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Administrator
Fire guts downtown Manhattan Beach businesses
Early morning blaze destroys strip mall in the downtown that includes Old Venice and El Sombrero restaurants, Riley Arts Gallery, 1-hour Photo and Mona Boutique.
By Andrea Sudano
DAILY BREEZE
An early-morning fire ravaged a Manhattan Beach strip mall Tuesday, causing nearly $2 million in damage, destroying five businesses and injuring several firefighters.
The stubborn blaze totaled Old Venice restaurant, El Sombrero restaurant, Riley Arts gallery, Manhattan Beach 1 Hour Photo and Mona Boutique in the 1000 block of Manhattan Avenue, despite efforts by more than 60 firefighters from departments throughout the South Bay, said Manhattan Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Ken Shuck.
Tony's on The Pier
One Hermosa Beach firefighter suffered a severe hand injury that will require surgery, Shuck said. Two other firefighters received minor injuries.
"It's like a bombing," said art gallery owner Kim Riley, watching the destruction from across the street. "Nothing at all is salvageable. There were so many originals. I can't even imagine."
Riley said she hadn't begun to calculate the loss inside her store, noting that her collection included several antique posters from World War I.
She was among throngs of people who gathered on the other side of the street to survey the damage.
Some cried and many hugged as firefighters dismantled the structure.
First called to the scene around 2:30 a.m., firefighters battled the five-alarm blaze throughout the morning, finally defeating the flames around 7 a.m. but working into the afternoon to extinguish hot spots.
After the first alarm, firefighters from Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach responded to the strip of stores to find the fire had already reached the building's roof, Shuck said.
"Heavy, black smoke had filled every hole and orifice," he said. "That's not a good sign for a firefighter."
Help from Los Angeles County, El Segundo, Torrance and Los Angeles city fire departments soon followed, and firefighters battled the blaze from the inside for about an hour before taking a defensive position and fighting it from a safer distance.
Shuck attributed the fire's persistence to the building's construction style.
Once a grocery store, the stucco building with arches and a red tile roof line was built using a method called balloon construction that leaves fire-friendly open spaces throughout the structure, Shuck said.
The blaze appeared to have started in El Sombrero, a Mexican restaurant, and quickly spread laterally throughout the building via a shared attic, he said.
With the blaze just blocks from the ocean, strong eastward-moving winds pushed embers onto businesses across the street, and thick, black smoke into town, nearly obscuring the flames, witnesses said.
Shuck estimated damage to the gutted building at $1.75 million.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but investigators were focusing on the cooking area and stove hoods in El Sombrero's kitchen, he said.
Shuck said investigators could wrap up their physical examination by today, but interviews must be completed and any evidence analyzed before a cause is determined.
Once the investigation is complete, the strip mall's ruins will be razed almost immediately, he added.
By late Tuesday afternoon, crews had completed a majority of the cleanup and any remaining valuables or merchandise were returned to shopkeepers, Shuck said.
Nearly a quarter-mile strip of Manhattan Avenue was closed throughout the day Tuesday, but Shuck said at least a portion of the thoroughfare should be open today.
Another early morning, two-alarm fire gutted an Aviation Boulevard strip mall in Manhattan Beach on Friday.
Shuck said there was no indication the two fires were related.
Riley, the gallery owner, said she couldn't sleep Tuesday morning and was watching television when she first received a telephone call about the fire.
She quickly headed down to the shop to find it engulfed in flames.
"Once it was out, firemen took me over to look," said Riley, who bought the gallery about two years ago. "I broke down. It was the most devastating thing I'd ever seen."
Riley, who leased her gallery space, said she believes the strip mall's owner will rebuild. Attempts to reach the building's owner were not successful.
With some of its kitchen equipment appearing intact from the street, Old Venice restaurant looked to have fared best among the five businesses. A sign hanging over its door with its name and a picture of a gondola seemed unmarred.
But much of the rest of the strip mall was destroyed. The most visible remnant of Riley Arts was a portion of the aqua-blue door its owner said she never liked but found a renewed fondness for Tuesday.
Inside the window of Mona boutique was a pile of charred merchandise, including some handbags and eerily half-burned mannequins still standing.
Huddled with her family, Julie Hantzarides, one of the owners of Old Venice, said she planned to reopen.
"That was our life, not just our business," she said of the restaurant that her family owned for 22 years.
With all five family-owned businesses destroyed, at least 50 employees are out of work, said Ron Miranda, vice president of the Manhattan Beach Downtown Business and Professional Association and owner of Bacchus, a wine store across the street from the strip mall.
By early afternoon, downtown businesses and community members had already organized an account for the displaced employees.
"We at least want to raise enough to get them through the Christmas season," Miranda said.
Corinne Cobabe, who lives near Highland Avenue and Ninth Street, said she smelled smoke around 3 a.m. and followed her neighbors to the fire.
She said both restaurants were popular weekend family spots.
With all five businesses destroyed, the neighborhood suffered a major loss, she said.
