Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
Not looking anywhere near his age, Hal Long recounted with enthusiasm the highlights of his long career as a full-service jeweler.
"I feel pretty good being here at 89," Long said, standing in front of the counter of his store on North Carson Street.
"He's extremely talented if his darn eyes wouldn't make it so hard for him," said his son Dennis Long, who is helping him get through his last month in the business.
Long's Jewelers will be shutting its doors Jan. 31 after 19 years in business in Carson City.
Making people happy was a special benefit of his work. Hal recalled how he once made a ring for a woman who just stared at it in silence.
"Then I saw a tear run down her cheek, and she said, 'That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life,'" he said. "It makes you feel good to do something that makes people happy."
Before moving to Carson City, Hal and his wife Jan spent 50 years in South Lake Tahoe, where he was jeweler to some of the biggest stars of the '60s and '70s, names like Dinah Shore, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Ann-Margret.
Hal counts himself as a lucky man to have survived World War II, serving in the Army Air Corps in Africa, China, Burma, India and The Philippines. In 1939, he was an 18-year-old making 55 cents an hour working for Lockheed aircraft in Southern California. His experience with planes led him into the Air Corps when the war broke out.
"We were specialists, and we could do just about anything on an airplane," Long said. "We had to. Sometimes a ship would come and we had to patch a hole in it and get it back out."
It was in the country of Eritrea, located in the Horn of Africa, where Long first caught on to the jewelry business.
"I went over to these little huts, and they had a bunch of silver stuff with stones in it, and I was just kind of admiring it," Hall said. "A nicely dressed little guy came over and asked if I would like to see how they made it. I thought I was going to see another hut when I went up there, but it turns out he was the king of the whole place, and he had a big stone castle, three wives and I think 23 children."
He described how the people would take Italian gold coins (the country was an Italian colony until the British took it over in 1941) and would pound them out to make jewelry. Long later went to India and saw jewelers working on more elaborate pieces, and was hooked.
During his time in Tahoe, he was tasked with designing jewelry for several of the stars who performed there. His favorite was Ann Margaret, who he made a special pair of earrings. At a party, the actress thanked him for his work in a most memorable way.
"She said, 'I just love my earrings,' and she said 'Give me a kiss," Hal said. "I thought it was going to be some little peck, but the she really kissed me, and I said "Wow!" I never forgot that one, and Jan was right beside me."
The Longs originally bought the Carson store for their daughter, who Hal calls a natural jeweler. She doesn't work on jewelry much anymore, unless they have an overflow at the shop.
Between Hal's worsening eyesight and the current economic downturn, the family thought it was a good time to close up the shop.
"It's tough," Dennis said. "These times just aren't conducive to much of anything."
"That's the trouble now," Hal added. "No one wants to spend any money."
They are giving away free raffle tickets to win a grandfather clock, with the winning ticket being picked on their final day in business.
"I've been doing this for 55 years, and it's time to get out," Long said.
-Contact reporter Kirk Caraway at kcaraway@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1261.