AMERICAN DREAM THIS LABOR DAY, ROSE IS IN CHARGE.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
It was right around Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. of 1979 and Rose Vargas needed a job. Elise and Howie Kuebler had one available. ``We sat at that table right over there and talked,'' Elise said Friday, looking out the window of My Hero submarine sandwich shop in Northridge. ``I knew right away she was the one.'' The one to help the Northridge couple with the little sub shop on Reseda Boulevard they had opened in 1964, and turned into a popular fixture with California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an , students in a hurry to grab a quick sandwich between classes. Their own three kids were grown and busy embarking on their own careers. They couldn't help their parents out with the place anymore, so they ran a help-wanted ad in the Daily News - and Rose Vargas showed up. ``We need some help,'' Elise remembers saying to the young Puerto Rican Puer·to Ri·co Abbr. PR or P.R. A self-governing island commonwealth of the United States in the Caribbean Sea east of Hispaniola. woman who had just moved to California from New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and needed a job. Rose put on an apron apron, n a piece of clothing worn in front of the body for protection. apron band, n a labioincisal or gingival extension of an orthodontic band that aids in retention of the band and in proper positioning of the bracket. and stepped behind the counter to help Elise and Howie make the sandwiches, bus the tables, cut up the vegetables and do the cooking. ``She picked things up incredibly quick, and I can count on one hand the days she was sick over the years and couldn't help us out,'' Howie said. So it only made sense that 24 years later, when the Kueblers decided to retire and went looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a new owner, Rose would again be their answer. Rose and her daughter, Denise Mitchell, bought the shop in July when the Kueblers - popular, longtime long·time adj. Having existed or persisted for a long time: a longtime friend; a longtime resident of Detroit. longtime Adjective CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge boosters - decided it was time to do some traveling and visit family instead of making hero sandwiches for college students. ``The Kueblers have been tremendous supporters of CSUN and all our programs for many years,'' said retired CSUN basketball coach Pete Cassidy. ``I'd always go over to My Hero at lunch, bring back a sandwich to my office, and find Howie had slipped an extra one in,'' he said. ``When the team went on bus trips for a road game, we couldn't make it out of Northridge without the guys wanting to stop at Howie's place first for a sandwich. The Kueblers were at all the games for all the sports. ``They're wonderful, generous people, and it's good to see the My Hero tradition is going to be carried on with Rose, who is a great person,'' Cassidy said. They've had a lot of people over the years ask them to let them know when they were going to sell their sub shop because they wanted to buy it. ``But Howie and I always knew there was only one person who would run it and keep things the same,'' she said. So one day last July, she and Howie sat Rose down at the same table they'd hired her at 24 years earlier, and broke the news to their right arm that they were selling the place. ``To who?'' Rose said, giving them a worried look. ``To you, if you want it,'' Howie said. She wanted it, Rose said, calling up her daughter, Denise, and son-in- law, who helped her buy the shop. The way she sees it this Labor Day weekend 24 years later, she's a pretty lucky woman, Rose said, giving her old bosses a hug when they stopped by to visit at lunchtime. She didn't have much when she arrived in California in 1979, and answered that help-wanted ad from a small sub shop in Northridge. ``Now I own it,'' Rose said with a smile, slapping some mustard mustard, common name for the Cruciferae, a large family chiefly of herbs of north temperate regions. The easily distinguished flowers of the Cruciferae have four petals arranged diagonally ("cruciform") and alternating with the four sepals. on a pastrami on rye. The American Labor Day dream. Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Rose Vargas, right, is the new owner of My Hero, a sub sandwich shop near CSUN she bought from Elise and Howie Kuebler after working for them for nearly 24 years. Michael Owen
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