Abstract

Maurice Abood, Vice President of Aladdin's Baking Company, explains how the business came into being in Cleveland, OH as well as his immigration to Cleveland from, Aitaneet, a village in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. He details his transfer from working as a bartender at the local Sheraton hotel to establishing one of the most successful businesses in pita bread making and Lebanese cuisine in the heart of Cleveland.

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Interviewee

Abood, Maurice (interviewee)

Interviewer

Assily, Rania (interviewer); Tayyara, Abedel (interviewer)

Project

Arab Community in Cleveland

Date

4-1-2016

Document Type

Oral History

Duration

46 minutes

Transcript

Rania Assily [00:00:04] Okay, here we are at Aladdin’s baking company. It’s April 1, 2016. I’m Rania Assily.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:00:12] I’m Abedelraman Tayyara from Cleveland State University.

Rania Assily [00:00:16] And we’re doing a Cleveland oral history report for the Cleveland State University digital archives. And Maurice Abood is here with us. He is the vice president of Aladdin’s baking company and he’ll be interviewed today. So welcome, Maurice.

Maurice Abood [00:00:36] Thank you. Thank you.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:00:41] Tell us about yourself.

Maurice Abood [00:00:45] Well, I left Lebanon in 1969, and I have a lot of cousins, a lot of relatives and friends in Cleveland, Ohio. So we talk about it for quite a while, few months. What are we going to do here? So they came up, we all came up with the idea opening up a lead and baking company in 1970. It wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. So everything was like short of money and not sophisticated equipment. And so we built the business by working hard, you know, seven days a week at least for two, three years. And we start improving now, you could see, and we bought the additional. So we have about 15,000 sq ft now. And the automation is on. We have sophisticated equipment and we produce that Pita bread allowance. Pita, it’s about 1100 packages per hour. You know, we employ first, we work our ourselves, the three of us, very way hard. We hire one or two people through the years. Now we have 46 employees and we produce 1100 packages of Aladdin pita bread per hour. So we have distribution about six states. We cover 100 miles diameter, local trucks and delivery. And we have the retail area here. I mean, we just spent almost half a million dollars, 2010 to finish the remodeling in the front. And we are very proud what we accomplished and we are very proud to be in Cleveland. And we love Cleveland. We have a great Mayor Jackson. Mayor Jackson is a great guy. He understands the value of a small business downtown Cleveland. So we very, very pleased.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:03:14] Where did you grow up?

Maurice Abood [00:03:17] Why did I.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:03:18] No, where did you grow up?

Maurice Abood [00:03:20] We grew up for little village in the Biqa’ Valley in Lebanon. By the age of teenagers. So my parents moved to Beirut. They opened up a business. My father opened up a business downtown Cleveland. They call it birsh. They open up a restaurant. He and his best friend and I would help him out and go to school at night for 13 years. So by the time I came to this country, I was 29 years old.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:04:00] So what were you came to Cleveland? What motivated you?

Maurice Abood [00:04:03] Well, it’s the. It’s a dream or an adventure. You want to come and see? What’s your uncles aunts and cousins and best friends doing here in this country, it’s like by curiosity or by ambition. I don’t know what you call it. So my dad said, I hate to see you going. The restaurant is yours. You could stay here. And thank God I listened to my intuition, because after 1960 919 72, I went back to visit. My dad was telling me, business is down. The condition in Lebanon is not that great. I said, sell it. So he sold his restaurant. 1970 319 74. The civil war started, so timing was good for him. He retired on good money at that time.

Rania Assily [00:05:10] So when did you immigrate here to Cleveland?

Maurice Abood [00:05:13] 1960 919 69, and I went back for a visit. 1972. Yeah.

Rania Assily [00:05:20] And when you came back to Cleveland, did you already know that you wanted to go into this business or.

