Transient Held as Suspect in Store Fires : Arson: Arrest comes after a restaurant customer sees a smoky-smelling man in a restroom several blocks from scene of the blazes.

A 37-year-old transient wearing clothes that smelled of smoke was arrested Thursday as a suspect in the string of arson fires that caused $2.5 million in damage to six Ventura Boulevard stores in Studio City a day earlier, Los Angeles police said.

John Kellogges was arrested at 9:30 a.m. in the restroom of a restaurant about 10 blocks from the fire area. Lt. Michael Ranshaw said officers were dispatched to Charles’ restaurant in the 11000 block of Ventura Boulevard after a patron recognized Kellogges as matching the description of the suspect being sought in connection with the three fires that started within 30 minutes of one another.

Customer Harold Van Buskirk saw Kellogges staring at himself in a bathroom mirror and quickly told waitress Colleen Stinchfield about his suspicions.

“I came out of the bathroom and said, ‘Colleen, I think your arsonist is in there,’ and she said, ‘Yeah, right,’ ” Van Buskirk said. “I told her I really meant it and she gave me the quarter to call police.”

The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that the fires, which started about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, gutted the Pier 1 Imports and Strouds Linen Warehouse, damaged three other businesses in the 12100 block of Ventura Boulevard and slightly damaged the Bed, Bath and Beyond store in the 12500 block.

Several witnesses told fire investigators they saw a man in his mid-30s with slicked-back black hair, dark pants and jacket and a purple shirt, fleeing two of the fires. Some witnesses described the man as mumbling, and others said he had made a statement about a man “looking at a mirror” who had started a fire.

“He matched the description and he did smell like smoke,” Lt. Ranshaw said after Kellogges was arrested.

Police declined to reveal whether any evidence connecting Kellogges to the fires was seized. However, Van Buskirk said he saw burned paper and hair in a toilet in the restroom before leaving to call police.

The suspect was turned over to Fire Department arson investigators, who questioned him for several hours before he was jailed on suspicion of arson, police said.

Investigators had no details about Kellogges’ background, and officials refused to discuss whether they had discovered a motive or how the fires were started.

Van Buskirk, 44, who lives in a motor home he usually parks in a nearby commuter lot, is a regular customer at the restaurant. He said that on Thursday morning he had his usual cup of coffee and discussed the fires with Stinchfield, his regular waitress.

Before leaving, Van Buskirk made a trip to the restroom, which can be entered from outside the restaurant. He said the room smelled heavily of smoke and he saw Kellogges staring in the mirror above the sink.

Then the suspect washed his hands and began combing his hair, never looking away from the mirror. Van Buskirk said he flushed burned paper and hair down a toilet before he realized who the man at the mirror might be. He then backed out of the room.

Van Buskirk said police did not arrive at the restaurant for about 30 minutes, but Kellogges never left the restroom.

“My heart started pounding a little bit because I didn’t want him to get away,” he said. “If he had walked out, I would have followed but the police finally got there.”

The arrest temporarily turned the sometime security guard into a media star, as newspaper and TV reporters flocked to him.

Though he acknowledged that he had to borrow money this week to buy propane to heat the 13-year-old motor home, Van Buskirk said he wasn’t interested in any reward for his tip to police.

“I don’t want anything,” he said. “I don’t want to prey off of somebody else’s bad luck.”