WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.820 Welcome in. We are so glad you're joining us 00:00:01.820 --> 00:00:04.679 today because we've got a really fascinating 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:07.040 stack of notes pulled together just for you. 00:00:07.139 --> 00:00:09.779 We're doing a custom deep dive into the Wikipedia 00:00:09.779 --> 00:00:13.000 biography of a man named Mel Haber. Yes, and 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.279 I'm very excited to get into this. Right. And 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:17.440 right off the bat, I want to establish that this 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:20.780 is it's an absolute masterclass in entrepreneurship, 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:25.679 cultural trend spotting and just pure reinvention. 00:00:26.010 --> 00:00:28.489 Absolutely. It's a wildly unpredictable trajectory. 00:00:28.570 --> 00:00:31.750 Totally. We are tracing the journey of a guy 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:34.570 who literally started out selling peanuts to 00:00:34.570 --> 00:00:37.929 crowds at Ebbets Field and somehow, through just 00:00:37.929 --> 00:00:41.270 sheer adaptability, ends up hosting Frank Sinatra's 00:00:41.270 --> 00:00:43.409 pre -wedding party. Which is quite the leap. 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:46.590 It's massive. And the secret ingredient to that 00:00:46.590 --> 00:00:49.729 entire wild ride is a concept he called working 00:00:49.729 --> 00:00:52.390 smart. It really is an incredible document to 00:00:52.390 --> 00:00:54.229 dissect because, you know, this isn't just a 00:00:54.229 --> 00:00:56.869 biographical timeline of one man's life. It's 00:00:56.869 --> 00:00:59.350 a vivid, almost kaleidoscopic lens through which 00:00:59.350 --> 00:01:01.850 we can view 20th century American consumerism. 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:04.069 By looking at Haber's career, we are essentially 00:01:04.069 --> 00:01:06.329 tracking the evolution of the American economy. 00:01:06.530 --> 00:01:08.890 Like a microcosm of the whole country. Exactly. 00:01:09.230 --> 00:01:12.629 From those bizarre mid -century youth fads right 00:01:12.629 --> 00:01:14.650 up to the golden age of Hollywood hideaways. 00:01:14.890 --> 00:01:16.510 Okay, let's unpack this from the very beginning. 00:01:16.950 --> 00:01:19.349 Mel Haber was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:22.629 1936. Classic Depression -era Brooklyn roots. 00:01:22.790 --> 00:01:24.810 Yeah, and he was the youngest of four children 00:01:24.810 --> 00:01:28.590 and the only boy. His father, Louie, was a garment 00:01:28.590 --> 00:01:32.670 district salesman. But this standard mid -century 00:01:32.670 --> 00:01:35.689 upbringing just shatters completely when Mel 00:01:35.689 --> 00:01:38.629 is just 12 years old. A pivotal, tragic moment. 00:01:38.810 --> 00:01:40.890 Right. His father dies of a heart attack at the 00:01:40.890 --> 00:01:45.049 age of 52. And literally overnight. this 12 -year 00:01:45.049 --> 00:01:47.430 -old boy becomes the sole breadwinner for his 00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:50.430 entire family. It's an unimaginable amount of 00:01:50.430 --> 00:01:52.650 pressure to place on a child. I can't even fathom 00:01:52.650 --> 00:01:54.090 it. I mean, he isn't just getting a part -time 00:01:54.090 --> 00:01:56.150 job to buy comic books or go to the movies. He 00:01:56.150 --> 00:01:58.310 is literally keeping a roof over his family's 00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:00.989 head. Yeah, and the sheer volume of work he takes 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:03.750 on to do that is staggering. He's delivering 00:02:03.750 --> 00:02:06.969 groceries. He's at Ebbets Field navigating these 00:02:06.969 --> 00:02:09.849 massive, chaotic baseball crowds just to sell 00:02:09.849 --> 00:02:12.310 peanuts and beer. Which is grueling work on its 00:02:12.310 --> 00:02:15.039 own. Oh, for sure. And then during the summers, 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:18.039 he heads up to the Catskills to work as a busboy 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:21.259 in these massive, incredibly fast -paced resort 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:23.740 dining rooms. And that Catskills experience is 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:26.580 where we find our first and arguably most important 00:02:26.580 --> 00:02:30.199 major takeaway. The core philosophy. Right. While 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:32.500 he's rushing around those dining rooms, balancing 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:35.020 heavy trays, dodging waiters, and clearing tables 00:02:35.020 --> 00:02:38.080 for hundreds of guests, he develops this personal 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.550 philosophy. He called it motion efficiency. Which 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:43.409 he later referred to as simply working smart. 