“Good Day LA” anchor Araksya Karapetyan learned all she really needed to know at her immigrant family’s Malaga Cove Ranch Market
by Elka Worner
The Malaga Cove Ranch Market is a touchstone for Araksya Karapetyan, linking her family’s proud immigrant story to her own rise to prominence as a respected fixture of local television news.
“I grew up working here. All my cousins did. My sister. All of us did,” recalls Karapetyan, news anchor on KTTV’s “Good Day LA.”
She says she learned lessons at the market that would prove useful throughout her life.
“When you work with your family, you’re not lazy because you know that, ‘if I don’t do it, someone in my family is going to have to pick up the slack,’ so, you definitely have a strong work ethic. You don’t just call in sick.”
Karapetyan says her family would not have been able to immigrate to the U.S. if not for the kindness of her grandfather’s brother, George Tumanjan who left Armenia after World War II and settled in Palos Verdes in the early 1960s. Years later he was able to bring his two brothers, one of whom is her grandfather, and their families to the Peninsula. The Ranch Market, established in 1995, is part of his legacy, she says.
She thinks of him often with admiration, respect, and love — a man who not only lived the American Dream but shared it with others.
“He was not only the patriarch of our family, but the reason I’m doing what I’m doing, the reason this market is here,” she says. “The reason my family established roots in Palos Verdes goes back to that one man who was incredibly generous in bringing two of his brothers and their entire families to Palos Verdes and giving us the opportunity to do what we do now.”
Her aunt and uncle, Nerses and Nune Tumanyan, now run the store, and her 96-year-old grandfather Rafik still comes in to help out.
The family’s entrepreneurial spirit dates back to the 1930s, she says, when her great grandfather had a store in Armenia that sold dried fruits. Even though it was illegal to have a private business under the Communist regime, her great grandfather refused to close his store.
“Because he wouldn’t give it up, they exiled him to Siberia,” Karapetyan says. “He was shot and killed trying to escape.”
“All these years later my family has a store in Palos Verdes and my 96-year-old grandfather is around.”
Even though she was seven years old when she left Armenia, Karapetyan still remembers the family gatherings and parties in her homeland. She also remembers the harsh realities of the Soviet system, which could make even the simplest consumer goods, like children’s shoes, hard to come by.
“Here in America you go to a store, and it’s ‘What do you want? What size? What color?’” she says. But not in the town of Gyumri where she was born. She had to make do with what she had. And that included, once, wearing a pair of boots to a family wedding because no dress shoes could be found.
“There’s a picture of me in this burgundy lace dress and these bright red snow boots. I always say that picture tells the story of what it’s like growing up under communism.”
Karapetyan came to America in 1990 after the devastating Spitak earthquake that destroyed much of her town. Her aunt, a doctor, was among those lost when the local hospital collapsed. “I was so traumatized and begged family members not to go back to their homes,” she told the Armenian Mirror-Spectator. “Ironically we’re in earthquake country in California. So anytime there’s a shake, I do a flashback to moments that are ingrained in my mind.”
Karapetyan spoke fluent Russian and Armenian when she first attended Lunada Bay Elementary School, and quickly learned English watching “I Love Lucy.”
“She’s so animated,” Karapetyan says of actress Lucille Ball. “She helped me learn the language.”
After graduating from Peninsula High School in 2002, she attended Syracuse University in upstate New York to study broadcast journalism.
After college, she came home and started working at her family’s market. While firmly anchored in Malaga Cove, she began reaching out for a career in journalism. She interned at KFI radio, ABC News and Torrance City Cable, where she reported and anchored from the studio.
From there she moved to Idaho Falls for her first job as a network reporter, for $18,000 a year. She was overcome with homesickness, and questioned if she had made the right decision to move so far from her family. She persevered, though. From there she moved to Portland, Oregon to work as an anchor and reporter at KOIN-TV, and after two years accepted an offer at KTTV in Los Angeles. She had a choice to work for Fox in New York or Los Angeles.
“I chose to come back home obviously because this is where my family is. There’s a big Armenian community here and I wanted to play a role in that.”
Every April for Armenian history month, she produces and airs stories about the Armenian community, showcasing the food, music, culture, and history of her people. Sharing her culture is rewarding for her and well received by viewers.
“It’s nice to play a role like that. To have people who are not Armenian email you and say, ‘Hey I’m learning so much, thank you, I had no idea.’”
She also supports many Armenian charities. Last month she flew to New York to host the gala for Children of Armenia Fund, which provides children in rural Armenia opportunities to pursue an education and attend after school programs.
She admits her two worlds are always “meshing, sometimes conflicting, but most of the time in harmony.”
“I’m very connected to my roots, but I’m also very Americanized. I’ve grown up here. My friends are all American. You pick and choose the best of both cultures.”
She credits her Armenian upbringing for providing a strong family foundation.
“I know who I am. I know what I am. I have a very strong understanding of how I was raised, but I love the independence and the freedom and the open-mindedness that my American upbringing has given me in shaping my viewpoint on people and life.”
She has learned through her life experiences and interviewing people and telling their stories that people are more alike than different.
“What does everyone want? They want security, safety, happiness, health. We all want the same things.”
After anchoring six hours of the morning show every day of the week, Karapetyan escapes to the serenity of Palos Verdes, to her husband, who also grew up on the Peninsula, and their two daughters, 5 and 7. Her weekends are often spent at her grandparents’ home.
“For us it’s all about family. I don’t do anything other than that.”
She says the family’s Ranch Market remains a focal point of her life.
“Our core, our foundation is here at the store and so oftentimes you’ll see us come in and when they’re busy and we just jump back in behind the counter and help out. It’s a nice feeling to have that.”
The market is not only a gathering place for the family, but it’s also a focal point for the community, a place to shop for gourmet groceries, hang out, drink coffee, and savor the baklava made from her grandmother’s original recipe. It’s a small business that has managed to survive.
“It’s really humbling and a really nice feeling that my family has had an impact here in Palos Verdes,” she says. “We worked hard to establish that kind of a connection. It’s rewarding. It’s part of the immigrant story.” ER
