Background
Leslie "Les" Gold, is a third generation pawnbroker/salesman the grandson of a pawnbroker who once owned company "Sam"s Loans", a now-defunct pawnshop on Michigan Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Les Gold
Edit ProfileCareer
He is known for his role on cable and satellite television truTV"s reality series,
Sam"s Loans was where Gold made his first sale, at age 7. Gold began his first business at age 12, buying pizzas and reselling them by the slice to fellow students at Hebrew School. Gold opened his own pawn shop, American Jewelry and Loan, in 1978, at the Green Eight Shopping Center on 8 Mile Road in Oak Park.
In 1993 he moved it to its present location on Greenfield Road in Detroit near 8 Mile - a 50,000 square foot building that was formerly a bowling alley.
The business now employs about 50 people and serves about 1,000 customers a day. Gold, his family, and his pawn shops are central to the truTV series In 1998, independent producer Richard Dominick saw Gold"s television ads which ran during the local commercial breaks of The Jerry Springer Show, which Dominick was working on at the time.
He saw potential in Les and his business as a reality television show and approached the Gold family with this idea. Les"s son, Seth, was initially reluctant, but Les overruled him and agreed to let the cameras in.
The pilot aired in late 2009.
Dominick is now the series co-executive producer with Mike Gamson. Les and Seth Gold were also credited as Executive Producers, beginning with the third season. The series premiere (August 16, 2010) attracted two million viewers, thus setting a record as truTV"s most-watched premiere.
As of June 2013, the viewership exceeded 3 million.
Gold supports The Heat And Warmth Fund ("THAW Fund"), which helps local families pay their heat and electricity bills. In February 2013, a fund-raising party dubbed "Hardcore THAW" and held after-hours in his store raised more than $40,000 for the organization.