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:46.370 Exactly. Because when you are a 12 -year -old 00:02:46.370 --> 00:02:48.650 carrying the financial weight of an entire family, 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:51.969 you simply cannot afford to waste a single ounce 00:02:51.969 --> 00:02:54.210 of physical energy. Or a single minute of time. 00:02:54.389 --> 00:02:57.289 Exactly. Motion efficiency meant maximizing his 00:02:57.289 --> 00:02:59.979 output while minimizing the physical toll. Every 00:02:59.979 --> 00:03:02.560 single step he took had a purpose. No wasted 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.379 movement. None. And that exact same skill, that 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:08.000 ability to optimize his environment and his effort 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.560 is the precise operational foundation that later 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.180 allowed him to run six different complex restaurant 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:15.759 and club venues simultaneously without burning 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:18.050 out. It makes complete sense. I mean, if you 00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:21.729 can efficiently navigate a crowded 1940s resort 00:03:21.729 --> 00:03:24.449 dining room during the dinner rush, you can probably 00:03:24.449 --> 00:03:26.530 navigate anything. It's the ultimate training 00:03:26.530 --> 00:03:29.129 ground. So he graduates high school, and in the 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:32.930 fall of 1954, he enrolls in the Fashion Institute 00:03:32.930 --> 00:03:35.930 of Technology, FIT, in Manhattan. Mm -hmm. And 00:03:35.930 --> 00:03:38.409 not for long. No. His college career is remarkably 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:41.599 short -lived. Two months in, he gets a call from 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:44.240 a businessman named Artie Schifrin, offering 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:47.580 him a job at Walford Industries for $85 a week. 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:49.860 Which was decent money back then. Very decent. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:52.400 So Hayward drops out immediately, takes the money, 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:54.860 and steps into what becomes a massive cultural 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:57.599 phenomenon. The timing of that job offer really 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.219 is everything, because in December of 1954, the 00:04:01.219 --> 00:04:04.219 ABC television network airs a show called Davy 00:04:04.219 --> 00:04:06.060 Crockett Indian Fighter. Starring Fess Parker. 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:09.039 Right. And Parker wears this signature coonskin 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:11.879 cap. It was an absolute overnight youth craze. 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:14.560 Unprecedented for television at the time. Yeah. 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:17.000 If you think about modern viral fads like when 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:19.639 fidget spinners or certain TikTok products suddenly 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:21.779 sell out everywhere in a matter of days, this 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:25.680 was the 1950s equivalent. But on a massive. physical 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.040 manufacturing scale. What's fascinating here 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.300 is the sheer speed of the boom and bust cycle. 