Maurice Abood [00:05:26] No, no, I came here and I start working downtown as a bartender. You know, Sheraton Hotel. And my cousins and I, we always get together in the evening. They talk about their dreams, their future, the business. They were into different business. They were in nightclub business and restaurant business. Then we decided, say, the church over here next door needs a bakery, because there was a small bakery in Cleveland, everything made handmade. And on Sunday, after the mass, the people, they go buy their bread in half an hour or 1 hour. If you don’t get there on time, the bread is gone. That’s how much that guy used to make. Very little. You know, this empty building next to St. Meron could be an ideal place for a bakery. We did not know what to expect. It was 24, 718 hours a day. Really, really to establish the business, because we have a limited money, the three of us, and we got little help from my dad, from their parents. But, you know, it required much more money to run a business like that. And you could see the result now, you know. So we have. We have very expensive automation machineries. The front, the back, 46 people. You have to take care of them. And everybody is happy here. We have people been with us for the last 35, 40 years. So we’ve been in the business 46 years. We have people still with us for the last 35, 40 years. We have a couple of them. They’ve been here 39 years and 40 years.

Rania Assily [00:07:34] Maurice, can you tell us about what your life was like growing up in Lebanon? And then what, when you came here? Sort of what the differences you noticed?

Maurice Abood [00:07:45] Yeah. I remember my uncle visit us in Beirut that summer before I came here. And he spent the three, three months with us. He lived all his life in this country. He just visited and he said, your lifestyle in Beirut, here I see you wearing a necktie and a jacket every day and going to work, and you tell people what to do in your little restaurant. The country. This, the United States is different. If you plan to come to the United States, you have to work hard. You have to mop the floor. You have to do this. You have to. With that. I said, you know, mentally, I’m really ready. I’m taking my apron with me in the suitcase. He said, if this is the case, then you’ll be okay.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:08:37] So I understand when you came here, you did not have a lot of difficulties because you had relatives here already that, you know, immigrated a long time ago.

Maurice Abood [00:08:50] Right? I have close uncles and aunts, close cousin. I mean, one of my partner, Carl, we grew up together in Lebanon, and he was. He came at age 15. I came the age 29. So that period, we never, ever, like, cut the relationship between each other. And his dream was to. His dream to see me over here. So finally, we got together, and we really made that adventure together with his brother Gus, the three of us, so, you know, start the business. We. Everybody has little strength. So my strength in retail area and communicate with people. Carl’s strength was mechanic. Because he previously worked in another bakery. He gained some experience with the dough and all that. Gus was a good salesman to begin with, so he was on the road promoting our pita bread, you know, and pita bread at that time, really, not too many people heard about it, you know, except the Arabs, maybe, and the Jews, you know, and when he walked into a supermarket to sell our bread, said, what is this? What that round is? What do you call it? They didn’t even know what it is. So we have to introduce that product to the American people little by little. And through the time people try it, they really like it. Especially. It was a diet. A diet of bread. There’s no dough on it, low calories. So people really start buying it time after time.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:10:45] So, I mean, every immigrant will face certain difficulties at the beginning. Like, you know, I would like if you can share with us about your personal difficulties, like, you know, maybe you missed home or you missed you.

Maurice Abood [00:11:01] Absolutely. Absolutely.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:11:03] Like, you know, how long it took you to adapt to the new environment, like, you know, building part of this.

Maurice Abood [00:11:10] Well, you know, the difference between me and somebody else came in. I had a lot of friends here. I remember the two brothers. We grew up in Lebanon. They are very successful in this country. At that time, I came over here, they call me every day. I mean, they either take me to dinner or go to a place, have a drink or something. So I felt really, I felt very welcome because my relationship with the people, they’ve been here before me. So I felt it’s a new lifestyle for me. But I did not feel lonely or have an idea. I want to go back. I’m not happy. I had determination to stay in this country and make it somehow, and I did.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:12:05] How about the language?

Maurice Abood [00:12:06] The language was. My brother is an English teacher in Lebanon, University of Beirut. He said, don’t be shy. The minute you get to this country, don’t be shy to speak English. If they talk to you in Arabic, answer them in English. Even the broken English, it doesn’t matter, you know, that’s the only way to gain, gain the language. And I, you know, I did. So. My wife is American, too, after we got married in 1972, the end of 72, and I learned a lot from her, too.

Rania Assily [00:12:45] How did you meet your wife?

Maurice Abood [00:12:48] Well, my, like I said, my partner, my best friend called his wife Connie, had a sister. I met her sister in a wedding, and we started dating. End up getting married.

