WORKING -- One step at a time

Story by Sue Doyle; photo by Don Leach

HE IS

Bringing some sole to the Southland

KEEP ON WALKIN’

Jack Harb, 58, says that despite missing heels and holes straight through

the soles, some people will go to any length to save a comfortable pair

of shoes.

Harb sees this desperation every day as a shoe and boot repair man at The

Cobbler’s Bench on Harbor Boulevard.

Harb peels old soles off shoes and slaps on new heels almost all day

long. He stands before his handmade workbench and shuffles the shoes

along like a human conveyor belt. He’s almost rhythmic in the work he’s

done for the past 40 years.

Rows of repaired shoes sit inside simple paper bags by the front door.

Harb straightens the bags’ creases as he talks.

“I don’t relax,” he said. “Even on weekends. I do more than during the

week.”

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Harb practices a profession passed down from his father, Charles Harb, a

shoemaker from Israel.

The family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1958, where Charles Harb

opened shoe repair stops in Baldwin Hills and Brentwood. He taught his

trade to three sons and five nephews.

But Harb says the shoe business is different in the U.S. In Israel,

people go to a shoemaker to make a pair of shoes from scratch. That

service is not needed here.

“Nobody here needs homemade shoes. They can buy them at a store. But they

always need shoe repairs,” Harb said.

One thing that does continue is tradition. Harb has taught the trade to

his son, Jamal, 30.

However, Harb chuckles at the idea of his son passing down the tradition

to yet another generation.

“He’s not even married yet,” Harb said with a laugh. “No kids. Nothing.”

A BIT OF THE OLD AND NEW

One woman phones Harb to check on the status of her Birkenstock sandals

with cork bottoms. Harb adjusted the worn soles to custom-fit her feet.

“She wants them repaired because they’re so comfortable. I can fix

anything,” Harb said.

The smell of leather lingers inside the workshop. Talk show banter can be

heard from a little black-and-white television that sits on a shelf. An

occasional friend pops inside to just say hello.

Harb hustles along from one shoe emergency to the next. He rubs his gray

mustache each time he picks up a shoe to examine. Stacks of platform

shoes and some men’s work shoes cover the shelves inside his workshop.

Harb says he’s seen nearly everything, but the strangest request he’s had

was to fix a pair of bedroom slippers.

“People like their shoes. They want to save them. They don’t want to buy

other ones,” Harb said.