As one might infer, the recession has been especially hard on retailers. Without paying customers many business have been forced to either close certain locations or go out of business entirely. This has resulted in a surfeit of commercial and retail space available for rent. In fact, it appears that things have gotten so bad that historically ultra-swanky locations which never have vacancies, now do. As such, if you were to stroll down Rodeo Drive or Robertson Blvd. north of Third Street, both in Beverly Hills, you would notice many "for lease" signs. And outside of those two streets, if you were to canvass available retail locations in most of Beverly Hills and parts of West Hollywood you would notice many more.

Since I walk Elke in those locals every morning, I have certainly noticed all those signs. I see them in strip malls, gas stations, stand alone buildings and ground floor retail spaces up and down Pico, Olympic, Wilshire, Beverly and Robertson. Besides inciting within me apprehension of our coming economic apocalypse, I have also noticed that most of those signs list the same two commercial brokers. One works for CB Richard Ellis and the other, BRC Advisors.

I see their names everywhere. I can't get them out of my head. Who are these guys? Why are their names on these signs? They seem to singlehandedly control all the commercial real estate for rent in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. Don't these companies have any other commercial brokers? Are they even real? These guys must be ubermensch, titans, supreme beings with unimaginable powers! How else could they represent so many lessors? Well, today we shall find out.

Houman Mahboubi and Jay Luchs, be you mortals or Gods??