Harold Armbrust

Harold Armbrust was born in the textile town of Łódź, Poland, August 12, 1929. He and his family had a good life. His father owned a grocery store and they had many luxuries of the time. Harold was active in school and in sports. He enjoyed participating in soccer and boxing. This all changed when World War II began. It wasn’t safe for a German to live in Poland so my Grandfather acquired a horse and buggy and the family fled to southern Germany. They came to Koetizing, Germany and a family let them use their barn to live in.

This was obviously tough on the family. At the close of the War, Harold was drafted at fourteen years old. He was shortly thereafter captured and ended up in a POW camp. He remembered having his wallet taken away in which he had newspaper clippings of his boxing matches. He kept them so that he could show his children one day. After his release from the POW camp, Harold went to school in the dental field and eventually immigrated to America where he lived with his Aunt Della and Uncle Otto.

Harold worked picking grapes and canning peaches while going to school near Pomona. He continued his studies in the dental field as a technician. This served him well when he was drafted into the Korean War. During his service he used his skills as a dental technician until the War was over. Harold returned to school and graduated in microbiology. He was soon hired by the City of Long Beach and later met his future wife Alma at a German dance. Life was simple. They bought a home and Curt was born a few years later. Harold was living the American dream. Four years later Harvey was born and Harold was busy at the Long Beach Health Department and with his love of photography.

Harold eventually became the Director of the Long Beach Health Department and continued as a professional photographer. He not only loved to take pictures but produce the prints also. Harold also had a darkroom in our home. Eventually the family moved to the growing community of Cerritos. There again, Harold built a darkroom in the garage. He continued to take pictures and more and more, the printing of pictures for professional photographers. Years later we moved to another home in Cerritos where Harold built an even larger darkroom. Harold then, near the age of 49, bought a camera store in Long Beach. Harold decided he would go completely into the photography business. At the age of 49, Harold retired from the Long Beach Health Department. He would now be an entrepreneur.

The city of Long Beach changed Harold’s plans. The City decided it would begin the renovation of much of Long Beach. This included the street in which Harold’s business was located. Long Beach gave Harold relocation money and he was bringing the business home to Cerritos in the form of his own store with a photo lab included. The store was Rapid Photo. We would print pictures now for the public in one day. This was very unusual at the time. It was truly a family business as we were all involved. The business grew and Harold decided to have his own building built including a photo studio and lab. One can still see the Photographic Arts Center in Artesia.

After several years Harold sold the business in 1990. Harold and Alma would take this opportunity to go back to Germany for the first time in 40 years. It was a remarkable trip as they visited their hometowns. Harold would visit two boyhood friends from Poland, one living in West Berlin and the other in East Berlin. Alma saw a newly built Frankfurt which was destroyed when she last saw it after World War II. My parents also sold their home and moved to their beloved mountains. They had a ranch home built on five acres in the beautiful community of Garner Valley. Here Harold would finally settle down and relax. One would think. Soon Harold had a need to do something else. He started to work to receive a real estate license. He was all in. Harold worked at Mountain Estates selling homes in Garner Valley and Anza. While Garner Valley was beautiful and a dream for my parents, it was very isolated. My parents decided to move down to Palm Desert. Harold still had to keep busy. He started to work for a property management company still wanting to use his real estate license.

Finally in his 70’s, Harold finally fully retired. My parents took a cruise from California to Florida accompanied by his boyhood friend from Berlin. Years later, Harold fulfilled another dream by taking a cruise to Alaska. Harold and Alma would eventually leave Palm Desert and move to the other side of the mountain to San Jacinto. Here Harold would live his remaining years with Alma and enjoy visits from his sons Curt and Harvey and his four grandchildren.