Downtown Getting Back to Business as Usual

With a diamond engagement ring glittering on the jeweler’s counter Saturday, the special moment had finally arrived--about a week late.

Bob Egert and his fiancee, Carole Hirschtic, were eager to pick up the ring in the downtown Jewelry Mart across from Pershing Square in Los Angeles.

But their jeweler, like others nearby, had closed shop and boarded up windows as a precaution against possible protester violence during the Democratic National Convention.

After a lukewarm reopening on Friday, jeweler Vasken Mardoian said business on Saturday seemed almost normal.

That appeared to be the sentiment from the jewelry marts to the garment district further south. From car dealers to produce vendors, merchants were eager to once again have customers. Many said they suffered financial losses despite the predictions of city leaders who had talked of flush sales during the convention.

In a city that so often thrives on hype, most business owners were relieved to just get back to their old routines.

Mardoian, for example, was glad that clients like Egert and Hirschtic of Thousand Oaks could get back to his shop. Even Pershing Square across the street, after days of boisterous demonstrations, had returned to its typical low key pace.

“I’m glad the convention is over,” Mardoian said. “The thing about L.A. is people forget very quickly. They’ll come back quickly.”

That seemed to be the case in the garment district as well, where the sidewalks were crowded with booths and shoppers.

Soraya Owrang said Saturday saw the return of a lot of customers to the fashion accessory shop she manages. All week long, she said, sales were paltry.

Many people, she said, were afraid to come downtown, and those who did were hampered by closed streets and revamped bus routes. One of her employees had a bus ride to the store that, after detours, took two hours instead of the normal one.

“We thought we would get more business,” Owrang said of the Democratic National Convention. “But it was the opposite.”

A few blocks away, restaurant owner Byung Lee said he didn’t really have to struggle with the side effects of the convention.

Unfazed by anarchists or traffic quagmires, he kept his Gin Seng Restaurant open all week. Wednesday was a bit slow, Lee said, but he didn’t really worry about sinking profits.

Lee’s optimism may in part be due to the way he does business. On Saturday, he heaped piles of foam containers filled with steaming Korean and Chinese food into the bicycle baskets of his delivery workers.

Streets blocked off? Parking prohibited? Not to worry, Lee’s food delivery guys were able to get meal orders to hungry patrons.

“Everybody was worried,” Lee said, busily packing lunches. “I don’t know why.”

But for those who are dependent on customers with cars, it was another story.

Jay No said his display and fixture business was still feeling the aftereffects of the convention. Aside from No, the only “people” in his Sav-On International Fixture Co. were the dozens of unclothed mannequins that filled one side of his office. At least he was that happy city workers were removing nearby barricades from streets.

On most weekdays, No said, he sees a dozen or more walk-in clients in his office at Hope and 11th streets. But that dwindled to just one or two during the convention. He praised the law enforcement presence, even when he had trouble returning to his own company.

At Kaiser Bros. Oldsmobile and Honda, President Steve Auth breathed a sigh of relief.

His dealership at Venice Boulevard and Figueroa Street emerged unscathed after the convention, which took place just across the street at Staples Center.

That wasn’t the case after the Lakers victory, when $100,000 of plate-glass windows were smashed and cars vandalized.

By Friday evening, Auth said city workers had converted Venice Boulevard back to a two-way street, and motorists were starting to travel back up Figueroa, which had been closed near Staples Center.

Keeping a positive outlook after the Laker melee and a “significant downturn” in business during the convention, Auth said he plans to remodel his aging dealership. The city he said, helped with the murals that decorate the boarded up windows.

“Fortunately,” he said, “customers remember you and they always come back.”

That seemed to be the case at the venerable Grand Central Market on Broadway which bustled with families, tourists and old regulars. The fragrant aroma of ripe papayas mingled with the spice of steaming tortas and Thai curry.

At Leader Foods, a relieved Hilda Gonzales monitored sales, which she said had picked up considerably from earlier in the week.

“No one had business here and no one came for lunch,” she said of the convention, when police barricades and marching demonstrators replaced the usual downtown customers.

Viola Pierson, a frequent shopper at Grand Central Market, said she was surprised during a visit last week when the normally packed aisles were empty. Vendors, usually in perpetual motion, were idle. Even her bank down the block was nearly vacant.

Pierson figured it was the convention that had whittled down the market crowds. Curious about where most people were that day, she even stopped by Pershing Square to see the masses of demonstrators.

Although shopping was a breeze that day, Pierson, 85, who lives at a senior citizens housing complex on 7th Street, said something was missing that afternoon.

“I like people and being around them,” she said Saturday, hunting for a ripe mango as others swarmed the produce stand. “I missed the crowds.”