Not All Billboards Eyesores

L.A. Daily News, 2/14/2007
By Rick Coco

What better way to show your girlfriend a sign of your love than to literally show her a sign of your love?

Roberto Giliberti, 30, of Thousand Oaks did just that Tuesday when he plastered a billboard on Ventura Boulevard with the words, "Malia, will you marry me? Love, Roberto."

As loads of evening commuters drove through the busy thoroughfare - and with Malia Kim's teary-eyed family looking on, Giliberti removed Kim's blindfold, pointed to the huge red sign with white lettering just northeast of Lindley Avenue, dropped to one knee and proposed marriage.

And after a surprised moment, Kim said ... yes.

"I had no idea," Kim, 21, said after being whisked to the intersection in a limousine. "I was really shocked ... I just thought we were going to dinner."

"Everybody will remember it," said a jubilant and somewhat relieved Giliberti. "She'll remember it, and that's what important."

The pair have been dating for about two years and met while working together in Calabasas and Westlake Village, where Giliberti manages several restaurants and Kim, a student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, works as a waitress and bartender.

At a dinner with friends a few months ago, the marriage question came up. A mutual friend said since he worked for a major jeweler, he might be able to help move the engagement process along.

"Whenever I'd mention it," Kim said about getting engaged, "(Giliberti would) say, "let's wait, let's wait."

Little did she know that Giliberti's friend contacted him and suggested a billboard proposing marriage and his company, Robbins Bros. Jewelers, would pay for it.

Tuesday's event helped promote a service the company has in which men buying engagement rings can get advice and assistance from the company in how to best "op the question."

"(Giliberti) wanted to do something really special for her." said Tracey Lyles, a Robbins Bros. spokeswoman "He wanted something to really 'wow' her."

It seems Kim - along with her family - has been wowing Giliberti all along. A native of Italy, Giliberti said his close-knit family has a lot in common with Kim's who are half-Polynesian with Hawaiian roots.

"She loves her family as much as I love mine," he said.

Kim's father, Jeffrey Kim of Simi Valley, who witnessed the proposal along with his wife, Brenda, and several of their children, was elated, heaping loads of praise on his future son-in-law.

"I knew he would do something big; I didn't know it would be this big," he said. "But now the real work begins."

"I have to plan the wedding."

Back to main page