By 1963 Harry had founded La Playa Distributing Company, and rented a building on McNichols in Detroit. He chose the name La Playa because at that time, the company mainly sold Latin American rhythm instruments, and the words 'La Playa', had the root of the English word ‘play’; thus referencing ‘to play’ musical instruments. However, the actual direct Spanish translation for La Playa is ‘the beach’. A year after the company’s founding, La Playa Distributing Company moved, with the assistances of a few employees, to Woodward Ave. in Detroit, where it began to operate as a general musical merchandise wholesaler. It moved once more to another location in Detroit before finding its current home in Madison Heights.
As for Harry's personal life, he spent a short amount of time in the Army, loved tropical climates and traveling with his wife Cookie. He and Cookie traveled domestically to most of the states and the Caribbean islands as well as all over the world. Their travels took them to such places as Mexico, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Haiti, Morocco, Fest, Tangier, Germany, France, Greece and Spain. Other cultures and sites always fascinated him, and he could never learn enough about the different locations and their people. Among his favorite places were Miami Florida, Hawaii, Mexico, Spain and Greece. They all offered a lot of sun, sand, ocean, culture, wonderful music, beautiful exotic fish and exotic food.
In 1968, Harry and Matilda were excited to have their first child. Sonia Lynn was born premature, weighing just over 5 lbs 3 ounces and living the first week of her life in an incubator. Taking after her father, that premature baby, Sonia, persevered and grew up to be a strong and independent person.
Harry always had an appreciation for art. Over the years he managed to build up his own art collection, as well as a collection of vintage die-cast cars from the early to mid 1930s. His favorites were the Rolls Royce, Duesenberg, and the 1937 Cord. Beyond the small die-cast models, Harry also had quite the collection of full size classic and vintage cars. Among his favorites, a 1940 Ford Model T, a later 1940 Cadillac, a 1968 Corvette, a few mid 1970’s Cadillac convertibles, and as of late a 1986 Rolls Royce.
He was also very intrigued in home decorating and design, and used to sit on the couch with Cookie watching a variety of television shows about dream homes. The home that he and Cookie built was large and beautiful enough (decorated by them) to probably be on one of the very shows that they watched!
Always enjoying sports and being active, Harry liked to jog, canoe, snow ski, ice skate, water ski, jet ski, occasionally bowled, went bike riding, and in his younger days played tennis and golf. In his later years, he learned how to roller blade, and developed a big love for this sport. He also loved swimming, which became a large part of his life, he even installed an indoor swimming pool when he and his wife built his house in 1999. He swam in it daily, but never without his swim fins! He was always a fan of speed, and seemed he could never go fast enough. Whether it was driving, swimming or skiing, the faster he moved, the bigger the thrill.
Harry took very good care of his health, inside and out. He rarely ate red meat and never had a sweet tooth for junk food. He took daily vitamins, drank protein shakes and ate lots of fruits and vegetables. Everything was steamed or broiled never fried, and instead of cakes and candies, his treat would be dried fruit with yogurt.
During Harry's life of hard work and smart business managing, he had his share of rough times and travesties. In 1979, a devastating fire completely destroyed La Playa's entire building and all of its contents. While La Playa was inoperable for many years, Harry took some time off to decide how to continue his career. Eventually, he followed his life long dream and passion and decided to rebuild La Playa. In 1984 he relocated his business to Madison Heights, Michigan, and through the years the business expanded to a prominent position in the music industry. After further expansion of a 5,000 square foot addition to the warehouse in 1986, the business outgrew its space. La Playa Distributing relocated to another building 2 streets over, still in Madison Heights; this time into a 40,000 square foot building. Along with the growth of the product scope and selection, the staff grew, the customer base grew, and it seemed like an appropriate time to change the name of the business to reflect the changes times. La Playa Distributing Company would be renamed LPD MUSIC INTERNATIONAL, a name that more accurately reflects the changing scope of our business. The first three letters were acronyms for La Playa Distributing; the music part was to acknowledge all things music, not just percussion as it once had been. The international was added to symbolize the growth and expansion which encompassed not only a domestic, but an international customer base.
