Saddling Up At 7-Eleven

0

Herb Domeno knows what it’s like to be a cowboy at least a retail version of one. He was the first in Los Angeles to open his convenience store 24 hours.

“We were kind of like cowboys strap your gun on low and shoot fast,”

Domeno, 67, said. He recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of owning his first 7-Eleven store. In fact, his store in Palms was the first 7-Eleven in Los Angeles to be built from the ground up.

The Hawthorne resident and son of Spanish immigrants now owns eight stores on the Westside and in Orange County. His son, Tim, is general manager.

And, like a cowboy, Domeno said his motivation 40 years ago was to get control of his life.

“I wanted to get away from the big chain market industry because they want your soul,” said Domeno, who managed a local Food Giant market before purchasing the Palms 7-Eleven. “I wanted to coach my kids in Little League. So I took a leave of absence and never went back.”


Nazarian the Giant

Former Beverly Hills High School Principal Ben Bushman remembers a student named Sam.

“When I would walk down the hallway he would give me a big hug in the mornings occasionally,” Bushman said. “He was just really a very gentle giant, so to speak, because he was a big guy.”

That student was Sam Nazarian, who is now a giant of L.A.’s nightclub and hotel scene. Although Nazarian graduated in 1993 and Bushman left the high school in 2003, the two will be reunited next month. That’s because Bushman will receive a lifetime achievement award at the Beverly Hills Athletic Alumni Association fundraising event, which will be hosted by Nazarian.

What’s the athletic connection? Bushman was the head football coach for a time in the 1970s. When he was principal, Bushman still roamed the sidelines during football games. Nazarian was a basketball player, but Bushman remembers him well, beyond the hugs.

“He was a fun-loving kid,” Bushman said.


Boardroom Libido

Remember the old saying that sex sells? Sonni Carr did when she named a business book that she co-authored. Her book is titled “Impotence in the Boardroom,” and it refers to the decidedly unsexy problem of inertia and groupthink that afflicts so many corporate meetings.

“The title gets people’s attention and the wordplay fits,” said Carr.

Carr, 35, knows something about marketing. She’s a former media buyer at ad agency RPA Inc. in Santa Monica. She hopes the book will serve as a text for college marketing classes.

Of course, it also couldn’t help but promote her new ad agency, in2ideas LLC. The agency utilizes mental exercises to increase any company’s boardroom libido.


Staff reporters Maya Meinert, Daniel Miller and Joel Russell contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

No posts to display