Jerome "Mr. O" Oxman, the owner of Oxman's Surplus, said that the renovations have been a wonderful experience for him to have this store and to share his collection of military history for his customers.

"It's been a thrill for me working 49 terrific years here," he said. "I'm very happy with everything."

He thanked his wife of 63 years, Miriam, for being by his side and for being "instrumental in everything I did in this building."

Mrs. Oxman hoped that the months of renovations to the store would be rewarding for the family.

"We've been working night and day for months and I hope we'll be rewarded by our efforts," she said. "It has been a magnificent adventure and going through these artifacts bring back memories to Oxman's."

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Jerome Oxman served in the United States Army during World War II. He married his wife in 1947 and settled in California shortly after their honeymoon and has lived here since, starting his postwar work as a bidder on military products.

What is now known as Oxman's Surplus today was originally a series of storage facilities for his mail-order business after he left Palley's Supplies in 1958, people in the community started noticing his supplies as he acquired many items but had no room to store it.

"[Mr. O] bought so much stuff and didn't know where to put, he started putting it in the parking lot and people started looking at it and asked 'What the heck is that?'" his son Jason Oxman recalled. "Pretty soon they started looking in the open garage door and said 'We're going to have to see what you've got here. This is incredible.' So that's how the retail store was born."

Since it opened in 1961, Oxman's Surplus has grown into a full-service military supply store. It is still a family business, with the 95-year-old Oxman along with his sons Murray and Jason running the day-to-day business.

Mel Coats, who has been a regular customer to Oxman's since his childhood, often came to the store to look at military surplus stuff and MREs for camping trips.

"It is a very neat place to go," he said. "There's no other place where you can see things like this."

City councilman Hal Malkin, who used to own the Rexall pharmacy near the store, has known the Oxmans for 40 years and his family has had fond memories.

"My children used to come to Oxman's Surplus when they had the new candies," he said. "Jerry used to roll out the new candies on his side of Valley View and I would get the new candies my side."

Malkin added that the Oxman family has been a big supporter of the La Mirada community, including the youth football, baseball and soccer teams.

For more information, visit www.oxmans-surplus.com.