100% Humboldt
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing Northcoast of California 100%!
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100% Humboldt
#24. Blending Cultures, Sustaining Community: The Los Bagels Story of Entrepreneurship and Harmony in Humboldt County
Embark on a flavorful journey with the masterminds behind Los Bagels, Peter Jermyn, Dennis Rael. As they navigate nearly four decades of business evolution, they share insights from turning a simple craving for bagels and tortillas into a community landmark that transcends borders. Their intertwined lives not only spice up the narrative but also remind us how serendipity plays a role in life's rich tapestry.
Humboldt County is changing, and through the voices of those who've shaped its past, we glimpse its future. With a blend of personal anecdotes and expert analysis, our guests paint a picture of a place in flux, tackling everything from cannabis reforms to wind power prospects. They tap into the core of what makes a community thrive—connection, sustainability, and an undying entrepreneurial spirit. In discussing Humboldt's evolving landscape, they don't just forecast change; they invite us to be a part of it.
And what's life without a little adventure? The founders of Los Bagels share their zest for the great outdoors, balancing the pulse of their business with the rhythms of nature. Their stories of cycling, sailing, and immersing themselves in the stunning local environment offer us a model for harmony between work and play. Join us for a heartwarming episode that's as much about the joy of creating a legacy as it is about finding balance and happiness along the way.
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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I have some friends in the studio today Peter German and Dennis Raell from Las Bagels. Welcome Nice to be here. Yeah, thanks guys, it's great to have you guys here, how many years in the bagel business? Almost 40.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Is next year the 40th.
Speaker 2:Yeah, next year is the 40th.
Speaker 1:yeah, Wow, I was debating that with Joni. We were in the 84, 94.
Speaker 3:Did we have Onward?
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause it was a butcher shop right.
Speaker 2:Right, it was Roy's quality meats. I still have that original sign of my barn, actually Roy Iskra, who had the previous facility. And I actually met Roy cause I used to be a butcher before I was involved with Los Bagels. I was a butcher at the co-op and I stopped in to do something with him and get started talking and he told me he was thinking of retiring. So Back in the day Cause back then it was really hard to find location, get real, I mean to find any kind of vacancy. There just was nothing, nothing around. So, unlike today, yeah.
Speaker 2:Today there's, yeah, a lot of opportunities.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of real estate. Yeah, yeah, Wow, that's going back. Did you know David Lipman when he worked at what was the co-op before? It was the co-op Natural whole foot. United something.
Speaker 2:Well, united naturals. Yeah, I worked with him over here in Eureka. Yeah, actually, I worked in that warehouse before I worked for the co-op. It was a completely separate scenario.
Speaker 1:It was a interesting place you got way back. You must be in your like over a hundred. I'm 113. You're looking?
Speaker 2:he's holding it right.
Speaker 1:He's holding it well, don't you? Absolutely.
Speaker 3:So how did you meet Dennis, and how did your association with Claudia, my wife and Dennis have the same birthday, I think a couple of years or a year apart. Yeah, it's a year apart. But so I got invited to a birthday party and there was Dennis. Wow, yeah, so that was the first time I met him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so friends, and then partners, and now friend partners you bet Right to make the story even more interesting is I first met Peter's wife, claudia, that we both rented a room in the same house in Arcada, and then we realized we were both before we didn't know we had the same birthday, that we were both driving the identical same vehicle, and then realized we had the same birthday and going this is just too weird. So. And then I met Peter, yeah, so Universe is colliding. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Peter, she's delightful. By the way, we got to meet her at a show there at the Arcada. Okay, good, layhouse. Yeah, yeah, she's super nice Right?
Speaker 3:No, I got pretty good choice in people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the jury's.
Speaker 3:When their birthday is.
Speaker 1:And then I got to light them up. So you married up like I did, exactly. Yeah, that's good, I like it. So give us a little history of the bagel business, if you would, and then we can talk about some other stuff you want to start.
Speaker 3:Well, so Dennis said Roy Iskra had butcher shop 23 years in the same butcher shop. I'm like that is phenomenal. The guy stayed in business that long. Now it's 40.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, more than well, it's going to be double one day. Yeah, and why bagels? Your heritage has a bagel background, right?
Speaker 2:Right? Well, half of my heritage does. Like I said, I'm fortunate enough to have been my family, my background is both Latino and Mexican, and my dad's side and my mother's side is Jewish, originally from the Ukraine, and bagels were one of those items that I couldn't get up here. I was looking around and when people would come to visit from either the Bay Area or LA, or even relatives from back east, they say, hey, what can I bring?
Speaker 1:And I'd say, bring bagels and so that's what they say to us in Oregon. Now, yeah, bring us some bagels.
Speaker 2:Right. Well, now we were able to get things to turn around and now people bring bagels to back east and all over the place, which is great to do Quick, hard stop.
Speaker 1:I brought bags of bagels to Amsterdam to my son two months ago.
Speaker 3:All right, they were stoned.
Speaker 2:By the way they Johnny put them in, did you yeah?
Speaker 1:We whipped those out and it was like there's contraband, that's right, nice move, they love it, nice move, so for me.
Speaker 2:I started looking into, okay, what I wanted to, like Peter had said I'd had my own business in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam Cave Pacifico, which was the first Mexican restaurant in the Netherlands. Wow, back in the late 70s, where was it in town? Was it Amsterdam Strat, aden, Derttik, between the train station and Dam Square? Oh, wow, so right there, right on the edge of the red light district, good spot, across the kind of catty corner from a police station.
