The devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires have left thousands of restaurant workers in the Los Angeles area without jobs and facing financial hardship. Many establishments were destroyed or damaged, forcing closures and leaving employees with mounting bills and uncertainty about their future.
Felipe Ortega has spent 38 years — more than half of his life — working at Gladstones in Pacific Palisades. He started as a busboy and worked his way to bartender and maintenance worker. But for the foreseeable future, the 64-year-old is out of a job. A week after flames damaged the restaurant and destroyed huge swaths of the oceanside area, Gladstones remained shuttered and inaccessible to the public as the Palisades fire continued to rage.
At the same time, Ortega worried about next month’s rent for his home in Mar Vista. He has bills due, particularly medical bills from his 11-year-old daughter's bout with appendicitis a few months ago. Those costs have already burrowed through much of the savings he socked away. “What are we going to do, papi?” his daughter asked him the other day. He tried to reassure her. But Ortega doesn’t really know. Ortega is one of thousands of workers throughout the L.A. region who are the cornerstone of the restaurant industry. Now, likely hundreds find themselves struggling in the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires. Many have lost their jobs and main source of income after restaurants or cafes were damaged or destroyed by the fires. Some workers have also lost their homes. “These are the people who make restaurants hum. They are the heart of restaurants,” said Alycia Harshfield, president of the California Restaurant Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is helping food and beverage workers affected by the L.A. fires with grants. In response, several restaurant operators and aid organizations have launched fundraisers and GoFundMe accounts for employees. As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, Gladstones' GoFundMe had raised a little more than $21,000 of its $250,000 goal. The restaurant, founded by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan more than 50 years ago, is one of very few structures that remain standing after flames leveled much of the immediate area. The restaurant sustained some damage, but its future remains unclear. “We have many challenges in our near future but none more pressing than seeing that the staff that we and our patrons rely on receives funds to be able to keep their lives and families afloat for the next two months while we work hard to restore life back to the Palisades,” Gladstones' GoFundMe page states. Ortega, one of the longest serving workers at the restaurant, said he doesn’t know much about the fundraising efforts but says he’s hopeful the restaurant will reopen. “Gladstones is my home,” he said. About four miles west in Malibu, the fire destroyed Moonshadows — a more than 40-year-old landmark restaurant on the coast. Wilfredo Quinteros, a 55-year-old food runner at Moonshadows, choked up when he spoke about the fire leveling the restaurant. “I’ve lost my identity,” he said. Quinteros, who worked for 23 years at the restaurant, said he spent more time at work than at his home in Baldwin Hills. Some of his best memories have been at Moonstones, most of them the crimson sunsets from the open-air dining room facing the Pacific Ocean. Quinteros cried when he talked about the restaurant possibly never reopening. “It’s difficult for me to talk about this,” he said. “It hurts.” Quinteros said he also worried about paying his bills and making rent for the apartment he shares with his partner and 13-year-old grandchild. He’s the sole breadwinner. He said he hopes Moonshadows' operators will offer him a job at its sister establishment, the Sunset restaurant in Malibu. But he’s not betting on it. He’s already hunting for a new job, calling friends and colleagues he knows about possible openings. “I know something good will happen. I’m a good worker,” Quinteros said. “I’ll work doing anything. It doesn’t matter to me as long as it’s honest work.” Across the county, roughly half a dozen restaurants in Altadena were razed by the Eaton fire, and many are trying to raise money for their employees. When Matthew Schodorf attempted to check on his Altadena coffee shop Café de Leche on Jan. 8, he and his family drove through “fire raining down in the streets.” The Eaton blaze destroyed the Altadena location of Café de Leche, and with it, the jobs of six employees — the backbone of the local coffee chain’s most successful branch and what made it a neighborhood hub. “ were drawn by our people, by our employees — their connection to all of the guests and knowing all their dogs’ names and their kids’ names and how they're doing at work and their vacations,” Schodorf said. “It was because of our employees that it was that magical place. They looked forward to seeing those faces behind the counter every day. They're really good people, they're really nice people, and they also love coffee.” All six Altadena employees were baristas, including one store manager
Wildfires Restaurant Workers Job Loss Financial Hardship Los Angeles Palisades Fire Eaton Fire Gofundme
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