitaker Street, 912.447.1008

“Swamp Thing” Green Plastic and Chrome Stool. Perfectly unconventional, this stool offers just the right pop of color for any space. Form meets function with its hydraulic features and a molded release button. Even better, the price is just as right as the style.
Buy locally: The Universal Trading Company, 27 Montgomery Street, 912.233.1585

Saturn Chair. It’s not enough to say this hip seat, boasting black velour microfiber and a chromed steel tube frame, is out of this world. Its sleek and stylish design spruces up any space from a dorm room to a study.
Buy locally: 24e, 24 East Broughton Street, 912.233.2274

Sleek Bench. This multipurpose piece of furniture offers surprising comfort and exceptional style. It comes in a gray or green easy-to-clean microfiber and is made with a strong and handsome chrome steel frame.
Buy locally: 24e, 24 East Broughton Street, 912.233.2274

About the writer: Ruel Joyner
Ruel Joyner is an award-winning style entrepreneur, furniture aficionado and second generation Broughton Street merchant. His influences and inspiration range randomly from mid-20th century travel magazines, old school hip-hop and Sunday afternoon boat cruises on the coastal waterways.

The South presents five outstanding youth advocates who know the importance of fostering young people and have dedicated their lives to the cause. Together with the organizations for which they serve, these individuals arm local children with the tools they need to become successful, happy adults who will, in turn, pass on the message and motivation to future generations.

Jonathan Barrett
Hails from: Perry, Georgia

Why Savannah: “Besides the exquisite architecture, the mild climate in winter, the history, the natural beauty and landscape and the fabulous Lowcountry food, it would have to be my circle of close and wonderfully eclectic friends.”

What he’s doing: Johnathan Barrett is vice president of statewide operations for Junior Achievement of Georgia, an organization geared towards inspiring and preparing young people to be successful in a global economy through partnering businesses and civic organizations with schools. “My role with JA is to oversee the management of our district offices throughout the state of Georgia,” explains Barrett. “Our chapter, Junior Achievement of Georgia, is one of the ten largest in the country, and we will work with over 115,000 students and 5,000 volunteers this academic year.” Under the guidance of the JA, volunteers go directly into the classroom to serve as mentors and role models and to teach financial literacy, business ethics, economics and workforce development.

On today’s youth: Despite being a huge believer in the need to teach children personal financial responsibility, Barrett believes the most important lesson that he can relay to students is to make certain that they complete their education. “That, along with instilling in a child a true sense of self-worth and confidence,” he adds.

“One of my fondest memories happened [my] first summer [working] at 4-H camp. The first day at the camp, we all go out to the beach. Well, I was walking along holding the hand of one little fifth grader named Emma Jean, [who] had never left the confines of Hall County, and so, of course, had never seen the ocean. As she spotted for the first time the expanse of the Atlantic, she turned to me with huge eyes and in this incredulous voice said ‘Good Lord, Mr. John. That thing is bigger than Lake Lanier!’ I still get a little teary-eyed thinking about that encounter, and it has led me to help try and show new and wonderful things to children that maybe they’ve never had the chance to experience before.”

Terry Cassidy
Hails from: Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Why Savannah: “Savannah reminds me of my hometown only much warmer,” she explains. “Both cities have a strong arts community, rich history and are on the seacoast. They both have ports and military bases which add to the diversity”

What she’s doing: As vice president of Parent & Child Services for Union Mission, Inc., Cassidy provides a host of services to assist individuals, families and children in meeting life’s challenges. Services she helps to offer include individual, family and group counseling, parenting classes, mentoring programs for children, substance abuse treatment for youth anger management classes for adults and youth, and supervised-visitation for non-custodial parents. Cassidy also provides consultant work for a few youth service agencies, including the United States Department of Education, the Family Youth Service Bureau, the Department of Early Childhood Education and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration.

On today’s youth: “As a teen, I hit some rocky patches,” admits Cassidy. “I was fortunate to have wonderful adults in my life that helped me get back on track.” Even then she knew that she wanted to do for other at risk youth what was done for her. “There is so much hope and potential with every child and teen,” she continues. “I find it inspirational to remember that sometimes seeds planted now may need a little time to
take hold.”

“The important thing is to not just look at the child but the entire environment that envelops the child, including school, community, family, friends, structure, nurturance, discipline. The child should not be the single focus for interventions.”

