To operate legally, businesses must have a valid business license/permit. I visited the city halls of Huntington Beach and San Gabriel, attempting to verify the business addresses of Michael's Computers. Marina Del Rey does not have a city hall because it is not an incorporated city.

Officials at the Huntington Beach City Hall confirmed that a business license for Michael's Computers was inactive. It had been active from December 2000 to January 01, 2004.

Los Angeles County handles all business licenses for Marina Del Rey. Officials with the Business Licensing Department have confirmed that a business license is NOT required to setup a computer business in Marina Del Rey.

Officials at the San Gabriel City Hall confirmed that Michael's Computers does not have a valid business license in San Gabriel. In addition, no pending applications were on file as of March 2, 2004.

Office Addresses

The search for Michael's Computers spanned four locations in three cities (two in Huntington Beach, one in Marina Del Rey and one in San Gabriel). The Huntington Beach locations were listed in a WHOIS search of www.michaelscomputers.com The Marina Del Rey location was listed on the Website. Finally, the San Gabriel location was listed with the Better Business Bureau.

I figured that one of these addresses had to be the real office of Michael's Computers. The first address turned out to be a condo on Applewood Circle. No one was home. The second address was a house on Alexandria Drive. Neighbors confirmed that Michael Gonzales used to live there, but moved out after a divorce. Neighbors also said they didn't see any computers moving to/from the house.

Even though Christiaan Allebest had already visited and photographed the Marina Del Rey location, I decided to visit it myself. I took video of the outside and inside of the store. UPS employees confirmed that box 359 belonged to Michael J. Gonzales and was started on December 31, 2003.

Videos are in DivX format. You can obtain DivX for free here .

My last chance was the City of San Gabriel. At approximately 4:00 PM on March 2, 2004 I arrived at 800 block of Padilla Ave. It was a decent sized house with two pickup trucks parked in the driveway. I walked up the driveway, thinking to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if he had michaelscomputers.com on his license plate?" Guess what? Both pickup trucks had license plate frames that read, "Fastest PCs, Michaelscomputers.com".

BINGO!!! I was in the right place. I ran to my car, grabbed the video camera and ran back to ring the doorbell.