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:33.160 It was so fast. Wolfram Industries, where Haber 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:35.600 had just started, saw this multi -million dollar 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.939 bandwagon and jumped right on it. They pivoted 00:04:38.939 --> 00:04:41.720 to producing coonskin items as fast as their 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:44.139 machines could run. They went all in. They did, 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:47.180 but it's a perfect micro study of supply chain 00:04:47.180 --> 00:04:49.779 economics. We have the specific numbers from 00:04:49.779 --> 00:04:52.699 the source, and they paint a brutal picture of 00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:55.399 what happens when demand completely outstrips 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.560 supply. The raw materials just vanished, didn't 00:04:57.560 --> 00:04:59.899 they? Completely. The price of raccoon tails 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:02.699 surged from 25 cents a piece all the way up to 00:05:02.699 --> 00:05:07.360 $5 a pound by May of 1955. Wow. The raw materials 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:10.060 became so astronomically expensive that the margins 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.980 just evaporated. The bubble burst, the craze. 00:05:13.069 --> 00:05:15.129 ended and the whole operation crashed. Which 00:05:15.129 --> 00:05:18.509 leaves Mel Haber, at 19 years old, out of work 00:05:18.509 --> 00:05:20.569 for the first time since he was a child. A harsh 00:05:20.569 --> 00:05:24.009 lesson in trend chasing. Definitely. So he regroups, 00:05:24.009 --> 00:05:26.509 obviously. He tries selling shoes, he tries selling 00:05:26.509 --> 00:05:28.829 stocks, but he's really just treading water until 00:05:28.829 --> 00:05:31.029 Walfren Industries calls him back. Because they 00:05:31.029 --> 00:05:33.389 had a new plan. Right. They aren't doing Kuhn's 00:05:33.389 --> 00:05:35.930 skin caps anymore. They're pivoting to automotive 00:05:35.930 --> 00:05:38.730 novelties, and they want Haber to help run the 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:41.810 operation. If we connect this to the bigger picture... 00:05:42.170 --> 00:05:45.269 The macro context of this pivot is crucial for 00:05:45.269 --> 00:05:47.709 understanding American consumer culture. Set 00:05:47.709 --> 00:05:49.930 the scene for us. This is the post -World War 00:05:49.930 --> 00:05:53.389 II economic boom. By the late 50s, the country 00:05:53.389 --> 00:05:56.589 is selling approximately 10 million cars annually. 00:05:57.230 --> 00:06:00.149 But more importantly, you have the rise of the 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:02.889 baby boomer teenager. Right. The car is no longer 00:06:02.889 --> 00:06:05.290 just a utilitarian way to get to work. For a 00:06:05.290 --> 00:06:07.410 teenager, the car is their living room. It's 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:10.120 their social currency. Precisely. Teenagers were 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:12.839 practically living in their vehicles. And Wolfern 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.060 Industries realized that these kids wanted to 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:17.420 customize these spaces. And they leaned into 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:21.139 it heavily. Between 1961 and 1968, they produced 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:24.639 an astonishing 750 different novelty items to 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.149 help teenagers express their identities. And 00:06:27.149 --> 00:06:30.069 we are talking about the absolute quintessential 00:06:30.069 --> 00:06:33.529 classics of mid -century car culture here. Oh, 00:06:33.550 --> 00:06:35.889 the stuff you see in every period movie. They're 00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:37.949 making the hula dolls that danced in your rear 00:06:37.949 --> 00:06:41.490 window, dashboard religious statues. The classics. 00:06:41.870 --> 00:06:44.209 The iconic fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview 00:06:44.209 --> 00:06:46.970 mirror. tiger tails to hang on the gas tank. 00:06:47.170 --> 00:06:49.670 It's brilliant because it's entirely frivolous, 00:06:49.689 --> 00:06:51.850 but it's exactly what the market wanted. It was 00:06:51.850 --> 00:06:54.689 pure identity signaling. Yeah, and their biggest 00:06:54.689 --> 00:06:57.329 hit was something called Amber Lens Die, which 00:06:57.329 --> 00:06:59.970 sold over a million units. They were monetizing 00:06:59.970 --> 00:07:02.410 teenage self -expression at an unprecedented 00:07:02.410 --> 00:07:06.689 scale, and it paid off massively. In 1968, a 00:07:06.689 --> 00:07:08.829 company called Automatic Radio swooped in and 00:07:08.829 --> 00:07:11.850 bought Wolfram for $3 million. Which means Haber, 00:07:11.930 --> 00:07:14.870 who held a 10 % stake, walks away with... a $300 00:07:14.870 --> 00:07:18.689 ,000 windfall. A fortune at the time. Huge. He's 00:07:18.689 --> 00:07:20.870 young, he's incredibly wealthy, he has a large 00:07:20.870 --> 00:07:23.089 house in Long Island, and he drives a Rolls Royce. 