When composer Kris Bowers was in elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, he played the piano. Little did Bowers know that it was all thanks to a man in a downtown repair shop who kept the instrument that would inform Bowers’ life’s work in working order. But it was well before these accolades that the man in the repair shop continued to fix and tune Bowers’ school piano, as well as many other instruments throughout the entire LAUSD system. It’s this hidden influence that the short documentary The Last Repair Shop, out now via on the Los Angeles Times’ YouTube channel and latimes.com, explores and examines. The film grants access to the little-known repair shop in a downtown warehouse where a small yet dedicated number of craftspeople keep more than 80,000 student instruments in working condition.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 01, 2023 20:52 UTC