< The Latest 2025-05-31T01:37:14+0000
The Pasadena Star-News | Fri 05/30 03:53pm PST | Anissa Rivera
Paola Guasp stood in front of the burned ruins of her Altadena restaurant Friday, May 30, to thank the helpers, ponder the future and share stories with others in the Los Angeles restaurant community.
Guasp’s Amara Kitchen on Mariposa Street was lost to the Eaton fire, hitting pause on four years in a town she’s learned to love.
“It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to lose a building, but as you can see, also a whole community,” she said. “I don’t know the future. How long will it take to rebuild and who will I be by then? I love Altadena. You can still feel and see how beautiful Altadena is.”
Amara Kitchen was one of 20 restaurants from the footprint of both Eaton and Palisades fires to each receive $10,000 grants from DoorDash, the San Francisco-based technology company. Other awardees include Go China in Pasadena, Mother Moo Creamery in Sierra Madre, Renovo in Arcadia, and Altadena haunts Café de Leche and Side Pie.
The $200,000 boost are going to small business, family-owned, independent restaurants that are facing an uncertain future, but in the days after the fire, showed leadership, courage and resilience, “preparing meals for first responders, identifying new ways to run their business despite tremendous damage and disruption,” said Maggie Polachek, social impact manager for DoorDash.
The company’s Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund, partnering with the small business online platform Hello Alice, is offering financial help to small restaurants. Its next grant application deadline is June 20.
Kim Vu, owner of Sorry Not Sorry bar and restaurant in West L.A. said restaurateurs often do everything from tend bar or prep dishes before completing administrative duties at the end of the day and are the last people who ask for help.
“Thank you for understanding that we need help too,” she said.
Vu said the grant money will go toward expanding the restaurant’s gathering spaces, which she offers free to women’s groups, minority and LGBTQ communities.
Other restaurant owners said the grants will help them keep employees on the payroll and repair appliances, restoring their confidence that they can stay in business.
Anish Saraiya, director of Altadena Recovery, the commission formed by Supervisor Kathryn Barger to organize rebuilding the Altadena community, said Barger’s Friday announcement that 90% of residential lots in Altadena have been cleared means help for struggling businesses can come into focus.
“We’re concerned about making sure our business community gets through this as well as our families because we can’t have our homes without our businesses and our businesses can’t survive without homes,” Saraiya said.
Karen Clemens, owner of Mother Moo Creamery in Sierra Madre, remains worried that business hasn’t improved, even with the advent of warmer days.
“It’s a happy business, I’m in ice cream, but I’m finding that business has declined,” she said. “This grant will help me weather the storm but I’m worried about the future because people are not coming back.”
Judy Matthews, president of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce, said the group’s Back in Business program that helps businesses find new space or connect with resources. She’s confident Altadena can feel and look like a community again.
“I tell everyone we’re in Recovery Plus, we’re truly in the rebuild,” Matthews said. “DoorDash helping restaurants return to full strength is a step in that direction.”
Other restaurants that received grants are in Glendale, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Malibu, Newbury Park, San Marino, and Santa Monica.