Speaker 1:That's when the red light was on fire, right, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So when I moved to, you know, after living in the Netherlands for a couple of years, I moved here. I did a little bit of some odd jobs and not because I became a butcher at the co-op, but I still I realized I wanted to form my own business and, you know, be in control of that, and wasn't sure what I was gonna do. So I started looking into bagels and to me it was a little bit between bagels and tortillas. There weren't good tortillas here back then and, sad to say, there's still that gap. You know there's some individuals who are making tortillas these days, but still on a larger level. I think it's still a great opportunity for somebody. So at that point I started doing a bunch of research and then looking around. Okay, I didn't wanna do it alone. I've always liked the idea with a partnership and you know, peter was one of the individuals that we become friends and he'd had some business experience and he was trying to figure out what he was gonna do.
Speaker 2:He just moved up north here and was kind of weighing between okay, here's an offer with a kind of esoteric bagel shop or something more firm as he could become a teacher, you know, and he was kind of on the on the fence doing both for a little while here, so Bagels is sort of teaching, right, yeah, right.
Speaker 1:So tell us your background. Did you come from Southern California, like a lot of us?
Speaker 3:No, I came from, I lived on the Mason-Dixon line for a lot of my life, oh, and then I moved right around the end of the 60s to Southern Humboldt, oh, wow. And then I realized, you know, it's just hard to make a living in Southern Humboldt. It was really like Dennis, I was doing every kind of job, started my own business, and I realized, you know, you just need to find something steadier. So I went to Humboldt to get a teacher's credential you mean Cal Poly.
Speaker 1:No, it was Humboldt at that point it was.
Speaker 3:Humboldt.
Speaker 1:Thank you Right, high five across the table Exactly.
Speaker 3:And so then I met Dennis and we were talking about business and I said you know, we really need a place to go have coffee and talk about business, and there wasn't a place like that. So when he had this idea for bagels, it was we need a cafe, we need this place that people, all kinds of people, can feel comfortable to come and sit down and have a cup of coffee and meet. And so that was the genesis of the whole hey let's have a bagel cafe.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure and boy, do you have three. Is there three?
Speaker 2:now Three, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:Only one of which you can't sit down and have coffee at, which is now Cal Poly, but we sell bagels and a variety of things.
Speaker 1:That's like a running joke in this podcast. It's Cal Poly Hubbolt, formerly known as X. As the X, it's H now.
Speaker 2:See the big H everywhere.
Speaker 1:That's their logo, so you guys have offshoots of this as well in terms of product, like the Slime Slug you sell yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, slug Slime and Granola are two of the products that we sell in the stores and wholesale round and also ship different places, gotcha.
Speaker 1:So what Well, go ahead, Iris.
Speaker 3:One of the cool things about the early days for us was that there were a bunch of us starting different kinds of businesses and OK, so we needed jam for the bagels and Susan Anderson needed to have a small business so she could sell us jam, and Perda was an artist but sold jalapeno jam, so we put her Dixie head Leropin Cafe and this great sauce and we'll put that on the bagels. Scott and his buddy Mitch was his Mitch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mr Fish, or the fish, brother the fish brother, we needed fish, so that's right.
Speaker 3:Matt River Jams was that part of it. Matt River Jams, that was Susan, and then even Matthew Schmidt with the tofu works came and hey, I can make tofu spread for you.
Speaker 1:Did I see Matthew, as he's still selling tofu Making some tofu.
Speaker 2:I think. So I haven't seen him for quite a while, but I think he's still around.
Speaker 1:I thought he was sitting at the coffee the other day.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, you would probably see him stocking, bringing in Little figure yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what's your job today? What's your title and what are your duties? I'll start with Dennis.
Speaker 2:I'd say my title would be semi-retired. I'm still obviously involved with Lois Bagels. I'm president of the board and then I meet regularly with two of our partners who have kind of taken over running of the operation, both Travis May, the general manager, and Eddie Blakesley, the operations manager, so not involved in the day-to-day operations but involved in a lot of special projects. The thing I like about it is now I get a call after the fact that, just so you know, this water line broke yesterday and we fixed it. It's done, instead of getting a call in the middle of the night saying, ok, we got water everywhere, what are you going to do? Come on down? So but, like I said, besides that, even during my when I was working with Lois Bagels full time, I've been involved in a variety of other enterprises.
Speaker 2:A lot of nonprofits have been involved in a wood export business in southern Mexico, like I said, help start the Arcada Sister City, currently on the board right now. Humboldt Area Foundation. Been involved in Planned Parenthood Board. Been involved with the North Coast Regional Land Trust and still do a lot of stuff with them. Been real involved with the trails and the Humboldt Bay Trail oh, wow, but still find plenty of time to go fishing and to go mountain biking, and go hiking.
Speaker 1:So this has been a platform for you, starting a business, to do other things. Well, I think that's just who I am.
Speaker 2:I think community wise. And when we speak of platform, what I didn't realize when we first opened Lois Bagels is how it could be a platform to involve other people Excuse me Other people and other organizations and businesses to do a variety of projects, how we could get Coca-Cola or craft food to donate to our sister city in Nicaragua by donating to Lois Bagels, and then we would go ahead and resell that for a block party. We're going to have to benefit somebody else. So continue to get community partners involved in a whole variety of way and not just be a one time shot and just keep going on and on. And I think that's been a great part and that's what I think juiced me up and made it keep going.