Rania Assily [00:13:06] Do you have children?

Maurice Abood [00:13:08] We have three boys, and I have two granddaughters, grandchildren.

Rania Assily [00:13:14] Are any of them in the business with you?

Maurice Abood [00:13:16] No, unfortunately, they’re not. You know, one in Miami as a lawyer, the other guy is having his own business projects with master degree in business from case. The third guy is a teacher. Yeah, so. So, you know, with the partnership and the kids, we have a little policy here, complicated policy about the second generation. It didn’t work out, let’s put it that way, you know, so everybody go in different direction.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:13:55] Yes.

Rania Assily [00:13:56] What do you think will be the future of Aladdin’s baking company? What would you like to see it become, you know, in the future? What is your vision?

Maurice Abood [00:14:05] Well, after 46 years, I still have a vision that this place still have a lot of potential and we could be really improved on the management, on promotion. We are downtown Cleveland. We don’t take advantage. Hundred percent on it. I mean, the word of mouth, the quality we have, the location we have. We lucky to be here. But there is a lot of potential in this place. A lot of potential. You need somebody to really work on it and develop it. Exactly, exactly, exactly. You know, my neighbor was in West Virginia one time, and I took some bread with him to his friend in West Virginia, and the guy said, did you get the spinach pie with you? He said, I don’t know anything about spinach pie. He said, they make the best spinach pie in town. I wish you asked me that. You’re gonna get something from Al Adams, you know, so. So, you know, it pays to work hard. It really pays, you know, so, I mean, I can’t complain. We educated our kids in best schools. Case Western reserve, Emery University, and Miami of Ohio, and Seattle, Washington. University of Washington. We build our dream home. And really, this business was good to everybody.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:15:52] Your kids still living in Finland?

Maurice Abood [00:15:55] Two out of three. The other guy, the middle guy, he is in Miami University in Miami, so he has his law degree in working over there. So I am blessed with a good family, good wife, good kids. Thank God for that, and thank God for this country. We appreciate what this country provides to every individual, every Lebanese, Arab, Jews, black, white. This is the greatest place on earth. I mean, if you get up in the morning, I never forget, say, thank God I am here. Especially after the civil war in Lebanon for 30 years, could you imagine? I was 30 years when I came to this country and 30 years of civil war, that I could be 60 years old before I know what my future is. So really, we are blessed.

Rania Assily [00:16:57] Maurice, do any of your children speak Arabic, or do they share the Arab culture with their children?

Maurice Abood [00:17:02] That’s my wife’s. My wife’s complaint. Teach your kids Arabic. And I, you know what? I regret it, but it wasn’t like, it wasn’t a negligence. It was like 80, 90 hours a week. I’m here. I got home, I didn’t have the patient to talk to them in Arabic, so I failed to do that. The younger one speaks a little bit Arabic, but not that much, you know.

Rania Assily [00:17:32] So have they been overseas? Have any of them been overseas to see where you grew up?

Maurice Abood [00:17:38] I took them back, the three of them, 2009. They spent twelve days. We showed them the country, and we had. We had a great time. We have a great time. We showed Lebanon where I was born and raised, where was our business, and show him the outstanding places like Baalbek and Jaita caves and all these places. They were very, very happy to me. It was like. It’s like a blessing I could have done that, you know? Now we’re still talking about it till now. That was 2009. Yeah, that was great. That was great.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:18:22] I would like to ask you about the Arab community here or Lebanese community. I mean, my first question, I have few questions. The first question is how you compare the relations, social relations or cultural relation between individuals in the community. Let’s say 40 years ago and now 14 years ago. Yeah. Like, you know, when you arrived.

Maurice Abood [00:18:47] Oh, four years ago. Okay. You know, I remember really, we, we have maybe, maybe 10% what we have now as a community and very friendly community, they help each other and all that. A lot of distant relatives they knew my dad and my mom. They offered their help to me. Everybody was kind to me, you know, I don’t, I really, really remember that. How many people they offered to help me physically or financially, you know, and then through the years now, after 46 years, I would say, I would say the Lebanese and the Arab community in this country, in this city, maybe, maybe about it grew about 90%. We have a big community in Cleveland area, all kind of different people coming from different villages or whatever. We have people here, a couple people, they’ve been with us since they were 14 years old. Now they are in their forties, fifties.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:20:21] Do you remember certain customs even within the Lebanese community, cultural customs, like wedding or other customs that they used to practice? And these customs disappear?

