Since giving up his over-sized desk, microphone and braces after an incredible 25-year run, the retired CNN talkshow host Larry King now spends his mornings hanging out at a bagel cafe in an upmarket area of Los Angeles.
Every morning, the sprightly 77-year-old broadcaster and his friends occupy a corner booth – which sometimes boasts a decorative microphone in his honour – while his driver waits patiently outside in his limo.
King recently become a shareholder in The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co, and as he now owns 50% of its fifth franchise in Beverly Hills – bringing a slice of his birthplace, Brooklyn, to California – it literally pays him to eat and be seen here.
"I said to myself, someday if I could have a beautiful, tall wife and my own bagel shop, life would be complete," laughs King. "I couldn't do any of this when I was at CNN, but now I have fewer restrictions."
His desire to expand his empire into his eighth decade might also have something to do with the way his family struggled financially after his father, a restaurant owner, died when he was only nine. "I romanticise it, but there were a lot of unhappy days in Brooklyn when I felt inferior to the friends around me because I didn't have their money," he recalls.
Despite the fact he left New York in 1957, Brooklyn still holds a special place in King's heart. Does owning part of this franchise transport him back to his roots? "In a way, yes," he says. "I left Brooklyn, but it never left me – and in retrospect it was the world's best upbringing. I had great friends, and a great sense of community. I also have a sense of loyalty that was ground into me in Brooklyn. That's the number one attribute I still look for in people. My friends come in here, but you won't get anything out of them. They don't talk."
King knows exactly how he likes his bagels: "I was raised on lox, so I like the salty bagel, open with no butter, cream cheese and smoked salmon. I like them to scoop out the middle, so it's not as fattening." And having a stake in your own bagel company means you can get it just the way you like it.
