Barney Rubinstein was born on December 27, 1889, in St. Louis, Missouri, the oldest child of Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel and Rose. They had come to the U.S. in the early 1880s and settled in the Midwest, where Sam operated a dry goods store. Barney followed in his father’s footsteps, and after marrying Laura in 1924, the couple headed out west, where Barney opened Rubinstein’s in Buena Park. Touted as “Buena Park’s Leading Apparel and Shoe Store,” it was located at 815 S. Grand Ave., and lasted from 1928 to 1934, at which point the Rubinsteins moved to Long Beach.