History

Morry’s of Naples was created by an entrepreneur and visionary of his time, Morry Rabin.  His story goes beyond this favorite neighborhood store.  Born in Calgary, Canada, his family moved to the Southern California area when he was young.  At the age of 14, his father had past away and being the eldest son of five children, Morry’s responsibility was to help support his family.  Starting with a newspaper run, he did odd jobs until 1938.  During this time America and the world were going through some major changes … and Morry was about to make some of major changes of his own, on the home front.

In 1938 Morry opened a little store on 4839 2^nd Street in Belmont Shores.  As it grew, so did the family.  Morry and Ruth had their first with daughter, Jo Ann Rabin, and then came son Harvey Rabin and last but not least daughter Donna Rabin.  As Harvey grew older his natural roll was to help out with the family business.

In 1951, Morry decided that it he needed a little more space for the business.  The store moved just one block down, where he shared a building with both Hoff’s Hut and a neighborhood delicatessen.  Very soon after that, a building on the little island of Naples came available.  This was a sizable risk, as the 2^nd bridge to PCH did not exist and Naples was a residential area that was virtually a dead end, for Belmont Shores shoppers.  The entrepreneur in Morry told him to take this risk and with it came much reward.   This is when Morry’s transformed into Morry’s of Naples.

During this time the original Morry’s still existed and Freddy, Morry’s brother who was a recent medic POW in the war, came to his aid.  As Freddy was fixing up the new location, Harvey (who was 10 years old at the time) was his eyes and ears.  He would be the scout, and if a customer came in, he would get his uncle.  Today, the “Liquor Wall” is the last of the remaining work that Freddy designed for the store.

The 50’s were a major transitional time from Morry’s.  Up until 1955, the original Morry’s building was less then half the size of today’s retail floor.  Once Morry’s of Naples was running smoothly, Morry bought the lot next door.  He built a parking lot and a second level.  This helped with storage.  Next he bought a 3^rd lot and this enable him to double the size of the retail floor, build a parking lot and a 3^rd floor apartment.

Morry’s of Naples was the bread and butter of the Rabin family.  Morry did everything he could for the survival of his family.  His hours were from 6AM-2AM everyday.  He would take a 30 minute break where he would go home and have dinner “by himself”.  He preferred it this way, as it was one the only times of day he had to himself.  In the summer months, he would go to the bay and swim from “Horny Corner” to the bridge, take a refresher nap on the beach and go back for another 8-10 hours.

One could say Morry was a workaholic.  In 1960, Morry survived a heart attack, but was advised by his doctor to stay out of the business as much as possible. Two years later he moved to Palm Springs and the 3^rd floor of Morry’s became a visiting apartment.  This was Harvey’s time to step in and fill his father’s shoes.  Morry couldn’t stay too far away though.  Weekly he would stay in town to cover his son for two days.  In addition, during the holidays, Morry was the man designing our famous holiday gifts.

In 1965 a fire stuck Morry’s of Naples.  Fortunately the original building was split in half, so most of the fire stayed in the back.  This only saved the building.  Due to all the smoke damage, the entire inventory was completely wiped out.  This didn’t stop business.  In 10 days they cleaned up the store, got more inventory and got back to serving the neighborhood.

In the 70’s, more people started to gravitate toward wine.  As a true “Rabin Risk Taker”, Harvey decided that customers may want a place where they could store their precious wines.  Thus, the creation of the rentable wine lockers came into being.  Today, they are still being rented by our wine enthusiast.

After their 3^rd child Annie was born, Cherie (Harvey’s wife) wanted to participate in the family business.  Cherie got Morry’s involved with a group called “Les Amis Du Vin” (“Friends of Wine”).  Morry’s was the affiliate store in Long Beach.  Soon she started hosting wine tasting events at a local hotel for up to 100 people.

In 1980, Harvey and Cherie spear headed the first and only wine bar in the area.  Once again, a new and innovative idea for the time.  Cherie became the resident Wine Bar hostess and would gather wine makers weekly for wine tasting events.  The bar grew in popularity, and eventually started to out grow its size.

In 2005, Harvey and Cherie’s son, Ken Rabin, gave the go ahead to expand the tasting room in a full wine bar and lounge.  Currently, four times it’s original size and accompanied by a full time chef, Morry’s lil wine bar grew up.  With the help of locals, this room became nicknamed “The Backroom”, and the name stuck.

Presently, the store and wine bar in Naples have gone though difficult times and are no longer open.  We value everyone’s patronage over the last  73 years.  One thing is true … “Take risks, life is too short”.  Join the new generation and they leap into another risk taking adventure called Organic Wine Exchange.