Swap Meet Fire Claims 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 Krikor Haddajian, 26, 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 fire.

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

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

For the merchants, many of whom had put their life savings into their businesses, the future is 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 fixing watches.

Repairing watches “is what I know,” he said.

As firefighters doused the blaze, about half a dozen insurance adjusters stood 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 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--with merchandise they said is worth $100,000--was the largest in the building. 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.

“How many times do we have to tell you?” he cried. “How many times do we have to tell you?”

Several shop owners said they had complained as long ago as last Sunday to the property manager, Nerses Festekjian, about fumes and a smell of burning tar coming down 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.

Tasci 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. Concepcion 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.