Sunken Treasure Display Offers Golden Opportunity for Local Jeweler
For 45 years, the Altobelli family has sold jewelry at 4419 Lankershim Blvd. in Toluca Lake and, because of the store’s proximity to the movie and television studios, it gets its share of star clientele, according to Cos Altobelli.
Bob Hope, for one, has been a steady customer for 40 years or so, the third-generation jeweler says.
He also remembers Loni Anderson coming in to buy her wedding ring for Burt--as in Reynolds--he says with a sigh now that the golden couple’s marital image has been tarnished by Burt’s tacky tell-all to the tabs.
But these days, proximity is not the answer to attracting customers, Altobelli knows. You have to have a gimmick.
Altobelli’s gimmick is a few hundred thousand dollars worth of sunken treasure from a Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha.
As a marketing technique, it’s pure gold.
You may have seen the National Geographic series about the find--how in 1622 the Atocha was en route from Havana to Cadiz, Spain, when it sank in a hurricane.
It lay in 54 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West, Fla., with about 47 tons of silver, about 150,000 gold and silver coins, precious jewels and other fancy doodads in its hull.
In 1985, Mel Fisher and his team of divers succeeded in finding the ship, after years of others failing.
The search cost Fisher $8 million, 16 years and the life of his eldest son, but he finally found his pot of gold.
For several years, Fisher traveled around the country and world with parts of his share of the riches, which he offered to sell at prices ranging from $95 to $365,000.
In May, the Altobelli family decided to invite Fisher and his relics to visit their store, not knowing exactly what they were getting into.
“It involved making travel arrangements for five people to come to Los Angeles from Key West. We had to get extra insurance. It was a pretty expensive deal,” says Altobelli, who started to have buyers’ remorse just before the public showing was set to begin.
But on opening day May 18, he looked out the door and saw people lined up around the block--and they kept coming for five days.
Now that the show is officially over, they are still coming.
“The show stayed from May 18 to the 23rd and during that time, I think we had about 3,000 people come into the store, and many people bought things,” Altobelli says.
The jeweler himself was one who could not resist buying some pieces of history.
“We kept some pieces on consignment, and we bought other pieces outright. Some are for sale, but some we will keep on permanent display,” he says.
“People are still welcome to come and look at what we have, whether they want to buy anything or not,” he adds.
Naked Tap Dancing--What Was That Again?
Sharon Casey is another Valleyite looking for a marketing edge. In her case, for her new exercise studio in Studio City.
She, too, looks at the entertainment industry as a natural constituency to supply much of the clientele for her Callanetics technique, which, she says, turns buns and other body parts into steel faster than you can say Jane Fonda.
Steel buns and the entertainment business seemed like a sure match to this young woman, who first got involved with Callanetics because she says it helped her with terrible back problems. Then she went on to become an instructor and finally bought the local franchise.
She was receptive, eager even, when the management of her building suggested having a grand opening for all the businesses at the new California Pavilion at 12265 Ventura Blvd.
Casey lined up some upscale refreshments and offered to put on a demonstration on the Pavilion stage, which the management seemed pleased to accommodate.
Casey’s first inkling that this was not going to be a normal Valley kind of grand opening came when she was asked if an artist could use her studio to do body painting the night of the big event.
Body painting? Ah, well, I’m not sure, Casey remembers thinking to herself.
She was assured that R. A. Fischer, who would be overseeing the extravaganza, was an artist of the highest caliber.
Invitations, when they came out, said a multimedia art and entertainment event, including photography, furniture, fashion, performance art, slam poetry, singing ‘n’ dancing and NAKED TAP DANCING ZEBRA WOMEN.
You won’t believe it’s Studio City, the invitation said.
Casey didn’t believe that it was happening to her.
“They had naked and half-naked people running around all night, covered with body paint that was being put on in my studio,” Casey says.
“My students just sort of stood around with their mouths open, unable to even eat the food we’d had catered. But the naked people took care of the food,” Casey says.
She says she doesn’t think that she got one new client from the extravaganza. She does know that she lost money on the food, and the studio required serious cleaning after the body painters left.
She says the next time she wants to attract new clients, she thinks that she will just take out an ad.
Here’s a Story You Can Sink Your Teeth Into
Agnes Wilkins decided, when her lower teeth started to go, to find out about dental implants.
“I couldn’t seem to get the hang of dentures. They just wouldn’t stay in place,” Wilkins says.
So she spent about six months and more than $5,000 having implants put in the bottom of her mouth.
Unfortunately, they were worse than the dentures.
“I thought about it for a while and decided to get another dentist to do it right,” she says.
After looking around, she hooked up with John Ball, an Encino specialist in the implant technology.
After another six months and about $9,000, Wilkins says her teeth are now just about perfect for her.
In case you think that Wilkins is some starlet type who is into ongoing cosmetic surgery, she would like to disabuse you of that idea.
“I’m 88 years old. I have lived in Lancaster since 1948, when it was mainly populated by jack rabbits. I have run an art store, been an insurance agent and a hospital administrator. I didn’t do the implant thing for cosmetic purposes. I just think all of us should be able to have teeth that fit,” she says.
Wilkins says that after her last trip to the Encino dentist, when he told her that everything was OK with her teeth and not to be afraid to use them, she stopped at a Coco’s on the way home and celebrated by having a big, juicy steak.
Overheard
Valley boy: “So, uh, do you want to see ‘Jurassic Park’ or Stallone or Schwarzenegger again? Or do you want to see something new, like ‘The Firm’?”
Valley girl: “Not ‘The Firm.’ Definitely. I hate those bodybuilding movies.”
At the Topanga Plaza California Pizza Kitchen.
