Page 2 | February 13, 2015
EUNICE MARKMAN (Continued from page 1)
“At the time it was very safe and low key,” Eunice described of the area she, her husband, and four children (her eldest daughter was in Europe at the time) moved into in February 1955. “Doheny....was a very lovely offshoot road, and then it turned into a freeway.” Back then, there was Mary Ann’s beauty parlor across the street, where she went every Thursday. At the corner of Olympic Boulevard where the Starbucks now stands, there was a gas station; and across the street Roxbury Drug Store was once a beauty store. The fried chicken goodness of Chicken Delite was just a stone’s throw away. Her children attended Horace Mann and Beverly Hills High School and all still today count friends they met while students. Born Dec. 31, 1920 in Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital to a butcher who owned multiple shops and a mother who eventually became a travelling saleswoman following her divorce 15 years later, Eunice learned early that she was responsible for her well-being. In high school, she studied arts, eventually getting a job working for a dentist while still a student. Her mother, an early feminist, travelled by train during the week to sell Wella hair products. After the 19-year-old Eunice (quite the blonde bombshell) broke her 11 p.m. curfew following a dance at her synagogue, her mother put her on a train to Houston to stay with relatives. What Eunice’s mother didn’t know, was that her cousins were a bit on the wild side, and within two days, Eunice had a date. As fate would have it, the double date between a pair of cousins and a pair of brothers was a huge success; Eunice ended up marrying her cousin’s date and her cousin married the other brother. “It happened so fast,” Eunice recalled of their overwhelming love. “He was quite the guy and so smart.” Manford Susman, whom Eunice married two months after their first date on May 24, 1942, was a wildcatter in the Texas oil business and a captain in the Air Force. The couple had five children: Su-
LA SCALA (Continued from page 1)
knew I was really fortunate.” GiGi is completely unpretentious and at ease in her restaurant. La Scala delivers consistent quality where people can dine in comfort. “I feel blessed, keeping the tradition my dad started. When people come here, they feel at home. Its comfortable,” she says. But they all have to wait for lunch; La Scala does not take reservations. “We treat everybody the same. ‘Celebrities, but not celebrity-driven.’” Jean Leon had a remarkable life, arriving in America as a 17-year-old stowaway on a ship. He soon became a bus boy and then a waiter at New York’s Villa Capri restaurant, where he served celebrities like Joe DiMaggio, Grace Kelly and James Dean. “Dean was supposed to open a restaurant with him. He believed in my father,” said GiGi, “He was going to be my brother’s godfather.” Then on Sept. 30, 1955, Dean was killed in a tragic accident. Leon found the money, and at 22, he attracted celebrity clients right out of the gate. “He came from nothing and he ended up serving five presidents. He just did it anyway,” said GiGi. Jean Leon served President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy frequently had Leon and his chef, Emilio flown in for state dinners. La Scala fans included the iconic and the bombastic. Leon served the Beatles and the Burtons and was one of the last people to see Marilyn Monroe alive - he delivered her food that night. Jean Leon delivered because “these
BEVERLY HILLS sannah, Randall, Elizabeth (Lisa), Jennifer and Joshua. In the 1950s, after a few years in Hancock Park, the family moved into Beverly Hills. Eunice recalls her dapper husband walking around the City in his Tony Lama boots, bolo tie and a hat. The family then moved to Holmby Hills for seven years, then to Cheviot Hills, where they got involved with Temple Isaiah, becoming one of the congregation’s first families. Three years later, they moved to Palm Springs, largely because of Eunice’s allergies and her sons’ asthma. That penultimate landing spot lasted for two years, until her husband was diagnosed with cancer and they returned to Beverly Hills for his radiation treatment, taking up residence in the Doheny apartment she continues to rent. Eunice was 46 when her husband died in 1967. She got a job at the Richard J. Levy showroom on Melrose, selling wholesale jewelry. It was the first time since she had worked since her twomonth cameo as a bookkeeper in a root beer factory, between the time she arrived in Houston and got hitched. Eight years after her husband’s death, one of Eunice’s cousins introduced her to a neighbor in Chicago, Morton J. Markman. “He gave up his business to move up here and marry a widow with five kids,” she said. Once Morton moved into the family home, he promptly got a job at I. Magnin’s. “They were delighted to have him,” she said. And the family was delighted to have the 30-percent employee discount throughout the 1970s and 1980s, until Morton’s death in 1988. The following year, Eunice started working at Pacific Paper Box, which was owned by her her younger brother by 23 months, Joseph “Bud” Erhardt. She had never once driven on the freeway; and for the next 17 years, Eunice drove 50 miles across three freeways five days a week working in collections. “I worked there until I couldn’t go to work anymore and couldn’t drive,” she said. Eunice has 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. people became part of the family,” explains GiGi. Besides the chopped salad and the legendary spaghetti bolognese. GiGi loves the beef and cheese lasagna and the mozzarella marinara. GiGi was a cashier, a server and a prep-chef. Favorite patrons include Suzanne Pleshette (“She was the last of the characters”), David Janssen (“Very Nice”), Julie Andrews (“I was so starstruck!”) and Alice Cooper (“He’d come in and sit with all of us; it was so fun!”). “Everybody’s been in, from Rhianna to Justin Bieber to Barbra Streisand. And that’s just this week. But the restaurant is the star,” she quips. “You have to be respectful of everyone,” says Leon’s daughter. GiGi doesn’t reveal that she is the owner when she is inhouse. She goes undercover to see how guests treat her staff. Bad behavior may see you out the door. “Treat people nicely,” she says, reminding us her business is 95-percent repeat customers. GiGi Leon says that her busiest time is Thanksgiving to Oscars’ season, and “we are crazy-busy.” Holidays shine at La Scala and GiGi decorates the restaurant herself. Valentine’s Day is her favorite. La Scala is transformed into a romantic paradise, with heartshaped dishes and a festive ceiling in a sea of balloons. “We don’t overbook so people are relaxed,” she says. “It’s really pretty.” Reservations will require a deposit, but that ensures the quality her customers anticipate. “It’s pretty for people to take pictures,” she says. And that is why they come for Valentine’s Day, year after year. “The formula works. No matter the changes, every decade. We’re bigger than ever. We never go for trendy but for classic.”