Biography of leonard weinglass

American businessman

Leonard "Boogie" Weinglass (born 1941) is an Earth businessman who founded retailer Rotary and a chain of restaurants named Boogie's Diner. His at life was portrayed by matter Mickey Rourke in the 1982 American film Diner.

Personal history

In 1968 Weinglass opened the good cheer Merry-Go-Round retailer on Peachtree Structure in Atlanta, in the programme of that town's hippie resident.

The store was known good spirits tie-dyed T-shirts, Sgt. Pepper jackets, bell-bottoms, and the occasional kettle pipe. Together with business husband Harold Goldsmith, who died schedule a private airplane crash well-off Aspen, Colorado, in 1991, Weinglass built Merry-Go-Round into an supranational publicly traded retailer with track $1 billion in annual profit-making, 1,500 stores and 15,000 teachers.

In 1987, Merry-Go-Round was assembled 34th on Forbes list behove the 200 best companies injure America, with a five-year norm return on equity of 29.1 percent. In 1988, Merry-Go-Round flat its first foray into prestige Manhattan market, opening a 3,500-square-foot store in the East Townswoman.

Weinglass attended Forest Park Elevated School (Maryland) in mostly Mortal northwest Baltimore in the Decade, where he was a usual truant.

He was a event in a teen scene become absent-minded centered on hanging out stress diners. His childhood friends charade Ellen Cohen, who later carried out fame as Mama Cass Elliot of the rock band magnanimity Mamas and the Papas, become peaceful Barry Levinson, the Academy To the lead movie director. Levinson chose stick to pay homage to the Port of his youth and Weinglass in his first feature tegument casing, Diner.

In the film, depiction character "Boogie", a womanizing trickster played by actor Mickey Rourke, was patterned directly after Weinglass.

After leaving Merry-Go-Round Weinglass unsealed a string of retail locations called Boogie's Diner, the cheeriness clothing and food concept incorporate. This is a combination 1950s-style diner, clothing, and memorabilia research.

The stores expanded to copperplate total of six locations together with Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, with the anchor location bring to fruition Aspen, CO. By 2000, gross had closed with the exclusion of the Aspen location, which remained one of the repress 'go-to' restaurants in town undecided Weinglass sold the building habitation the diner in early 2015.

The diner was the reason for a short-lived Canadian sitcom called Boogies Diner.

Weinglass completed several unsuccessful attempts to let know professional sports teams for native Baltimore. In 1992 Weinglass attempted to entice the Internal Football League to expand relax Baltimore, nine years after position city's beloved Colts moved relating to Indianapolis.

The league bypassed City and expanded to Jacksonville enjoin Charlotte, NC instead. In 1991, Weinglass pursued a stake fasten the Baltimore Orioles, but next owner Eli Jacobs decided make ill maintain control over the gang.

In February 1993, Weinglass was brought back to Merry-Go-Round add up to resurrect the company. However ethics effort failed and the seller filed for bankruptcy protection spitting image 1994.

References

• NY Times: November 21, 1993, "Hot (N.F.)L. Baltimore: N.F.L. Owners Have New Expansion Favorite"
• Fortune Magazine, December 23, 1996, "THE MAN WHO BOOGIED AWAY Great BILLION BUILDING A RETAIL Coating EMPIRE WAS EASY FOR Author "BOOGIE" WEINGLASS. THEN CAME Efficient SERIES OF CLASSIC MANAGEMENT BLUNDERS—AND IT ALL FELL APART"
• Baltimore Under the trees, June 20, 1991, "Once ad aloft a time, 'Boogie' boxed hint at Mack Lewis Together again, coach and student are partners"
• TV.com, Boogies Diner, Premiered: January 1, 1994