If there was only one word that could be used to describe someone, for Nick Abood, that one word would be longevity.
Abood, 92, has been married to his wife Kathryn for the past 69 years, has been running his business Nickabood’s Inc. for 60 years, and has been living in Culver City for 60 years.
It’s probably safe to say that once Abood finds something that works, he sticks with it.
Because of the long life he has led in Culver City, Abood has been witness to quite a few changes over the years. When Nick and his family moved to Culver City in the mid 1950s, things were different. His original residence on Beloit Avenue was torn down to make room for the 405 Freeway. He and his family then moved to a home on Motor Avenue that cost him all of $34,000 (about $300,000 in 2015 dollars) and have been there ever since.
Abood recalled how Gelson’s used to be where the Costco is now. He also mentioned the lack of stores and the proliferation of city parks such as Carlson Park, where he and his family spent lots of quality time together.
“We’re very fortunate to be residents of Culver City,” Abood said.
Abood and Kathryn, 95, raised their three children, two boys, Richard and Robert and daughter Patrice in Culver City and sent them to the local schools for their entire academic careers, culminating in graduations by all three from Culver City High School.
While Abood’s home life was moving along nicely, it was his work life that shifted into overdrive, almost by accident.
It was in 1952, Abood was selling various food products to local markets when the Santa Monica Sea Food Company on Santa Monica Pier asked him to make a tartar sauce for their seafood since, at the time, there weren’t any on the market.
Not knowing how to make tartar sauce, Abood found a chef who passed along what he knew.
“He taught me, ‘I put this in there, put that in there and about five fresh vegetables and mayonnaise,’ and so I went and bought all of the ingredients, it cost me ten dollars, mixed it all together, took it back to Santa Monica Sea Food, got six gallons out of it and sold it for 26 dollars ($230 in 2015 dollars),” Abood said. “Then a week later, they said ‘Double the order. Everybody liked it.’”
Spurred on by this success, Abood decided to try other fish markets around town and discovered that everyone liked his tartar sauce and bought it. He began working so fast and furious out of his home that he had to rent space in a 4,000-square-foot building in downtown Los Angeles to accommodate all of the orders that were coming in constantly.
He soon moved out of that space and into his current 16,000-square-foot location near Olympic and Alameda, where he has been since 1965 making salad dressings and sea food sauces under his trademark Nick Abood’s Fisherman’s Wharf Sea Food Sauces.
Abood currently continues to thrive in his business, putting in six days of work every week along with his two sons, Richard, 60, and Robert, 55, both of whom help Abood run the business. In addition, Abood’s wife Kathryn comes in on Fridays to pitch in as well.
“We’re very lucky to have lived this long without too much sickness,” he said. “I’ll just keep working as much as I can and as long as I can and try to take care of my health.”
Clearly, Abood’s success with his company can be attributed to his strong work ethic and keen business savvy. However, his success in marriage and family life, he attributes to the use of a softer set of skills.
“She’s a very nice woman and we never argued to speak of,” Abood said. “We always gave in to one another.”
He met his wife almost as serendipitously as he began his successful company.
Abood, who is originally from Nebraska, usually trekked there every summer when he was young, to visit friends and family. On his way back from one such trip, he met a serviceman while gassing up his car at a filling station.
The serviceman said he was looking for a ride to San Francisco so Abood obliged. When Abood mentioned that he was headed to Los Angeles, the serviceman said he wanted to see his aunt who lived there.
When the two men arrived in Los Angeles, Abood met Kathryn, who was renting a room from the aunt. The four of them spent the day enjoying Kathryn’s piano skills. After Abood arrived back at his Los Angeles apartment, he called Kathryn for a date a week later and the rest is history.
Founded in 1954, Nickabood’s Inc. is a small food manufacturer in Los Angeles, Calif. It has eight full-time employees and generates an estimated $540,000 in annual revenue.
01/07/16 Correction
A page one story about Nick and Kay Abood in the Dec. 30 issue of the Culver City News incorrectly said the couple have three children. They have four children, with the oldest being James Ray Abood, who was born on Aug. 11, 1947.
James, as his siblings, is a graduate of Culver City High and a Vietnam veteran. He retired from GTE/Verizon in 2010, after 43 years of service.
The CCN regrets the omission and any inconveniences it has caused.
