DAVID KRUMHOLZ English 100 B.

Gilbert Tu-Th 12:30-1:45

February 10, 2005

A MISFORTUNATE UNFORSEEABLE CONSEQUENCE

. A family business can bring tremendous amount of satisfaction, but it also has the capacity to intertwine ones personal life. I would like to relate a story about my family business. The business has gone under, and this has had a personal effect on me. The business and the closeness of the family can became inseparable as one. The personal feelings containing the emotions of devotion, loyalty, and love were related amiss a strong family bond. A successful business is able to support a family, and attain a lifestyle quite different from most, but in this case it also lead to some unforeseeable consequences. The experience lingers on as part of my lifetime memory. My father, mother, and fathers mother came to this country after living through the holocaust. Recently, there was a sixty year anniversary of one of the death camps, Auschwitz, where my mother and grandmother spent two weeks. Experiencing events that one would fathom surrealistic, undeniable mutual lifetime bonds were formed among the survivors. As survivors their will to live, retain and preserve life as they knew it before became their quest. No longer were they burdened with survival, they along with others wanted a new chance in life. When the family came to America and moved to L.A. in 1946, they had an article in the L.A times written about them, since they were the first survivors from the holocaust to reach Los Angeles. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, my father, Richard, was able find work to support the family. He worked as a short order cook toiling sometimes seven days a week He saved

enough money to start a retail luggage store in Santa Monica. Things were different back then, large discount stores, shopping malls, and theater complexes were non-existent. The interstate freeways were a few years away. The post-war era was just getting into full swing. Opening a small neighborhood business to fill a niche was a way to make a living. My father was untrained and inexperienced, but willing to learn. The year the store opened was 1951. The luggage store started with six wallets and six handbags in a small location on Santa Monica Blvd. near 2nd street. His childhood friend Paul Page, who also survived the holocaust, had learned the leather goods trade in the small town of Krakow in Poland. He had already started his own small boutique store in Beverly Hills, and was able to teach my father the trade. In the evenings my father would go Pauls store and learn the craft. As the years passed, the small business flourished. In 1962 he moved his location to the present day Third Street Promenade. My grandmother, who worked with my father daily during this era, became the mother image to many survivors who had lost their families. She was a determined elderly little woman with a Polish accent, who replicated customs and traditions that so many survivors were enamored by. Mamusha as my father called her raised me, since my mother worked during my young childhood. In 1970 when she passed away it left my father distraught; his will to continue the business was in jeopardy. At the time, I was a lad of twenty-one and attending UCLA. An obvious choice was necessary, whether to continue my education or assist my father in business. I chose to go help in the family business and remained a part time student. This was the era of the Vietnam War and since I had asthma joining the service was not an obligation. As time went by, I found myself completely enthralled with the business and getting my degree seemed like an unnecessary burden. The store had a personal atmosphere and

characterized a pleasant lifestyle. The surroundings were appealing. Three blocks from the ocean, palm trees on a grass park above the cliffs by the ocean created an atmosphere that attracted the metropolitan demure. The Third Street Promenade at that time was still a shopping area of small independently owned businesses. The cliental in the vicinity were mostly affluent middle and upper class. These were times when indoor shopping malls were opening with department stores as thier anchors. In 1975 we had the opportunity to open opened our second store. We followed the trend and opened the store in the Fox Hills Mall. Imported product started to make an impact on the wide selection being merchandized in the marketplace. In 1978 we opened our third and fourth store in Carlsbad and La Jolla. The San Diego area seemed very opportunistic. It was decided to send my eighteen year brother, Steve, to manage the stores. Fresh out of Venice High School, he was ambivalent to have the responsibility. He had no immediate desire to go to college and the business provided an upstart to his newfound lifestyle. He would seldom arrive at work before one or two oclock and would seemingly stay well past closing on a daily basis. On weekends my wife, Eileen, and I would go down to stay at his place, but seldom if ever did he participate in any activities with us. Usually, late dinners on Saturdays would be the only time spent together. Stevie as I called him, was meticulous, seemingly always late, and derived all his friendships from the workplace. He would spend endless hours on the phone and was resolute in his demeanor. During the eighties we opened a store in La Mesa in1983, a store in Redondo Beach in 1985 and an outlet distribution warehouse in San Diego in 1987. I remained in Santa Monica as buyer and head of general operations, and my brother was in charge of the warehouse and the three San Diego locations. The seventies and eighties were indeed good times for Richards Luggage. We had established a respectable enterprising business.

My father retired in 1989 appointing me as president and treasurer and my brother as vice-president and secretary. He still was actively participating in business decisions and highly respected among his peers. His work ethics and his survival instincts ingrained in his behavior, commanded a spontaneous attitude from his mountain man appearance. But to his staff and me he was known as, Popsie, a gentleman in every regard. Unfortunately, in 1991, my father was diagnosed with terminal stomach and liver cancer. With this kind of cancer the life expectancy was just six months. Having an unbelievable strong will to live, he fought through two lengthy operations over the next few years. Then in June 1994 with the cancer in remission, he had a serious car accident which eventually led to his demise in May 1996. As in most family businesses there are sibling rivalries, and we definitely had our share. After long working days and caring for my ill father, there were extensive conversations in the evenings with my brother. Nevertheless, we expanded by opening a store in downtown LA in 1993, a store in Laguna Hills Mall in 1995, a store in South Coast Plaza in 1997, and finally a store at the Block at Orange in 1999. I was there to continue on with the family business. At that time, my brothers personality would be described as very self-centered with periods of rage and jealousy. He had distinct animosity towards me along with mood swings. He had been very close to our mother, and when she passed away in 1998, after being comatose for almost one year, my brother became even more difficult. We battled about who was in charge and what decisions were necessary to keep the business flourishing. After bitter arguments and disputes, coupled with unpaid bank loans, the business went under in the early part of 2001. The cause for the business failing could be attributed to many factors, but after thirty years of success and working at such a vigorous pace, I was unable to prevent the outcome. I tried hard to communicate with my brother, but he was more unreasonable than ever. The legacy

of a proud business was gone. Without my fathers presence and command, the glue was not there to keep siblings from an unforeseeable unfortunate consequence. These were difficult years with emotional overtones. The results of the business failing caused me to sell my house and move into a smaller dwelling. The additional lawsuits that followed, combined with my brothers bitterness has destroyed our relationship. My brother and I have not spoken in four years. But I still wonder maybe I should have continued my education way back in 1970. The decision to stay loyal to a family business consumed me. I regret not completing my education at an earlier age, but as the years passed by it was not a priority. I was able to maintain a lifestyle to my gratification; but maybe not the one I had in mind. Monetary rewards were obtained but inner satisfaction is still part of my personal search. No one can suggest what ones goals in life are, but if one lives to make a family content, then love will be a powerful tool over hatred. To this day; I still miss my parents and the love. However, I have moved on and am looking forward to my current education at CSULB and where it will lead me. Life is always filled with surprises and the unexpected. In conclusion, one needs to put aside their personal endeavors, step forward, and truthfully say, one tried their best.