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A Brief History

The McWhorter family established City Upholstery in the 1930's. Mr. McWhorter operated the business out of his detached two-car garage until his death in 1960. That same year Mrs. McWhorter, who no could longer maintain the business, put it up for sale.Having seen the add in the local paper, Ken Waters talked to the family and purchased the business which consisted of one sewing machine, some work tables and a handful of tools. They allowed Ken to rent out of their garage until he could find a permanent location to set up shop.
In '61, Ken and his wife Ann - who was pregnant with their first child - had saved enough money and were ready to make their move. They had found the perfect location in an up-and-coming area on the north side of Pasadena. Ken bought the building on Sterling and Richey and immediately dug in. The business took off fast. This was a prime location in 1961 and a lot of building and new construction was going on; in this case… too much...
Because after being located there for only two years, He found himself in a precarious position. The county had decided that the new highway they were putting in (Highway 225) needed its feeder road to run right through the center of City Upholstery! He was forced to sell, and the county purchased the building from Ken for nickels and dimes.
Distraught, Ken and Ann were left to search for yet another location for the business. Scraping together the little amount of money they had, they found a building for rent on Wafer. Business was slow to pick up, but after a year in the new location it became steady once again. But the business' bad luck was not quite over.
Six months later, due to faulty wiring, a fire ripped through the old building destroying everything in it. Everything was gone; sewing machines, supplies, tools and every piece of furniture in the shop! Ken purchased new furniture for all the customers who had furniture destroyed by the fire, but since there was no insurance on the building, Ken and Ann were broke and without a shop.
Not giving up hope, Ken and Ann moved the business to an inexpensive building on Southmore. It was small, but at least it kept City Upholstery open and operating. Ken took a second job at Joskey's during the day and worked at the shop at night. Ann as always, did the accounting and taxes while staying home with, now, two children. A year of grueling schedule and Ken and Ann had had enough. Throughout the past six years City Upholstery had built a fine reputation in the community as a top quality upholstery shop and its customer base was steadily growing. It was time to move to a larger building and focus strictly on the business.
Ken quit his job at Joskey's and settled into a 2000 sq. ft building on Preston and Southmore. With three employees and a backlog of calls by anxious customers, Ken got to work on rebuilding City Upholstery once again. The business prospered there for the next 25 years. Sadly in 1985, at the age of 57 Ken Waters passed away due to a heart attack. After dedicating his life to his dream, suffering all the hardships of starting and starting over, everything was taken from him in one night. The family was devastated. They were also at odds with what to do with the family business. No one in the immediate family had studied upholstery. Ann had always kept the books and had made calls - she could run the business end but knew nothing of the work.
After long consideration Ann and her family decided to keep the business running. With the help of Felipe Silguero, a longtime employee who had learned from Ken, the family received a crash course in upholstery. Donna, the middle Daughter, learned to do the bookwork while Ann quickly learned to be a fine seamstress and an excellent saleswoman. Robert, their youngest, learned the actual upholstery work. With Felipe, one other employee and its new family crew, City Upholstery and Ken's dream was kept alive. A robbery in 1990 forced a downsize once again, and we moved to our current location at 2803 E. Southmore in 1991. With many years since of running a fulfilling business, we have enjoyed our work and our customers.

A Labor of Love

By: Robert J Waters 2021

I have been around the upholstery business all of my life. I remember hanging out at the shop after school, helping my dad with deliveries and cleaning up while making a few bucks along the way. I enjoyed riding across town with him to pick up goods from the supply houses, most of which are no longer around, and going on estimates as well. But in those early years and even into my teen years I never had the desire to learn the trade... much to my father's disappointment. We will just chalk it up to being young and the wanting-to-pave-your-own-road-kind-of-thing.
After high school I went to college in 1985. My father told me that he would pay for my education as long as I kept up my grades. I really wanted to try, but I didn't have the motivation. So one day I stopped at the army recruiter's desk that was conveniently set up in front of the student center, and after talking with them, I enlisted. The following week I took my aptitude and MOS tests and was told I had a few weeks before I had to sign the final paperwork to make it official. During that time my father passed away from a sudden heart attack. I will never forget how helpless and devastated my family and I were after his passing. He was a good man and provided for my mother and us selflessly through the years. After the funeral, my mother sat the family down and explained to us that she wanted to somehow keep the business going. We all agreed that we would help her out as best as we all could. We struggled at first to learn the workings of the business as well as the trade skills themselves. Luckily we had some of my dad's employees that stuck with us to help us learn both, and with much hard work we did. Needless to say I didn't sign the final paperwork to join the Army... and I am glad that I didn't.
In the beginning, both of my sisters and my brother-in law helped in the business, and my mom carried the business end as well as some of the upholstery work, while I steadily learned the trade. I think it took us two or three years before we felt like we had our hands on the reins, but after that we were rolling. As the years passed, my sisters Donna and Debbie had their own careers to dedicate themselves to, but my mother and I remained a team. We welcomed challenging projects and took them head on, and we worked well together making business decisions and improving the business as we went along. Other employees came and went over the years. There were many great people who helped us carve our name in the community, but she and I always worked hard together to make the business better and improve our skills to make our company and our service the best we could as we built our following.
After 23 years of working together, and after so many projects and challenges, in August of 2008 I lost my mother to cancer. Most people couldn't imagine working with one of their parents for so many years, and for that matter, what parent could imagine working with their kid for as many years, but we were lucky that we had such a great relationship. We were such good friends, and it was like a part of me went with her when she died. Her passing changed the spirit of City Upholstery forever. She was such a warm, friendly and encouraging woman, and that is what brought such enjoyment to our customers. I miss her for that and so much more.
While she was home or in the hospital battling her disease, She would call and help me along with the day-to-day work that she always did. And there was a lot! After all of those years, I was very settled into the role of worker, pick-up and delivery guy and the occasional salesman. I never had much or anything to do with the accounting, taxes, bills, inventory, ordering, scheduling or customer relations. I was overwhelmed. But I listened and learned from her. She got to spend the last 2 months or so at the shop working with customers and helping me, and most importantly just doing what she loved. She and I together saved the business after my dad passed and continued building it to what it is today. I am so glad that I was able to be part of that and I know that she was too.
I have, as of this writing, been running the shop without her for 13 years, and I can only hope that I have come close to what her and my father's expectations would have been. There are times that I feel both of their presence with me as I press on and try to make City Upholstery the best that it can be. Thank you to all of my friends and family for the love, guidance and encouragement, and especially thanks to all of our customers throughout the years who have supported us!

Meet the Family

Ken Waters
1929-1985 Original Owner
Ken Waters. Husband, father of 6 . Ken started the business in 1961, and was a talented Upholsterer and savy businessman. He was active in the community all his life and still had time to run the shop and raise a family.
Annette Waters
1936-2008 Original Owner
Annette Waters. Wife of Ken, mother of 3. She was an amzing seamstress / upholsterer / saleswoman. She was the cheerful smiling face that greeted anyone who came through our doors, and the cool head that kept the shop in order.
Robert Waters
Current Owner
Robert Waters. Husband and father of 2. Robert took the business over completely in 2008 when his mother Ann passed away. He is detail oriented and always has had an eye for design. Robert also has a deep love for music.