Paul Mantee
The first thing you notice about Jackie Robbins is an unself-conscious billow of gray hair that frames her supremely open face and cascades toward the small of her back. The second thing you notice is her attitude. She has none.
For 31 years Jackie Robbins and Leather Waves, a small business devoted to creating leather masterpieces, have been fundamental to the Malibu Country Mart. Since its inception. And now she’s been forced to leave.
Jackie smiled at me over a plate of sliced filet mignon on a bed of romaine and cherry tomatoes she’d exquisitely prepared in her rustic kitchen.
She began, “A journalist from The Malibu Times called me and wanted me to give him the lowdown on the evil landlord who’s raising the rents and driving everybody out. I’m sure I disappointed him.”
The third thing I noticed is that you don’t have to interview Jackie. Just sit back, enjoy your lunch and listen. And assume nothing.
She continued, “Having a business in Malibu is a continuous struggle. Those of us who’ve survived… road closures, fires, ups and downs in the economy… know that doing business in a small town is never going to be a big-time venture. And some people have this idea that it’s going to happen now. I don’t see why. Same small community, same small clientele base.”
“There’s a feeling out there that Malibu is changing,” I said.
“It is,” Jackie said. “But look at the amount of retail space. And who are the customers? A few movie stars? Does that make every business owner in Malibu rich? Do you know where the wealthy in this community shop?”
I prepared to work my way inland. “Beverly Hills?”
“Paris and London and New York.”
I braced for conflict. “The perception is that the chic shops are moving in and replacing small local businesses like yours.”
“But we’ve always been waiting for these people, Paul,” she responded. “When are they coming? People come here for the weekend and use the restaurants. But is anybody spending any real money? Pretty soon it’s going to be the same high-end shops in every mall across America.”
I fought depression.
“I just don’t fit in the retail mix anymore,” she continued. “The landlord doesn’t want me because I’m a one-woman show. And I’m doing something very special. He wants somebody who has 30 of an item, and you walk in and take one home and say ‘look what I bought in Malibu.'”
I rooted around for trouble. “Like a T-Shirt for 250 bucks. Are you at all bitter?”
“Why should I be bitter?” she asked.
“Because the landlord has tripled your rent and now you have to move and change your life,” I suggested.
“We have to change our lives anyway, if we’re smart. I can’t be the way I was 30 years ago. Do you realize if Michael Koss hadn’t raised my rent I’d have stayed at the Country Mart forever? This is an opportunity.”
I saw my mission evaporating.
“I never made a lot of money,” she said. “I think you’d be hard pressed to find somebody in business in Malibu who did. Jean Leon made a lot of money at LaScala. Remember LaScala?”
“Broiled chicken, bone-in, rissole’ potatoes,” she said. “Then he took his money and left.”
I savored my last piece of steak as Jackie continued. “When I first came to the Country Mart, I followed Fred Segal. I wanted to be a part of his vision. Look, see, feel, be, love. Remember? He looked at me like I was this little pisher: ‘Well, have you ever been in business before? How would you know what to do?’ I told him, I just want to have a little leather shop, a little hippy thing. And he went, ‘Hmmm…'”
“So that’s how Leather Waves began?” I asked.
“I paid my first and last month’s rent with four pair of leather pants. I was where Planet Blue is for my first 23 years, remember?”
“Yep, where you crafted my original man-purse.”
“Then I went through the same thing I’m going through now. Koss told me I was taking up space and that I wasn’t the kind of business he wanted, so he doubled the rent. But he had this manager, Greg Kozak who said, ‘Jackie, take a walk with me.’ And at the 11th hour he showed me this little upstairs space that used to be the Godmother’s kitchen and he said, ‘We’ll put some stairs in and I’ll give you a great rent.'”
By now I felt all squishy and had absolutely nothing to say.
She went on. “Working here is really about connecting with the community. That’s why I love it. You notice most of the people interviewed by The Times in that June 8 article said little or nothing about how they felt about the move? You know why? Because it would have been bad taste. Look at it this way. If you owned the Malibu Country Mart, wouldn’t you get the best rent you could?
Slowly, I nodded in the affirmative.
“Luckily, Leather Waves bought me a little piece of the Malibu dream. And fortunately, I still have that dream. As for change, well, it creeps up. Then all these wonderful things happen, because you left the past behind.”
As of September, Jackie Robbins will be working by appointment only, out of her stylish new studio adjacent to her home in the hills, a quiet, classic Malibu environment. Do check out her Web site: www.leatherwaves.com. You’ll love the hair. Or e-mail her at Jackie@leatherwaves.com. Better yet, chat it up with Jackie at 310.456.8321. She’s a rare bird, a woman sublimely at peace with change.
I wondered about the rest of us.