LOS ANGELES – Arriving at what’s left of his shop, Steve Salinas carefully navigated through the rubble. “You just have to pass a few tricycles,” he said.
The realization of what he has lost hits the longtime business owner in waves.
“Occasionally, I’ll see something and say, oh, it’s on fire,” he explained. “That’s a lot of what it feels like to walk in here.”
What you need to know
- Steve Salinas was helping protect homes from the Eaton fire when he learned the building that housed his business had burned.
- The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has raised $1 million and counting to create the Small Business Disaster Recovery Fund
- Small businesses affected by the wildfires can apply for grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000
- They have also compiled a list of disaster resources for businesses on their website
The shop was already called Steve’s Bike Shop when Salinas first took a job here 40 years ago.
“I started when I was 14 and then bought it after I graduated high school,” he said. “It was a dream. And it never left, so I never left.”
When the Eaton fire broke out, Salinas spent the night protecting several houses from the flames. He was helping his friend Jim Orlandini, who owns the hardware store next to the bike shop, save his home when they learned the entire block they worked on was gone.
A week later, the paint cans are still on the shelves. Tables sit empty in where the Amara Kitchen used to be. Along Lake Ave, Salinas can look at a charred pile or a leftover brick wall and name the business that once stood there.
That’s what it’s like to be a small business owner in a community like Altadena.
“It’s a very beautiful thing,” he said. “A lot of times when people come in, they know who I am and I know who they are.”
(Spectrum News/Tara Lynn Wagner)
Maria Salinas — no relation to Steve — is the president and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Small businesses make a city a community.
“Every neighborhood has its own main street,” she said.
The organization immediately knew it needed to help businesses affected by the fires and, over four days, raised $1 million to form the Small Business Disaster Recovery Fund. Bank of America donated half a million.
Ring, which was founded in LA and is now owned by Amazon, gave a quarter of a million, as did Chevron, which has roots in the city since the late 1800s.
The chamber is also in talks with other companies to continue increasing the fund. She hopes that by the beginning of February, small businesses will be able to apply for grants of up to 10,000 dollars. It’s money that doesn’t need to be paid back.
The Chamber also has a list of resources compiled on their website and offers individual guidance on how to navigate FEMA and SBA loans. This is a professional service, but for Maria it is also personal.
She lives in Pasadena and is a dedicated defender of the many businesses that were lost. She wants to see them come back and thrive.
“We need to save the small business economy in these communities,” she said of the businesses affected by the Eton and Palisades fires. “We have to save the dreams of those business owners.”
Meanwhile, Steve Salinas is busy doing what he loves – fixing the bikes that people are now donating to him.
“They always tell me they need work,” he said, citing people dropping off dusty bikes that have sat unused for some time. “And I tell them that’s what I do.”
He plans to use the money raised on a GoFundMe page set up for the shop to buy supplies needed to rehabilitate the donated bikes and give them to fire victims… He has also applied for an SBA loan and is likely to apply for the Chamber’s grant.
He said his landlord, who owns the building in East Mariposa, plans to rebuild and is already taking steps toward that goal.
He knows not all of them will reopen, but after 40 years, he has no intention of changing gears.
“Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks,” he said. “I like being here. I don’t think I’m done yet.”
He’s hoping to start a pop-up spot for a while so he doesn’t spin his wheels too long.
