Nick’s Great Wall of America

Nobody is checking over election results today closer than Huntington Park tailor Nick Ioannidis.

The reason? Depending upon the winners and losers, Ioannidis may face a major redecorating job at his East Gage Avenue shop.

Its walls are lined with framed and often-autographed photos--not of the ubiquitous Hollywood celebrity--but of politicians. All 50 governors are there, plus every president and a huge cross-section of elected Los Angeles-area officials.

The 600 pictures and documents on the walls are a shrine to America, according to Ioannidis, a Greek immigrant. In fact, his entire 1,700-square-foot shop is tailored as a tribute to this country’s freedom and the effectiveness of its political process.

Which may seem a little strange coming from a man who says he was threatened with jail this year because of what he maintains was a political dispute over his shop.

“This country means something for everyone,” explained Ioannidis, who for 21 years has staged an annual party at the shop to commemorate his citizenship. “The U.S. welcomes everyone. Here you can have your own religion, your own language. I still believe that.”

Red, white and blue bunting covers tables next to sewing machines in the tailor shop’s back workroom. Near the pants presser--above the stereo set that plays a continuous tape of patriotic marches--there is a gallery of framed governor’s portraits. A Tiffany lamp with a stars-and-stripes shade illuminates the worktable in the center of the room.

At the front of the shop, miniature flags from each state are attached to a chandelier that hangs over a custom-made Huntington Park city seal embedded in the floor. Flags from this country’s original 13 colonies are suspended over the front counter.

But the centerpiece of the shop is a full-size replica of the Liberty Bell attached to a pair of I-beams that form a V over the front door. According to Ioannidis, the steel braces are the largest political symbols in the place.

The beams are part of a $36,000 seismic strengthening project completed three months ago to cap an eight-year dispute between the man who calls himself “Nick the Greek” and City Hall. Ioannidis contends that the work was unnecessary. City officials disagree.

“This place was built in 1924 and it has never had a brick fall,” Ioannidis complained Tuesday.

Ioannidis, who settled in Huntington Park in 1969 after emigrating from Greece, blames local politicians for the fight. He asserts that former Mayor William Cunningham, who owns a mortuary next door, wanted him to vacate the shop so it could become part of a city redevelopment project.

Cunningham--who is one of the elected officials pictured on Ioannidis’ wall--disputes that contention. “There was never any redevelopment plan for his building,” Cunningham said Tuesday.

Instead, Cunningham said, the tailor shop was one of 98 buildings targeted as substandard by a 1988 seismic safety ordinance adopted in the city that is about seven miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

But even framed photographs of Huntington Park politicians in the shop didn’t help Ioannidis this year when city officials threatened him with jail if he didn’t make the repairs. At South Gate Municipal Court, Ioannidis pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge and promised to do the work.

But these days he continues to show his unhappiness with city officials on tall outdoor flag poles he has installed above a bronze plaque bearing the legend: “I appreciate and protect my country and city.” Alongside the American and California flags is the Huntington Park city flag. It is flying at half-staff.

Municipal officials receive frequent complaints from residents about the way the city flag is displayed, said Henry Gray, the city’s assistant director of community development/redevelopment.

“Why keep salt in the wound?” Gray said. “I was asked by the council to go say, ‘Can’t we let bygones be bygones?’ Nick said he wants an apology. But it’s not our fault he had to go to court.”

The election, meantime, was on Ioannidis’ mind Tuesday. His portrait gallery was about to grow--there were gubernatorial elections in 11 states, after all, not to mention all of those congressional, state and county seats up for grabs.

“I’ve got plenty of room for more pictures in back,” said Nick the Greek. And no, he would not be taking any Huntington Park politicians down to make room for the newcomers.

“I love America,” he said. “And Huntington Park is still part of America.”