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School Daze: 1920-1940 125
Bad BehaVIoR aT leVINe BRoTheRs
We came to California by the All American Bus
Line. We arrived in the summer of 1936, which was
the heart of the Depression. I immediately went to work at Levine Brothers with my cousins, Irving and Sonny. We worked on the third floor, straightening
out the goods. One day, we got into a Coke fight. We went wild, shaking up our Coke cans and spraying Coke everywhere. We got Coca-Cola all over the fabrics.
Uncle Moe came running upstairs and saw the mess we made. He screamed so loud, people on the first floor got frightened enough to evacuate the building. Moe yelled at me, saying, “You’re the smartest and the oldest. I’m so surprised at you. You’re the responsible one who should have known better!” He was furious. At that point, I knew I could never work at Levine Brothers, which was a good thing, because it kept me out of the morass of the family business.
As Levine Brothers expanded, it opened a store in Long Beach. Glady moved down there for a while so she could manage that store. Once they came to California, my brothers, Eddie and Harold, joined Levine Brothers and they worked there all of their lives. Ed and Harold drove to and from work together every day. Uncle Sol and Uncle Moe also worked at Levine Brothers for their entire lives.
Below
Michael Levine’s in downtown Los Angeles, October 2008. This store split off from the original Levine Brothers after an argument between Uncle Harry and Uncle Mike. They eventually reconciled.