With the Islamic Revolution imminent, the Nazarian family left Iran before the Shah because the Israeli ambassador told them that they needed to leave. Until then, the Nazarian family had very close ties with Israel because of Younes’ businesses and relationships with Israeli companies. Sharon Nazarian spent many summers in Israel, where she would go to camp and where her grandmother lived. The family believed its best option was to leave Iran and move to Israel. Because Iran broke relations with Israel, the Nazarian family could not even have phone connections with Iran. That isolation made it very difficult for the family to know what was happening to their home and businesses in Iran.  As a result, Younes decided to come to America. The family came to America hoping that they could somehow find out what was happening with the situation in Iran and maybe even recoup some of their investments, home, and businesses. They felt that being in Israel made it even more difficult to handle their affairs, so Younes decided to move the family all to America, and that is when they moved to Los Angeles.

Comment on this page