As he walked into the Valencia Ralphs store on a recent Saturday afternoon before his shift, employee after employee greeted him. He replied to one co-worker with, “Hello, young lady,” and to another with, “Happy belated birthday.” Customers who were waiting in line at the registers even struck up brief conversations with him.
Valencia resident Natt Cohan, 81, has worked with the same grocery outfit since 1962. He started at an Alpha Beta store in Burbank, worked his way up to store manager at 25 years old, spent 19 years as a night manager, and now works part-time as a cashier after stepping down from full-time work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a recent conversation at a small table in Starbucks next to the Granary Square Ralphs, where he now works, Cohan reflected on his long career. He managed stores in Santa Monica, Alhambra, Pasadena and Torrance, and he recalled the 1995 transition from Alpha Beta to Ralphs. Cohan didn’t waste any time. He got straight to the point:
“I started in November of 1962 as a box boy — a courtesy clerk,” he said. “I just took a real liking to the business.”
Cohan was born in Hollywood. At age 3, his family moved to Burbank, where he grew up. He stayed there until he got married. With a laugh, he said he never lived on his own, having moved directly from his parents’ home to a place he shared his wife.
But before he got married, he took a job at Alpha Beta. It was his senior year of high school and he needed cash.
“That was my first real job,” he said. “I did other little jobs, but we don’t need to talk about that.”
As Cohan shared his story, he said he didn’t want to waste time on unnecessary details. His was a journey in the grocery business.
After high school, he attended Los Angeles Valley College. That prompted him to transfer to an Alpha Beta store in North Hollywood.
The more he worked in the grocery business, the more he took interest in the intricacies of how the business ran — the procedures, the hierarchy and the work itself, which was to help customers. Within his first three months at the North Hollywood store, he got promoted to apprentice cashier, which was no easy task.
“I was a hustler,” he said. “I was out to prove a point.”
He worked nights and he worked mornings. He saw managers who were great at their jobs — one who, he said, was the best public relations manager he’d ever seen, whom the customers just loved — and he tried to learn as much from them as possible. He also learned how each department operated — from working in the deli and frozen foods to handling product ordering and setting up merchandise displays.
He prided himself in working under one particular produce manager who, Cohan said, had gone on to become vice president of Skaggs Alpha Beta in Utah.
It was on the job that he met the woman who would become his wife. She was a customer in the store.
“We went out a couple of times, didn’t care for each other, and then a couple of years later, we got back together, and I’ve been married to her for 55 years. So, it couldn’t be all bad,” he said with a chuckle.
Cohan said he’d gotten ahead of his story again. He was saying that he was attending Valley College. He studied electronics and electrical engineering, but he’d heard that, at the time, there wasn’t much going on with “the space thing” and “the science thing.”
So, he changed his major to business.
“Alpha Beta let me finish my school, and they said, ‘What do you want to do now?’” Cohan said. “I said, ‘I’d like to pursue this. I’d like to be a store manager.’ At 25 years old, I got promoted to store manager. During that time that I got promoted, I also got married.”
In fact, while he was doing his store manager training, he was given the weekend off to go to Las Vegas and tie the knot. When he returned, he got right back to work.
Upon becoming a manager, he was sent to run a store in West Los Angeles.
“I was there for about three months,” he said. “Then they moved me to Santa Monica/Fairfax, which was the worst store in the company. It had the lowest sale per customer and the highest customer count. That was a real education in people. I had actors shop there, prostitutes who shopped there, and you had your average person, too.”
Cohan spent two years at that store and said he learned more there than most people would in a lifetime at a quieter location like the one he works at now in Valencia.
His next stop was at an Alpha Beta in Alhambra, which had “some problems.” Cohan reveled in the idea that he could go in and help fix the operations. Within six months, he was instrumental in turning the store around, and then he was moving again to a store in Pasadena. He worked as an acting manager there while the next in line was training.
Cohan would move stores a few more times before landing at a store in Castaic around 1999. By that time, he’d already been living in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Many years prior — in 1975, when he was working at a store in Granada Hills — he and his wife decided to move to Valencia because the couple didn’t want their two sons to be bused as part of the busing program, aimed to desegregate schools by transporting students to different neighborhoods.
Working closer to home was no doubt a plus, but he was grateful for all the places he worked. He described one of his stores as being the largest Alpha Beta in the region at the time, and another as running like a light switch — you just turned it on and it worked.
