As crummy as it was, it was in a closet in the living room of that tiny, squalid apartment that Kit Kraft was born. We remembered that on the army base, many service men used the craft facilities. We thought a hobby shop would be a popular place. We started by selling moccasin kits and other assorted items that we stored in our closet. We sent out a pamphlet to people we found on Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. We got dribbles of sales at first, just nickels and dimes. We couldn’t yet afford to rent a space for the business.
We Move Around, the Business Grows
After a year or so, we moved from Ingraham St. to the Beverly Hotel on Wilshire, a property also owned by Julius. It was very expensive, and we only stayed a month. We found another apartment in the downtown area and then the following year, we moved to an apartment on Clinton St. We were finally able to rent a place for Kit Kraft as well.
There were ups and downs in the business. Although mostly ups. I was the bookkeeper for the first 13 years. All I did was add up sales and costs. This was not a job I wanted to keep but I persisted as we got the business going. Joe grew the business. When someone asked for an item Kit Kraft didn’t stock, Joe would order it. That’s how the inventory grew. He got close to the suppliers. Salespeople would come out and help decide what Joe should stock. Joe Lenorovitz was one of the early salesmen who became our friend. There were to be lots more such friends over the years as the business took root and thrived.