Julie Olsen
Hails from: Savannah, Georgia

Why Savannah: “It’s almost like you don’t have to leave to go on vacation,” she explains. “You can find enough to do in Savannah to relax.”

What she’s doing: Olsen is senior development consultant and talent management officer at Memorial Health University Medical Center, a title which alone rightly suggests she’s one very busy woman. Yet she also possess the titles of scholarship chair, school council member, committee member, volunteer and maybe most importantly, mom. “I want to inspire my kids to give back, and they want to inspire other kids to give back,” says Olsen. Daughters Jessica and Lauren currently serve on the Backus Children’s Hospital Teen Board and regularly bake food for the Ronald McDonald House. After their father was diagnosed with leukemia, the girls reacted the best way they knew how: by doing anything they could to help the cause. Along with the friends that they recruited, the girls have raised more than $200,000 for cancer research, and their parents couldn’t be more proud. “They’ve grown up differently and understand that there is a value to giving back.”

On today’s youth: Olsen understands that people can never really anticipate the effect that they can have on a young person. “I’ve always had an interest in kids. There’s just something about them that inspires you,” she explains. “You have a chance to have a great impact on kids—that stays with them their lifetime. I’ve lived here long enough to see how those early investments in children have lasted over time. That’s something that not everyone gets to see.”

“My plans are to continue to help people reach their potential and give back to the community. I love Memorial and I feel like they’ve given me the opportunity to do what I do best and that’s to help people reach their God-given potential.”

Art Marble
Hails from: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Why Savannah: The small town feel, and diversity of the people—not to mention the absence of snow and ice—are things that Marble and his wife, whose 2002 retirement prompted their move south, greatly appreciate.

What he’s doing: A retired physicist, Art Marble is enjoying his retirement the best way he knows how: by helping troubled teenagers. A volunteer math tutor at the Bethesda School for Boys, he is a firm believer in the goals of the esteemed institution, namely to instill in its students a love of God, a love of learning and a strong work ethic. A known favorite of the staff and students alike, Marble takes advantage of his position as a tutor to offer his students individualized assistance with their schoolwork and their life skills as well. “You can’t be their tutor without being their mentor as well,” he passionately explains.

On today’s youth: Because Marble values the importance of education and the importance of teachers, he takes great pleasure in being able to supplement the education that students receive in the classroom. “Math is sequential and if a student is being tutored, it usually turns out that they missed some important point weeks, months or even years ago,” he says. The one-on-one time gives him the special opportunity to provide assistance to the teachers that don’t have the time to catch up all students individually, as well as to get students back on track and ready for the world.

“Sometimes, every now and then, when the student fills in the missing skill, magic happens. That’s the big reward for me, when the light goes on and I helped.”

Deborah Watkins Enoch
Hails from: Rockingham, North Carolina

Why Savannah: Deborah moved to Rincon in the summer of 1994 and enjoys the area for all it has to offer. “Just like little children when they see something new, I get so excited and try to absorb all that goes on,” she beams.

What she’s doing: As program director of the West Broad YMCA, a nonprofit organization offering programs to build strong kids, strong families and strong communities, Enoch’s mission is to put Christian principles into practice through activities that build healthy spirit, mind and body. Under Enoch’s hand, the YMCA’s programs include preschool and after-school care, summer camp, exercise and fitness programs, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, art classes and martial arts—all of which are geared toward keeping kids involved and out of trouble. She is also very active with her church, Goodwill Baptist Church, where she is a Sunday school teacher, director of the youth choir, co-advisor of the youth department and Praises of Faith dance team.

On today’s youth: According to Enoch, the most important reason to help children is to guide them away from the world’s bad and dangerous and toward its good and healthy. “It’s our job to provide different positive opportunities for them—to expose them to different people, different cultures and different activities. We need to teach children what we can, while we can,” she explains. “When we are entrusted with children at the Y, we try to provide more than just a safe environment. [We] let children know they are not living with just their family or just Savannah: There is a great big world out there and you can take part in it.”

“Teaching was always fascinating to me. To influence someone’s life [is] to make them a better person and in turn [it can make] you a better person.”

“What if nothing changed and industry continued chugging oil, choking our economy and churning out pollution? What if the machines that destroy us become the relics of our existence?”

