Fire Destroys Shops, Dreams

A throng of immigrant shop owners stood stunned in the parking lot of the Reseda Indoor Swap Meet as flames swept through their businesses Wednesday, battering their dreams of American success.

“It looks pretty bad,” said 26-year-old Krikor Haddajian, the youngest in five generations of watch repairmen in his family. “All my clocks are damaged.”

Haddajian’s New Family Jewelry shop, which his father established after he brought the family to the United States from Lebanon, was one of about a dozen businesses--ranging from clothing to electronics stores--destroyed by the flames.

Firefighters arrived at the building in the 18400 block of Sherman Way just before 8 a.m. and extinguished the flames 30 minutes later. Firefighters estimated total damage at $350,000.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. There were no injuries.

For the merchants, many of whom put their life savings into their businesses, the future was uncertain.

“Everything I had, I put into the shop,” said Haddajian, who had planned to marry and buy a house in eight months. But he said he would continue in his family’s traditional craft of mending broken watches.

Repairing watches “is what I know,” he said, and his only alternative is to “pick up and go” on.

As firefighters doused the blaze, about a half-dozen insurance adjusters in pressed suits and ties stood idly by.

“None of these people had insurance,” said adjuster Roger Leonard. “Only the building was insured. This is really sad.”

Nitin Bhatt, associate director of USC’s Business Expansion Network, a grass-roots consulting group for small entrepreneurs, said many immigrant shop owners are not aware of the protections available to them in this country.

“Many of these people are coming from the Third World and it’s unlikely that they would have been familiar with insurance,” he said.

Hacatur Tasci and his wife, Lusin, may have lost the most in the fire. Their clothing store was the largest in the building, containing merchandise worth $100,000, they said. The Tascis dropped their fire insurance three months ago to save money, Lusin Tasci said.

Pressing through a gantlet of firefighters, the Tascis rushed into the still-smoldering building waving their hands and screaming epithets in Armenian. After firefighters dragged them out, Hacatur Tasci broke free and lunged at the property manager, whom he blamed for the fire.

“You son of a bitch! How many times do we have to tell you! How many times do we have to tell you!” he cried.

Several shop owners said they had complained as early as Sunday to the property manager, Nerses Festekjian, about fumes and a smell of burning tar coming from the ceiling. Festekjian said he checked the lights hanging from the ceiling and the attic but found nothing awry.

“My electrician was supposed to come today,” he said.

After Los Angeles police officers pulled Hacatur Tasci off Festekjian, they handcuffed him and paramedics took him to Northridge Hospital Medical Center because he appeared so distraught. He was later released.

Hacatur moved his family from Turkey to the United States 11 years ago, leaving behind a house and a lucrative shirt manufacturing business, his family said.

“When he came here, he slowly downsized his business after finding out his money was worth nothing here,” said Shant Tasci, 34, a son who had driven from his home in Van Nuys to comfort his grief-stricken parents. “This is all they had.”

Shop owners said they subleased space from a single lessee who rented the entire building from the owner.

Manuel and Concepcion Vazquez, of Sun Valley, owners of Conny Craft, said they may have lost about $60,000 in the fire. Conception Vazquez ran the store, bringing in about $3,000 a month. She said they will now have to rely on the $1,000 a month from her husband’s gardening business.

Concepcion Vazquez was one of the business owners who said she had complained to the property manager about a burning smell earlier this week.

“Some people had to go outside to get air,” she recalled.

Nan Lin Peng, his wife and young daughter arrived after most of the other shop owners had left. It took Peng an entire year to save enough money to open their small gift shop five months ago, he said. Peng, a Chinese immigrant, also took loans from his wife’s family to start the business.

“I had just stocked the store before Christmas,” he said, fighting back tears. “But I will try to survive, whatever happens.”