Octogenarian cobbler rescues soles of Beverly Hills

BEVERLY HILLS (Reuters) : Arturo Azinian plucked a pair of Chanel pumps from a box full of shoes, unfazed by the leather peeling off the interlocking Cs on the toes or the tarnished metallic heels. “These have a lot of miles on them, but they will be like new, for about $70,” said Azinian, an 88-year-old Beverly Hills cobbler famous for saving the fancy footwear of the elite in the ritzy 90210 zip code. Just steps from boutique-lined Rodeo Drive sits the decidedly unglamorous Arturo’s Shoe Fixx, where the Argentine immigrant toils for 13 hours a day in a warren of whirring machines and shoes stacked to the ceiling.

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