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Flintridge Bookstore Owners
Vow to Clean Up, Carry On
The
front of Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse is a
gaping hole, the result of a runaway big rig crashing into the building
on April 1.
(more
photos at end of article)
By JOEL HUERTO
The Outlook
A week ago, Peter Wannier was
doing inventory for his Flintridge
Bookstore & Coffeehouse when the
front walls of his store suddenly
came crashing down.
Today, Wannier is picking up the
pieces of what remains from his
severely damaged livelihood.
Melody Nails owner Pauline
Duong suffered the same fate, and
she, too, is attempting to forge
ahead after being forced to move her
business elsewhere as a result of the
tragic truck accident last Wednesday
afternoon.
On Tuesday morning, as a cleanup
crew carefully loaded shovelfuls
of debris that used to make up the
foundation of the building, Wannier
revisited the site and weaved his
way to the exact location where he
was standing when a big rig suddenly
blasted through his building just
before 6 p.m.
The former astrophysicist at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory recalled
that he was talking to one of his
employees, Melissa Watkins, near
the coffee counter when they heard a
loud noise.
“She was facing the street,” he
said. “We both heard some noises,
and that’s when she said (something).
I saw a piece of girder penetrate
the wall and it was going
through really fast.”
Wannier immediately ran
toward the west end of the building
through a side door that leads to a
patio.
“People have asked me what
was I thinking when it happened. It
happened so fast that you don’t have
time to think. My feet kind of took
control,” Wannier said.
Even though it probably wasn’t
safe to go back in the store, Wannier’s curiosity reeled him in. “I
looked in, and it’s not every day
you see something like this.”
He noticed that his heavy
piano, which used to sit in front of
the store, had been lifted off the
ground and had knocked several
pieces of furniture to within a few
feet of where he’d been standing
moments before impact. Thick
dust and papers that used to be
chapters of books on the shelves
blanketed the building. Though it
was hard to see, Wannier saw an
unimaginable image of a truck carrying three vehicles resting on
the east side of his building, puncturing
a nearly 10-foot hole on a
wall that formerly separated his
store from Melody Nails.
“The whole building was in a
fog, and the entire floor was filled
with heavy bookcases,” said Wannier, who added that the heavy
smoke made it very difficult to
breathe. “As I got closer to the
truck, I see an intense smoke. Not
just a little bit, it was intense.
Really thick smoke coming out of
the wheels.”
Wannier then worried that
someone could be badly injured.
“As I came in, I heard moaning,”
he said. “I shouted ‘Hello! Where
are you?’”
He remembered seeing a
woman being pulled from the ruins
in Melody Nails and placed on a
stretcher. The woman was taken to
Huntington Hospital in Pasadena
and, according to Duong, has been
released and is resting at home.
As well as he can recall, there
were about five employees working
at the time of the accident and
about five or six customers in the store,Wannier said. He said he saw
one person picking up his laptop
before running for cover near the
front, facing Foothill Boulevard; a
woman buying a book by the cash
register; and a teacher shopping in
the children’s book area, located in
the south end of the building.
None of the customers, or the
employees, reportedly was
harmed.
“We feel so incredibly lucky.
Here we are, all those people in the
store, and nobody got a scratch,” Wannier said. “Our employee team
is completely intact and uninjured.”
For the past week,Wannier and
his wife, Lenora, have somehow
managed to keep their bookstore
open for business through special
orders. The store is still in shambles,
covered with dust and rubble,
but Wannier said they plan to work
through all the wreckage and will
operate their normal 9-to-5 daily
routine. He was very proud of the
fact that he made a sale shortly
after the accident. Though several
books had to be trashed, a number
of them were unscathed.
“We’re dusty and dirty but
we’re cleaning up,” said Catherine Linka, who is in charge of the children’s
and young adults section of
the bookstore. Linka and marketing
director Sandy Willardson are
currently working out of the office
adjacent to the main store building.
She estimated that about 10,000
books need to be tidied up.
“We’re still handling all the
school books, because they are
books that are often very hard to
get,” Wannier said of those special
orders, which can also be purchased
through the store’s Web
site, www.flintridgebooks.com.
The site also contains a note from
the owners saying: WE’LL BE
BACK!!!!
It may not be business as usual,
but Wannier and his staff continue
to serve the store’s loyal patrons
and, likewise, the community has
been quick to offer assistance.
According to Linka, the office
has already fielded a number of
calls from Girls Scout troops, asking
how they could help. Flintridge
Prep volunteered to host Flintridge
Bookstore’s teen advisory board
meetings, as well as the May 5
visit of Richelle Mead, author of
the New York Times best-selling
book series “Vampire Academy.”
Also, the Society of Children’s
Writers and Illustrators have
offered their services to help clean
up, and the La Cañada Preparatory
and Learning Castle have written
letters of encouragement and support.
Another loyal customer, Randy Strapazon, said the book signing
that was scheduled for April 23 has
been moved to April 21 and will be
held at the Flintridge Riding Club,
located at 4625 Oak Grove Drive,
at 7 p.m. Flintridge Bookstore will
be selling Mary Pat Kelly’s novel
“Galway Bay” through special
order.
Wannier said the heartfelt,
incredible amount of support from
the community convinced him that
moving forward and soldiering on
was the right thing to do.
“We intend to operate as far as
we can,” the longtime La Cañada
Flintridge resident said. “I cannot
even begin to express how much
support we’ve received from our
customers. It just energizes you as
a shop owner. We’ve gotten letters,
e-mails, others have offered some
legal advice, and free storage. All
kinds of help all the way around.
It’s just very, very gratifying.”
Avima Yaffe, owner of Salon
Mystique on Foothill Boulevard,
said part of the perks of living in a
small, close-knit community such
as La Cañada Flintridge is the
neighborly interaction and understanding
of situations. When a
Melody Nails customer suggested
to Yaffe to temporarily host
Duong’s business at Salon
Mystique, she immediately opened
her doors and cleared some space
in her salon without any hesitation.
“I felt like they needed help.
This is their livelihood. They were
so happy and so thankful,” Yaffe
said. “We do hair and skin care, and
she does nails. It works out. You
should see the outpouring of support
from their clients. People were
bringing them gifts.”
Duong, who resides in Baldwin
Park, did not want to comment on
her situation until investigators and
her insurance company have completed
their report.
City Manager Mark Alexander
said the building inspector for the
damaged structures has upgraded
the code from red tag to yellow tag.
The Wanniers plan on staying at
the same location, but are also
exploring the option of operating in
the parking lot with the help of a
trailer.
Peter recently posted some of
the letters he and his wife have
received the past few days on a
board that now covers the huge
void left by the truck.
One of the letters, written on
lined school paper with stick-on
hearts and stars, reads: “I am so sad
that a truck crashed into your store.
I like your store. I will come back
when your store in fixed.” It is
signed by Chloe Lehman, 6, of La
Crescenta.
This is the shocking sight that confronted Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse owner Peter Wannier last Wednesday evening — a car -
transporter truck, with vehicles in tow, buried deep in the store. The runaway rig crashed through the front of the building.
A night after the truck accident, a shrine on the sidewalk on Foothill Boulevard glows with candles.
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