Pondering—and painting—these questions is a full-time job for Savannah-based painter Anna Fox Ryan. Her work, which touches on apocalyptical circumstance, directly questions the costly behavior of big business, the wastefulness of our society and the destruction of natural habitats. Intending to spread awareness, Fox Ryan renders power poles, smoke stacks, wind turbines and fire as motifs for a collection-in-progress.

She came to Savannah from Charlottesville, Virginia for the same reason as many other students: To obtain a degree that would allow her to have a career that is both creative and financially secure. Her parents are artists who set aside their creative ambitions in an effort to support their children. “I was encouraged not to be a painter,” Fox Ryan says wryly. She entered Savannah College of Art and Design to study graphic design before switching to illustration—both fields are at the root of advertising, where efforts, although visually exciting, are used for sales and promotion of big business—an ironic foundation for her professional work.

One of the two painting classes Fox Ryan took at SCAD was a landscape painting class with Professor John Rise, who, according to her, “lives and breathes the paint.” He quickly became her mentor. Rise led the class to River Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to paint studies for a larger project. “A lot of people really were trying to focus on the beautiful architecture or the river. They were looking for nature.” Fox Ryan turned, instead, to a power grid and industrial plant at the west end of River Street. The result was an artistic awakening—and “Triptych No. 1” (2007).

The landscape painting is an oil on panel piece depicting an industrial power plant fuming with exhaust. Smoke stacks frame the picture and power lines jut in from the bottom middle panel, snaking through the image, rising with the smoke and flame which bellow above. Viewers can almost smell the fumes permeating the environment. The landscape is gritty, dirty and somber, smoldering with truth.

With that first image, an environmental champion was born. “I see [how people are controlled] with mass commercialization or mass production, mass control via religion,” Fox Ryan explains. “There’s that duality of big business versus the individual, and I approach the individual through hope and how they psychologically respond as they witness the growth of industry around them—as our civilization sort of encroaches on nature.”

Fox Ryan sounds off on several of these beliefs in “Mary’s Flood” (2007). Smoke stacks frame either side of the boreal scene. Polluted waters rise against a row of buildings. Like a ghost, the Virgin Mary faintly appears at the top of the far right smoke stack. Industrial structures are the only point of strength in the picture; the smoke stacks stand strong as ice caps melt over land.

Unlike the biblical story of Noah’s Flood, Fox Ryan’s “Mary’s Flood” does not offer a rainbow of hope or sign of land for happier days. The painting suggests all opportunity for help or prevention is lost, capturing the viewer in the mist of emergency. “I really was just exploring climate change and that was my primary focus, my secondary focus being hope, and religion as a vehicle for hope,” Fox Ryan explains. Her work often refers to Christianity, which she “clashed with”—and was surrounded by—throughout her early life.

Of a similar subject is “Savior” (2008), an oil painting of a wind turbine in the forefront of a hopeless scene. The propellers rest stagnant against a power pole as if crucified on the cross. Electrical coils repeat throughout the picture and power grids loom in the background while smoke and flame fulminate across the panel. The turbine is the single icon of hope, alone against a montage of industrial evils. “What I was really looking at is the level of power we give to our energy needs and it’s almost become a worship of sorts,” says Fox Ryan. “So, the wind turbine isn’t necessarily to say that the wind energy is going to be our savior or going to get us out of this, but [it’s] a greener energy.”

“Burn, Baby, Burn” (2008) introduces the human figure to industrial imagery. Eyes closed as if in meditation, the subject’s expression is peaceful, unaware. Engulfed in flame with smoke clouding a face, the image draws upon the damages pollution and airborne toxins have on our physical health. Strongly linked to the artist’s personal life—the figure is a portrait of her aunt, Dani, who lost her life from a brain tumor and esophageal cancer—”Burn, Baby, Burn” is one of Fox Ryan’s most powerful works to date. “She was an artist,” Fox Ryan says of her aunt. “She was the woman I really looked up to when I was growing up.”

***

The questions Fox Ryan presents in her work are both broad and direct; her resulting images attempt to make sense of a changing world. “Christianity today is not the same as it was hundreds of years ago. Environmental issues are not the same today as they were. Everything is changing, so why shouldn’t my perception? I feel like it’s not just our right but our obligation to question the government and everything that happens, to question our lives and our goals in it to make sure that we’re contributing as much as possible, and to make sure we’re getting what we deserve.”

