A ‘little island’ of businesses amid Eaton fire devastation gets a holiday-happy relaunch

For close to a year, Ben McGinty, proprietor of McGinty’s Gallery at the End of the World in Altadena, said his small business has felt like a “little island in the middle of so much devastation.”

It’s an accurate picture. For five small businesses on the storied Mariposa Junction corridor at Lake Avenue and Mariposa Street, the Eaton fire that spared their storefronts nevertheless decimated their livelihoods.

“This is what makes us at strive to achieve, to keep going, seeing that there’s so much support for our community and knowing that there’s so many people that love our town makes us realize that we need to keep going and we need to be here,” McGinty said.

More than 500 people attended “Rising Together,” the relaunch of a restaurant, clothing store, print shop, stationery boutique and McGinty’s community art gallery.

The event is the culmination of a partnership among the Altadena Chamber of Commerce, the Wells Fargo Foundation, Pasadena City College Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Pasadena City College Foundation.

Wells Fargo Foundation gave a $500,000 grant to PCC’s SBDC and the Pasadena City College Foundation raised $3.5 million to help Altadena recover.

Attendees included Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena; State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez; Victoria Knapp and Nic Arnzen of the Altadena Town Council; Mark Mariscol, president of Altadena Rotary Club and the Altadena Library Foundation; and Joey Galloway, whose family has owned the two buildings at Mariposa Junction for 42 years.

Chu recognized Galloway as her Congressional Small Business Person of the Year for his dedication to revitalizing the business corridor before the fire, and rebuilding it post-blaze.

Judy Matthews, president of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce, reminded the crowd that the five cherished businesses reopening Saturday are a testament to resilience and “are the heart of our community, providing services, creating jobs, fostering connections that bind us together.”

“Mariposa Junction is more than just a collection of businesses,” Pérez said. “It is a vital part of the Altadena identity and local culture.”

Looking at the block-long line of people who waited for her business to open, Adriana Molina, owner of Sidecca clothing and apparel store, said after months being closed and pivoting to online sales, “it’s very special to be open today. This is our community. Nobody can do it alone, and that’s what we’ve experienced in Altadena.”

Sidecca regular Victoria Knapp of the Altadena Town Council confessed she has most of the store’s Altadena-branded wear, and that she is stocking up on its “Altadena” tea towels and magnets for holiday gifts.

“It’s such a happy place” to be in what has been a bit of a year, she said.

Catherine Davis said it took barely an hour for the crowd to gobble up the offerings she brought from the much-missed Amara Kitchen: chipotle, egg and potato breakfast burritos and apple oat crumbles. Fans of Paola Guasp’s restaurant, which once stood beside the historic Ace Hardware site on Mariposa’s Woodbury Building, said they know Amara has a Highland Park location, but it’s not the same as having brunch at its Altadena location.

Another business lost to the blaze is Café de Leche, reinvented into a coffee cart on wheels, also had a pop-up at the celebration.

Alison Zavala, catering director for the beloved local coffee spot, offered cups of house-roasted coffee, matcha, and hibiscus lemonade to residents, telling them the business hopes to be back in a year.

Tyler Wells, owner of Betsy, said the nine months he was closed was difficult. Betsy opened three months ago with all 28 of his employees returning.

What he felt today was gratitude for the community support.

“I’ve seen a lot of neighborhood faces,” Wells said. “It’s really special.”

Other businesses reopening with hopes of welcoming holiday crowds include Carciofi Design Paper Boutique & Studio, a luxury paper design studio owned by Caroline Britton and Ms. Dragon Print & Copy, a copy and print store owned by Debbie Collins.

Artist Austin Scott of Altadena drew portraits of people’s homes during the event. Scott, his wife Emma, and their two children had to evacuate the Eaton fire. Their third child was born 10 days after the blaze broke out.

Scott has painted murals around post-fire Altadena, and said the inferno made him realize how important his art was to him. His wife Emma also decided to go to graduate school and become a therapist to help people deal with grief.

“We all have our favorite Altadena places.,” Scott said. “We loved Side Pie and that’s gone. Our kids lost their school. Today, I’m drawing portraits of people’s homes that they’ve lost and talking to people and just listening. I think home is a concept a lot of people are playing with right now. Home is community.”