It's a small, small, small, small small world

We got there, she introduced me to the guy and in about 10 seconds my memories came back to me. That was the guy who owned 37 skyscraper in Manhattan when I met him in 1995 when my biggest customer in the Sign Business introduced me to him as he needed a sign for his new Chelsea Antique store. The guy knocked my price from $1200 to $700 leaving me with babkis for profits. I reminded that we met and he recalled it too telling me, yeah, I remember, you are the guy who wanted too much money for the sign!

I asked him if the guy who introduced us was there and sure enough, Harry Grant, my biggest client, the owner of the New York Apple Tours, the very first Double Decker Buses which made to USA was on hand with his wife Rose.

We haven't seen each other for 14 years and were really glad seeing each other. Back in 1997, living in my sister' basement after divorce which sent me on the road with $468, beaten up station wagon and three towels full of holes, Harry made an offer to buy 66% of my sign company for $500,000. Needless to say I accepted the offer before he even finished it. Something felt through on Harry's end and we never consummated the transaction. I told him for the first time that if we did, he'd had his best investment ever with 6 figures Sign Company earned in 1997, 7 figures in 1998 and 8 figures in 1999. God bless the Internet! :-)

We exchanged phone numbers and we'll see each other for dinner, as he has a place in Florida and spends big chunk of time here. I'll gladly cook for him and share a few good bottles to help the trip down of memory lane. I learned a LOT from "Hurricane Harry". I learned how to work from him, as he was coming to the Bus Terminal on West Highway and 42nd street after the flight back from London, at midnight, to supervise our work to put signs on the buses which were supposed to hit the streets NEXT MORNING. Amazing man who played a major role in my life. Amazing man!

I haven't seen the whole collection, which includes:
Batmoble, Ghostbustermobile, collection of military vehicles from the World War II, Soviet era cars I never seen before, all together over 600 vehicles from the 50's (his main theme) from all parts of the world. He needs to finish the second building to put it ALL on display. Lots of memorabilia from the 50's to go along with the cars collection. Interestingly enough, his car collection in numbers is about the same as my wine collection. Michael Dezer will surely leave the legacy bigger than just millions of square footage of real estate.

This was the MOST exciting event of my last 6 month. Nice to see the faces of people who in one way or another were pivotal in my life.

by Serge Birbrair April 1st 2011

Thank you for your e-mails guys and gals, they mean sooo much to me!

Charles Carreon wrote:
Serge,
A fun little reminiscence. Thank you for taking the time to put it together.
I'm not a New Yorker, but my wife Tara is a big fan of Speed Levitch, the subject of The Cruise, in which he extolls the glory of working as a tour guide on one of Apple's double-deckers:

"Gray Line is like, you know, a damn ride. Apple was like a living carnival, man. We were cossacks. I mean, we took what we wanted and we threw people overboard off the bus when we didn't like them. I mean, it was our territory. The City belonged to us."

Check out Tara's screencap gallery of The Cruise at one of her websites.

:) Charles

And Harry Grant, of course, when he helped me to install the long side sign with smiley face at Long Island City garage - 6am Sunday

That is what i call a nice event in life. Funny how sometimes people meet again :)

It is a small world. I just discovered a relative in Italy, on my mother's side, who owns a pizza place in Tuscany, and now I have a place to stay when it Italy.

Thomas

So the sign company was a success!

You might have not been the richest there, but you sure as hell as were the hottest and funniest!