Speaker 1:So that win-win-win-win thing.
Speaker 2:Right and I think that's what goes back to when I look at our success as a business and community organization is because we've continued given back to the community in so many different ways and they in turn, give back to us and create that relationship.
Speaker 1:Right. So such a cool story. I wish it was like that for all of us all the time. But you guys have made the magic. Sir, what is your job? What do you do?
Speaker 3:Well, like Dennis, I'm semi-retired but I'm fairly retired. But one of the really good things that Dennis sort of alluded to is what kept us. We had different hats that we wore and one of the hats was we worked and managed Los Bagels, but we also were board of directors and we're still on the board.
Speaker 3:So we regularly would take off our working hats and put on our board hats and sit down and make decisions about the business in general where it goes, how it works, all those kind of things, and so that structure really has helped, and it's helped us to be able to move as far along as we have Right yeah.
Speaker 3:The other thing that has really always been true, and it's one of the traits that attracted me to working with Dennis, was this kind of integrity that comes with the whole experience of Los Bagels.
Speaker 3:Whether it's about the bookkeeping, whether it's about the products or whether it's about the way we deal with customers, deal with customer problems. One of the best things about working there was all the people and the development we got to do employment, development, work with young people all the time. I mean, I remember Dennis saying like this girl's not showing up on time and what's the problem? And we find out she doesn't have a decent alarm clock. So they go across the street to the hardware store and get her an alarm clock. Nice, yeah, but it was also a lot. The business could be a platform for other people and there were a lot of people who were musicians, who were artists, who had other pursuits in their lives where they were going to university and they used employment at Los Bagels as a regular base and then could go off, whether it was economic base or whether it was also just like a touchstone place, and we love it.
Speaker 1:So when we have nine kids, many of them live out of town. And is there anything that we could bring for you from Humboldt? Inevitably it's some product from you guys. It used to be Dick Taylor. Now I think they have a library full, but it's almost always bagels or sauce or granola or whatever. We brought some granola to Amsterdam too. They loved it. I immediately tapped into it myself.
Speaker 3:I think one of the things that why those products are important like to your kids who are away and that's true for a lot of families and a lot of people who used to live here is that they mean something about the essence of Humboldt in a way that's in the product. It's baked into it somewhere. We only got five ingredients, but there is this secret one that is the Humboldt experience.
Speaker 1:That's a great point. You touch on something that's, I think, critical. These guys have figured some of that out. There's a product loyalty. It's baked into them. There's a magic, there's a memory. It probably has to do with taste buds. There's some tactile or taste in that. Then you become a product advocate. Yeah, oh these guys. Oh, you want some of this sauce. Here's their website. Whatever Right, you got people out there preaching that message.
Speaker 3:And it's the experience that people had. I watched couples meet at the bagel shop sitting Proposals yeah, yeah, yeah. They're like it really is a nexus of a lot of meeting. Whether it's and who meets and how it meets is different in Eureka and Arcada Sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So what do you see for Humboldt going forward? What would you, what do you see, what would you like to see? And I'll start with Dennis and ask that what's the future of our county as you envision it? You're on a lot of boards. The Great Redwood Trail's coming. I mean, there's some stuff. Hopefully we'll get to see some of it.
Speaker 2:That's an interesting question. I don't know if I have a vision going forward. I think there's going to be a lot of potential change coming to Humboldt. Obviously, the effects that we've had from cannabis over the years that we've seen go up and down in a little roller coaster it's had, I think, a radical effect on this county, both positive and negative. So it'll be interesting to see what's going to backfill on that void. It is that's coming up. Sure, you have all this space and stuff now that's not being utilized. The boom and bust economy.
Speaker 2:There's been expertise in there. Some really smart people have a lot going for them. Obviously, we have this wind power which is coming and that's going to be a huge change to the county, both what's going to happen infrastructure-wise and going forward here and Cal Poly as we know it now and it's potential. I'm not sure if it's going to meet its potential that we keep hearing about, but I mean, we've seen that a little bit. You can almost equate it to the cannabis business as far as boom and bust over the years that we've been in business.
Speaker 1:The education boom and bust.
Speaker 2:Well, the numbers, the numbers of students that we've had, what they're shooting for in some of these numbers now, are similar to we had back 20, 30 years ago and how that's affected the economy. Humboldt State, humboldt.
Speaker 3:State Right, humboldt Teachers College.
Speaker 2:That's what I was going to say, and I also think that the change in what's happening just overall with the county and the change in recognition of what the tribes are doing throughout this whole area not just Humboldt County, but a whole change in, hopefully, some of the vision of equity to what's going on.
Speaker 2:So I think there's a lot of potential and it's neat to see another wave of entrepreneurs in a different sense. Like I said, adam and Dustin, with Dictator, are great individuals and I think the keyword that I heard from Peter talking about, besides great product and product loyalty, et cetera, is integrity, and I think these guys really have that integrity and I think that speaks volumes going forward. So I think there will be opportunities of things that's going to be changing. Obviously, we have climate change coming up and so the population is going to change and increase. So it's a great opportunity and to me it's a lot of unknowns, to be honest. What's going to happen with sea level rise, with all the property that at some point is going to be flooded, and how do we adapt with that?
