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Gelateria Genuino

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Uli's Gelato
Gelateria Genuino

In this story from the Life & Thyme archives, we meet the Los Angeles couple team behind Gelateria Uli in the Spring Arcade building. This month, the couple adds a second location, now open at 8044 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048.

 

When I first meet Uli Nasibova and Ryan Vaillancourt, the husband-and-wife team behind Gelateria Uli, it is early on a Saturday morning in Downtown Los Angeles, one that weathermen have promised will climb high into the nineties. This is gelato weather. I wander the historic Spring Arcade building that houses Nasibova’s shop. Vaillancourt greets me with a fresh cup of coffee and recounts some of the structure’s history — its initial opening in 1924, its current home to two residential towers, and the original sign slots for each stall they’ve made a point to use for their own business.

 

Not every entrepreneur becomes so acquainted with their surroundings, but I quickly learn this is their style. There isn’t a detail about Gelateria Uli the couple hasn’t researched, examined and devoured. This level of engagement with each molecule is how they approach every element. They are active participants in their business and their lives.

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It’s befitting of Nasibova and Vaillancourt’s history. The couple met at Colorado College where Nasibova double-majored in French literature and mathematical economics (an indication of Nasibova’s left-brain/right-brain efficiencies, which make her a rare and valuable breed of both innovator and impresario). After Vaillancourt headed to L.A. pursuing a career in journalism, Nasibova followed and stepped into the world of finance, citing its practicality.

 

Like many small business stories, the provenance of Gelateria Uli begins with seeds of professional dissatisfaction, but the couple also credits a swelling devotion to the community they found in their new home of Downtown Los Angeles.

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