Page 36 - Lighting Magazine September 2018

ALA
It’s hard to imagine someone trained in the cold hard facts of numbers would become enamored with the romantic and ethereal world of crystal, but that’s exactly what happened to Brooklyn-
born Abe Kleinberg.
While serving in the military, posted at an air
base near Shanghai in 1946, Kleinberg realized that the American dollar could go a long way in China. He wrote his parents, asking for a loan of $500 to put a deposit on a Chevy from the GM plant nearby. “The car cost $1,400 and I was able to pick it up in New York,” he recalls. He also ordered and shipped a Buick to his father. Once back in the U.S., Kleinberg went to college on the G.I. Bill and graduated with a degree in Accounting.
“My brother-in-law was a lighting sales rep,” Kleinberg explains about his introduction to light- ing. A er his brother-in-law bought a small lighting company, he asked Kleinberg to help out in the of- ce with book-keeping. Not satis ed with working with numbers all day, Kleinberg decided to make his own name in lighting at his brother-in-law’s urging.
“It was an adventure,” Kleinberg notes. “I bought [component parts] from all over and then hired an employee to put the xtures – primarily crystal – together. I delivered those xtures in my Chevy all over Manha an, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. I did all of the selling and delivery, and my employee did all of the assembly.”
As the popularity of Kleinberg’s xtures grew, it was obvious there was a much bigger market out there than the New York area. It was time to hire sales representatives to expand the business — originally named Crystal Lee, in tribute to his mother. “I later changed the name to Crystorama because in my mind, that sounded like everything crystal.”
The 1960s was an era when tradition-style Bronze & Crystal chandeliers were highly sought a er, leading Kleinberg to move to a building where he could have a retail showroom in front and an of- ce in the back. His wife, Joan, came in to help out in the showroom while their three children were in school.
When a larger building that formerly housed a carpet business became available in Carl Place, Long Island, Kleinberg moved his operations there. “Now I could have a showroom, plus assembly in the back, and a warehouse in the basement,” he states. Several years later, Kleinberg bought
A Legacy
of
Leadership
This year is monumental for
Abe Kleinberg of Crystorama as
the company he founded hits its
th
60 year and he personally
marks his 90th birthday. BY LINDA LONGO
34 enLIGHTenment Magazine | SepteMber 2018
www.enlightenmentmag.com