There's No Place Like Umberto

Dec 23 there were a flood in my condo.

Dec 25 my store, that my mom started in 1988, was destroyed by the 4am fire next door

Dec 28 a burglar in my garage.

Dec 31 I was sent an antisemitic comment “How’s the Jewish privilege treating you?”

Jan3 Umberto, my landlord and family friend since I was a teenager, announced he was closing his business.

How are you? people ask. Jewish, I answer.  There’s always one more thing.

To the Instagram troll, “I’ve never heard of Jewish privilege. I only know Jewish suffering.”

I had three stores in 2020. Covid wiped out two and I chose to keep my little storefront on Canon. That location was never intended to be my main shop. I felt like a failure losing my stores.

But from that darkness, I found light in the Beverly Hills community. I joined the Chamber, Small Business Task Force, Rotary, became a Recreation and Parks Commissioner. I found purpose in action.

My store was more than a business. It’s an open house party that I hosted daily. It’s a retail therapist’s office. It’s a community center. Umberto and Babette feel the same way about their salon.

It’s home.

There’s a framed poster from the Wizard of OZ that hung in their office.

Yesterday I texted her some lyrics from Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which was written as a song of hope- A promise of a better world beyond troubles.

When all the world is a hopeless jumble

And the raindrops tumble all around,

Heaven opens a magic lane.

When all the clouds darken up the skyway

There’s a rainbow highway to be found,

Leading from your windowpane, to a place behind the sun

Just a step beyond the rain.

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high

There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

For now, our lives have been shattered, like a glass under the chuppah. We will never heal from this tragic event. But we will rebuild.

The Japanese art form Kintsugi believes that the gold enamel that holds together the pieces of the broken vessel, gives the new form beauty and a story to tell.

For me, time, love, and support is the gold enamel that will help us put our pieces together.

To everyone who has reached out, offered to come clean, pack, be of service, take me to lunch, brainstorm, and simply listen, you are gold.

Thank you.