THe Kings of the Hood

Two middle aged Jewish brothers were the local kings of commerce in Silver Lake. At least in my mind.

One ran the deli inside The Hub Mart, the neighborhood grocery store. The deli made the best kosher pickles and marinated lamb shish kabobs on the planet. The chunks of lamb were at least two inches square and shoved onto thick wooden skewers. In the summer my friend and I would walk to The Hub, sometimes barefoot, and buy a pickle.  Three days later my mother would comment that she could still smell the garlic.

The other brother owned Benny’s—so I assumed his name was Benny. His shop was the source of all comic books, magazines, pixie sticks, cheap toys, cap guns, water pistols and, most importantly, empty cigar boxes. We used these to store our school supplies. Benny would let you stand and read the comics---for a while.  I loved Superman, Superboy and Supergirl. There was also “Hollywood Confidential” that always looked at bit titillating and sometimes had a free sample of Tangee lipstick stuck to the covers. Benny’s was just across the parking lot from The Hub.

 In early September, just as school was to start again, it was essential to go to Benny's for a cigar box—the wooden ones being the most coveted. I learned about The Dutch Masters from one of Benny’s boxes and also learned to love the residual aroma of cigar tobacco. On my 18^th birthday I went to Bennies and bought my first cigar.

On the corner of the main intersection were competing gas stations that were always giving away free dishes or glassware.  It was at the Mobil station, having our tank filled by a uniformed man, that my father taught me the lesson that nothing is free.  Years later, that Mobil man would donate blood to my mother when she needed more than a dozen transfusions.

Next to the Mobil was a grand old two-story house set back from the road by a small parking lot and garden.  This was Tokyo Florists and was the closest I would get to being in Japan as a five year old. The business was family run and they all lived in the house. It’s still there and I bought my wedding flowers on the front porch thirty years ago.