He’s Got Eyes for the Girl Next Door

Here’s a Valentine’s Day story of sorts. For almost nine years, Scott Mischel’s business, Marc Michel Eyewear Studio, had been located at 15314 Antioch. Last December, he relocated his business to 15320 Antioch, on the north side of Salon Ca’ Pello, which his wife, Tiffany D’Nunzio, has owned since 2002. Got that? ‘It was time to upgrade,’ Mischel told the Palisadian-Post. ‘We took three months and we completely redid the store,’ while also adding about 400 square feet by taking over the former Teraine space. Despite the economy’s punishing downturn last summer and fall, Mischel felt the time was right to grow his business. ‘I had the opportunity to obtain a larger space from my landlord, instead of redoing the old store, and I felt this was a positive direction to go in,’ he said. ‘My business has always done well in this community.’   His hunch proved right, because customers have been reacting positively to the move, according to Mischel. Step into the new Marc Michel store (the name is a simplification of the owner’s full name: Scott Marc Mischel), and the place looks inviting: high ceilings, vibrant green-and-white walls, large windows and gallery lighting brightening up the interior. Up on one wall is a mural of three pairs of glasses, two of them shades, in a pop-art design that Mischel himself imagined. He also designed an elegant iron fixture of a pair of retro glasses embedded into one of the counters. An island of wooden boards peeks out in the middle of the store, as if the floor has been ripped open to expose its old bones. The overall effect of this new location: hip, bright, clear, simple, elegant. Mischel sells name-brands”Chanel, Salt, Oliver Peeples, Rayban”as well as harder-to-find designer specs, such as Oliver Goldsmith and Face a Face. But he also takes pride in the fact that he also crafts glasses by hand. ‘I do my own lab work. I try to get a pair that suits a customer’s whole image,’ Mischel was telling the Palisadian-Post, when in walked Gil Grant, a writer/ producer with credits on ’24,’ ‘NCIS,’ and ‘Painkiller Jane.’ ‘Scott is the best,’ Grant tells the Post. ‘Scot and his staff know me, they know the product. I mean, look around. Look at how hip this place is!’ A lean and handsome man of middle-age, Grant picks up his specs’horizontal wire-frames, which Mischel has just finished creating by hand. Sure enough, they fit Grant perfectly, and he’s one happy customer. Mischel and Grant banter for a bit like old friends. In fact, Grant has been patronizing Marc Michel for about 5 years. Thin and hip-looking himself in a casual dark-blue paisley dress shirt and jeans, the store’s owner has been working in the eyewear business for about 30 years. After growing up around Tarzana and Woodland Hills, Mischel began his career in the Valley and learned the ropes by managing various eyewear stores. He discovered Pacific Palisades while dating D’Nunzio, who at the time styled hair at the Hilites studio on Antioch. Upon visiting the town, Mischel knew instantly that he had found the location where he would one day hang his own shingle. He opened his store in July 2000. D’Nunzio herself has been working since she was 13 years old. She grew up in the South Bay and attended the now-defunct Sassoon Hair Academy at the Santa Monica Promenade before working in the Palisades. In 2002, she bought her salon, the year she and Mischel moved from Marina del Rey to the Highlands. ‘It’s very comforting having him right next door,’ D’Nunzio says of working side-by-side with her hubby, though it’s not as convenient as one might think: they don’t carpool to Antioch since they keep different schedules. But have no fear, their collective carbon footprint is relatively minimal: while they may drive to work in separate cars, they reside less than 10 minutes away. On their down time, the couple enjoys walking their Alaskan Malamuts, Oliver and Katie, around the Highlands, and frequenting restaurants on the Westside. But work is where the heart is. ‘He really enjoys people,’ D’Nunzio says of her husband. ‘He enjoys his work and he works long hours.’ Well, you don’t need a pair of glasses to see that. Marc Michel Eyewear Salon is open six days a week from 10 to 6 p.m.; Sundays by appointment. Contact: (310) 230-4569.