Old-fashioned/19″/CW1st/mark2nd

By NOLA L. SARKISIAN

Staff Reporter

Edward and Jerry Tishkoff rent out pianos to shows like “ER,” “Frasier,” and “Mad TV,” but their offices look more like “Barney Miller.”

Bills are issued by hand. A card catalogue keeps track of each piano and renter. Cloth-bound ledgers maintain page-long records of all customers and their transactions.

The owners of Hollywood Piano Rental Co. acknowledge they’ve been slow to adapt to technological gadgetry. But then again, doing things the old fashioned way seems to work just fine.

“We’re under-technologized and we’re glad of it,” said Edward Tishkoff, 68, who owns the company with his brother Jerry. “Every record we need is available by hand. This is as quick as can be. I was at BofA recently and I couldn’t make a withdrawal because the computers were down. I’m sick of hearing that.”

The Tishkoffs haven’t entirely ignored the computer age. They have a PC, but it sits untouched unless the part-time bookkeeper happens to be in the office. The brothers bought it to help keep track of the inventory, but it’s clear they are not big fans.

“I’m taking lessons now to work it, but I don’t like to fool around with it. I don’t want to make a mistake or erase things,” said Jerry Tishkoff, 72, adding that the device is still being programmed to be “U2K” compliant.

In fact, Jerry Tishkoff still pounds out correspondence to clients on an old black Royal manual typewriter that’s been in the office since 1947.

“It works just fine, but it’s very difficult to find the ribbon for it,” he said. “The stationery store I used to go to went out of business, and Staples doesn’t carry it.”

Should he run out, there are two electric typewriters in the comfortable but well-worn four-person office. They rest on Formica desks with a faux wooden finish. Black and white stills of erstwhile stars, from Betty Grable to Frank Sinatra, hang in wooden frames on the walls, which are alternately painted peach and sage. Once white ceiling panels that cover the fluorescent lighting have turned lemonade-yellow.

“We remodeled 15 years ago and it’s worked out well,” said Jerry Tishkoff.

Even the building’s exterior has faded rust and white-striped awnings and the neon “rental” sign is missing an “r.”

The business is located just south of the jammed intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, alongside Musso & Frank, another old-time establishment. It was founded by Tishkoff’s father and uncle who traded their four-story, 40-unit apartment complex for the piano business but instead of selling, they decided to rent them out, at the time for $2 a month. Today, they range from $25 to $400 a month.

They’ve amassed a collection of about 1,000 pianos, about 200 of which sit in their 7,000-square-foot showroom. The collection ranges from a 19th century cottage grand to modern-day uprights.

As with their inventory, the feeling is that newer isn’t necessarily better. “If it causes more stress to operate and your quality of life suffers, who needs it?” said Jerry Tishkoff. “Sometimes things are too fast.”

Yet, Hollywood Piano isn’t alone in its simple approach to business. Apparently, it’s endemic to the piano industry, according to Tim Conway, vice president of Music Transport Inc., who works with the Tishkoffs in delivering pianos.

“Pianos don’t take a whole lot of technology they haven’t changed much since the 1900s,” Conway said. “You just need people who know what they’re doing and lots of strength to move them, and a computer can’t do that.”

Terry Jorgensen, president of the Bank of Hollywood, says of the Tishkoffs: “They’re from the old school of business where their word is their bond. They’re an absolute delight to work with.”