00:07:23.290 --> 00:07:25.889 But this is the exact point in the story where 00:07:25.889 --> 00:07:28.689 that linear trajectory completely derails. It 00:07:28.689 --> 00:07:30.750 really is a cautionary tale about the illusion 00:07:30.750 --> 00:07:33.490 of generalized business genius. What do you mean 00:07:33.490 --> 00:07:36.410 by that? Well, Haber had achieved massive success 00:07:36.410 --> 00:07:40.449 in a very specific, trend -driven niche. But... 00:07:40.649 --> 00:07:43.610 He takes his 300 grand and starts indiscriminately 00:07:43.610 --> 00:07:46.269 investing it into a string of entirely unrelated 00:07:46.269 --> 00:07:49.230 side businesses. The list is almost comically 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:52.230 disconnected. He launches a boiler cleaning business, 00:07:52.449 --> 00:07:55.629 a front end wheel alignment franchise. He tries 00:07:55.629 --> 00:07:57.970 an import business. Right. And then he gets into 00:07:57.970 --> 00:07:59.889 things that are highly technical, like vacuum 00:07:59.889 --> 00:08:02.410 forming and factoring medical centers. And those 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:05.189 last two are particularly notorious for eating 00:08:05.189 --> 00:08:07.769 up capital if you don't know the industry inside 00:08:07.769 --> 00:08:10.959 and out. Just to clarify for you listening. Vacuum 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:13.100 forming is a manufacturing process where you 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:15.339 heat a sheet of plastic and stretch it over a 00:08:15.339 --> 00:08:17.480 mold. That's how they make things like plastic 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:20.439 blister packaging. Right. And factoring medical 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:22.980 centers is a financial service where a company 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:25.500 buys a medical clinic's unpaid invoices at a 00:08:25.500 --> 00:08:28.160 discount to give the clinic quick cash. Neither 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:30.240 of which have absolutely anything to do with 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:32.659 selling fuzzy dice to teenagers. Nothing at all. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:35.379 And predictably. Every single one of these ventures 00:08:35.379 --> 00:08:38.299 was a total failure. He bled capital. Yeah, he 00:08:38.299 --> 00:08:40.379 had to shut them all down. And the psychological 00:08:40.379 --> 00:08:43.379 toll of that has to be immense. You go from the 00:08:43.379 --> 00:08:47.159 high of a multi -million dollar buyout to watching 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:49.600 your money evaporate in boiler cleaning schemes. 00:08:49.940 --> 00:08:52.200 It's humbling, to say the least. The source material 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.980 describes the aftermath as a textbook midlife 00:08:54.980 --> 00:08:58.080 crisis. And he does something incredibly drastic. 00:08:58.539 --> 00:09:01.000 He doesn't just downsize. He burns the ships. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:04.139 Complete reset. Yeah. He trades his Rolls Royce 00:09:04.139 --> 00:09:07.360 for a used Fiat. He leaves his Long Island house 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:10.080 behind, moves clear across the country to Los 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.019 Angeles, and rents a furnished apartment in Marina 00:09:13.019 --> 00:09:15.620 del Rey. He essentially stripped away all the 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:18.220 physical trappings of his previous success, which 00:09:18.220 --> 00:09:20.700 had become so entangled with all his recent devastating 00:09:20.700 --> 00:09:24.000 failures. He was looking for a blank slate. Here's 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.100 where it gets really interesting. It's 1975. 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:28.580 He's out in California driving this used Fiat. 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:31.100 And a friend invites him to take a trip out to 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:34.179 Palm Springs. A fateful trip. Very. While he's 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:36.299 wandering around, he comes across a property 00:09:36.299 --> 00:09:40.080 at 200 Ramon Road called the Ingleside Inn. At 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:42.139 this point, it's suffering badly from absentee 00:09:42.139 --> 00:09:46.179 ownership. It's dilapidated. Very rundown. But 00:09:46.179 --> 00:09:49.740 it has this unbelievable ghost town glamour to 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:52.000 it. The history of that estate is extraordinary. 