Sound of Rolling Buses Is Music to Merchants Hurt by Strike

The rumble and hiss of buses lumbering through Huntington Park’s Pacific Boulevard shopping district never sounded sweeter to shop owner Hong Paek.

The mile-long row of clothing stores, movie theaters and Mexican restaurants became a ghost town during the 32 days of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority strike. In the days since the strike’s resolution, customers and shopkeepers have been reunited, swapping stories of how they suffered.

Paek, who sells costume jewelry and baby clothes, was one of scores of small-business owners along Pacific teetering toward disaster during the labor impasse.

The strike was so devastating that Huntington Park considered suing the MTA for damages. Stores here have annual sales of roughly $107 million. The local Chamber of Commerce estimates that sales fell by half during the strike.

Merchants along Pacific Boulevard were pleased to see hordes of shoppers disembarking from MTA buses as they returned to this marketplace, which swells to a population of 400,000 on a good day. Retailers were giddy with relief, united like survivors of a great flood or earthquake.

‘Welcome,” Paek called to a mother and child who had just been deposited at a bus stop near his shop. “Come in. Come in.”

Merchants, workers and commuters traded tales of strike woes in stores and on sidewalks.

“Yes, it’s true, the buses are running again. Come on in,” health clinic receptionist Suzie Ramirez said over the phone to a patient.

The waiting room at the clinic, like several others in the area, had been transformed from overcrowded to empty soon after the buses stopped running.

“It’s like they didn’t care about these people,” Ramirez said of MTA board members, who she believes should have struck a deal with drivers much sooner.

Ramirez, who doesn’t have a car, bummed rides from a work mate who lives near her in Long Beach. “And we don’t get along that well,” she said, “so it hasn’t been pleasant.”

Lorenzo Peralta, a medical aide at the clinic, was laid off for a week when he could not find a way to work from his home in West Los Angeles. “I’m trying to save for a car,” he said. “But it’s hard when you can’t even make it to work.”

At a nearby bus stop, Alicia Sandoval asked, “Does the 107 line come this way? It’s been so long, I’ve forgotten.”

Sandoval said she had to walk a mile to the market for groceries during the strike. The cab fare to her factory job in downtown Los Angeles cost her $20 a day.

“My husband and I stopped asking our friends for rides,” she said. “People were getting tired of taking us, and we were getting embarrassed about it. We’re buying a car as soon as possible.”

Then her bus arrived. It was crowded with passengers who rejoiced at being able to get to work and get their children to school on time. “I’m happy to be back at work,” said bus driver Faye Sistrunk in a voice loud enough for the people in back to hear.

Besides, she said, “I was getting hungry. And, I just bought a house. I need to pay the mortgage.”

Back at his store, Paek said he was among several business owners facing the same worry. With piled-up bills and the end of the month approaching, he was still unsure whether he could make his $4,000 rent payment. He said his business fell about 80% during the strike.

Other store owners he had talked to were in even worse shape, Paek said. Some closed their shops early during the strike when it became apparent that they were wasting their time.

“This area suffered too much,” Paek said. “You looked outside and didn’t see no one. It was lonely.”