Speaker 1:So yeah, I've asked the question a number of times and you've come up with a couple of different angles that no one's mentioned. Climate change, boom and bust economy. I mean, do they call this an extraction economy?
Speaker 2:Is that timber, marijuana and steel coal Fishing, the fishing industry. Fishing yeah, all of it logging.
Speaker 1:What do you see for your humboldt?
Speaker 3:I'll tell you that when I first came to Humboldt I met some old people and they were probably just mature adults, but they were 45. They told me how humboldt used to be so great. It was just so great and now it's just a mess. And that was 50 years ago. And I'll tell you that I see that same humboldt is. When I looked around, I saw opportunities because we knew that the timber industry was going away. And when I tried to find jobs in the timber industry in southern Humboldt, they're really just all the mills were closing, all the little mills, and there just wasn't. And yet look at what filled in underneath that in southern Humboldt. Okay, so there's that. And when I looked around Arcada, there were a lot of empty lots that were buildings that had burned. Nobody was rebuilding. Remember that A hotel couldn't really keep tenants and they were like Lazy, had a burned down site on the old.
Speaker 1:Was it a shoe store or a clothing store?
Speaker 3:Yeah, anyway. So what happened was, when I looked at it, I saw, hey, there's an opportunity. And people like Alex Stillman came and said, hey, we can do this, we can do that. People like Dennis and I came and found things to do. Other people found small businesses. So when I look ahead I say I think there's tons of opportunities and the better days are not behind us. I think it would.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, there's challenges. Hey, there were economic challenges 50 years ago. It was hard to make a living there were, you know, and it still can be. But there's also an entrepreneurial spirit in this county that I tapped into. I realized, hey, this is a place I want to be. And when people say to me, hey, how come I moved here, that was one of the things that really attracted me. So when I look ahead, yeah, I think there are challenges, like climate change, but I also recognize that. You know, when you look at the Arcata Marsh and that was just a project 40, 50 years ago, it was kind of almost a brownfield site, but that and we needed a sewer system and that was innovative. I have no idea what the innovative next project is.
Speaker 3:Right, you know, when I look at the peninsula and I think about all the economic activity that was on the peninsula, the shipbuilding, and Dick Taylor show you, hey, that's what the squish, and it was one of the biggest shipbuilding places in the country that went away.
Speaker 1:Is that fair haven in Samoa? Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:We had two pulp mills here that were making paper that was high-grade, internationally known redwood fiber paper. That went away.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be entertaining just for a minute. That's right out here on Samoa Peninsula. That's in Humboldt, right on the ocean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah no great points. So when I look at okay, yeah, they're going to build a fish farm, I don't know whether it's the best thing that ever happened or not, but I do know that people have that. Look at it Right. Look, there's another opportunity here, let's get curious.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and when I look at, say, the fish farm, I know people have to eat, yeah, and people are really looking for good fish and we can't get it out of the ocean, so maybe that's a good idea.
Speaker 1:So economic development, spirit of entrepreneurship. Who was it Good? Who's? Billy? Hansel said no, it was Larry O'Doss. He said Humboldt's got grit. Uh-huh, I go grit. I haven't heard that word in a month. That's a pretty good way to say it. I just heard you imply that. So if you were to shout out on a few people that have grown and been entrepreneurial over the years, I mean I think of Jewel, jen and Matt, river, brewery and Blue Lake or Eric Olmquist but who comes to your mind? I mean there's some obvious ones that we all would Top three.
Speaker 2:You know, way back when I think back, that we used to actually have lunch on the plaza, a bunch of us who were entrepreneurs back then, and it was back to Don Banducci with Yakima, steve Cole, steve O'Mara, it was Holly Ashi, you know, sitting down it was Julie Folkerson, and so I see some of those folks of almost being predatory. We started similar timing that they did, but a little bit predecessors, and you know, going forward on some of these, and some have gotten to be international firms, you know, and some have left the area. Some are still here, but I think I looked to those as being both peers and mentors, you know, in a similar situation.
Speaker 1:A little bit of renaissance there, in fact. Yeah, sorry about that. This has never happened before. I'm so embarrassed. My phone went off.
Speaker 2:It's good I didn't think about turning mine off, yeah you get yours quick.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, great point. So there's a little entrepreneurial renaissance back in the day and you're saying, hey, the best days are maybe to come. Absolutely, that's a great hope. I like that vision.
Speaker 2:You know, I want to make a little point. You talked about this being an extraction economy, which I think is really true, and I know something that we look at at Humboldt Area Foundation is how to change some of the ethics of that, because generally in that extraction economy you have individuals getting taken advantage of to make that extraction happen and take it away from here, instead of making sure that the people who live here and are working here get full advantage of what's happening in that whole scenario. So I look forward to things going in the future, happening, but happening in a better frame of mind and, similar to what Peter said, some of the best days are ahead. So when you look at an extraction, you look at wind energy, you look at fish farm or any of these changes, ok, how can we do those in a way that really benefits that community, instead of taking away from it?
Speaker 1:That's good, so you benefit the locals, you keep money locally and that ethic wasn't built into a lot of the earlier extractive activities.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 1:Georgia Pacific and it went somewhere.
