Meet Your New Neighbors

Katelyn Fritz and Brian Blades moved to Tehachapi in May from the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles. Brian was downsizing his screen printing business and they are expecting baby daughter, Maia, in August so the seasons and setting of Tehachapi caught their attention as a great place to raise their new daughter and begin a new small business. After buying a home in Bear Valley, it was time to find a space for their business, Ultimate Ink.

The couple has recently opened their new screen printing business on North Mill Street in a space previously occupied by an estate sale company. Katelyn says that she does some art work and small print jobs but Brian is screen printer extraordinaire. They have only been rolling a few weeks and Brian said that local businesses and organizations have already begun to find them.

Brian grew up living in Orange County with his parents and older brother. He said that he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18. He acquired his love of art and design from Mr. Dibb, a teacher at Woodbridge High School in Irvine. He studied everything he could about graphic design and computer graphics. In 1993 he started his own company, Ultimate Graphics and had a studio in downtown Los Angeles that had as many as 20 employees. He had a contract with American Apparel, a large sportswear manufacturer, and has screen printed merchandise for many celebrities and rock groups. (One such group is Ozo Matli which I mention specifically because it is one of my son’s favorite groups.) Anyway, Brian said that he mostly uses the advanced simulated process for screening although he does have a four color press that he can transport to events. He said he can process orders of any size. Untimate Ink has already produced orders for several Tehachapi businesses. Although Brian said that the business was envisioned as his retirement business, it is far from that.

Katelyn was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Orange County, California. She has step and half siblings and her very active mom is a yoga instructor who has hiked the pilgrimage Road to Santiago or St. James Way in Europe. Katelyn has always been an artist and musician. She started playing the piano at the age of six and added the clarinet and violin in grade school. She said that she recently started playing the piano again and is currently interested in digital instruments. She has been working with an i-machine to record different sounds to make musical combinations. She is also a fine artist, painting in both acrylic and oil. She has been sketching and painting both people and landscapes since high school. Katelyn tried modeling in both New York and Los Angeles before meeting Brian and taking on the art of screen printing and running a business.

Welcome Katelyn, Bryan and Ultimate Ink.

In the fall of 2015, Josef, Laura and Benjamin Kaminski left their home in San Diego, Calif. and moved to Tehachapi. Laura arrived in September to begin teaching her first grade class in Rosamond. Josef and one year old Benjamin followed in October.

In San Diego, Laura had taken maternity leave when Benjamin was born and was having difficulty getting back into the district last fall. Her parents, who live in Tehachapi, suggested that she might check around in this area. She answered an ad for a school in Rosamond and was called for an interview. On her way back to San Diego, she got the call. She was hired. The family scrambled, Laura began her new assignment as first grade teacher, and the family is now living in Tehachapi.

Josef, who was born in Israel, moved to the United States in 1997 along with his parents, his brother and his sister. The family settled in San Diego, California. He became the Facilities Manager of a temple in the San Diego area. He likes running and hiking. Josef said that his brother is in the Los Angeles area working for SpaceX. He has hopes that his brother will eventually end up in Mojave.

Laura grew up in Westlake Village, California. She met Josef through a mutual friend and in 2006 she moved to San Diego. Laura became a preschool teacher and pursued her teaching credential through University of Redlands. She likes to read, swim, and be outdoors.

Young Benjamin, who was napping during most of my visit, is watched over by the three large family cats, Polibio, Alley, and Puffin.

Welcome to Tehachapi Josef, Lauren and Benjamin.

If you have moved to the Greater Tehachapi Area within the last six months and would like to know more about your new community, call 661-822-8188. We will be happy to make an appointment for a hostess to come by and give you lots of helpful information, some valuable coupons, gifts and much more. Many families and individuals who come to the area are pleasantly surprised with the amount of knowledge they gather about their new home. Publishing your welcome article is completely voluntary and is not a requirement of being welcomed.