Pico Improvement Organization, in partnership with renowned Los Angeles photographer Sam Comen, was awarded a grant from the City of Santa Monica’s Art of Recovery Program. The result is Our Pico, a portrait gallery celebrating the workers who invest their lives in Pico Boulevard’s economy, and that reveal the humanity behind the storefronts.

PIO chose to partner with photographer Sam Comen on the Our Pico worker portrait project because of his previous work. He has won praise for his focus on immigrant experience, working folks, and social justice issues. This aligns nicely with the diverse identities of the Pico community. While some streets in Santa Monica have boutique fashion shops, and high end restaurants and bars, Pico Blvd is a ‘working street’, with auto shops, hair salons, coffee shops, pet care and diners, and Sam's past projects showed great empathy and an engagingly intimate approach to capturing everyday working people. PIO's mission is to support our merchants and community, and his mesmerizing portraits of the workers who keep Pico's economy vibrant reveal the humanity behind our Pico storefronts.

Sam and a small production team visited twelve businesses, set up camera equipment, and captured the essence of the workers’ world in an individual, or group, portrait. These engaging portraits highlight hands-on work, family entrepreneurship, artisan craft and gig economy jobs. These workers roll up their sleeves, open the business each day, investing in person-to-person civic engagement, and do the work that keep Pico’s merchants thriving. Forty-one workers at twelve diverse businesses are included.