Speaker 3:Now there are people with those kind of visions. Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1:It's good to talk about it, by the way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so one of the places that I look at what's happening that's really good is when I moved here, there were dairies and there was a mix of dairies all over the place. Now all humble milk is organic and there are regenerative ag people who are leading the way and showing that there's premium in the marketplace, and so when I look at it, it's like a lot of these ag producers. You know it used to be that all the beef went to feedlots and got fed chemicals and to fatten them up. Now they're grass-fed beef and there was marketing to do that and there was this vision that we could do it better.
Speaker 1:So sustainability and but more than that you're saying, on a demographic, local person, human level, taking care of people.
Speaker 2:Right. So, like Peter was talking about, you take grass-fed beef. You take what Humble grass-fed beef and Lee Moore and his family has done, who have been here generations but how do they adapt to make that a premium product?
Speaker 1:Is he kind of the lead guy that did that, Dennis?
Speaker 2:Well, he is one of the other people but yeah, he was one of the lead people with that and I was fortunate enough to get to know Lee. We both went on the North Coast Regional Land Trust Board together from totally different perspectives, you know, but both business people and both looking at that and somebody I value as a friend, and different. I think we both were able to open up each other's eyes and I see that continually happening. There's a number of, like Peter said, other dairies that are going on and other people who are utilizing their land in a different perspective and keeping that and some of the work that Peter's doing with the Regional Land Trust of keeping these working landscapes so we can not split them all up and going forward and have a resource that will go for generations.
Speaker 1:I think you just hit on something that strikes me as the magic of Humboldt. It's in a world of division. Now, that experience you just shared is that's the magic of Humboldt.
Speaker 3:If you look at the mission statement for Los Bagels, it says a multi-cultural cafe, and when you came into Humboldt 50, 60 years ago, there was like a cultural split, and we've worked hard to heal that cultural split to make sure that a whole lot of different kinds of people could all experience being at Los Bagels together. Perfect, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's finding that common denominator, I think he has that and reaching out to those folks to find what can we agree on not necessarily what we disagree on and going forward and sharing some of the cultures. I have this great vision of this little kid bringing their dad, this little girl bringing her dad into Los Bagels right around this time of the year and said, dad, I want to get a menorah because she'd heard about that at school. And her dad said look, we're not Jewish. She goes dad, you don't have to be Jewish to have a menorah. Here is this little kid teaching her dad about a whole different culture and how to open that up. That happens in, I think, so many different levels and have so much potential to do that.
Speaker 1:Same thing with Dia de la Marta right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's another deal.
Speaker 3:I remember taking a platter to K Redd and Dana Hall who had never, like he, didn't, have a first idea what a bagel was.
Speaker 1:Country music station. He had donuts Right, exactly.
Speaker 3:Love you, Dana. But he liked the smoked fish and on air he said I'm sitting here eating a bagel and they're not bad. I knew it's a good endorsement. I knew we were successful in reaching across the culture there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember eating bagels in that studio with them. Yeah, right, yeah you can see.
Speaker 2:that goes all the way back to when we started. He said where did we we're founded at? I mean, our first location is at the Arcada location, 1061 I street, which was Roy Iskra's, Roy's quality meats, and when I told him what I wanted to do, he'd never heard of a bagel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't worry.
Speaker 2:He was very leery of selling his property to somebody, of starting this project he'd never heard of, and he was a guy who hung out at Don's Donuts every day and I told him about this and he finally came back and the months of negotiations were happening. You know, I talked to my daughter about these and she bought. He said, you know, they're not too bad, they're all right. And so it was opening that whole thing up.
Speaker 2:You know, even to him so that it would work in that business situation. And it was a cultural, it was an exchange, there was a humanitarian exchange.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm hearing you say connection and relationship. Yep, what was the guy the grass fed? Is it Lee? No, yeah, lee Mora, lee Mora.
Speaker 2:Is he still? You see, mora? No, he's still rounding. Yeah, okay, yeah. So you should have Lee, it would be a good one for you on your program?
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, we'll talk to.
Speaker 2:Lee, so yeah.
Speaker 1:So you've experienced these kind of connections. You shared a couple, and there were many other top of mind ones that where you connected with somebody that maybe you shouldn't have, that wouldn't make any sense because they were so diverse.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes or no, so one day. Well, this was a long time ago now, but my father died and it was on the East Coast, so I was flying East. All right, thanks for this woman. I was in the airport in San Francisco and sitting across from me at one of those little places to eat was this nice couple and they were just regular folks and they said I where are you from? And then they said they were coming from Ronald Reagan's inauguration.
Speaker 1:How about that?
Speaker 3:And they were the head of the Republican Party in Humboldt County and they lived right up the street from the bagel shop. But I know that Rob and Arkley walked right by the shop Every day. Really often I remember waving to him before and then after that it was now. I was a human, he was a human. Ah, did he come in for a bagel then? I doubt it. They're too tough. He's pretty hardcore dude. But it was and this was not Rob Arkley, who we know in Eureka but this was his dad and mom, who lived up at the top of the hill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're right up the street. Yeah, by the vets hall up there. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But it was one of those. Yeah, you know it is possible. It's a connection.
Speaker 1:Yeah To reach.
