License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver

Great book. Read it cover to cover on the plane on my way to Vegas. The book has wonderful insights on Rick's beginnings and his struggle to overcome his seizures. The book goes on to discuss their life in San Diego, right down the street from Jack Murphy stadium (Qualcom stadium now) in Mission Valley. The old man comes into the living room one day says "time to move on boys, we just can't make a go of it here anymore." Back then the mother and the old man were into real estate. The family moves to Vegas were Rick talks about how he fought the city about getting a pawn license. Apparently in Clark County the rules are that you have to get a pawn license based on the city's population. So Rick checks in weekly to find out what Las Vegas city's population is. At the time he started calling in, the city's population was 220,000 people(that was back in the late 70's). He called in till the cities population grew to 250,000 people. Apparently Clark County only issues pawn shop licenses for every 50,000 people. So when the cities population grew to 250,000, Rick went to the city's courthouse to get a license and they said they were not issuing licenses. The words that Rick used were "we aren't accepting those", What a crock, so the old man and Rick get a lawyer and fight the city to get a license and succeed. The original location of the pawn shop was downtown on Freemont Street, but then they moved and got zoned to move the Pawn shop to Las Vegas Blvd in 1988. You'll love the story about the local councilman who was against the Harrison's opening the pawnshop and then changed his tune to fully support them. (Guess Brad Pitt has it right in Ocean's 11; in this town your luck can change just that quickly). Pretty interesting story about Corey and Chumlee and how they were on drugs from age 17 to 22 on meth. They used to just sit in a trailer and just do drugs all day. I guess one day Rick and Old Man had them sent to a job program in Reno which did them a lot of good. Corey comes back from the job program to start doing drugs again, but midstream stops doing drugs and swears off of it for life. He starting telling himself every time he wanted to get "high" he would eat a double bacon cheeseburger at Carl's Jr. Back then Corey was about 150lbs. Chumlee also stoped doing drugs and both of them starting to work for Rick. One of Rick's moneymaking ideas was buying a Quizno's by the federal building downtown Las Vegas. Chumlee and Corey worked there for a while. The thought was that having this business would do well since many other restaurants were father away and federal workers would want to order sandwiches from this Quizno's. But Rick failed to check into the food court that was built inside the federal building and because of this the business failed. Oh well, good try. The way the old man is on the show is how his story is told in the book. He is pretty "crusty" and is comes through in his section of the book. However, he is a good man, takes care of family and served the Navy proudly for 20 years. So the guy you see on TV, is the same guy in the book. One story that the old man is very familiar with is their recognizable customers. There is a story about a guy who came into the shop every day and used to do chores for "buck". The story is great about how he carts a load of alcohol up and down Las Vegas Blvd for "buck". The story ends with him getting into a rather unusual act with "peaches"(Corey's cousin") and Corey has to tell the guy he has to leave. The guy dies 6 months after that. Pretty sad. Rick ends the book with a some his thoughts and people he has run into. Like he says in "Pawn Stars", "one thing I learned after 21 years, you never know that is going to walk into that door".For anyone who loves the show will love this book. Highly recommend.

I really don't have a lot to add to the reviews already written, as they have pretty much summed it up. If you like the show (and I've watched it since the very first episode), you'll find the book very interesting. The best thing is that it lets you see Old Man, Rick, Corey and Chumlee as real people instead of just characters on a reality show. It also shows you that this family didn't have their current success handed to them, but came by it only after many years of struggle and hard work.Someone previously mentioned feeling sorry for the Old Man for not being able to work the counter anymore. The reason none of the four Pawn Stars can work the counter any longer is because by law, a pawn is private transaction. Nowadays, with the shop packed all day with tourists with cameras and video recorders trying to get photos of the four guys, the privacy of any transaction they're involved in is compromised.It's been a year since I visited the shop on a jaunt to Las Vegas. Just to give you an idea of the impact the TV show has had on this small business, a good part of the shop is now dedicated to souvenir sales - T-shirts, shot glasses, bobble heads, refrigerator magnets, etc. (they move all that stuff out when filming in that part of the store). Before the show started, they had 12 employees. Now they have 47. I dropped by mid-morning and the parking lot was about full (but I did get a space). I was able to walk right in, though the store was packed full of people and it's not very big. I drove by later in the day and there was a line of people down the sidewalk waiting to get in. In the book, Rick relates that they now have security outside that lets in 60 people at a time and they've also installed misters outside to cool down the people waiting in line. When I was there, the Old Man was sitting at his desk behind the counter and they had that area roped off with a sign that said something to the effect that you weren't supposed to enter that area unless you were doing business with the shop. I kind of felt sorry for him, as he was kind of like an animal in a zoo, with everyone staring at him. A couple of people waved at him to get his attention and asked if they could get photos with him. He eventually came out on the floor to do photos. He didn't look like he was having fun (but even on the TV show, he never looks like he's having fun - even when he is! LOL). Now that they've built new offices in the back, my guess is that you would be lucky to see any of the four stars if you were to drop by these days. I'm sure they stay in the back as much as possible as it would be next to impossible to get any work done out front with the hoards of fans constantly bugging them.Rick's put together a really entertaining companion for the TV show. As previously stated, if you like the TV show, then the book is highly recommended.

An informative and amusing account containing numerous interesting anecdotes. Occasionally made tedious by crude repetition. Describes violence, addiction and theft on both sides of the counter. Predictably, the ever-narcissistic Harrison invests expanses of text asserting his self-appraised genius; a delusional theme which serves to introduce an element of unintentional humour. He states that he “never had so much fun” when recounting his foray into motor vehicle repossessions. It’s hard to warm to him. Overall, a good book, which would have been enhanced by contributions from a wider gallery of the show’s contributors - security, production, external appraisers and restorers...

This was a very enjoyable read, I have followed the T.V. Show religiously and enjoyed it enormously and the book did not disappoint in any way,I was quite taken aback to learn about Rick's early life, and Corey too it was a real eye opener with quite a few shocks, the old man (who I have a soft spot for)Comes across as a very hard working devoted family man , so a very informative , hugely enjoyable book, well done Rick!!! Would love another book possible about the clients over the years?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the Harrison family, and Chumlee, and how they got to be where they are today. As a fan of the programme this was a really interesting read and as well as finding out more about those involved in the business, I learned some really interesting facts. My only complaint would be that it was a bit of a short autobiography, I definitely think Rick could have shared more of his experiences, still, a great read for anyone who likes the show.

Couldn't put this book down, was a great read from start to finish!Very interesting to find out more about Rick Harrison , his Dad "Old Man," Corey and Chumlee.Warts and all, sometimes funny, a bit sad in parts. Rick showed great determination to get where he is today, with a bit of luck along the way.Worth 5 stars Rating.

If you like the show there is some interesting background info here, especially about Big Hoss and Chumlee's drug problems and Rick's problems as a kid. However there is not enough new good stuff, there is a lot of repetition and it is really quite a thin volume that is padded out to a hardback.I also get the feeling that some of this is sugar-coated because there is an image, a brand.Not a bad read but you'll whizz through it quite quickly and you might find that it was a bit thin and so an expensive buy.I would have liked to hear a lot more about the aggro in the store/night window, the profits they've made and the losses. There is some of this stuff in there but much of it is already in the show and so not particulalrly new if you a regular viewer anyway.I am glad I read it but I think it is too expensive for what it is.The T-Shirts they sell online are expensive too. Rick is a shrewd businessman. He knows this a fad, and you'll pay for it.If you love the show buy it, if you casually interested bear in mind the cost for what it is...