Back in Business : Bicycle Sam Shop in Monrovia Reopens 6 Weeks After Its Popular Owner Was Slain

A woman dropped by the newly reopened Bicycle Sam shop in Monrovia on Thursday to pick up some parts, but she was $1 short.

That’s OK, the bike shop’s new co-owner told her. Bring it next time. A couple of hours later, the woman came back with the $1. Dayton Kang tried to wave her away, but she insisted.

It was business as usual at the bicycle shop, which reopened Wednesday, six weeks after its popular owner was shot and killed. A 12-year-old boy has been charged with using a .22-caliber revolver to shoot Jung (Sam) Woo in the back of the head March 11. The sixth-grader laughed as he left the shop and told other kids to “go get bikes,” police and witnesses said.

Woo, a 49-year-old Diamond Bar resident, was a community fixture, beloved for fixing youngsters’ bicycles for free and letting people slide if they could not pay. Kang, a friend of the Woo family, and his brother bought the store from Woo’s widow and are accepting donations for Woo’s 10-year-old son, John.

“I’m going to give that money to John,” Kang said of the $1 the woman brought by.

Regular customers have already made contributions, and nearby Alien Graphics has printed T-shirts to sell as a fund-raiser. The T-shirts show a caricature of Woo in an angel’s robe on a yellow bicycle, ascending to the heavens.

The small, cluttered shop is much the same as Woo left it, with bike shorts hanging from the walls and mountain bikes dangling from the ceiling. Woo liked to have merchandise around for youngsters: skateboards, neon-colored seat covers, American flags to fly from the back of bikes--stuff that made the place a hangout after 3 p.m., when the final bell rang at Santa Fe Middle School down the street.

The new owners said they want to keep the same homey atmosphere. No way would they change the store’s name, Kang said. The place was Sam’s and always will be.

“Sam got killed, but his spirit is still here.” But they’ve added a few flourishes to make people feel welcome, such as heart-shaped aluminum balloons that say “I love you,” and pink tissue-paper bells that Kang said were meant to symbolize peace. A hand-printed sign behind the counter says: “Gladly Committed to Sam’s Good Heart Policy. . . . If You Are Really Desperate, We Are Here.”

Kang said he feels safe because of the community’s warm reception.

“Nevermore,” he said, shaking his head. “This can’t happen again. . . . Just happened by a child who doesn’t know what he really did.”

Nigel Cross, 26, said he used to visit Bicycle Sam when he was growing up in Monrovia. He tagged along with his older brother, wide-eyed at the intoxicating smell of new tires and the shiny new bicycles in the store window. Once, he said, Woo gave his brother some used bike tires for free. Cross dropped by the store Thursday with his 2-year-old son, Dartanian.

“At least, it’s still in the family,” Cross said of the store. “It’s a shame Mr. Woo had to die, but no use letting everything go down the drain.”

Mitzi Gibson, 43, popped her head inside while her 15-year-old daughter looked after her bike, a pink Pulsar hand-me-down.

“Two things I need,” she told Kang. “My bike seat raised a little, and my daughter’s bike is making a click-click noise. Ruining her image.”