Looking Good on Main Street, Northridge

The first time I dropped by the offices of the Northridge Chamber of Commerce, there were pamphlets, books and even bookcases strewn about the floor. It had been eight days since an earthquake had made Northridge famous the world over, but people had been too busy picking up at home and at work to worry much about the chamber. Everything was out of kilter.

“What day is this? Friday?” the fatigued chamber president asked a staff member.

“No,” came the reply. “It’s Tuesday.”

In a seven-day week, you can’t be more than four days off.

*

That was Tuesday, Jan. 25, 1994. More than 20 months later, order has returned to chamber offices and there is a sense of optimism that was often hard to locate amid the rubble piled in the gutters. Now, most of the devastation has been repaired. Cal State Northridge defiantly trudged forward despite the damage, and Northridge Fashion Center is back in business. Where the collapsed Northridge Meadows Apartments had once trapped its victims, new apartments, presumably of sturdier design, are under construction.

All along the mythical Main Street of Northridge, things are looking up.

Consider the Chamber of Commerce itself. When the quake hit Jan. 17, the business association had nearly 500 members. So many businesses went under and so many others suffered such severe financial trouble that the chamber’s membership fell below 200. Now the number has climbed up beyond 240.

One of those new members is Maureen Fried, owner of four preschools in the Valley. And to hear her tell it, nothing has captured Northridge’s spirit of renewal quite like the champagne brunch the chamber sponsored two Sundays ago to present “Lifesaver Awards.”

When the invitation arrived, I made a mental note of “maybe.” Not only did the event promise to provide a needed dose of good news, but I was curious whether this was the chamber’s first such event since the quake. Twenty months ago, the quake had forced the chamber to postpone its annual “Celebration Northridge” dinner. Although the party was staged a few months later, current chamber President Bill Clayton says people weren’t yet in the mood for a celebration.

The weekend of the Lifesaver Awards, I fell ill, but in all honesty, sloth and TV football might have been enough to keep me home on a Sunday. The chamber had guaranteed the 94th Aero Squadron restaurant at least 60 people would come, but in the end, 147 people showed up.

The gathering, Fried suggests, reflects a common yearning to find a nice, friendly small town within the vast megalopolis that can seem so impersonal and heartless.

Earthquake heroes have been honored before. Fried, the chamber secretary and chairwoman of the lifesaver event, said the idea this time was to recognize “just the everyday Joes who happen to have a job that deals with humanity.

“These are people who don’t just clock in in the morning and clock out in the afternoon,” Fried said over coffee at the IHOP on Reseda Boulevard. “They’re givers . . . They’ve built a career out of helping other people . . .

“And it was really nice. Everybody had goose pimples.”

The honorees all live or work in Northridge. Lt. Joe Hladky is a 27-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department who has received numerous commendations for efforts both on- and off-duty. Los Angeles Police Officer George Stan was praised for work in rescue situations and efforts with the Valley Bureau’s Auto Theft Task Force.

Myla Seidel is a special-education teacher who has been an American Red Cross volunteer for 14 years. Angelo A. Porco is an educator and commander of the California Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer organization that is estimated to have provided more than $22.5 million worth of services last year.

Charles F. Wolcott, a firefighter with 18 years experience, is an Urban Search and Rescue Communications Specialist who has taught at CSUN and works with youth through his church. Firefighter and paramedic Daniel Jordan, a 23-year veteran of the city Fire Department, was hailed for his professional work and his activity as a 4-H Club leader and Red Cross volunteer.

Dr. Harold E. Lowder Jr. is an emergency room physician who served as senior staff physician at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake and later participated in the American medical mission to aid quake victims in Kobe, Japan. Registered nurse Bill Pringle was commended for his work after the Northridge quake, in which he coordinated care for more than 500 patients who visited the emergency room at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

And the chamber also honored the 1994 Northridge Little League All-Stars, who may not have been lifesavers, but certainly lifted spirits in winning the national Little League crown.

*

“There were more red signs on this boulevard than you could shake a stick at,” Maureen Fried said between sips of decaf. “A lot of people didn’t have insurance . . . . This devastated a lot of bank accounts. A lot of people just hocked everything. They’ve got their blood and sweat here . . . .

Yes, there was that 3.7 aftershock the other day. That gave everybody a start. But Fried is one of those boosters who sees a rosy future in her piece of big, bad Los Angeles.

Too bad you missed the lifesavers brunch, she told me again. “This was a great event. I walked away thinking, ‘This did a lot of good.’ And the next day I felt the same way. And the next.” The plan is to make it an annual celebration.

“You feel like you’re building something,” the booster said, smiling. “That’s what being in Northridge is like now.”

*

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Please include a phone number. Address TimesLink or Prodigy e-mail to YQTU59A ( via the Internet: YQTU59A@prodigy.com).