Category: Places

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The Cigar Aficionados

The relationship between Mr. Edward Sahakian and his charming son Eddie is a beautiful sight to behold. For decades, the dapper duo have shared a passion for high-quality cigars and exceptional customer service.

Edward Sahakian and Eddie Sahakian

This lovely conversation between the two highlights a wise (and proud) father sharing valuable lessons with his son about living life fully, developing relationships, doing business in retail, and much more. Pay close attention at the 5:15 mark to see if you can catch what Eddie says to his father.

The Sahakians own and operate Davidoff of London, one of the most popular cigar shops in London, England. In honor of Edward’s legacy of excellence in the retail cigar world for over 40 years, they recently opened the Edward Sahakian Cigar Shop & Lounge. To learn more about their new world-class cigar lounge, watch Eddie’s interview with Kirby Allison below.

Did you know that Avo Uvezian created one of the most popular cigar brands in the world? Read about the impressive life of Avo Uvezian.

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A Brit Discovers the True Armenia

Justin Eastern Europe, a vlogger from England, travels throughout Armenia and reveals the essence of its people and culture. With his friendly personality, language skills and knowledge of the region, he is able to effortlessly interact with locals and tourists to give a unique feel of what it’s like to be there. Below are a couple of his videos we think you will enjoy.

Yerevan, Armenia: Best Kept Secret An Adventure in Yerevan, Armenia

To see more in this series from Justin Eastern Europe, visit the Armenia videos playlist and watch all of the videos from Armenia.

Did you know that Armenia is experiencing a boom in tourism? Head of Armenia’s tourism committee, Sisian Boghossian, discusses the recent increase in visitors and how Armenia plans to double its annual tourism numbers. Watch the entire interview with CivilNet below.

Armenia’s Tourism Boom: The Strategy for Record Breaking Growth
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Armenians and Romans Unite in Little Armenia

Well, sort of. As you traverse the streets of Little Armenia in Hollywood, you’ll come across many establishments serving popular Armenian dishes. One of the most popular foods is lahmajune, also known as Armenian pizza. A great place to try this baked goodness is at Sasoun Bakery on Santa Monica Boulevard and Normandie Avenue.

About a year ago, just a few blocks up the same street at Santa Monica and Alexandria Avenue, an authentic Italian (Napoletana, to be exact) pizzeria, DeSano Pizza, opened shop. Our recent visit really impressed us. From the outside, you’d hardly know it was a pizza joint. When you walk in, however, you see this simple industrial layout that reveals all the inner workings of a modern pizzeria; an open floor plan that let’s you see the pizza dough being made, the imported ingredients sitting against the perimeters of the seating area, and pizzaioli preparing the pies right after you order.

They have four large brick wood-burning ovens individually named after cities in Italy along with the patron saints that watch over those cities.

DeSano pizza ovens 2

We ordered two pies, the margherita and the desano. They were both really tasty, with a soft chewy crust, fresh toppings, and the flavors of the burn marks on the bottoms of the pizza. Yumm.

Margherita Pizza
DeSano pizza

Now that we’ve found Armenian pizza and Italian pizza within a few blocks of each other, our weekends will consist of eating lahmajune for lunch and strolling over for some wood baked pizzas for dinner. The empires have finally united!