CLIPBOARD : ORANGE COUNTY PAWNBROKERS
Quick. What image do you get when you think of a pawnshop? Does the word sleazy come to mind?
Think again. Orange County Pawnbrokers is like no other pawnshop you’re likely to visit. It has none of the oft-seen stereotypes--armed security guards, metal detectors, dim lighting, tacky interior. It’s more like your great-aunt Myrtle’s attic.
“This is the coziest pawnshop you’ll ever be in,” says Victor L. Pahl, owner the offbeat Fullerton enterprise. “I’ve fought long and hard to change the stereotype image of pawnshops. I go in other pawnshops and I’m appalled. But that’s their concept of what a pawnshop should be, and this is my version. This is a bright, modern store.”
Pahl, who opened his shop in 1965, sees his business as filling a niche in an industry he jokingly calls the world’s “second-oldest profession.”
“We’re a form of lending,” he says. “We fill a niche by lending in a way that no other lender will. Take your wedding ring to Security Pacific and see what happens--no one will even talk to you.
“Collateral lenders go back to Egyptian times. Heck, even the Queen of Spain pawned her jewelry to finance Columbus’ trip.”
The system is simple: A customer brings in an item to be used as collateral for a loan. The broker examines it, and if he agrees it has value, he makes a loan on it. The customer then has five months to pay off the loan, plus a state-set annual interest rate of up to 60%. If the loan is not repaid, the item reverts to the shop.
“I’ve been in the secondhand business since 1949--since I was 9--so I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs, but this recession is the worst,” Pahl said. “About 87% of the people who come into my store have been out of work at least six months.”
Not everyone who pawns items is destitute, however. Some outgrow things, or their situations or lifestyles simply change. And in this case, items are sold outright rather than used as loan collateral. One man’s discards, as they say, are another’s banquet.
And the shop is filled to the rafters with, well, stuff. You name it, it’s here. Of course there are the requisite engagement rings, wedding bands and other jewelry, cameras, furs, musical instruments, televisions and power tools. But there is also the less ordinary: ethnic artifacts, wet suits, skis, bird cages, surfboards, billiard cues, pinball games, slot machines, toy trains, cartoon lunch boxes and wheelchairs.
“Some pawnshops specialize in jewelry or coins, but I take anything with resale value,” Pahl said. “I deal in everything from computers and high-tech to greasy old tools--as long as it has resale.”
OK. But a marble tombstone?
“What’s surprising is that sooner or later, I’ll sell it,” he said. “There’s a market for the obscure.”
If there is, then Orange County Pawnbrokers must be its Mecca. The store is a magnet for some really weird, obscure stuff: Civil War razors, totem poles, a full-size sailing boat, an African Assengi spear and shield, even a medieval coat of armor.
“Yeah,” Pahl admits, “every once in a while I’ll look up and say, ‘Where did I get that ?’ ”
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Address: 101 S. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton
Telephone: (714) 879-6531
Miscellaneous Information: The shop also has a fax machine, offering an expedient way to describe articles to be purchased or sold; that number is (714) 879-5276.
