Photo by Oliver Kish
By Shea Parton and Marc Kohlbry
After arriving in Los Angeles in 2007, we stumbled across 1019 East 4th Place. This 7,000 square foot industrial warehouse could have just as easily been mistaken for an aviation hanger or movie set. Rather, we found the original Cleveland Art location, co-owned by Jeffery Dreher and Jason Wein. Cleveland Art’s warehouse hosts a plethora of industrial machinery that has been repurposed into functional designs for the home, office and retail settings.
We were quickly drawn to Jeff, thanks to his gritty sense of humor, his instinctual trust and his timeless taste. Three years after our introduction, Cleveland Art has moved a few blocks from their original location - near the Barker Block Lofts in the Arts District of downtown LA. In our minds, Dreher represents the classic American workingman. California born in 1968, Jeff’s parents taught him the value of hard work and of treating others with respect. Lessons learned after working as a courier, a real estate appraiser and since 1994 Jeff has managed the westcoast retail of Cleveland Art.
Jeff wakes up at 6am each day to start his commute to the warehouse, where he sets up deliveries, routinely checks his email, and concentrates on his customers before commuting back home to his wife, Katherine Cotton Dreher. When he’s not at the warehouse, Jeff can be found at flea markets around the city, playing basketball and tennis, or exploring his new hobby of sailing off of the Southern California coast. Perhaps one day, Jeff will take a much-deserved sailing trip around the globe with Katherine, but until then, we are proud to have him as our neighbor and friend.
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