The Nogales International May 29, 1975 Capin enterprises in three cities began here with tailor shop by Marjorie Cook Since Hyman Capin and his wife Dora and six of their eight children first came to Nogales in 1919, their son Jake has seen the family enterprise grow from his father's tailor shop to nine businesses here, three stores in Douglas and one in San Luis. Hard work and long hours made it all happen. Father rose sometimes as early as 4:30 to go to the tailor shop and stayed until late at night. Work was a way of life, with all of the children involved in the business eventually, some starting as soon as they were old enough to sweep out the tailor shop. When the stores were acquired, Jake remembers they opened at 7 and stayed open till 6; Saturdays until 9. Capin's in Nogales began as a tailor shop, briefly in a little adobe building behind the Charles Fowler home on Grand at Martinez. Soon Hyman moved into a barracks building on the grounds of Camp Stephen D. Little to continue the work he had begun in El Paso as an army tailor. Hyman Capin, who came from a long family tradition of tailoring in Russia, had emigrated as a youth to England where he perfected his skills. He and Dora Loon, who had also come from Russia, met in Harrisburg, Pa., where they were married and where five of their children were born. Hyman prospered in his tailor shop. Then Dora became ill. Her husband packed up the family and moved west for Dora's health in 1905, first to Yuma for a brief stay, then to Los Angeles, which was too humid, and finally to Tucson where Jake was born in 1908. Times were difficult. Hyman had been unable to sell his house before leaving Harrisburg, and it was difficulty to find work as a tailor. There were seven children by the time the family moved to El Paso where Hyman became a tailor for Ft. Bliss in 1910. In pursuit of opportunity, he moved to Columbus, N.M., after the rout of Pancho Villa made the area safe again. Here he tailored for the army from 1914-1919, said Jake, until the army withdrew, and Columbus lost its reason for being. When Hyman and Dora came to Nogales in 1919, there were five children at home--Sam, Ben, Jake, Hillie and Zellie. The three oldest, married then, were Phil, Bessie (Mrs. Harry) Chernin, and Sadie (Mrs. Robert) Marcus. HOME LIFE Dora was up early and late, looking after her family. Jake remembers frugal times in his childhood. We were poor. My father was a working man. But there was always good food on the table, and those were happy times. Being an Orthodox Jewish homemaker in a remote border town was not easy. To abide by the Kosher food laws that protected the health of their people through centuries of wandering meant eating only meat and poultry butchered according to Kosher law. At first, such meat was available only in Tucson. Many of the local foods were adapted. Dora learned to make tamales, and Mexican dishes became family favorites. In the Capin home today, there are improvisations in flour tortillas, sometimes made with cottage cheese in the dough, sometimes with milk and butter, said Jake. Jake recalled how good a big pot of meat and beans tasted, even better on the second and third day. She cooked enough for an army. She HAD an army! Dora devoted her whole life to her family. When we were all working, Mother was running a restaurant with all of us coming in at different hours to eat, said Jake. And then she would sit down with each of us and talk, advise us. Father would talk to us, he was a wonderful man, but Mother wasn't embarrassed to talk to us about anything. Dora Capin Recipes 50 TAILORS Camp Stephen D. Little was within the City of Nogales, stretching from today's Coronado Inn to Mitchell School and from Hilltop Gallery to Western Avenue. Hyman had as many as 50 to 75 tailors working under him at one time. Many of them were trained to be cutters. Children of some of the tailors work in the Capin stores today. Jake remembers his father's skill with pride. English tailoring was the finest in the world, and Hyman Capin was a master of it. In those days, people took pride in their craft, said Jake. Much of the work was done by hand. All of the buttonholes were, although Hyman later considered machine-made buttonholes superior. Singer treadle sewing machines were used for the heavy work, motors added in later years. We made cotton uniforms for about $21 and made a profit at that price, Jake recalls. Homes of Camp Little officers still stand on the hill to the north of the camp along Anza Drive. They all have the same basic lines although exterior changes have been made. The army hospital was in several buildings southwest of the camp, up on MacNab Drive where Jake can point out the homes that once housed army doctors. EL PASO STORE Hyman prospered, and in 1922 he bought the El Paso Store from Samuel Leeker who had operated it since 1900. Leeker had worked in an El Paso store before coming to Nogales. The narrow shop was a general store of soft goods and stood exactly where Capin's Department Store stands now. Additions through the years were made over and around it, said Jake. Then in 1924, a second store was acquired, La Ville de Paris. Charles Dumazert, the tall, handsome Frenchman who founded the store in 1901, had made his fortune by the time he was 38. He wanted to sell out and move to Los Angeles, which he did. His wife wanted to return to France, which she did. It was all very amicable, and they remained friends always. Dumazert even arranged through Capin's to send clothing and huge packages of food for her, her second husband and her son during World War II. Hyman Capin never worked in the stores himself. But he was the boss, said Jake. He always advised us. My father wanted his sons to go to college, to become professional men, but we didn't want to. I always have loved being in the business, he said. Of the six Capin sons, three survive. Jake and Zellie Capin are active in the business, with seven of their generation's sons and sons-in-law. Phil is retired and lives in California. Hyman retired at 50 and considered it a mistake. Jake does not intend to make the mistake of retiring early. The oldest of the family still active in Capin Mercantile Co. (the parent firm), he is at his desk every day in the vast room where all of the departments handling accounting for 13 different businesses are within sight. On the same floor are the traffic, buying and receiving departments and a huge warehouse. All merchandise arriving for the Capin stores comes in through one door to be checked and marked, and it leaves by carts for the separate departments. The day's cash receipts from each store go directly to the bank and never leave it. Cashiers go into the bank basement each morning to do their accounting. In Nogales, Capin enterprises include Capin's Department Store, La Ville de Paris, Capin's Annex, Robinsons's Hardware, Capco, Parisian, Capin's Duty Free Warehouse, Capin's Freeport, and the Americana Motor Hotel. The Douglas stores are Capin's, Parisian, and Freeport, and in San Luis is Capin's Import-Export. All of it began 56 years ago with a tailor shop.