It's 4:30 in the morning and Jacob Paz has been awake for half an hour, trying to squeeze in a little homework. But the phone rings. A load of 250 Christmas trees is on the way.
So much for the 17-year-old high school senior's plan to start his English essay on how two world wars fueled disillusionment in American literature. It's time to get to work.
Since Oct. 26, Jacob has been running a pumpkin patch and then a Christmas tree lot complete with a small petting zoo in the Del Amo Fashion Center's parking lot. He co-owns the business, called Cottone & Sons, with his grandfather, Tom Cottone, a real estate agent whose father started selling Christmas trees in Torrance in 1959.
As Jacob and Cottone said on separate occasions: "It's in our blood."
"It's our Christmas," Jacob said. "This is our big gift right here."
Jacob's new job has also been a gift to his great-grandfather Robert "Tony" Cottone. He died Sept. 26 at age 81, from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, family members said, shortly after asking Jacob to help run the lot this year.
"He wants to show Grandpa he can do it," said Andrea Vicencio, Jacob's mother. "It has been hard on all of us, but it made him more motivated to work the tree lot."
As if Jacob needed any more motivation. His uncle Bob Cottone, who operates his own tree lot nearby on Pacific Coast Highway, recalled that Jacob, at age 8, "would always help out carrying the bottom of the trees."
"I learned hard work from my great-grandfather," Jacob said. "Nothing ever gets in my way. If someone puts up a roadblock, I'll figure a way how to get around it."
There have been several roadblocks.
He first needed approval from the Del Amo Fashion Center to open a lot. Mall executives were concerned about Jacob's age, Tom Cottone said, and wouldn't allow the lot until Cottone cosigned the paperwork.
"Tom was very helpful in bringing all the permits, approvals and everything that went into opening the tree lot," said Jeff McLaughlin, the director of marketing at Del Amo Fashion Center.
Jacob and his grandfather didn't get permission from the city of Torrance, however, until Oct. 26, leaving them with only five days to operate the pumpkin patch they normally open on Oct. 10. Nonetheless, they said, they made $32,000 in sales.
Then there were economic worries. But even with layoffs, the credit crunch and the mortgage crisis, sales haven't been hurt, Cottone and Jacob said.