Maurice Abood [00:20:36] Yes, it disappeared little by little, unfortunately. You know, I mean, we have a very rich history in music and wedding. The depchi, the dance of the depchi is very popular, you know, in Lebanon. And some people, they teach their kids that. Some people, they just think that it’s something in the past, unfortunately. But this is, this is good to have or to know, you know? So.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:21:11] So when you got married, do you have a traditional Lebanese marriage wedding or.

Maurice Abood [00:21:18] No, not really. That was very personal wedding, like 30 people only. And we were, like, very much involved in the business here. That’s why I went to honeymoon for two nights. Chagrin force. That’s about it. Yeah. So my wife kept complaining about it till I took her back to Hawaii. I said, this is the real honeymoon over here after a few years, after we have two children. And.

Rania Assily [00:21:54] Did you notice more Americans coming here to Aladdin? Like, how did the word get out? Do you think it has a lot to do with the location? Or is it the fact that you all sort of word that around, that this is healthy food, it’s like the healthiest food?

Maurice Abood [00:22:07] Very good question. I tell you how my attitude was the first or second year. Business was slow. We were struggling to sell our products, and we have a little corner as a retail, not as big as now. And one of my partners said, what do we have to do to bring more Lebanese in? I said, what we have to do to bring more Americans in? You know, I said, you know, I have, I have a dream and I have a goal in my mind when I come to this country. I don’t want to deal. I mean, I love my people, but I don’t want to deal with limited number 2000, 3000 people. I want to deal with 300 million people. That’s my goal. And we start really mixing our grocery, our menu. We add the hamburger, the french fries, the hot dogs. Then we start getting grocery Mediterranean, including European grocery. So that attracted the American people over here. And we the first one here in this city to introduce the hummus, the taboo, the baba ganoush to the public. And they all asked, we gave samples and now we can’t keep up with that. We make it fresh every day.

Rania Assily [00:23:31] So you were one of the first. You were the first. Aside from that one small bakery you were talking about, would you say you’re like the bakery?

Maurice Abood [00:23:37] It was only a little place made bread only, you know. Yeah. So what we did here, we included, we include the grocery, the ingredients, what the people like to cook at home. They buy their ingredients from us. From here we start adding groceries and all kind of ingredients. Even for the European people. I mean we have a lot of Greeks, a lot of Indians too. They come over here. So we have almost everything for everybody.

Rania Assily [00:24:10] And people are coming from all different parts of the.

Maurice Abood [00:24:12] Exactly right, exactly, exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We picked the right location, really. Downtown Cleveland of the highway. That helped us a lot. You know, you come in from the east, you come in from the west. Really. It’s centered.

Rania Assily [00:24:36] What’s a typical day like after an Indians game? You know, like I’m imagining people walking around. Do you get a lot of business when that happens?

Maurice Abood [00:24:43] You know, anything happened downtown? Rub on us. Rub on our business. The indian game, I wouldn’t say it help us or it hurt us because people that come to the indian game, they want to eat hot dog. They don’t want to stop at Aladdin and eat gyro sandwich or chicken sandwich. So actually, excuse me, actually, the indian game, the day of the Indians, I wouldn’t complain about it, but it’s slower than any other day. Why? Because the traffic is tremendous and there is no room to park. There is no place to park. And anybody want to spend $5 here is not going to pay $10 parking and $5 to buy a sandwich. So, so we can’t complain. It’s okay, you know, I mean, we like to have the Indians next door.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:25:41] When I hear like American friends talking about Aladdin on Carnegie, I mean, they always, you know, mention the hummus, right?

Maurice Abood [00:25:50] Yeah. People after the game doesn’t have to be Lebanese or Arabs. People after the game, they come and pick up few packages of bread, hummus, tabouli, baba ganoush. They take few things and that helped a lot, you know.

