Balazs had his first big break with a one-man show in Chicago at the reputable Distelheim Gallery followed by a commission to paint the portrait of Ray Kroc, McDonald's founder, at the age of twenty-three. Relocating to Hollywood, Calif. following his father in 1967, he became art director at Liberty Records, which was later acquired by United Artist Records. From 1967 to 1971 Szabo lived in L.A. He had a successful one man exhibition on ABC TV . Following the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, he moved to Hawaii with his wife where he spent the next twenty years. After his divorce he remarried and had two sons Sandor in 1982 and Dominik in 1985.