00:09:52.830 --> 00:09:55.750 It was built back in 1925 by the widow of the 00:09:55.750 --> 00:09:58.909 Piercero motor car manufacturer. Oh, wow. But 00:09:58.909 --> 00:10:01.649 its real legacy began a decade later when a Palm 00:10:01.649 --> 00:10:04.309 Springs councilwoman named Ruth Hardy bought 00:10:04.309 --> 00:10:06.950 it and transformed it into a 20 -room hotel. 00:10:07.429 --> 00:10:10.370 The hotel doesn't really do it justice. No, Hardy 00:10:10.370 --> 00:10:13.110 ran it for 30 years as an aggressively exclusive, 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:16.950 invite -only private club. The contrast of the 00:10:16.950 --> 00:10:19.169 people who stayed there is fascinating. You had 00:10:19.169 --> 00:10:21.429 your classic Hollywood royalty, of course. Like 00:10:21.429 --> 00:10:23.639 Elizabeth Taylor. and Greta Garbo. Yes, but you 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:26.179 also had these bizarre cultural intersections. 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:28.639 Right, like you'd have Salvador Dali, the eccentric 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.279 surrealist painter, staying at the same highly 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.860 exclusive resort as JCPenney, the incredibly 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:36.320 conservative department store magnate. It's a 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:38.340 wild mix. Just painting that picture in your 00:10:38.340 --> 00:10:40.879 head, these vastly different titans of culture 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:43.179 and industry hiding out in the desert under the 00:10:43.179 --> 00:10:45.620 strict curation of Ruth Hardy. But Hardy passed 00:10:45.620 --> 00:10:48.779 away in 1965, and without her enforcing that 00:10:48.779 --> 00:10:52.240 exclusivity, the magic faded. By the time Haber 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:54.500 walks onto the property 10 years later, it's 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:56.519 a shadow of its former self. Now, let's look 00:10:56.519 --> 00:10:57.980 at this objectively from Haber's perspective. 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:01.440 He has just failed out of half a dozen businesses. 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:04.940 Spectacularly. Spectacularly. He knows automotive 00:11:04.940 --> 00:11:08.100 novelties. He absolutely does not know high -end 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:11.019 luxury hospitality. And yet, he looks at this 00:11:11.019 --> 00:11:14.330 faded, rundown estate. and makes a spontaneous 00:11:14.330 --> 00:11:18.190 $300 ,000 handshake deal to buy the entire property. 00:11:18.370 --> 00:11:20.889 It is an almost incomprehensibly reckless move 00:11:20.889 --> 00:11:24.070 on paper. On April 15, 1975, he officially owns 00:11:24.070 --> 00:11:26.830 it. But this is where we see that childhood motion 00:11:26.830 --> 00:11:29.669 efficiency roar back to life. The Catskills busboy 00:11:29.669 --> 00:11:32.610 returns. Exactly. He doesn't hesitate or overthink. 00:11:32.789 --> 00:11:35.889 He shuts the inn down for the summer, pours $500 00:11:35.889 --> 00:11:38.529 ,000 into a rapid, highly focused restoration, 00:11:38.809 --> 00:11:41.730 and revitalizes the property, including adding 00:11:41.730 --> 00:11:44.110 a restaurant he names Melvin's. And he moves 00:11:44.110 --> 00:11:47.029 incredibly fast. By September 15th of that same 00:11:47.029 --> 00:11:49.629 year, the Ingleside Inn reopens. And he somehow 00:11:49.629 --> 00:11:53.070 manages to instantly recapture the exact lightning 00:11:53.070 --> 00:11:55.470 in a bottle that Ruth Hardy had commanded decades 00:11:55.470 --> 00:11:58.490 earlier. The turnaround is stunning. The inn 00:11:58.490 --> 00:12:01.330 immediately becomes a massive magnet for a brand 00:12:01.330 --> 00:12:04.509 new era of Hollywood's elite. You've got stars 00:12:04.509 --> 00:12:06.929 from Marlon Brando to John Travolta walking through 00:12:06.929 --> 00:12:09.250 the doors. But there was one event that really 00:12:09.250 --> 00:12:12.389 sealed the deal. Oh, yeah. The moment that permanently 00:12:12.389 --> 00:12:15.370 cemented the inn's legendary status happened 00:12:15.370 --> 00:12:19.169 just a few months later in July of 1976. Frank 00:12:19.169 --> 00:12:21.789 Sinatra and Barbara Marks held their pre -wedding 00:12:21.789 --> 00:12:25.730 party at Melvin's. In the ecosystem of 1970s 00:12:25.730 --> 00:12:28.330 celebrity culture, there is no higher endorsement. 