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Above
Levine Brothers’ first Los Angeles Street store, 1941. Aunt Glady at the end of the first counter, Harry (H.L.),
in aisle with hat, Moe Levine (head shown over cloth on left), Moe’s daughter Maxine next to Maxwell “Sonny” Levine, Uncle Mike’s son, a pilot who was killed in WWII.
Below
Advertising coupon for Michael Levine’s.
When Mike was in his late eighties, he decided to sell the business. His price was $200,000. I asked him, “Why that number, Uncle Mike? Why not $150,000 or $250,000? “ “Well,” he said, “it just sounds like a good number.”
My good friend Harry Fybel agreed to run the business. Harry, Mike’s son- in-law, Mort Kern, and I each put in $10,000 down, and I guaranteed that Uncle Mike would get his $200,000 plus interest. We paid off the balance in two years. Harry was a great businessman and Michael Levine’s was another Levine gold mine.
After Mike sold his business, he became a greeter at my own store, Beno’s. He dressed in his usual spiffy style and always had a big smile and a warm handshake ready for the customers. He’d bring in food for the employees and try to teach them English. I could never pay Uncle Mike for his service, so to thank him for my Bar Mitzvah pants and for being our greeter, I bought him a brand-new Lincoln.