Rania Assily [00:26:09] So, Maurice, does Aladdin’s do anything to help the immigrant community of the Arab Americans or do they do anything in terms of helping homeless or do any sort of volunteer work? Is there anything relating to that? Like, just in terms of.

Maurice Abood [00:26:25] We help a lot of associations and nobody knock on our door or call us for help for specially donate bread or grocery. And we’d say, no, we always help out. And this place here, I wish I kept a record. Anybody seeking a job, coming from. From Lebanon or Syria or the Middle east, seeking a job, we give them a job. I call it like a bridge between the Middle east and United States. Once they know the language, where they find a better job, I always wish them well, so they leave on a good term. So that really, really our mission. When they need a job, I’ll give them the job. When they find a better job, that’s fine. Good luck to them. I feel happy about it.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:27:25] So about the name Ala Adine, why you picked this name?

Maurice Abood [00:27:32] We start with the Middle east bakery, you know, and then there is a crisis in the Middle east. But my cousin, Judge Joe Nahra, he said, you need a name brand for your products. So we call it Aladdin Brand, you know, so we call the bakery a Middle east bakery. But something happened in the Middle east about 35 years ago and start rubbing on this country. So I said, middle east is not a good name anymore. So we incorporate the whole thing. Alarum baking company, you know, which is not indication about Middle east or far east or it’s Alerian is a good name. So that, that helped out that, that work out.

Rania Assily [00:28:28] Okay, I’m curious, did you face any struggle when you came to America and terms of people not understanding the culture or has there been any sort of. Or would you. I mean, I’m just curious to know what your personal experience has been in terms of, you know, just, you know, sharing your culture, sharing the food. But have you come across any.

Maurice Abood [00:28:52] Well, you know, we have an incident. We have a little incident. The people went to when the civil war in Lebanon, it was very ugly. So the students came to Cleveland states, Christian, Muslim, Druze, different kind. They brought in their. Their politics with them, and they start fighting in Cleveland state with each other, you know, and they all came over here and they all, they all like the place doesn’t matter, regardless about the religion. And then one day, one of these guys, a customer came over here. He went back to school as a student in Cleveland state, and they had a fight. So he took his gun and killed two other two other students, Lebanese, they, yeah, they, they fought over politics or religion. I don’t remember what it is. And then the plain dealer came over here at that particular day, in the same time, at night, I told my wife, let’s write a, let’s write a nice sign. What do you think we should do? So she wrote a sign saying, this place is all for all mankind. Politics are not allowed, politics or religion are not allowed to discuss over here, you know, and very nicely, you know, the plane dealer came and took a picture. We were in the front page at that time. A picture for the sign. You know, I don’t even remember the year, but at least it was 30 years back when I think when the first civil war started in Lebanon, the first couple years, and people start fighting over there and travel over here. So they brought in their dispute with them, their disagreement, and, you know, politics in Lebanon, if I disagree with you or agree with me, either I want to punch you or you want to shoot me. It’s not something like, I disagree with you and I shake hands. That was different, different mentality.

Rania Assily [00:31:27] So nothing like that has happened since?

Maurice Abood [00:31:29] No, thank God. Thank God. No, no. Yeah. I mean, people realize, you come to this country, you bring your true tradition with you, good or bad. Then you realize they are not doing it and they are not doing the same in this country. This country is for everybody. That’s why they open their doors to all religion, all color, which, you know, you have to blend in over here and obey the, obey the law, you know, I mean, that’s very simple, very simple way when you are protected by the constitution. That’s beautiful. That’s advantage, advantage to every individual.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:32:13] Now, the name of the bakery is connected to the restaurant.

Maurice Abood [00:32:18] No, we know who started the business way after us. Aladdin eatery is different company from us, different ownership. Why we let them use the name, it was a little maybe disagreement between the personal and the partners. And we know personally the guy and the owners, and we don’t want to wreck the boat. Actually, more of that name is good for us. So that served the community and publicized our products over here. Whatever they sell, we sell the same thing. So it’s good for everybody. And I always say, my answer was, there is room for everybody in this country. If you work hard, you’ll make it, but you don’t have to wash what the other people doing. It just focuses. Own your own business.