00:12:28.389 --> 00:12:31.490 None. Once Frank Sinatra chooses your venue for 00:12:31.490 --> 00:12:34.190 something that intimate and high profile, your 00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:36.470 reputation is bulletproof. You're set for life. 00:12:36.690 --> 00:12:39.070 The inn was eventually featured on Lifestyles 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:41.289 of the Rich and Famous, hailed as one of the 00:12:41.289 --> 00:12:43.610 world's premier dining venues. He went from a 00:12:43.610 --> 00:12:46.029 furnished apartment and a used Fiat to hosting 00:12:46.029 --> 00:12:48.690 Sinatra in barely a year. It's dizzying. But 00:12:48.690 --> 00:12:51.029 Haber was fundamentally a trend spotter. He wasn't 00:12:51.029 --> 00:12:54.070 going to just sit still. By 1979, the cultural 00:12:54.070 --> 00:12:57.110 wave was disco. And Haber decides to build the 00:12:57.110 --> 00:12:59.350 biggest surfboard he can find. He opens a venue 00:12:59.350 --> 00:13:03.129 called Cecil's on October 1st, 1979. And this 00:13:03.129 --> 00:13:06.409 was not a modest undertaking. Not at all. Cecil's 00:13:06.409 --> 00:13:09.289 was a 9 ,000 square foot Chinese restaurant and 00:13:09.289 --> 00:13:11.850 discotheque. A strange combination, but it worked. 00:13:12.299 --> 00:13:15.940 It cost $1 .2 million to build in 1979 dollars. 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:19.019 The sheer extravagance of an expansive Chinese 00:13:19.019 --> 00:13:22.039 restaurant that seamlessly morphs into a pulsating 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:26.000 disco that rivaled Studio 54. It was the undisputed 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.419 epicenter of Palm Springs nightlife. And he didn't 00:13:28.419 --> 00:13:30.980 stop there. Nope. He followed that up by opening 00:13:30.980 --> 00:13:34.299 two more dining ventures in the early 80s. Saturday's, 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:36.620 which was modeled after the TGI Friday's concept 00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:39.679 and doubles located inside the famed tennis club. 00:13:40.110 --> 00:13:42.710 At his peak, Haber was the second largest employer 00:13:42.710 --> 00:13:45.409 in all of Palm Springs, with 200 people on his 00:13:45.409 --> 00:13:47.409 payroll. This raises an important question about 00:13:47.409 --> 00:13:49.490 how an entrepreneur navigates shifting cultural 00:13:49.490 --> 00:13:52.370 tides. Pop culture historians widely consider 00:13:52.370 --> 00:13:54.669 disco to have died right around 1980. The famous 00:13:54.669 --> 00:13:58.190 disco backlash. Right. But Haber's motion efficiency 00:13:58.190 --> 00:14:00.990 applied to his management style, too. He kept 00:14:00.990 --> 00:14:03.549 Cecil's highly profitable for years after the 00:14:03.549 --> 00:14:06.409 trend supposedly died. But crucially, he knew 00:14:06.409 --> 00:14:08.809 exactly when to get off the ride. That timing 00:14:08.809 --> 00:14:12.080 is everything. In 1985, sensing the era was truly 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:15.419 over, he sold Cecil's Doubles and Saturdays to 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:18.559 local businessmen, cashing out cleanly. He steps 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:21.299 away from the massive club expansions. But the 00:14:21.299 --> 00:14:23.279 city of Palm Springs wasn't quite ready to let 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:26.120 him retire from the nightlife scene. Fast forward 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:30.360 to January 1994. The comeback attempt. The public 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:33.070 has been clamoring for his return. And he obliges 00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:36.769 by opening Touche, a $1 .3 million Moroccan -themed 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:39.490 bar, nightclub, and restaurant. The opening night 00:14:39.490 --> 00:14:41.190 was everything you'd expect from a Mel Haber 00:14:41.190 --> 00:14:44.309 production. Over 500 people, celebrities everywhere. 00:14:44.590 --> 00:14:46.490 They even got a plug from Robin Leach on television. 00:14:46.809 --> 00:14:48.529 But once the opening night confetti was swept 00:14:48.529 --> 00:14:51.590 away, a very stark, very troubling pattern emerged. 00:14:51.889 --> 00:14:53.830 On the weekends, Touche was absolutely packed. 00:14:54.029 --> 00:14:56.590 But midweek, it was a ghost town. Zero business. 00:14:57.340 --> 00:14:59.639 This is where Haber's deep understanding of sociology 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.279 comes into play. A stubborn owner might have 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:04.340 just dumped more money into advertising trying 00:15:04.340 --> 00:15:06.259 to force people through the doors on a Tuesday. 