ROVING CASTLES FOR WEEKEND WARRIORS VAN NUYS FIRM HAS HIGH RV IQ.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer VAN NUYS - Ken Schork has the art of motor-home rental down to an absolute science. ``We know everything about everybody,'' said the gregarious gre·gar·i·ous adj. 1. Seeking and enjoying the company of others; sociable. See Synonyms at social. 2. Tending to move in or form a group with others of the same kind: gregarious bird species. president of El Monte El Monte (ĕl mŏn`tē), city (1990 pop. 106,209), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1912. A residential, industrial, and commercial city in the San Gabriel Valley, El Monte manufactures furniture, electronic equipment, semiconductors, RV, which rents its mammoth mammoth, name for several large prehistoric elephants of the extinct genus Mammuthus, which ranged over Eurasia and North America in the Pleistocene epoch. vehicles to customers around the world from its new Van Nuys location. ``We know how many miles the French drive, what kind of RV the Germans prefer and how long Americans like to rent. It helps them if we know what they want.'' In Schork's 31 years in the business, he's gotten used to figuring out exactly what his renters need. After starting out as a vacation equipment rental company, Schork decided to diversify into RVs after noticing a burgeoning demand. ``We bought our first motor home in 1973 for $3,400, right when the gas shortage hit,'' he recalled. ``That crunch put a lot of our competitors out of business, so we decided to double our fleet in '75 - then we had two.'' The company now spans nationwide, employing more than 300 employees at 20 locations. Though the Van Nuys branch opened only a month ago, it's already logged more than 20 bookings in the nonpeak season and is expected to become one of the company's leading outlets. Located at the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Oxnard Street, it currently boasts 29 of these homes on wheels, and Schork expects to have as many as 100 in place by the peak summer season. At up to 40 feet in length, with a retail price of nearly $100,000 new and almost 1,000 miles of driving range, the 20 motor homes are impressive vehicles to behold be·hold v. be·held , be·hold·ing, be·holds v.tr. 1. a. To perceive by the visual faculty; see: beheld a tiny figure in the distance. b. . Some boast amenities like private bedrooms with king-size mattresses, microwaves, phone jacks and cable-ready televisions. ``Man, this thing's better than my old apartment,'' said Joe Laing, El Monte's director of communications Director of Communications is a position in the private and public sectors. The Director of Communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. , climbing aboard a class-A slide-out model on the Van Nuys lot. Bus-sized coaches like this, with sliding sections that extend outwards to maximize floor space, are the premier rental for El Monte, going for as much as $360 per day in the peak summer months. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Laing, customers are willing to pay these rates for the good service. ``We're going after people who want the quality experience,'' he said. To deliver that quality, El Monte operates coaches only 2 years old or newer and offers 24-hour roadside assistance. In the company's early days, this required some extreme measures by Schork and his sons Tucker, Richard Tucker, Richard, 1913–75, American tenor, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Tucker began his singing career as a cantor and remained one throughout his 30-year operatic career. In 1945 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera singing Enzo in Ponchielli's La Gioconda. and Todd, all vice presidents. ``A few times, Tucker had to personally fly parts out to mechanics so we could get RVs running again,'' the elder Schork recalled. ``Yeah, it's been a while since I've had to do that,'' Tucker Schork said. ``These things "These Things" is an EP by She Wants Revenge, released in 2005 by Perfect Kiss, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Music Video The music video stars Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Track Listing 1. "These Things [Radio Edit]" - 3:17 2. will go just about anywhere now.'' The value of service like this is not lost on customers. Eric Stauffer, a Malibu software engineer returning a slide-out model, plans on choosing the company once again even though his post-New Year's vacation was washed out by bad weather. ``This is a great way to travel,'' he said. ``It's very convenient because you've got all your stuff right with you.'' He and fiancee Suan Chew rented the coach for a leisurely cruise up the coast with their two dogs, Ski and Luge luge (l  zh), a type of small sled on which one or two persons, lying face up, slide feet first down snowy hillsides or down steeply banked, curving, iced chutes similar to those used in . After a past voyage to Carmel in a rented RV turned into a length odyssey, the couple became devoted RV enthusiasts. ``When we had nice weather, it was a beautiful trip,'' Stauffer said. ``We didn't plan on going all the way to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , but it's so easy this way, we just kept on going.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Ken Schork, left, operates El Monte RV in Van Nuys with his son Tucker and Tucker's brothers. All put a premium on quality service. John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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