Early morning blaze destroys strip mall in the downtown that includes Old Venice and El Sombrero restaurants, Riley Arts Gallery, 1-hour Photo and Mona Boutique.
By Andrea Sudano
DAILY BREEZE
An early-morning fire ravaged a Manhattan Beach strip mall Tuesday, causing nearly $2 million in damage, destroying five businesses and injuring several firefighters.
The stubborn blaze totaled Old Venice restaurant, El Sombrero restaurant, Riley Arts gallery, Manhattan Beach 1 Hour Photo and Mona Boutique in the 1000 block of Manhattan Avenue, despite efforts by more than 60 firefighters from departments throughout the South Bay, said Manhattan Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Ken Shuck.
Tony's on The Pier
One Hermosa Beach firefighter suffered a severe hand injury that will require surgery, Shuck said. Two other firefighters received minor injuries.
"It's like a bombing," said art gallery owner Kim Riley, watching the destruction from across the street. "Nothing at all is salvageable. There were so many originals. I can't even imagine."
Riley said she hadn't begun to calculate the loss inside her store, noting that her collection included several antique posters from World War I.
She was among throngs of people who gathered on the other side of the street to survey the damage.
Some cried and many hugged as firefighters dismantled the structure.
First called to the scene around 2:30 a.m., firefighters battled the five-alarm blaze throughout the morning, finally defeating the flames around 7 a.m. but working into the afternoon to extinguish hot spots.
After the first alarm, firefighters from Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach responded to the strip of stores to find the fire had already reached the building's roof, Shuck said.
"Heavy, black smoke had filled every hole and orifice," he said. "That's not a good sign for a firefighter."
Help from Los Angeles County, El Segundo, Torrance and Los Angeles city fire departments soon followed, and firefighters battled the blaze from the inside for about an hour before taking a defensive position and fighting it from a safer distance.
Shuck attributed the fire's persistence to the building's construction style.
Once a grocery store, the stucco building with arches and a red tile roof line was built using a method called balloon construction that leaves fire-friendly open spaces throughout the structure, Shuck said.
The blaze appeared to have started in El Sombrero, a Mexican restaurant, and quickly spread laterally throughout the building via a shared attic, he said.
With the blaze just blocks from the ocean, strong eastward-moving winds pushed embers onto businesses across the street, and thick, black smoke into town, nearly obscuring the flames, witnesses said.
Shuck estimated damage to the gutted building at $1.75 million.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but investigators were focusing on the cooking area and stove hoods in El Sombrero's kitchen, he said.
Shuck said investigators could wrap up their physical examination by today, but interviews must be completed and any evidence analyzed before a cause is determined.
Once the investigation is complete, the strip mall's ruins will be razed almost immediately, he added.
By late Tuesday afternoon, crews had completed a majority of the cleanup and any remaining valuables or merchandise were returned to shopkeepers, Shuck said.
Nearly a quarter-mile strip of Manhattan Avenue was closed throughout the day Tuesday, but Shuck said at least a portion of the thoroughfare should be open today.
Another early morning, two-alarm fire gutted an Aviation Boulevard strip mall in Manhattan Beach on Friday.
Shuck said there was no indication the two fires were related.
Riley, the gallery owner, said she couldn't sleep Tuesday morning and was watching television when she first received a telephone call about the fire.
She quickly headed down to the shop to find it engulfed in flames.
"Once it was out, firemen took me over to look," said Riley, who bought the gallery about two years ago. "I broke down. It was the most devastating thing I'd ever seen."
Riley, who leased her gallery space, said she believes the strip mall's owner will rebuild. Attempts to reach the building's owner were not successful.
With some of its kitchen equipment appearing intact from the street, Old Venice restaurant looked to have fared best among the five businesses. A sign hanging over its door with its name and a picture of a gondola seemed unmarred.
But much of the rest of the strip mall was destroyed. The most visible remnant of Riley Arts was a portion of the aqua-blue door its owner said she never liked but found a renewed fondness for Tuesday.
Inside the window of Mona boutique was a pile of charred merchandise, including some handbags and eerily half-burned mannequins still standing.
Huddled with her family, Julie Hantzarides, one of the owners of Old Venice, said she planned to reopen.
"That was our life, not just our business," she said of the restaurant that her family owned for 22 years.
With all five family-owned businesses destroyed, at least 50 employees are out of work, said Ron Miranda, vice president of the Manhattan Beach Downtown Business and Professional Association and owner of Bacchus, a wine store across the street from the strip mall.
By early afternoon, downtown businesses and community members had already organized an account for the displaced employees.
"We at least want to raise enough to get them through the Christmas season," Miranda said.
Corinne Cobabe, who lives near Highland Avenue and Ninth Street, said she smelled smoke around 3 a.m. and followed her neighbors to the fire.
She said both restaurants were popular weekend family spots.
With all five businesses destroyed, the neighborhood suffered a major loss, she said.