00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:07.960 Trying to make the market do what they want. 00:15:08.179 --> 00:15:11.159 Exactly. But Haber stepped back and analyzed 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:14.720 the broader cultural landscape. The 1990s were 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.919 not the 1970s. The culture had shifted from the 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:21.799 wild anything goes disco era to a much more corporate 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:24.779 health conscious decade. Right. People actually 00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:26.600 had to show up to the office on a Thursday morning 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:29.230 now. Plus, the media was heavily driving a much 00:15:29.230 --> 00:15:31.970 broader public awareness regarding alcohol and 00:15:31.970 --> 00:15:34.929 substance abuse. Exactly. The era of the casual 00:15:34.929 --> 00:15:37.679 midweek blowout was dead. And instead of fighting 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.580 a losing battle against a permanent cultural 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:42.399 shift, Haber applied that classic motion efficiency 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:46.379 once again. He cut his losses. In 1996, he sold 00:15:46.379 --> 00:15:50.480 Touche for $250 ,000. He stepped away from the 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.740 nightclub scene for good and focused his energy 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:55.320 on the stable, thriving entities he still owned, 00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:58.539 the Ingleside Inn and Melvins. It takes a lot 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:00.620 of discipline to walk away like that without 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:03.419 letting ego get in the way. But what is truly 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:06.190 inspiring... is what he did with all the time 00:16:06.190 --> 00:16:08.389 and energy he got back. The philanthropy chapter. 00:16:08.750 --> 00:16:11.750 Yes, he poured it into philanthropy. Going all 00:16:11.750 --> 00:16:14.529 the way back to 1985, around the time he sold 00:16:14.529 --> 00:16:17.769 off his first wave of clubs, he got deeply involved 00:16:17.769 --> 00:16:20.570 with the Angel View Crippled Children's Foundation. 00:16:20.929 --> 00:16:23.470 An amazing organization. This was an organization 00:16:23.470 --> 00:16:27.049 that originally used local hot springs to rehabilitate 00:16:27.049 --> 00:16:29.580 children with polio. but had expanded to help 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:31.600 kids with a wide range of physical challenges. 00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:33.580 And he didn't just lend his name to a letterhead. 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:36.259 He joined the board, and by 1993, he was the 00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:38.720 president of the foundation. Under his leadership, 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:40.659 they expanded their footprint significantly, 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:44.379 opening their 17th home in 2002, which was named 00:16:44.379 --> 00:16:46.860 the Mel Haber House in his honor. Even after 00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:49.019 stepping down as president of Angel View, he 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:52.669 kept going. In 2014, he joined the Board of Operations 00:16:52.669 --> 00:16:54.809 Safe House. That's a tough front line to be on. 00:16:54.950 --> 00:16:57.929 It is. This is an organization actively fighting 00:16:57.929 --> 00:17:00.970 child trafficking and youth homelessness in the 00:17:00.970 --> 00:17:03.509 Coachella Valley. They provide emergency shelter 00:17:03.509 --> 00:17:06.990 for runaway and abandoned children. It's incredibly 00:17:06.990 --> 00:17:09.609 vital work. Through his efforts there, they were 00:17:09.609 --> 00:17:12.069 able to assist more than 800 children a year, 00:17:12.250 --> 00:17:14.970 giving them a secure haven and a chance to rebuild 00:17:14.970 --> 00:17:18.019 their lives. Talk about an impact. It's a profound 00:17:18.019 --> 00:17:21.059 application of his relentless drive, taking the 00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:24.059 organizational skills he learned, running multi 00:17:24.059 --> 00:17:27.079 -million dollar venues, and using them to protect 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.539 vulnerable youth. And he somehow found the time 00:17:29.539 --> 00:17:32.200 to become an author, too. He wrote Bedtime Stories 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:34.539 of the Ingleside Inn, which actually featured 00:17:34.539 --> 00:17:36.980 a dedication by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and later 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:39.160 co -authored Palm Springs All -A -Cart. And the 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:41.279 city honored him for all of this, didn't they? 