Milt Chortkoff was just nine months old when the stock market crashed in 1929 and times were tough for this son of an immigrant tailor growing up in Brooklyn. Milt suffered from asthma as a child and eventually his parents followed a doctor’s recommendation to move to the West Coast in 1946. His father bought Hollyway Cleaners when they arrived in Los Angeles, and 17-year-old Milt began delivering laundry and cleaning around Echo Park and Silverlake while attending Los Angeles City College. Turning 87 in 2016, Milt celebrates 70 years in the cleaning industry with the knowledge that he has never let adversity get the best of him.
“Delivering clothes to pay my way through college back in 1946 may have been the ‘official’ launch of my career in the cleaning industry, but I actually helped my father out when I was 10 years old delivering wet washes in a pushcart around Brooklyn,” says Milt, explaining that customers would then hang the damp garments on a clothesline to dry. “I dabbled in other businesses after graduation from college — like teaching dancing at Arthur Murray and running an Italian import-export company — but I always felt like I had a calling for cleaning,” he states.
Milt joined his father full-time in 1954, and, over the years, they built two successful plants and acquired three commercial properties. “I loved working with my father. He wasn’t afraid to be innovative, like when we brought pressing, cleaning and tailoring under one roof to become a complete service center, the foundation for our success,” says Milt. Soon after his father passed away, Milt “lost his ambition” and retired in 1985. He was 56.
But retirement wasn’t really an option for a man with cleaning solutions in his blood. When a business associate asked for Milt’s opinion about buying a cleaning plant in Burbank, he not only suggested buying it, he also became a partner. “We were both successful cleaners and had family members who wanted to be in the business with us, too, and eventually I bought him out,” Milt explains, noting that he named the business Milt & Michael’s Drycleaners for his son-in-law and later renamed it Milt & Edie’s for his wife. “By the way, her name is pronounced ‘EEEEEEdie,’ not ‘Eddie,’” quips Milt, mentioning how she winces every time she hears someone mispronounce her name.
More than 27 years later, Milt has turned Milt & Edie’s into the most successful stand-alone cleaners in the country. Here are some of the industry-leading and customer-oriented aspects of Milt & Edie’s that are the basis for that success:
• Open 24/7/365 – “Very few cleaners can make this claim,” states Milt, noting that it applies to their Tailoring Center, too. “This is the ultimate in convenience for our customers!”
• 2-Hour Cleaning, 2-Hour Shirt Laundry & Instant Alterations available 24/7/365 at No Extra Charge – “This is one of the most powerful statements any cleaner can make and, to my knowledge, no one else makes it,” Milt says.
• Maitre d’ – Customers coming to Milt & Edie’s are typically greeted by a maitre d’ who sends them to an open counter. “I stole this from restaurants because it creates a friendly atmosphere immediately upon entering our business.”
• On-Time Guarantee – Milt concedes he wasn’t the first cleaner to offer this guarantee, but it’s the driving force behind making sure his customers leave happy because late orders are the #1 customer complaint in the industry.
• Free Refreshments – Fresh popcorn, coffee and other refreshments are available day and night. “This is how I treat guests in my home, so it’s how I want to treat people who come to my business,” explains Milt, adding that there are treats available for customers’ kids and pets, too.
• Inspirational Marquee Quotes – Milt began doing this at Hollyway Cleaners and says that a week doesn’t go by that a customer doesn’t come in and say that a message on the monument sign brightened their day.
Knowing that he would be celebrating his 70 years in the cleaning industry in 2016, Milt wanted to do something special to celebrate the occasion. Inspired by an old photo of himself standing in front of a 1946 GMC panel truck when he started working at his father’s cleaners, he set his marketing team on a mission to find a similar truck, something he had actually been wanting to do for a decade. A truck was found in Alabama, shipped to Burbank, completely overhauled, and painted in the company’s signature magenta. “Not only will this truck be the star of a promotion celebrating my decades of experience in the cleaning industry, it is an eye-catching yet simple reminder that Milt & Edie’s has the experience to be the best cleaners in the world,” says Milt.
Milt & Edie’s Drycleaners & Tailoring Center is located at the corner of Pass and Alameda Avenues in the heart of Burbank’s Media District (4021 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank CA 91505) and is open 24/7/365.