Speaker 1:You know, I used to work at the Tri City, as you know in newspaper and my boss Ron sold it and moved to Orange County and it's another story. But I said, what do you miss from Humboldt? He goes. We could be as diverse as we wanted, but we'd still connect with people from all the backgrounds he goes. There's still relationships and connection and mutual exchange. I could go down the line and describe it, but I think that sets us apart in a world right now that feels super, super weird and divided, you know, and sadly, but maybe that's where the outlier in a good way, you know, I think it sets us apart and exist, and it's one of the attractions that I have here.
Speaker 2:But I also think it's important to not be fooled that there's a lot of conflict going on and you know a lot of people who don't want to reach across the island do that. You know. Sure, there's a lot of work to be done in that scenario here. Good, I think lots of times people think of Humboldt County, maybe even Arcada, as this real liberal enclave, but there's a lot of things going on that maybe, underneath the skin, they're not so liberal that we would think about. You know that, like I said, I see that on a regular basis, you know, and so, as great as it is, there's still work to be done, you know. And, yeah, keep reaching across that aisle, meet those people at the airport, you know, and just opening that up because I think there's those possibilities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in the Harvey movie one of the lines is he says we hide it well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's pretty well. Yeah, I think one of the wonderful things about Humboldt is that the scale works, that because we have this big forest all around us, that we really are just here and that we're it's not too big, so there really is that chance to see those people more than more than one or two times.
Speaker 1:My wife Joni is a runner and a hiker and a biker and she constantly says hey, I saw your wife Joni, and Joni saw so and so at McKinleyville on the Hammond Trail.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you ever heard of the Hammond Trail. I got Hammond doors in my house, so you're only from Hammond Lumber.
Speaker 1:From the railroad? Oh wow. So I was going to ask you get a full day off tomorrow for free to do whatever you want to do with whomever. So wait, what does that mean? For free To do whatever you want to do, and you have pocket money. Just conjecture, dennis what do you do with a day off at Humboldt? What would be your ideal fun day?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm fortunate that right now I have my daughter home for a few weeks, so I get to hang out with her and do whatever I don't know. We've talked about a memory that I have as a kid growing up was making cookies with my mom. We've been talking about doing a little cookie exchange between the two of us to make two of the three different types of cookies. I'm actually going to be sitting down tomorrow for lunch with another local business owner and just exchanging information nothing really on the agenda and I'm sure I'll go for maybe a little bike ride or a hike someplace and then turn back around as we have a little meeting at Los Bagels tomorrow with a consultant coming in to do some work there, so it'll be mixing all that up.
Speaker 1:I hear a lot of people connection.
Speaker 2:No, I think it is yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's an ideal day. So how far do you ride when you ride?
Speaker 2:your bike. You know, generally I'm out on bike. Now I used to do a lot of road biking and do a lot of. I used to ride to Trinidad regularly and now I spend a couple hours two or three times a week up in the community forest, or we'll go some other places and ride there. So shorter time in miles, but more get your heart going. Oh yeah, there's and I once again it's that people connection. People that I ride with are real close friends and you know we look after each other and it's a great social experience along with a good workout.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my wife Jonny's turned me on to that forest. It's something special. Now, are you still a boat guy? Yeah, would boating be part of your, your day off? Yeah? Throw it out there.
Speaker 3:That's right. No, I got a boat at Woodley Island and regularly on during the time when it's daylight savings, we sail on Wednesday nights, but now it's Saturdays and there's fewer of us who go out to sail together. But yeah. So sailing's real part of them.
Speaker 1:Besides sailing, what would you do with your, your free day? What would I?
Speaker 3:do with my free day that these high tides that have been lately, oh yeah, make me want to take my rowboat and go up some of the sluice and investigate some places that I wouldn't get to go otherwise. There's the land trust has a piece of property the freshwater farms reserve, and if you look when you go by on Myrtle Avenue, a lot of times lately it's been flooded you could actually boat right up.
Speaker 1:That has the access. I've seen people take yeah.
Speaker 3:Whether it's a slu that comes all the way around there, but but lately, because of these high tides, the water comes up the slu and then fills that property. Put it in right there. Yeah, so, yeah, so that could be some real good exploring.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we insured a lady named Betsy who's a big time kayaker. She's, you know, she's our agent. She goes out all the time, you know, turning down her the bay or the slu's, and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's a good trip from either from freshwater, riding the tide down to humble, you know, down to Woodley Island or someplace down there, or the opposite, if the tide's rising, to take a ride up.
Speaker 1:Never thought of that.
Speaker 3:We did it in the moonlight one night and it yeah, wow, that'd be neat. I mean it's been some interesting places, you know, because your cowfield's all around but you're real close to the airport.
Speaker 1:Murray Field. I have a kayak story that'll tie this in. So when I was a young insurance guy 10 years ago, at age 53, I went down with my satchel and my sport coat to see Don Brown and and to you know, job shadow and see what Don was up to. And what a great, what a great guy. He said, scott, he's for Texas, get, there's some shorts and some sandals in there, go get dressed. In his apartment next to his business. And I said, okay, and he's got, he goes. I got the kayak strapped on, we're good to go. He had two 18 foot, I think they were cherry wood or something. He made them himself because we're going to hooked in slu and we're going to go kayak and I go. I guess this is part of the deal, let's do it.