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:44.559 They absolutely recognized his impact. On his 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:47.920 60th birthday in 1996, he received a Golden Palm 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.619 Star, and the city officially designated the 00:17:50.619 --> 00:17:53.279 Ingleside Inn as a historic site. A well -deserved 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:56.339 legacy. So what does this all mean? When you 00:17:56.339 --> 00:17:58.519 look at this incredible stack of notes, you see 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:00.920 a journey that completely defies the conventional 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:03.859 rules of business. In every possible way. You 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:06.019 have a 12 -year -old boy in Brooklyn, thrust 00:18:06.019 --> 00:18:08.700 into the role of sole provider, who learns the 00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:11.319 vital art of motion efficiency while clearing 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:14.440 tables in the Catskills. And he takes that philosophy 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:17.579 and uses it to ride the wildest economic and 00:18:17.579 --> 00:18:20.440 cultural waves of the 20th century. From coonskin 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:23.519 caps to disco. Right. He navigated the boom and 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:26.160 bust of the Davy Crockett craze. He monetized 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.480 the teenage car culture of the 60s. And he orchestrated 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:32.400 the glamorous peak of 1970s Hollywood nightlife. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.950 But most importantly. He channeled all of that 00:18:35.950 --> 00:18:39.309 hard -won success into a legacy of profound community 00:18:39.309 --> 00:18:42.710 service. It is a remarkable, deeply unconventional 00:18:42.710 --> 00:18:45.490 projectory. But for you, the listener, I think 00:18:45.490 --> 00:18:47.430 there is a highly provocative thought to take 00:18:47.430 --> 00:18:49.630 away from this analysis. Lay it on us. Consider 00:18:49.630 --> 00:18:52.230 the ultimate turning point of Haber's life. His 00:18:52.230 --> 00:18:54.509 greatest, most lasting success, the Ingleside 00:18:54.509 --> 00:18:56.890 Inn, did not come from careful strategic planning. 00:18:57.109 --> 00:18:59.349 It came immediately after a string of devastating 00:18:59.349 --> 00:19:01.589 failures. When he was at his lowest. It happened 00:19:01.589 --> 00:19:03.890 during a midlife crisis where he had surrendered 00:19:03.890 --> 00:19:06.970 a Rolls Royce for a used Fiat. He walked onto 00:19:06.970 --> 00:19:09.430 a dilapidated property knowing absolutely nothing 00:19:09.430 --> 00:19:12.549 about the hospitality industry and made a $300 00:19:12.549 --> 00:19:15.970 ,000 handshake deal based purely on instinct. 00:19:16.150 --> 00:19:19.269 Pure gut feeling. Right. It makes you wonder 00:19:19.269 --> 00:19:22.029 in our modern world where we are so hyper obsessed 00:19:22.029 --> 00:19:24.710 with linear career paths, perfectly optimized 00:19:24.710 --> 00:19:27.930 resumes, and rigidly plotted five -year plans. 00:19:28.289 --> 00:19:31.200 Wait. Is our modern obsession with playing it 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:33.720 safe actually cutting us off from our own spontaneous, 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:36.500 life -changing handshake deals? That is a phenomenal 00:19:36.500 --> 00:19:39.000 question to end on. Are we planning so rigidly 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.640 that we forget to leave room for the leap? Thank 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:43.660 you so much for joining us on this custom deep 00:19:43.660 --> 00:19:45.940 dive today. We really hope you enjoyed navigating 00:19:45.940 --> 00:19:48.240 this incredible life story as much as we did. 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:50.720 We'll leave you with that final thought to mull 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.680 over as you go about your day. Catch you next 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:52.940 time.