"It was not hard for us. We learned very fast. The recipes are a little complicated. Leon showed us how much pepper and garlic and other spices to use," Rosales remembers. "We use black pepper and garlic in Mexico, but not black nigella and mahlab. I never saw that in Mexico.
"I grew up with tamales and tacos. But when I tried Armenian food I liked it. And Leon was such a nice man."
It didn't take long after starting with Partamian for Gonzales and Rosales to learn that the A. Partamian Bakery was best known for its lahmajune, with customers coming from across the Los Angeles basin and San Fernando Valley for the little lamb pies some call Armenian pizzas.
They soon found themselves baking around 500 of them a day. At Christmas and on other holidays, when lahmajune is reheated, sliced into wedges and served as party appetizers, that number soared to nearly 1,000, according to Gonzales.
Soon, Partamian was referring to his two young bakers as "my boys" and gave some of their family members jobs in the bakery.
Rosales' son, Raul, now an LAX garage attendant, worked there as a teenager. "Our kids called Leon 'Grandpa,' " said his wife, Mirna Vargas, of daughters Crystal, 9, and Viviane, 5.
Vargas occasionally helped at the bakery before giving birth nine months ago to son Robert Rosales.
The two Mexican bakers never learned to speak Armenian. But that was no problem, since Armenian shoppers all spoke English. Gonzales and Rosales quickly learned the names of the Armenian baked goods that each day filled Partamian's shelves. The first name they learned was lahmajune.
The little pizzas were always the little shop's big draw.
"I've been coming here since I was a little girl, probably about 7, for my lahmajune," said Myrna Suttice, 47, a caterer who lives in the Fairfax District.
She is not of Armenian descent, but the lamb pies were popular snacks for youngsters growing up in the Mid-City neighborhood, Suttice said. Partamian knew all the children by name and asked to see their report cards. Good grades earned them free bakery treats.
"I was so glad when Leon handed this place down and it didn't get closed," Suttice said.
So was Audrey Hovsepian. The Ladera Heights septuagenarian had known members of the Partamian family for decades.
"Mr. Partamian was a very kind man. He'd bring his mother to St. James Armenian Apostolic Church in a wheelchair when she got older. We all knew his plan was to leave the bakery to his 'boys.' We just didn't know he hadn't written it down."
