For more than 70 years, the Cusumano family has been deeply invested in the growth and prosperity of the Burbank–Toluca Lake area. Their thriving business, the Cusumano Real Estate Group, has literally helped shape the local landscape by building and maintaining commercial, office and residential properties that continue to attract residents, businesses and visitors to the area and drive economic progress. The family has also made a mark on civic life with their dedicated philanthropic involvement in community institutions, including Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center. But just as the Cusumanos have played a leading role in local history, they have also been formed by it, through decades of living, working and forging strong connections in the community they love.
The Cusumano family traces their own history back to Sicilian ancestors who emigrated to New York around 1911, but they planted roots in Southern California after Charles and Anita Cusumano decided to move cross-country in 1948 with their children, Ann, Chuck, Roger and Joe, plus Charles’ mother, Anna. After considering several L.A. neighborhoods, they chose to settle in Burbank, which Charles saw as a true all-American community full of people who, like him, valued having a safe and peaceful place where they could build a good life for their families.
Chuck describes the Burbank of his youth as a quiet but growing town that still had unpaved alleys, some vacant lots, the occasional horseback rider and a lot of rolling tumbleweed. He remembers riding his bike everywhere, including to Lakeside Golf Club, where he and his friends would sneak over the fence to fish for bass in Toluca Lake. With a strong work ethic instilled by their parents, the three Cusumano brothers earned their first business success as paperboys, selling the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and Los Angeles Times door to door.
Chuck graduated from John Burroughs High School in 1959; all of his siblings and children would go on to graduate from John Burroughs as well. Chuck was eager to start a career and family, and he and his wife, Dianna, eventually had five children: Michael, Charlie, Christina, Danny and Matt. To support their growing brood, in addition to working full-time as a meter reader for the gas company right out of high school, Chuck obtained his real estate license in 1964 and began working as a residential agent on the side. As his early paper-route prowess had demonstrated, he had a knack for sales, and he loved helping families achieve the dream of home ownership. He also recognized, however, that getting into other areas of the real estate business could take his career to the next level. Starting with a nine-unit Burbank apartment complex in 1965, he and his brother Roger began purchasing buildings, investing in development projects and reinvesting their profits into a growing portfolio that included residential, commercial and industrial properties. Chuck acquired his real estate broker’s license in 1968, left his job at the gas company shortly thereafter and by the mid-1970s had established a brokerage business, an investment company and a mortgage company, as well as acquiring the realty company where he had once been an agent.
The business has become a true family affair, including Chuck, his brother Roger, his sons Michael, Charlie and Danny, and the next generation of Cusumanos as well. Dedicated to imparting the principles he’d learned from his own father, Chuck got his sons involved at a young age, starting with mowing lawns, cleaning and making repairs on the family’s properties. But there was still plenty of time for them to enjoy growing up in the close-knit, family-oriented communities of south Burbank and Toluca Lake; eldest son Michael reminisces about walking to Patys, playing football at Burroughs High (as did brothers Charlie and Danny), celebrating birthdays and holidays at the Smoke House and hanging out at Bob’s Big Boy after football games, just as his father had 20 years before. Michael went on to become the first member of the Cusumano family to graduate from college, earning his bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA in 1984. Charlie followed shortly thereafter with a degree from USC in 1986, and the two brothers soon assumed lead roles in the day-to-day operations of the family business. The Cusumano Real Estate Group was formed in the mid-1980s, with Chuck, Roger, Michael and Charlie as partners.
“One of the things that I am most proud of is that this remains a family business, and that many of our family work and continue to pursue the vision that was at the heart of this endeavor from the beginning,” Chuck says. “My only regret is that my father, who passed away at a young age after a lengthy battle with cancer when we were teenagers, didn’t live to see the success that this business has become.”
A major step forward in that success came in the early 1980s, when Chuck saw a pivotal opportunity to invest in the future of the community. The Burbank City Council was looking for ways to better serve residents, attract visitors and boost its downtown economy, which had become stagnant and rundown after gradually losing businesses to new developments in other areas. Chuck proposed to build the largest development project he had ever undertaken: a 65,000-square-foot office building on a 2.1-acre parcel on the corner of Olive Avenue and First Street. To sweeten the deal, he was able to land a highly sought-after tenant: the restaurant/nightclub Bobby McGee’s, popular for the eclectic themed décor and costumed servers at its dozens of locations nationwide. Although the chain was hesitant to open in such an unproven locale, Chuck was adamant in his faith in his hometown — and he was right. The restaurant proved a huge success when it opened in 1984, becoming the chain’s top revenue producer and a destination for people from all over the Southland. (The site remains popular today as BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse.) The development not only established the Cusumanos as major players in their industry, but also marked a turning point in the revitalization of downtown Burbank.
Since then, the company has continued to expand its portfolio with significant properties throughout California and other states. The most notable of those is Talaria, Burbank’s largest-ever mixed-use residential project, which opened in the Media District in early 2019 after a more than 10-year effort to develop the prime location and design and construct the LEED Gold-certified building, which includes 241 luxury apartments and a flagship Whole Foods store. But investing in economic growth isn’t the only way the Cusumanos work to give back to their local community. Following the example of matriarch Anita, who volunteered at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center for more than 20 years, the family is one of the hospital’s principal benefactors, as well as generously providing their time, leadership and philanthropy to many other civic and charitable organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank, Burbank Family Services Agency, Burbank Temporary Aid and Goodwill Industries of Southern California.
Through it all, the family has maintained a reverence for their roots and pride in the history of their hometown. “Burbank/Toluca Lake has some of the richest and most unique historical relevance of any community in the country,” Chuck says. “Toluca Lake was the home of so many of the pioneers in the entertainment industry, such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Roy Disney, and on and on and on — these legends were walking down our streets, eating at the Smoke House and playing golf at Lakeside while at the same time establishing Toluca Lake and Burbank as the center of the entertainment world. The same is true for the aerospace industry: Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, Kelly Johnson and nearly every other aerospace pioneer knew that Burbank was where aviation history was being made in the early years of the industry.”
Chuck notes that some of the places that made the area so distinctive and hold nostalgic memories for his family have been lost over time. “Jason’s, Sorrentino’s, the Money Tree and Val’s were all unique venues that reflected the essence of Toluca Lake years ago. Don’s Place on Olive Avenue, The Kings Arms, China Trader, the Pickwick drive-in and the Cornell Theatre were all among our favorite places decades ago,” he reflects. However, there are still many spots where locals can experience a taste of the storied past: “We are fortunate that many of the special places that we grew up with in Burbank and Toluca Lake are still thriving and remain favorites of ours. Bob’s Big Boy, Castaway and the Smoke House all continue to remind us of a time gone by.”
Asked how he views the Cusumanos’ place in that history, Chuck says, “We hope that our family’s legacy in the community would be reflected in the buildings that we build, and in the philanthropic investment that we have made and continue to make, in our desire to build a better, more vibrant and more unique community.” As the 100th anniversary of Toluca Lake approaches in 2023, the family maintains their confidence in the area’s greatness and urges everyone to ensure the next century continues the success story. “Let’s work together to make our community an even better and safer place at every opportunity,” Chuck says. “We especially encourage all of our neighbors to embrace our special community and enjoy all that it has to offer.”