Rania Assily [00:33:23] Do you, is the family still very much? And in terms of your co partners in the business, are you all, do you work well? Together. Do you guys get along? Do you sometimes have.

Maurice Abood [00:33:37] Well, actually, we surprise everybody after 46 years. We never split or kill each other. They, the two brothers and the cousin. We got along fine. We have a lot of disagreements, but we have more agreements than disagreements. And we are blessed with a good business, good location. So that cover up for all the disagreements and, you know, and the easy partners. I mean, partnership is not easy, but we got along fine. I can’t say it’s a perfect relationship, but we did the best out of it and we still are.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:34:27] Maybe we can ask about, you know, you mentioned that you started to study somewhere for 13 years. Is that what you say? You started to study at certain stage of your life when you arrived here?

Maurice Abood [00:34:45] I just focused on my language. I just focused on the english language. And within a few months, I felt very comfortable.

Rania Assily [00:34:55] What is your education background?

Maurice Abood [00:34:58] It’s just high school and couple college courses in the evening, you know. So.

Rania Assily [00:35:06] You didn’t have much business background before you or did you?

Maurice Abood [00:35:10] I did. The experience helped me a lot in my dad’s restaurant on downtown Beirut. You know, we did the same thing we do in here, except bread. You know, we did the hummus, the tabbouleh, the baba ganoush. We made sandwiches. We had a very, very successful little business in downtown Beirut.

Rania Assily [00:35:35] Can you talk about the impact your father had on your work ethic and on your life?

Maurice Abood [00:35:44] My dad was my champion. I learned a lot from him. And he even offered me to leave me the restaurant, not to travel, not to leave the family over there. He was very kind man. Very kind. And I learned a lot from my dad. It was a school by itself, you know. So.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:36:11] So he died in Lebanon.

Maurice Abood [00:36:13] In Lebanon, yeah. My dad and my mom. My dad lives 88, my mother’s 87. Lived a good life, great retirement life. And the six children they have, everybody look after them. So we were blessed with good parents. They are blessed with good kids. Thank God. It is a blessing.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:36:42] Now I want to ask you, like, you know, talking to many Arabs who been living here in this city, some complaining about boredom, about, like, being bored.

Maurice Abood [00:36:56] Oh, bored.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:36:58] Now, what is your take on that and what you do in your free time?

Maurice Abood [00:37:06] I could say I do. I do anything in my free time except feeling bored. I never felt bored. I have a lot of things to do around the house. My wife and I, we always like to go places and travel. The kids keep us busy. They always in touch. They always close to us. A lot of occasions we get together. And also I play golf in the summertime. And I grew a lot of flowers around my house. This is my hobby. I inherited from my dad, gardening and flowers. So really, I don’t have a minute to feel like I’m bored. When somebody says I’m bored, I’m surprised why people get bored. I mean, we have as much books in my house, maybe at the public library. That’s my wife’s hobby, books and writing. And, you know, so I never felt I’m bored at all.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:38:19] And you, you cannot understand someone saying that. Why? Why? Some people would say that.

Maurice Abood [00:38:26] I don’t have the answer for them. They have to figure it out, you know, on their own.

Rania Assily [00:38:33] I noticed you hire a lot of young people, right? As much, I mean, regardless of age. So you have a very diverse pool of employees.

Maurice Abood [00:38:42] Right.

Rania Assily [00:38:43] Did you want it that way? Did you always see it that way?

Maurice Abood [00:38:47] You know what I really don’t look at. At the age or at the nationality. I just hired somebody from Albania. You know, I interview him. Seemed like he’s a great guy. His cousin worked over here. I said, bring him in. Let’s start right away. He started about three days ago, you know, so really, I don’t look at the age. I just look and see what the guy could do for me. And as much as I could help him out, if I could, if at that there is a balance, then fine. You know, a lot of people, they don’t even speak the language. We’ll put them on the line over there. They pack bread. They’re very happy.

Rania Assily [00:39:33] Do a lot of your American employees or foreign employees that are not Arab do not come from the Arab background? Do they learn a lot about the culture working here?

Maurice Abood [00:39:41] Oh, sure.

