|
|
Article: Aftertaste: Cushman's winery was a money pit at first but it helped him build real estate powerhouse.(Up Front)(how real estate broker, John C. Cushman achieved success in the wine business)
- Article from:
- Los Angeles Business Journal
- Article date:
- March 12, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 CBJ, L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
IT was an inauspicious start to what ended up being one of the great Los Angeles real estate careers.
When John C. Cushman was asked by a former oil company executive to invest in a vineyard in Santa Barbara County it seemed like a no-brainer.
It ended up being a money pit.
It was 1972 and the then 28-year-old real estate broker was working on leasing downtown's Arco Plaza. Cushman figured that when the late Arco executive Louis Ream asked him to invest in the Santa Ynez Valley property--along with the presidents of the Standard Oil Co. of Ohio and the American Oil Co.--the business was a sure thing.
"I said to my wife, 'We are the ...