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January 31, 2003
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Gintel brothers
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Suzan Filipek |
Want a new Rolex? How about one
that's almost new for half the price?
Have the Gintel
brothers got a watch for you.
Most
people want a deal, says Rudolph Gintel, half of the team at
Brothers Collateral Loans, which boasts 22 years of success at
the old-time skill of wheeling and dealing.
Besides
loaning cool, hard cash and buying and trading everything from
jewels to golf clubs, we make friends with our clients; 90
percent are repeat customers, says Ernest Gintel.
While
just about anything can be found hanging from the ceiling, on
a shelf, or stuffed in cabinets and corners, polished jewelry
and watches that tick like new are their specialty.
Diamond rings and rubies gleam from behind a glass
plate. The aforementioned gold Rolex watch valued new at
$9,500 is priced at a mere $4,900. But, like everything in the
store, the cost is negotiable, smiles Ernie.
When he
and his older brother Rudolph opened the shop in 1980, they
had already acquired a wealth of knowledge during their
childhood perusing the stock at their father's pawn shop
across from MacArthur Park. It closed in 1977.
Rudy,
who wears jeans and a turquoise bollo tie, was a rock-and-roll
musician before getting a law degree.
But he was never
interested in practicing law. He wanted to work with family
and be near his Hancock Park home. So he bought the
7,500-square foot building on Melrose Ave. at the corner of
Cahuenga Blvd. with his wife Myrna, his parents, and brother,
who was fresh out of U.C.L.A.
The brothers, aka
"pawnbrokers to the stars," work in tandem, so one of the two
is at the shop seven days a week. The partnership has gone
well—"We're still brothers," says Rudy"—though they do
disagree on a collection of stuffed animal trophies hanging
overhead.
They were purchased from a hunter on the
condition that they never be sold, explains Rudy, who thinks
the deer, bear and moose heads add character to the
shop.
Ernie grimaces, but he is quick to add everything
else has a price, from framed cartoons to scuba fins,
electronic keyboards, microphones, cameras, DVD players and
computers.
Renovated 1950s radios and vinyl LP record
turntables are popular, as customers often look for
memorabilia. Some want a Fender guitar similar to one they
played in high school, or a ring like the one their
grandmother wore. One man purchases something every few years;
he says it brings him luck.
The merchandise is brought
in by people like you and me, says Rudy. The image of a
down-and-out drug addict pawning stolen goods is untrue. Some
are overwhelmed with mortgages, car payments or medical bills.
Others simply have stuff they don't need anymore, such as the
real estate investor who traded in a trumpet that was
gathering dust for a new watch for his wife.
Once a
deal is struck, the transaction is immediate, convenient and
discreet.
A century ago doing business this way was
the main source of consumer credit, and it is still safer and
more immediate than buying on credit, adds Rudy, explaining a
customer can bring in their wrist watch and walk out with $100
in his wallet. He has three months to retrieve the watch for
the original $100, plus $12.50 interest and a $5 set-up fee.
Or he can just pay $17.50 to extend the loan another three
months. The process can continue indefinitely, though most
customers redeem their goods within three months.
The
fees and terms are regulated by the government and sales are
electronically downloaded daily to police headquarters to
verify incoming merchandise is not stolen, which only happens
in less than one-half of one percent of cases.
Jewelry,
expensive instruments and other valuables are placed in a
walk-in, bank-size, steel vault.
Tight security is
paramount here and explains why during the 1992 riots the
brothers were armed and lived at the pawn shop for five days,
defending it from looters; 24 other pawn shops weren't so
lucky, says Rudy.
Like his brother, he attended Fairfax
High and has sent his three children to public schools. "I
wanted them to live in the real world," he
explains.
After all, reality can be exciting. While the
shop was once home to a topless and bottomless bar, today a
$2.5 million housing-and-office development is under
construction next door.
"The whole area is improving
vastly, and we're growing with it," says Rudy.
Brothers
Collateral Loans, 5901 Melrose Ave., 323-462-5599. Free
parking on
Cahuenga.
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Larchmont Chronicle
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Editor & Publisher: Jane Gilman
Associate Publisher: Irwin
Gilman
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