Whether they are flying solo or teaming up with family or friends, women continue to exhibit entrepreneurial spirit and pace ahead of national business growth, through growing an established businesses or opening a new one.
Between 2007 to 2016, women-owned businesses grew five-times faster than male-owned firms in the U.S., according to American Express OPEN’s 2016 State Of Women-Owned Businesses Report. Overall, the number of women-owned firms increased by 45% in that time period. Their revenues have increased by 35%, compared with the national average of 27% over the same period.
Women of color, according to the OPEN report, own 78% of net new women-owned firms that started up between 2007 and 2016. Since 2007, about 1,100 net new women-owned businesses have launched every day – 842 of those by women of color.
The businesswomen of Long Beach and Signal Hill represented in this section come from diverse backgrounds, hailing not only from the United States but also Brazil, Greece, Korea and Mexico. They serve truckers, families, tourists, builders, neighborhoods and people from all walks of life. Some hope their businesses will support their families for generations, while others dream of expanding with even more locations.
From the Westside to the Eastside to the North, from the Shore to the Hill, these women have become entrenched in their communities, providing employment and contributing to the local economy.
(All photographs by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)
Angela Contos
Golden Star Restaurants
1560 W. Pacific Coast Hwy. • 562/435-6528
2001 E. Carson St. • 562/426-8869
Eleven days after meeting Jimmy Contos in 1970, Angela Contos agreed to marry him. Jimmy, who founded the first Golden Star Restaurant in 1963 in the Westside area of Long Beach, was visiting his mother in Greece when the two met – and the rest is history.
They were introduced in June 1970, and by November they were married and living in Long Beach, where they raised four children who remain active in the family business.
A native of Greece, Jimmy had worked as a professional cook while serving in the Greek Navy (a requirement of the country’s citizens) and decided to carry on the profession after moving to America. After marrying Angela, he quickly decided to open a second location at Carson Street and Cherry Avenue, which she runs to this day. Both restaurants serve mostly American staples like cheeseburgers, hot dogs and more.
In the early days, running the restaurants was not an easy task. “He worked three shifts,” Contos said of her husband, who passed away in 2008. “And both locations were open 24 hours.”
Contos said she loves her restaurants like she loves her children. “My favorite [part] is the relationship with customers. They feel like my family,” she said. Her husband was famous for sitting and listening to his customers talk about their lives at length, she noted.
“My kids, they grew up in this restaurant, particularly [at] Carson and Cherry,” she said. “They took their first steps. My son cleaned tables. My daughter sometimes was the secretary. It’s all home, everything here in the restaurant.”
Contos opens and closes the restaurant at Carson and Cherry every day. “I get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and I come in every morning at 6 o’clock and open the restaurant,” she said. She leaves for home at 4 p.m. and returns in time to close the eatery at 9 p.m.
The Contos family and their business regularly give back to local schools – particularly ones the Contos children attended, like Riley Elementary School and Long Beach Polytechnic High School – as well as their church, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church on Pacific Coast Highway. Both she and her husband always loved children, she noted.
In the future, Contos said she hopes her children will keep the business running. “Small business is good business,” she added.
Donna Gurr and Angie Jakum
City Lights Streetwear and Cityology
5243 E. 2nd St. • 562/473-4553 • www.citylightsstreetwear.com
4718 E. 2nd St. • 562/386-8292 • www.city-ology.com
Best friends Donna Gurr (pictured) and Angie Jakum met by way of a dog – Jakum’s pooch, Cody, made an appearance on her patio when Gurr was touring a condo next to hers, and Gurr ultimately decided to buy the place.
“I thought, well, anybody who has a dog as cute as this has got to be a great neighbor,” Gurr recalled. The two got to know one another and not only became close friends, but also came to realize that their skill sets made them ideal business partners.