Speaker 1:And it was, and it was the Zen moment of insurance trading. It was the greatest. And he goes. Scott, I want you to bring a big check when you come to funerals. I want you to sell life insurance, but I want you to enjoy Humboldt County. And he goes. This is how I do it. And it was two or three hours of just, you know, 70 degrees. It was a magic fall day and you know, on the on the bay down there, and I go, man, what am I? What am I thinking? How do I miss out on this? Cause we live, you know, I was going to say Disneyland. That's not a good analogy. What do we not have here?
Speaker 3:Right, we've got a lot of nature that we can yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's, let's talk challenges. So we kind of you kind of touched on a couple and connection and what, what do you see, Peter, as our obstacles going forward?
Speaker 3:Well, so one of our shared values for Dennis and I, when we first started in business together, we were kind of like checking what do you want out of business, and one of the shared values was we want time off. Ah, and so one of the beauties of being a partner was to be able to I can cover while you're gone, you can cover while I'm gone, and so one of the challenges of living in Humboldt is to really make sure that you take advantage of doing that. Put the shorts on and put the sandals on and go do, because these days you can fill your days up with activities and miss the fact that you have this kind of closeness to nature and engagement, and you think about how many trails there are around here, and trails you may not even have been on.
Speaker 1:Right, and you know Mountain bike or paradise, right yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for for walkers, for runners, for you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, and and so and back roads to explore and waterways to explore. So one of the challenges is really to remember the needle of balance between getting things done, getting there and experiencing what it is. I think your guy, dan Brown, was onto something, yeah.
Speaker 1:He was yeah, it it giving yourself permission to go offline. So Saturday was a magic day. Joni goes, let's go to the Grove of the Titans up at Stout Grove in Crested City, and I go yeah, I did pass the test. I go. I got all this other stuff. I got to go to grocery outlet and get some organic milk. I just did she was in the moment, she was ready to go and I'm going. Well, I have responsibilities and so maybe we don't always get that one right, and the next day it rained like hell. So that's the challenge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, take it when you got it.
Speaker 1:That's a great, great bit of advice.
Speaker 2:Peter brought up a really good point and something I'm fortunate enough that I get to a couple times a year go to lecture up to a business class at formal Humboldt State and one of the things I always ask kids is why do they think that started Los Bagels? And in probably 10 or 15 years I've been doing that one kid has come up with the correct answer. What's that? The correct answer was I wanted more time off, which is not the answer if you're going to be an entrepreneur and if you're going to start special food business and to do that. But from the get go, kind of like Peter said, and early on we had a third partner who was helping us out that we traded off. We both were not afraid to work hard and you know, I remember falling asleep at the table the first year or two because we were working so many long hours, but I also wanted to play hard and do that and we traded that off and I think to this day I feel incredibly fortunate having Peter as a partner.
Speaker 2:I think I feel closer with him now than maybe 30, 40 years ago and we live across the valley from each other. We always joke oh, I saw your light on what were you doing at three in the morning? Same thing you were, but we also have some of those similar values to get out and I think both of us also like to travel a fair amount. So we're coming and going and checking in on that, but no, and I think it's so true, it's that I hear in Peter talk. I see how easy it is to not do those things, and I think COVID, for me, taught me a lesson of say yes and don't say no. It's so easy to say no on so many different opportunities and we all do that on a regular basis instead of saying yeah. Okay, that wouldn't have been my first inclination, but I'm going to do that because, like you said, it may pour tomorrow and live in that moment.
Speaker 1:So Joni and I are getting a little bit older, and so we have two principles. One is let's try new stuff. I always look for it. We haven't done that and the other is let's get curious, let's find out what's behind that. Why does that person think that way? It'd be kind of interesting to know their life experience and what they're coming from, or that experience of kayaking or going to Stout Grove or whatever it would be. I'll leave this as an open question. So, of all the platforms besides the business, the offshoots that you were alluding to, what are you, which one would you like to highlight? Or talk about? Sister City? What are you proud of? What would you like to shout out that you see, it's a favorite, I don't know favorite, or one that you are especially feel great about? You want to go first.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, I feel really great about the longevity of Los Bagels and I've talked about it earlier, but how many people we have affected and given them a good start? I'll tell you. There were people we hired who didn't have any work skills and we really helped form them into people who had the discipline to go to work, show up on time and just do the simple tasks that are required to organize yourself, to move forward make progress.
Speaker 3:Make progress in your own life, and I think that we also have been a model for a lot of people to say oh, hey, that's how you could actually do a business. Oh, if they can do it, I could do it. So that kind of idea.
Speaker 1:Modeling, yeah, modeling that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think we're both showing the guys who are running the bagel shop now how to move to be retired and still active.
Speaker 1:The succession plan.
Speaker 3:And yeah, and I think yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is probably not easy if it's been your baby. For yeah, and just for the record, the marriage is beautiful, I love it. Oh, it's.
Speaker 2:Most partnerships don't last. Partnership is like a marriage. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1:No, it's great. I think it's palatable.
Speaker 2:It's wonderful, you know. To add on a little bit to what Peter was saying is we were able to offer opportunities to people who I mean word was getting out and I'll use an example of. I got approached from these folks from the Sacramento area who their son was coming to school and had some real disabilities and they wanted to see if there's. They had heard that we would potentially hire this individual as a place to for him to develop and it was to get some work skills but to have a community and to work on. And so I was shocked that they'd heard about this from other people just through word of mouth and I remember sitting down at that point the brewery was still catty corner for us, the early brewery and having lunch and there was four of us talking and how to Would we consider, and they were even willing to pay us to hire their son so that he would have an opportunity and try to learn some skills and what could work and work in the back.
