Life lessons from one very outstanding man.
and counting.
Robert Blonstein was born on July 20th, 1966 in Whittier, California, to Hal and Margaret Blonstein. He grew up the third of four children, with an older sister, Barbara, an older brother, Mark, and a younger brother, David. Somewhere in the middle of all that growing up, Robert attended La Serna High School, where he carried a long-running crush on a girl named Lisa Appelbaum. During high school, he was given a 1975 AMC Matador that would end up becoming his baby. Even though the car had been wrecked multiple times as well as repainted, it was his tool for freedom and thus became his baby, prized possession, and favorite car of all time. He graduated from La Serna in 1984.
That fall, he attended UCLA, originally on a pre-med track. His path there took five and a half years, and the reason comes down to a single moment near the end: assigned to dissect a rat in the lab, he found it so unbearable that he walked straight out, went directly to Murphy Hall, and switched his major to psychology on the spot. After UCLA, Robert planned to head to law school, where he had a spot lined up in San Diego, but it filled up entirely due to the enormous popularity of the TV show L.A. Law, which had inspired a wave of hopeful applicants that year, causing him to take a year off before attending again the following year. That single planned year off turned into seven, during which Robert helped start and run his family’s car wash business.
On July 27, 1997, Robert married Stephanie, and they have been happily married for nearly 29 years. Not long after, he enrolled at Loyola Law School, graduating in 2000. He spent the next nine-plus years working at multiple law firms. During that stretch, he and Stephanie welcomed two children: their daughter, Hayley, born December 10, 2001, and their son, Brandon, born November 4, 2006. Eventually, Robert branched out on his own, opening his own law practice called “Blonstein and Tabatabi” with Uncle Farzad before transitioning in 2013 to lead Laskey Weil Co., a commercial real estate management company — the role he has filled ever since.
Beyond the résumé, Robert is a man of simple, steady loves: Forrest Gump is his favorite movie, green is his favorite color, and ice cream (favorite flavor is vanilla, obviously) is a lifelong weakness. Newport Beach is his happy place, and his best friend for years has been Marc, a.k.a. “Uncle Sir.”
Never give up
Self-explanatory, but persistence is key. Whatever you go through, do it right and don’t go halfway.
People are stupid
Most people have no idea what’s going on and don’t know anything about anything. This knowledge is meant to keep you both cautious and patient.
All women are crazy and all men are stupid
(The men are especially stupid — because they keep coming back.)
Don’t miss low-hanging fruit
Extra credit, participation, homework. Don’t mess up the easy stuff.
Always do your best — and don’t worry once the pitch leaves your hand
All you can do is prepare your best pitch for whatever you do. Once it’s done, whether the result is good or bad, it’ll be OK — because you know you at least didn’t give up.
Once the train leaves the station, it doesn’t go back
Take it slowly, because once you get to the next station you can’t go back — so make sure you want to go to that station!
Open the right bag of crazy
When you do decide to settle down, make sure the bag of crazy you settle with goes along with what you can handle.
Always take care of your people
Whether it’s a Jorge, a Magda, or a Brian, make sure you’re gracious to those who are gracious to you.
Better to mess up tiny earlier than bigger later on
If you’re going to make a mistake with money, better to do it when you’re young and poor — not old and rich.
There was a time when I told him that the bench in front of our bed was wobbly and I thought it needed to be fixed. He said, “It’s fine!” and plopped his butt on it — only to land on the floor with the now-broken bench. He looked up at me from the wreckage with puppy-dog eyes and said, “Yes, the bench needs to be fixed,” brushed himself off, and went on his way. 😁
When I was a lil guy I was scared to go on the Toontown roller coaster. He said it’ll be behind you and you won’t be scared once you go on it — but I was still too scared. So he convinced me to “see what the seats feel like,” then closed the lap bar, and I had to go on it. And after I went on it, I wasn’t scared anymore.
The time he took me on a college tour and spilled something on his coral-colored shirt, so he went to change — and he came out in ANOTHER coral-colored shirt.
When I was in 7th grade I was struggling to do my math homework. While I knew I wasn’t stupid, I often felt like it while doing math. Robert took the time to sit down with me and go problem by problem, showing me that if I apply myself I can do whatever I put my mind to. That feeling of confidence not only helped me in school but in multiple aspects of my life.
When we went to Miami, we went to this Cuban restaurant along Miami Beach, and for some reason Hayley decided she wanted to have the marriage talk with him… before she and I had even talked about it. He was so uncomfortable — despite what he may say otherwise — and it was so funny! But he was also very sweet, and it was a lovely dinner. The day before, he was also getting down to “Hotel Room Service” at the Pitbull concert.
