TV show to feature Saugus print shop

SAUGUS – If Saugus residents were unaware of the ode to printing history nestled in the center of town, they will know this summer when Park Press Printers is featured on the television show “Hidden History in Your House.”Producers and a camera crew from This Old House Productions, Inc. were in town Wednesday morning to document the Main Street store?s status as one of the few left in the world that still uses the three generations of printing: letter, offset and digital.Shop owner Gabriel Farhat said the crews took about four hours to interview the printing staff and shoot the whole printing process. The store will be featured in the documentary of the history of how air conditioning saved the printing industry by cooling the presses during the summer so products would not be ruined in the heat and humidity.Though some would jump at the chance to have their store featured, Farhat said at first he was hesitant because the shop is regularly very busy. He ultimately agreed because he thought it was “for a good cause” and he thought “the community would be happy to know they have an old-fashioned printer in town.”Farhat agreed that “a little exposure doesn?t hurt,” but he said he?s not one for in-your-face advertising. He prefers the subtlety of the store just as he prefers the elegance of letterhead to the “annoying” e-blast.Though Farhat said the threat of e-media as the fourth generation of print looms, he thinks there will always be those who would rather have a hard copy than print. As the owner of one of the few shops that offers the old-school to the new, Farhat knows it all depends “on what the new generation wants.”