He spoke in detail about how Alpha Beta eventually became Ralphs. He even remembered and was still in awe over the TV commercial that signaled the change to the public:
“You see an Alpha Beta truck going — like to deliver,” he said. “It takes a dip (in the road below the horizon), and then it comes up as a Ralphs truck. It was a great idea.”
Cohan worked at the Ralphs in Castaic for a couple of years before he decided to step down from his store manager position. He wanted union benefits, which managers and co-managers don’t get. That’s when he transferred to the Ralphs store in Valencia.
In Valencia, he worked mostly as the night manager.
“I was here closing the store to 1 a.m., six days a week,” he said. “It was fine with me because it allowed me to do whatever I wanted during the day.”
Cohan didn’t work during the COVID-19 pandemic for various reasons. When he did come back, management asked what he wanted to do. He said he just didn’t want to carry keys anymore. He stepped down once again, this time to work as a cashier three days a week.
If anyone asks him when he’s going to retire, he might take offense. That’s because he actually enjoys working. And he appreciates and values dedication and professionalism. While sharing his story, he praised those he worked with who were hard workers, good at their jobs and who held themselves to the highest of standards. That really meant a great deal to him.
Though, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had his bad days.
“There are moments I go, ‘What am I doing here?’” he said. “But overall, the interaction with the customers, with people I know or don’t know, it’s a good outlet.”
Asked if there ever was a time during his career when he felt he wanted to try something different, he was quick to say, “No, never.” He’s enjoyed the grocery business, has respected his managers and the company, who he said have always taken care of him, and he’s been able to make a good living.
These days, he admits he’s not the fastest on the cash register, but he explained he moves quickly enough while still taking the time to talk with customers. For him, that’s what’s important.
“My whole thing is having a relationship with the customers in the store,” he said. “There’s just a lot of satisfaction in that. And I have a lot of fun. I like working with young people, too. You see them and how they grow.”
At 81, Cohan says his proudest accomplishments are the people he’s helped grow and succeed. He takes pride in the many employees he’s mentored and promoted over the years. While he could easily brag about the hundreds he’s hired and how far they’ve gone in the industry, what matters most to him is knowing he played a part in their journey.
He’s also loved striving for quality results and getting those results.
“I was known for having one of the best merchandised stores at Alpha Beta,” he said. “I like to say I ran a clean operation. Merchandising was a forte of mine. Now I don’t think about it. I’m not responsible for any of it.”
However, he still takes the business as seriously as he ever did.
According to Stephanie Mijangos, a front-end manager of the Valencia store who’s known Cohan for about six years, he has exceptional customer service and dedication.
“He loves the job,” Mijangos said. “He actually hates when people ask him, ‘When are you going to retire?’ He says he’s still young. And he works out, so he’s fit.”
It’s true — Cohan goes to the gym three days a week.
Mijangos added that customers will wait in line specifically for Cohan. Sometimes she’ll open another line when his is backing up, and the people will tell her they want to wait for Cohan.
According to one customer, Mike Lebecki, Cohan is full of life, he engages with others, has a great personality, and he’s just a friendly guy.
“Natt comes from the ‘Greatest Generation,’” Lebecki wrote in an email. “One of doers, not takers. Though it’s my understanding he could certainly retire, that’s not in his calendar. He keeps people laughing and smiling. A true inspiration.”
Mijangos also explained that Cohan’s professionalism is unwavering — he’s always on time and he never calls in sick.
“He’ll come in sick,” Mijangos said. “Last time, his wife had to come and get him out of here. He was like, ‘I’m not going to do that to Stephanie and call in sick.’ We had to send him home.”
On the recent Saturday afternoon before his shift, Mijangos shared stories about Cohan as he moved around the store and was chatting with regular customers and coworkers at nearly every stop.
He got into a brief conversation with one co-worker about the Los Angeles Dodgers. Cohan is quite the Dodgers fan. His store nametag even indicates that he loves the team. He said he’s been following them since they moved to Los Angeles in 1958.
Cohan was quick to jump into another conversation, and after that, you’d have to wait your turn to talk to him again. His strong work ethic and pride in his job seemed undeniable, but what truly stood out was that Cohan remains at the top of his game when it comes to connecting with people.
“My whole thing is having a relationship with people,” he said. “I see people who know me who I don’t even know. They know who I am from coming in. We’ll go somewhere, and they’ll see me and say hello, and my wife says, ‘We can’t go anywhere.’”
From his seat at Starbucks to the checkout lanes at Ralphs, that much was clear. And Cohan? He wouldn’t have it any other way.
Know any unsung heroes or people in the SCV with an interesting life story to tell? Email [email protected].
