Pasadena hotels, repair shops see surge in business

Insurance agents, hoteliers and auto-body shops are among those who have seen a surge in business in the wake of wind storms that pummeled the region and knocked out power to thousands of Pasadena area residents Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

“We’re real busy,” Ron Baker, owner of Baker’s Auto Body in Pasadena, said Friday. “We’ve got a full house, and a full house coming in next week.”

Baker said he’s fielding eight inquiries a day from people whose cars were damaged by falling trees and tree limbs.

“A couple of cars were totaled,” he said. “But it is mostly hoods, trunks and broken windshields.”

-- Tiffany Kelly and Bill Kisliuk, Times Community News

Photo: Manuel Cabrera, of Baker Paint and Body Shop, puts finishing touches on a vehicle that was damaged in the wind when a branch fell on the hood at Baker Paint and Body Shop on Walnut Avenue in Pasadena on Friday, December 9, 2011. The shop owner, Ron Baker, said that there has been a sharp increase in auto repairs caused by the windstorm last week. Credit: Tim Berger/Staff Photographer