Jakum, an accountant and former owner of a clothing line, had relevant skills to running a business and buying merchandise. Gurr, who had years of experience in sales at a department store and Mark Schneider Jewelry, had the experience to handle sales on the floor. “We feel that together we are the perfect businessperson,” Gurr said.
Eventually, they decided to open a small, appointment-only boutique in an office adjacent to Jakum’s tax business, which was located above the former post office on 2nd Street in Belmont Shore. “We were only open six hours a week on Monday nights by appointment. And we were wildly successful even in that tiny little space up on the second floor by appointment,” Jakum said.
In 2014, the women decided to take their venture a step further by opening a boutique called City Lights Streetwear at 5243 E. 2nd St.
“Angie has got all the knowledge, and she’s our buyer. She has got a fantastic eye,” Gurr said. Gurr handles the front end of the business, she noted.
City Lights Streetwear sells clothes and accessories made for adult women. “They’re not teenage clothes. They are for women who want to look good and clothes that are good quality, good fit,” Jakum said.
The two women were considering opening a second location in another city but ultimately decided to pursue another venture by opening Cityology, a lifestyle store, just down the street at 4718 E. 2nd St.
“While we were buying for City Lights Streetwear, we would find all these cool things that we knew would be fantastic in the store that weren’t appropriate for City Lights,” Gurr said. So when a landlord down the street called and asked if the two would like to relocate their existing business, they instead decided to open Cityology.
“Both stores are received amazingly well, with open arms from the city and from the community,” Jakum said.
Their greatest challenge as business owners is the seasonal fluctuation in foot traffic and sales, according to Jakum. Gurr agreed, adding, “But it’s fun because it’s a challenge.”
In the future, the two hope to open more stores in other locations. Meanwhile, the instigator of their journey – Cody the dog – has become something of a mascot for the stores and a beloved fixture on 2nd Street, they said.
Eva Guzman
Firestone Fabricators
2304 Orange Ave., Signal Hill
562/988-1019
Eva Guzman started at Signal Hill-based Firestone Fabricators as a receptionist in the early 1990s after leaving a position with United Airlines. The Mexican immigrant, who first came to Long Beach at age five, worked her way up over the years and eventually purchased the business from the previous owner in 2014.
“I used to work for United Airlines and went on strike back in 1990 to ’92,” Guzman recalled. “I was looking for something else to do, and I stopped in to the office and applied as a receptionist [doing] filing and so forth. And then I just grew from there.”
Firestone Fabricators was founded in 1984. The business fabricates and installs structural steel for use in building framework. Asked about what she grew to like about this industry, Guzman said, “I just like working here. I like steel. I like to see empty buildings go up and get transformed.”
Over the years, Guzman educated herself about the industry and began moving up within the business. She eventually took and passed an exam certifying her as a structural steel contractor.
“What happened is the main owner retired, and I decided to make an offer,” Guzman said of how she came to own Firestone Fabricators. “Since I had been running it for the past 10 years, he decided that it was an opportunity.”
Advancing in a field that is dominated by men has been a challenge, though less so in recent years as more women have progressed in the construction industry, according to Guzman.
The company’s most recent project in Long Beach was the corner of 3rd Street and Long Beach Boulevard, where a section of City Place shopping center has been redesigned. Outside of Long Beach, the firm is currently working with San Antonio Winery – a 100-year-old winery in Downtown Los Angeles – to completely remodel the interior of its historic building. Firestone is also currently performing work at the Hollywood Bowl.
Guzman said she loves everything about her business but is most driven by a desire to provide opportunities for others. “Because I was given the opportunity, I want to grow to be able to give the opportunity to somebody else,” she said.
“I don’t live in Long Beach anymore. I live in La Habra. But my heart belongs to Long Beach,” Guzman said, noting that her children still live in the city.
Mary Park
Mike’s Liquor Store
100 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.
562/591-1448
Chances are when you think of liquor stores you probably do not associate them with missionaries. But when Mary Park and her husband, Richard, purchased Mike’s Liquor Store at 100 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. (PCH) in 2014, the former missionaries had community impact on their minds.