A wavering trust in government and our economy manifest in her series of charcoal drawings. Fox Ryan began the series during the 2008 Presidential Election. “I was just intrigued by the power struggles and the rivalries between parties and all of the tension that it created. I would listen to news stories and consider specific events and translate that to these power lines and power poles. There’s so much danger involved in the energy that runs through these things. It seems very simple just looking at the structures, just looking at the lines, but to consider the weight that they carry—I just found it interesting.”

One upright power pole remains erect yet entangled in a commotion of connected lines and other poles in “Last Man Standing” (2008). Defeated in a twisted battle for power, the fallen poles are broken and entangled. The attached lines prove strenuous on the upright pole and it, though stronger than the rest, is fractured from strife. One line snaps loose from a fallen pole at the right. If all the poles carry the same amount of power, what did it take to be the last man standing? Was it chance, determination, or perhaps by “change”—the promise of President Obama’s campaign (a point of influence for Fox Ryan).

In recent years, attention has turned to the climate crisis and a plethora of trendy responses fashioned: priority hybrid parking, organic food and clothing and Savannah’s long-awaited curbside-recycling program. “Are we moving in the right direction?” Fox Ryan asks. “No. I’m not going to say it’s all the government’s fault; there’s a lot about America and other parts of the world where it’s all about consumerism and mass production and that is all very wasteful. That [does not contribute or help us recover] from this global crisis we’re in. I’m not a scientist; I’m not going to stake my claim. I’m just sort of commenting on what I see.”

Fox Ryan’s career began with a Savannah landscape, but she doesn’t strive to sell pretty pictures; she aims to generate thinking, to ask questions. “I don’t even care if you don’t find the images beautiful,” she declares. “I don’t care if I step on people’s toes, if they leave thinking or… even better, talking to someone about the ideas that these images bring up—then I’ve done my job. Because there’s nothing delicate about this.”  Anna Fox Ryan, 434.962.5046, www.foxryanstudio.com.

On Wayne Street, a pair of Camellia trees stand in eternal bloom. Swaying branches support individual petals and delicately veined leaves. These life-size trees are the forged steel creations of renowned metalworker John Boyd Smith. Welded together, the trees form a carport gate at a private residence. Metalwork of this caliber, where flowers of steel bloom in three-dimensional form, is unusual, first in its artistic achievement and second, for its practical purpose.

Unlike traditional metalwork, which commonly features scrolls and simple designs, Smith’s creations depict elements of nature with sculptural nuances and careful detail. Smith renders metal into “realism.” Only a handful of American blacksmiths can produce this caliber of work—“Maybe less than five,” Smith says.

Originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina, Smith has no formal blacksmith training. “I’m kind of what you might call a natural,” he admits. “The first time I picked up a hammer, I had an instinct on how I might forge metal and it has served me well.”

Beginning first with jobs as simple as repairing gates and fixing hinges, Smith now has more than 25 years worth of metal gates, fences, handrails, furniture, fountains, lighting fixtures and sculptures adorning the Lowcountry.

For his endeavors, the American Institute of Architects in Georgia awarded him the 1999 Lifetime Achievement award for his contributions as an ironworker, sculptor and craftsman. And though he now works in North Carolina, his aesthetic improvements to the city of Savannah have merited many accolades locally and abroad. “I’d like to think that in the last 25 years I’ve altered the urban landscape of Savannah. Savannah has been very good to me,” says Smith. “I’ve been fortunate to work here.”
To inquire about custom metalwork of your own, visit www.johnboydsmith.com/index.php.

See It:
Although he designs much of his work for private commissions, many of John Boyd Smith’s pieces are outside installations, enabling people to enjoy his ornamental metalwork—while respecting the privacy of the lucky owners, of course.

Traditional Railing: In 1995, the PBS series This Old House remodeled a townhouse on Monterey Square. Smith created this Italianate railing as part of the refurbishing project. Private Residence, 7 West Gordon Street.

Camellia Gate: Meriting the Historic Savannah Foundation’s 1988 Most Outstanding Private Renovation award, this steel forged gate features life-size Camellia trees. Private Residence, 426 Abercorn Street.

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church: Against the south-facing annex is a cross stretching nine feet and weighing 1 ton. Inside the sanctuary, Smith also designed the railing around the altar. 10 West 31st Street.