Pawnshop Stands Alone in Offering 24-Hour Service : ‘I think I’m doing a great service to the community. A pawnshop is really just an ATM for the poor.’

Convenience stores, taco stands, doughnut shops, automated teller machines and adult bookstores are open 24 hours a day all across this sprawling city. So why not an around-the-clock pawnshop, figured entrepreneur David Zimberg.

A month ago, Zimberg installed a night window at his Pico Boulevard shop, allowing customers to trade in their wares from the sidewalk. On a good night, the shop makes 45 loans, taking in everything from jewelry to appliances.

Although Las Vegas has plenty of pawnshops that never close, Zimberg’s store is the city’s first and, industry officials say, may be the only one in the state.

Zimberg, 36, a Russian immigrant who owns 16 pawnshops throughout the area, contends that he is serving the mother who needs diapers for her baby at 1 a.m. or the family man low on cash but trying to bring home some milk.

“I think I’m doing a great service to the community,” he says. “A pawnshop is really just an ATM for the poor.”

But some residents of the area have a decidedly different view, and they have prompted city officials to push for greater regulation of the city’s 120 pawnshops. The residents say such stores attract drug users desperate for their next fix and burglars trying to quickly unload their loot.

“If this were Las Vegas, I could see a pawnshop open 24 hours a day,” said Albert Boker, who lives near Zimberg’s store. “(But) there are no casinos here. They are open for criminals.”

Added Ron Mayberry, president of the Baldwin Neighborhood Homeowners Assn.: “I consider a pawnshop worse than a liquor store. Some youngster might take his mother’s possessions and try to get $10 for them.”

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As the city retires for the night, business continues sporadically at the window of Union Pawn Brokers. The picture is bleaker than that at any ATM.

“How much you want?” the employee behind the window says. It is 8 p.m. on a Wednesday. He wears a gun on his hip and sits behind security glass, watching TV between deals.

“Twenty-five bucks,” Gabriel Mayorga responds as he hands over an electric tile cutter, one that he uses on his contracting jobs.

The pawnshop employee, who won’t give his name, offers the 19-year-old Mayorga $10 and will not bargain a bit. Mayorga, who says he needs the money to go drinking with a friend, accepts. He will buy back the tile cutter for $17 the next day, which is payday.

“Sometimes it’s easier to just borrow money here than to borrow it from friends,” Mayorga says. “Not everybody has ATM cards. That’s the thing.”

At 10:15 p.m., a man pawns a ring for a pile of singles. He plans to pick the ring up within the month but says he needs some gas money and something to eat.

Terry Lewis steps up to the window at 10:35 p.m. and tries to get $10 for a broken pager. The employee inspects it, calls his boss at home and then says no deal.

“Sometimes I come at 1 or 2 in the morning,” Lewis says. “My girl will come in late and say we need this or that.”

It is now minutes before 11 p.m. and a man named Percival is trying unsuccessfully to extend the loan on an electric drill.

“Basically, I’m out of money,” he explains. “I’m unemployed. I’m living in a motel. I don’t like coming here, but it’s a last resort.”

Shortly after 11 p.m., an older couple step up to the night window, underneath the flashing “OPEN 24 HOURS” sign.

She leans forward and he gently unlatches the chain from around her neck. She slips off a ring and pulls some other jewelry out of her purse. She wants at least $30, but the employee will only offer $25.

Her earrings are next. She slips them off her ears and drops them into the tray.

After a tense delay, the employee gives a thumbs up sign. It’s a deal.

The desperation does not just touch on the poor.

In a secured parking lot in Reseda, where Zimberg has 200 pawned cars, there is a Rolls-Royce and a Ferrari.

And a former Los Angeles Laker has pawned two World Championship rings at Zimberg’s store. The Laker did not pay back his loan in time so Zimberg--whose motto is “Need the Dough? Let Us Know”--owns them now.

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When Councilman Nate Holden toured Zimberg’s pawnshop this week, it was for both personal and professional reasons. Holden’s Mid-City district is home to 20 pawnshops, including Zimberg’s, and the councilman persuaded the City Council this week to take the first step toward regulating the hours and locations of such establishments.

Stopping by Zimberg’s store Thursday afternoon for a firsthand look, Holden scoured the display cases for some of his own possessions. Holden’s home was burglarized earlier in the year and the police have yet to crack the case.

Zimberg gave Holden the VIP tour, leading him past the guard dog and through the crowded shelves of merchandise in the back room. Holden did not find a thing of his own and Zimberg says the belief that pawnshops traffic in stolen goods is by and large a myth.

State law requires pawnbrokers to take a fingerprint from customers and be shown a valid California driver’s license, according to the Collateral Loan and Secondhand Dealers Assn. In addition, the serial numbers of all items must be reported to the police.

Zimberg has gone even further, tying his computer directly into the computer used by the Los Angeles Police Department’s pawnshop detail.

Upstairs in his shop, Zimberg has a small table of goods that the police have determined to be stolen. Waiting to be picked up by the rightful owners are a rifle, two pistols and an assortment of wooden carvings.

If the city does not act, there may be other 24-hour pawnshops soon.

Herald Hirsch, owner of 5-Minute Pawn Shop, is mulling over the idea of expanding his hours.

“The average person thinks that 85% to 100% of those who use pawnshops are thieves and drug dealers,” Hirsch said. “That’s wrong. There’s a million different reasons why people need money.”