The two had moved to Long Beach that June after having taken many bike rides down to the shoreline from Los Angeles. “We always stopped by the Long Beach shore and had lunch there,” Mary Park said. “Long Beach is a really beautiful city.”
The two had recently finished serving three years as missionaries for the Christian TV network CGN, where they had volunteered as producers making documentaries about missions abroad. The idea had been to spend their retirement serving God, but soon the two came to realize that, as healthy 60 year olds with years ahead of them, they would need to continue to support themselves beyond the investments and savings they had made, according to Park.
The Korean immigrants had owned a liquor store in Portland, Oregon, for 25 years before their stint as missionaries. So when someone approached them about purchasing Mike’s Liquor, they decided to go for it despite warnings from locals.
“They said PCH, especially that area, is very dangerous,” Park said. She was originally shocked upon visiting the location. “Outside there are so many homeless people asleep on the streets and in parking lots. And you know, it’s so dirty. But those people need spirit.”
When she contacted the City of Long Beach about obtaining a business license, she found out the location had been the source of many police calls in the past. The Parks bought the store with the intent of improving the community and helping those in it.
“It is kind of a mission for us here right now,” Park said. “The homeless, they do have money to buy food, but they don’t because they are either druggies or . . . [have] alcohol problems. So we started to feed all the homeless here,” she said. Every morning, she delivers hot top ramen to homeless people sleeping in the area. “We try to help them be sober.”
Park noted, “Now we don’t have any problems, and surrounding here it’s getting better. It’s a good community now.” Her favorite thing about running Mike’s Liquor is growing relationships with patrons of the shop, who now regularly come in and update her on their lives.
Regina Walter
Grounds Bakery & Cafe
6277 E. Spring St.
562/429-5661 or 562/420-8511 • www.groundscafe.com
Regina Walter and her husband, Ronald, took over a former La Petit Boulangerie franchise on Spring Street in 1993 and re-branded it into a family business, Grounds Bakery & Cafe.
Walter had attended law school but eventually decided law was not for her. “Like a good Italian granddaughter, food was more interesting,” she said. “We started with the original menu from La Petite Boulangerie and started changing and adding items little by little,” she explained.
The Brazilian native with Italian roots moved with her husband to California in 1990. After opening Grounds and commuting from Huntington Beach for years, they ultimately decided to make the move to Long Beach in 2000.
The business is known not only for its prolific menu but also for its openness to customization – customers can order anything the way they want it, according to Walter.
“Today we have more than 40 sandwiches, about 10 different salads, more than 15 different breads, and most of them from customers’ requests,” Walter said. The business serves an average of 300 orders a day and has strong catering ties with local businesses and city departments, she noted.
Everything baked at Grounds is made fresh daily, according to Walter. “Most of the items we bake are our own recipes and made and baked by our bakers every day,” she said. Grounds also takes recipe suggestions from staff and even from customers, she noted.
Half of Grounds’ daily leftovers are sold at a discount, and the other half are donated to Food Finders, a local nonprofit food bank that distributes unwanted food to those in need. The organization picks up food from Grounds three times a week.
Over the years, the staff grew from five to 35 employees. “My favorite part of owning Grounds is the contact with the customers,” Walter said. “Our Long Beach neighborhood is very family-oriented, and it is normal to see the same customers year after year, their kids growing, bringing their kids, [and] friends getting together, like a big family.” She added, “I love when the kids call me grandma because they are here with their family [so] frequently.”
One of Walter’s biggest challenges is keeping up with legislation that creates new business requirements. “It’s kind of tough on every single business owner,” she said.
Walter, who now works fewer days per week and handles catering, said her goal is to continue having her sons run the business. In the future, she hopes her grandchildren will take over.
Grounds is open Monday to Friday, 5 a.m. to 5 p.m; Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sundays, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.