About
I started my career working in my stepfather's pawnshop. I wanted to go out on my own and found a location to open up a pawnshop, but did not have the financing, so I opened it up for my stepfather. In 1977, after saving enough money, I finally went out on my own by buying Buena Park Loan & Jewelry, a pawnshop located in the next town over from his. It was soon apparent that I was not getting enough used jewelry from pawn customers to meet the demand so I began designing my own jewelry. I realized that in many cases I could make the jewelry for less and have more trendy designs than buying used jewelry from the pawn customers. I also started advertising loose diamonds and was able to...