Calamity

Lotus Garden Vietnamese Restaurant Set to Reopen

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

And now for some tasty news.

Remember that terrible three-alarm fire that devastated a building on Mission Street near Valencia last April? And how the damage forced the closure of the much-loved Lotus Garden Vietnamese restaurant?

At the time, if you recall, Lotus Garden owner Kathy Tang was very worried about the future:

The great amount of fire burned my restaurant and will take a few months for them to just rebuild the whole building. oh my god how can my family and i survive. My restaurant is my and my husband’s only income.

Six months later, things are looking up. Neighbor Amanda from the Bernalwood Intelligence Agency recently heard word that Lotus Garden was poised to reopen, and she gave our hotline a ring-a-ding-ding to share the news. Then we called Kathy Tang to confirm.

Kathy tells Bernalwood that Lotus Garden hopes to reopen on October 18, in the same location. She said the restaurant “maybe will look better” (cute!) with new paint and lighting.

“We hope our old customers who used to love us will still come see us,” she said. It’s been a rough six months, she admitted, but she had a special message for the Citizens of Bernalwood:

“Thank you to everyone who was so concerned about us,” she said.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Crazy Driver Veers Off Crescent, Hits Car and House, Triggers Neighborly Bonding

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

Reader Nicole had some unwelcome excitement last weekend:

Over the weekend a presumably drunk/high driver plowed into a car and then our building on Crescent and Gates. No one was hurt, but it was actually a close call — one person almost got hit by the car and had to run to get away, and the car could have easily gone directly through the wall of the house. It certainly shook everyone up.

It was very lucky that no one got hurt — a guy was waiting to be let into another apartment in our building and saw the car smack into another neighbor’s jeep. Apparently, the car then accelerated, pushing the jeep up on to the sidewalk (slightly damaging the front steps of the house next door). The car proceeded onto the sidewalk — the guy waiting outside ran around the corner to avoid being hit — jumped our our front step, took out the stucco stair rail on one side and our tree box which I only recently installed on the other; minor, but still, sadness. Then — and this is some magic that everyone was standing around at 11:30 on Saturday night trying to figure out — the car managed to pass between a fire hydrant and chained-up bicycle that were maybe 6-7 feet apart, without scratching either. Crazy.

It would have been really, really easy for that car to plow into the first floor apartment and seriously hurt some people. Instead, it’s a whole lot of hassle and insurance-wrangling for everyone involved. The poor guy who almost got mowed down gets mad points for catching and remembering the plate number, so we’ll see what happens…

What was kind of nice about the incident was that a ton of neighbors got out of bed and came over to our place — not in a rubberneck-y way, but in a helpful, supportive way. The cops were pretty good too. Yay, Bernal.

Nicole says she now plans to look into getting a speed hump installed on that section of Crescent, adding “I’m not personally a big fan of speed humps/bumps, but I’m even less enthusiastic about people ramming their cars into my building.” Fair enough…

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Reader Kelly

What Is the Sound of a Tree Falling on Eugenia Street?

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

Koan: If a tree falls on Eugenia Street when all the neighbors are home, does it still make a sound?

Answer: Absofrikkinlutely!

Reader Danny sent us this dramatic tale of gravity-induced mayhem and neighborly solidarity that occurred last night, along with the essential post-disaster photograph:

Sorry for blurry night-picture, but rest assured the entire United States of Eugenia and Bonview were out taking more pictures for quite some time after it fell. Hopefully somebody managed to take a pic that conveyed the majesty of the fallen giant, which is currently blocking both theoretical lanes of Eugenia.

It’s actually just one of the bigger branches of the eucalyptus trees that line this block. One neighbor, who was heaving an axe at the obstruction within minutes, and who gave his name as “John Bunyan,” said the trees were planted in the seventies by another long-time Bernal resident, “who was feeling civic-minded.”

The eucalypti still mostly tower over the houses here, but they have a bit of a reputation for sudden falls from grace. Last halloween the same tree shed another branch, falling on a (fortunately well protected) pick-up truck.

This time was even luckier. The branch, which was about forty feet long and pretty hefty, managed to fall neatly into the one open parking spot on the block. Even though Eugenia is blocked, no-one was hurt, and the top fronds are only lightly draping themselves on the car parked on the other side of the road. Still, somebody is in for a shock when they wake up tomorrow.

In case you want a little warning when a tree falls near you, here’s the sound it makes, as heard by most of the street. First it sounds like “somebody stepping on cardboard boxes,” then “a bunch of firecrackers going off, but a bit too quiet.” Then comes the crash, and the impromptu block party when everyone comes out to see what the hell just happened.

The 311 case number is 906301. Not sure if it’s this the final death-knell for the rest of the tree, but we’re all looking a bit more cautiously at what remains.

PHOTO: Reader Danny (top), Reader Jason (below)