Speaker 2:Well, he ended up working for us for about three years and we slowly saw and we paid him from the get-go, but we slowly saw him develop and create community within the store. He'd done some other work with his dad, but he'd never really had a real job per se. But we've been involved with that multiple times with different individuals to give them an opportunity to do that, and it's way beyond what the actual work is going. So that's just what Peter was saying. If I was going to say what I wanted to highlight, I would say none of the things that you had mentioned. I would highlight, I guess, how proud I am of my family and my two daughters, that one of them is home right now and they're just both great human beings and make me incredibly proud. That's cool that you can balance that work-life thing.
Speaker 2:That's a hard one. Are you a grandpa? No, I'm not, so yeah.
Speaker 1:How about you yeah?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And if you said what am I going to do tomorrow, yeah.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 3:I might be driving one of my granddaughters to something, so yeah, he's a great grandparent. How many grandparent kids? I just have two grandkids, but they live right around the corner, you know, a half mile away, quarter of a mile away, and they're both like Dennis. I can be really proud to know them, but they're both kids who have developed full personalities and it's a nice thing to watch.
Speaker 1:That's a cool thing, man adult kids that are great. Good for you guys. Yeah, yeah, that's the payoff. My dad was a really neat guy, bob, who came to a meeting and I said, hey, we're a bunch of sales guys and you're a sales guy. What would you tell us about life, what are your top three takeaways? And I thought he'd have a notebook and a half hour and he'd be ready to go. He said if you're in business for the money, you're only about half paid. And I stopped and I go well, where's the rest? You know, whatever he said, I missed it. He goes if you're in business and sales just for money, you're about half paid.
Speaker 1:Because it's about relationships and connection and that outreach and that development, all the things you guys are talking about. And I thought, man, I kind of got mad at him after, but I figured it out. Took me some months and years to go. Oh, that's what he said. It's about the human connection and the reward of two beautiful daughters or some great, two great grandkids, or you know all that comes in. So as I wrap up, I'll throw this to you first, my toast master friend. First of all, thank you for speaking on Italy. Gosh, it must have been 10 years ago.
Speaker 3:You really liked that story.
Speaker 1:The guy did a pretty good speech. He really I mean, I'm in Italy. In my head I'm going. Man, I gotta go to Europe at some point. So we've we got to go to England last summer and this fall we got to go to Amsterdam. So I don't know what's next, probably Amsterdam again. But great speech, thank you. So we have a little speaking background. So travel is your passion.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:With that I'll lead into my final clip. Sounds so final. What does it say on Peter German's tombstone? What would you like to be remembered for? What's the etching and the st-? What, what, what comes to mind?
Speaker 3:Well, there were a couple of things that were real hard for me to learn in my life, and I think one of them was forgiveness, and I didn't really realize how important it was, real important, until I was in my fifties and I started to like how, huh, and and, so you know it's, yeah, that's a. That would be something I want somehow to be remembered for. Let it go, man Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, Really critical. Funny how it takes us that some of us are slow learners even on that topic, you know it's like right. What do you hold that for Exactly?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. John Dolby from Rowe with Capital says unforgiveness, is me taking poison, expecting you to die.
Speaker 3:Yeah Right, exactly I got it.
Speaker 1:No, that really resonates, yeah, I really liked that he hit that one. Well, Dennis, what, what, what, what, what are they gonna say? What, what's your tombstone?
Speaker 2:Reen, that's interesting. That's a good question. I would say a a good father cares about family and community.
Speaker 1:Nice, I love it, straight to the point. Well, fellas, appreciate you guys being here. Yeah, thank you yeah. Thanks for taking some time and happy holidays. Happy Hanukkah Are we in Hanukkah yet it's over. It's over, Right yeah?
Speaker 2:You're just, you're just early, you're just early. Look at it that way I'm early, early for next year, coming up right away. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyway, great to have you guys and Los Bagels at Arcada, Eureka, at the Cal Poly Humboldt campus and it kind of parting shot here. I forgot to ask this I'm sure you've been approached by franchisees, the idea of franchising, the idea of doing something bigger. Will it happen? And if so, if not, why not?
Speaker 2:This could be an old Heather show. We can look at it. Yeah, right yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a. That's a long has that come up, and yeah, absolutely Discussions yeah. I'll tell you one thing, and this was one of the best pieces of advice Dennis ever gave me. I said you know we're in the wrong business. We should be selling bagel shops. And he said where do you want to live? Huh, how do you want to live?
Speaker 1:Huh.
Speaker 3:Good answer, yeah. And when I took that to heart and then started to experience it, I said you know, a person who knows he has enough has plenty, he's got enough.
Speaker 1:Amen, brother. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, same thing with our humble heroes, our veterans recognition. Somebody Paul Bruce, was interviewing me. He goes hey, what very good question. He goes you want to go statewide, national? I go, I think that would wreck it. It would. It would wreck the genuine organic thing that it is and it's. It's small, it's designed to be small and it's meaningful at at its scale. So anyway, thank you, peter Jern.
Speaker 3:You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Thank you, dennis, thanks for giving us a chance to put our thoughts to words Absolutely. Happy holidays to you guys. All right, appreciate it, have a good day, all right.
