Michael Friedman will head the expansion of jeweler Black Starr & Frost, which has three locations, including one at South Coast Plaza.
Friedman used to head a 22-chain jeweler.
Alfredo Molina, owner of Black Starr & Frost, intends to revive the brand’s prestige with the expansion.
I first wrote about Black Starr & Frost last week and since have received more details.
Molina recently was fielding calls from customers’ wives. They’ll tell him what they want for Christmas and he’ll call their husbands.
Molina, the son of Cuban immigrants, comes from a long line of jewelers. His grandfather was his mentor.
When Molina was 8 years old, he began learning how to set stones using a penny. After he got good at pennies, he moved to silver, then gold and finally, platinum.
He worked on the bench,a term used for all jewelry making,from 1976 to 1987 and then explored other careers. He was a heart technician but became disenchanted with the medical profession.
These days, he travels frequently, delivering jewels to Saudi princes and other royal families.
“They’re mega shoppers,” he said.
They aren’t buying their wives engagement rings. They’re buying an investment.
Many wealthy families have about 25% to 30% of their portfolios in gems, he said.
Molina employs 13 full-time bodyguards. He travels much more since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because it’s harder for travelers to come here, especially from the Middle East, he said.
“I get around,” he said.
Molina’s gem buying philosophy for his stores: “Always buy a 10.”
Molina doesn’t just head the company. He’s also chief designer.
“I design a lot of the pieces myself,” he says.
Like many jewelers, the business is family run. Since 1980, he has been working with his wife, Lisa, who is chief executive of domestic affairs.
“My son is ready to be CEO,” he said.
But he’s still got some learning to do, Molina said.
“I may let him start working as a stock boy,” he said.
After all, that’s what Molina did.
The company gives away a good chunk of its profits, about $3.5 million a year to charity, he said.
Molina is a well-known philanthropist in Phoenix, home base for the Molina Group, his umbrella company, which includes Molina Fine Jewelers.
Now, he’s bringing some of that charity to Orange County. Among other things, he’s sponsoring the Radio City Rockettes at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Molina, also a car collector, sponsored the “best of show” car at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Molina doesn’t yet have a home in Orange County but expects to own one someday and may even move his yacht here.
He started a women’s advisory board to help direct giving as well as offer feedback on designs. It is filled with well-heeled local women such as Daranne Folino, who chairs the board. Folino is wife of Emulex executive chairman and philanthropist, Paul Folino.
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Family Classic Cars: tough year for auto business, Spizzirri says |
Rasool Rastgoo, owner of the California Auto Dealer Corp., which owns three dealerships in Orange County, traded his Tustin Mitsubishi dealership for a Power Ford dealership earlier this year.
Another, Marc Spizzirri, co-owner of San Juan Capistrano-based Family Automotive Group Inc., sold Family Toyota, also in San Juan Capistrano, earlier this year.
“I thought it was the right time to sell Toyota,” he said.
He still has Family Honda and Family Nissan, both in Rancho Santa Margarita. Family Automotive bought the Nissan dealership in 2006.
This year has been an especially tough one for the auto business, and Spizzirri doesn’t see it picking up any time soon, he said.
It’s a cyclical business, he said. Selling cars these days is a lot harder, he said. Buying a car isn’t the “emotional” purchase it once was, he said. The classic car business on the other hand is another story.
“The classic car business is exceptional,” Spizzirri said.
Spizzirri also owns Family Classic Cars in San Juan Capistrano. Family Classic Cars sells vintage, muscle and exotic autos.
It recently sold a 1956 Ferrari Testarossa for millions. The car won a race at the Laguna Seca raceway in Monterey in the 1950s.
Spizzirri ditched his plans to build a classic dealership in Dana Point.
Instead, he bought the Miramar Theater in San Clemente. He plans to demolish the bowling alley and restore the theater, keeping the fa & #231;ade intact. He’s envisioning a piazza with stores and restaurants on the property.
Spizzirri said the project isn’t like any other he’s done before.
He’s also dabbling in movies, producing a couple of Hollywood feature films. That’s led him to buy a bevy of classic cars, which includes Mary Pickford’s car. Pickford was a movie star in the 1920s and one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group responsible for the Oscars.
“You can’t pay too much for the right car,” he said.