Rania Assily [00:39:43] Other things that they’ve learned that they.

Maurice Abood [00:39:44] Didn’T know, should you believe it or not, we have, like, a United nations over here through the years, you know, somebody said, I bet you don’t have a jew. I said, I bet we do. His name is Kevin upstairs. So really, we have the Muslims, the Christians, the Lebanese, the Iraqis, the Albanians, the Syrians. So we have all kinds. And we’re very happy that we could really help out these people, I tell you, you know, so.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:40:24] You mentioned that you like gardening. You have flowers, so do you have vegetables? Can you talk about what you have in your garden, like, besides flowers?

Maurice Abood [00:40:37] Well, you know, my sister has the biggest garden in Mayfield Heights. She’s 85 years old. Nobody could match her garden. Tomatoes, cucumber, all kind of a vegetable, all kind of kohlrabi, green pepper, red peppers, yellow peppers. And I have a little corner in the back of my house, just for the kids to. If we’re gonna make a salad, they pick up right away, fresh, you know. But most of my vegetable comes from my sister. But the flowers. I really am proud of my flowers. All around my house is the beautiful flowers.

Rania Assily [00:41:19] Is this part of sort of bringing a little bit of Lebanon home?

Maurice Abood [00:41:23] Absolutely. Absolutely. They used to bring me picture from Lebanon even after I came to this country. How? My dad’s house, my dad and mom’s house full of flowers all around it. So I think I inherited that from my dad.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:41:41] What types of flowers?

Maurice Abood [00:41:43] All kind of flowers. All kind of a different colors. And I have the tall one, the short ones. I have six or eight mandavella every year. And Hibiscus and all that. Every year I go through it again from the beginning, from. From. From zero. So I put fresh flower every year, you know? Yeah. Only. Only the red roses. Knock out red roses and yellow roses. They come up every year. Yeah. I don’t have to redo it. The rest of them, I redo it every year. I gotta get you some picture for that. Yeah. Okay.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:42:31] I guess would like maybe to end with the question about, you know, what is your advice to new immigrants here in Cleveland?

Maurice Abood [00:42:43] You know what? I’m really already proud of my people, of the new immigrants, the old immigrants. You don’t hear any of our people. And I’m not saying only the Lebanese, the Syrians, the Iraqis. I don’t see any of these people in jail or commit crimes. I’m very, very proud of these people. They have intention to come to this country, obey the law and work hard. You know, I mean, I can’t give them more than what they are doing now. They work hard and they are honest people. And that’s. And I always say they’re gonna make it. I seen it through the years. People work for me. They graduated. Doctors, engineers, lawyers. A lot of people, they open their own business. I love to see that this is like, I’m part of it. I’m part of their success.

Rania Assily [00:43:43] Well, I want to just say more. You are a part of Cleveland’s success and just the community.

Maurice Abood [00:43:50] And we are proud of Cleveland. We are proud of downtown Cleveland. Nothing pleased me more than seeing Cleveland on the rise. Cleveland in a better future. We have a great mayor, as I said, great policemen. They all really good. Good for small business. And they understand that we are part of the community.

Rania Assily [00:44:18] Do you see? Do you hope Aladdins will continue on.

Maurice Abood [00:44:21] Even absolutely into the future and absolutely.

Rania Assily [00:44:25] Growing at some point, or do you think it will just always stay.

Maurice Abood [00:44:30] Success is always a part of growing as a part of success. So we always think about new ideas, new items, whatever. Attract the people in and. Yeah, I feel like there is no limit. There is no limit. In any business. There is no limit. You’re gonna keep trying a little harder, you know, so.

Rania Assily [00:44:54] You have a frontier.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:44:58] How you doing?

Maurice Abood [00:44:59] Good, good.

Abedelraman Tayyara [00:45:00] How are you?

Maurice Abood [00:45:01] Nice to see you. No, no, I’m here.

Rania Assily [00:45:09] Well, thank you, Maurice, for this interview.

Maurice Abood [00:45:11] I thank you too. You have any more questions, we could talk later on, or you come back for lunch. I don’t like that coming here for only for a interview. I’d like to provide a little lunch for you. Sit down and talk.

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