Ted Grebitus is dressed in dark slacks, a light blue, button-down Oxford shirt and a small-checked sports jacket with a complementary pocket square. It’s Saturday, casual dress day at Grebitus Jewelers.

Grebitus, 74, includes a tie in his attire during the rest of the work week, often with a suit. This signature style has carried through several generations of the family-owned business.

The in-house jewelry design and manufacture and retailer of fine watches and international gift gallery is 100 years old this year. It’s part of a small group of businesses in the Capital Region that have held strong for a half-century or more, some of which we have profiled in our annual Family Business issue. While diverse, the group shares at least one trait — the business of being in business.

An heirloom business

The success of Grebitus Jewelers, located at 2580 Fair Oaks Blvd., Suite #30, combines the family’s multiple generations of industry knowledge and customer service.

“We are good citizens in the business sense,” says Grebitus. “But also, we live and have grown up here. We try to maintain the type of business that when somebody comes in, they know us by reputation.

“We are always going to give the best information available and make sure their things are well taken care of and respected. Maybe it’s being handed down in the family and the person getting it is going to feel like it is special. It’s been maintained and passed on, but not everyone gets to experience that.”

Ted Grebitus’ grandfather and grandmother, Edwin and Dorothy Grebitus, began the business in 1926. They endured the Great Depression and established relationships with East Coast vendors. Train trips to New York were frequent.

Ed Grebitus, Jr. and his wife Elizabeth joined the company in 1950, with their sons Tom, Robert and Ted continuing the family business for a third generation beginning in the mid 1970s. Ed Grebitus, who was born the same year his father started the business, died in 2019 at age 93. 

“We have to stay on top of new designs,” Ted Grebitus says. “We get creative ourselves, but we also have to keep a thumb on the pulse of our industry and how things are progressing in terms of design. 

“I’ll tell you, if I don’t have a particular baby cup in stock or a picture frame that a grandmother is used to buying for her family when new ones are born, I’m in trouble. We have to really keep track of things we’ve always carried. But sometimes, they go away. The company that made it is sold or people retire. We have to find something similar. Or in the case of jewelry, we can make it ourselves.”

Old dive, new life

The Trap, established in 1861 and perched on the corners of Riverside Blvd. and 43rd Ave., is among Sacramento’s legion of enduring dive bars. 

The Trap has endured numerous ownerships, lawsuits and near demise. But its current ownership has kept its neighborhood appeal while also providing upgrades to the former nearly dilapidated building.

“Back in the day, it was a place for Portuguese settlers. There aren’t a lot of other businesses around here. It’s right on the corner,” says Mariah Lukenbill, who runs the business and whose father, Gregg Lukenbill, was among the ownership group that brought the Sacramento Kings to Northern California for the 1985-86 season.

“I think throughout its life, it’s always been a community hub, whether it was for settlers or just over time for the locals. Now, it’s not just a place for young people or for people over age 40. It’s for everybody.”

The Lukenbill family purchased the bar from Veronica Crudo in 2022. She owned the business with her siblings for more than a decade, with relatives previously in charge for years. 

“When I first came to check the place out, I thought it had potential,” says Mariah Lukenbill. She was also well aware of the establishment’s lore, its once cash-only status and its two-beer selection and peanuts-only fare.

“I kind of think the ghosts know I have good intentions for the place,” Lukenbill said on a recent Monday in her small, cluttered back-room office.

Structural improvements, the removal of animal head decor, and the removal of a decrepit wall of metal lockers provide a new look. Craft beer and a hearty offering of pub fare brought new customers, evidenced by a strong lunch crowd.

Legacy in every thread

Sacramento Rug Works on 65th St. and Folsom Blvd. in East Sacramento opened in 1905. It provides in-home and in-store carpet repair and cleaning and carpet sales.

Since 1952, the business’s legacy is directly related to its MOR cleaning system. The machine, of which few remain, was installed first. The Sacramento Rug Works’ building was erected around it. In 1975, it was the first company in Northern California to introduce a truck-mounted steam cleaning system.

“We’ve got some old-school stuff in here,” says Jason Howard, who owns the business with his older brother Nick. “It’s kind of one-stop for all carpet needs.”

The brothers’ father began working for the previous owners, the Peterson family, in the 1970s. They owned the company for more than 60 years before leaving California. The Howard brothers’ father died in 2019.

“He’s gone, but his legacy is still here,” says Jason Howard. “It’s all kind of the same. We changed a couple of things around here, things that he didn’t want to adapt to . . . the internet, computer stuff, all these paper invoices. But it still works. So we kind of kept it for him.”

Sacramento Rug Works’ legend also extends to one of the city’s most iconic business signs. The large horizontal yellow-and-black billboard extends across much of the top front of the building.

It features a rolled-up rug and a caricature of the unofficial “rug doctor.” The sign includes the motto: “Rug Cleaning By Rug Men.” About 15 years ago, the company upgraded its business card to read: “Rug Cleaning By Rug Experts.”

“I think all businesses that stay around have the same model,” Jason Howard says. “Give good service at a fair price and it keeps people coming back. We keep it simple around here. After a while, you adapt to the highs and lows, but for us, we’ve seen it all.”

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