Business Laguna Beach Ca

Nudging his one-handled pushcart along Forest Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach on Tuesday morning, letter carrier Butch Chadick paused briefly--but only briefly--as he encountered the burned-out building housing nine stricken businesses on his route. "This town's good at handling stuff like this," Chadick said. "We're going to do the same thing today we always do--get them their mail, one way or another."

In the pretty little town of Laguna Beach, every small shop is its own story of hopes and dreams of success, fulfillment and independence. So when fire or other catastrophe visits, as it is almost supernaturally inclined to do here, it is like an indignant challenge to the human spirit. Five years ago, a momentous firestorm damaged or destroyed more than 400 homes and yet the city survived and rebuilt.

Laura Downing stood across the street and watched as dense smoke and water damaged rows of new clothes hanging inside her Laguna Beach store on popular Forest Avenue. "We just re-carpeted from El Nino two times this year . . . and now this. It's depressing," she said. Downing's store in the city's downtown area had just about recovered from the battering storms and mudslides of El Nino when a fire Monday morning gutted the top floors of a Laguna Beach commercial building, damaging 12 businesses.

Nudging his one-handled pushcart along Forest Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach on Tuesday morning, letter carrier Butch Chadick paused briefly--but only briefly--as he encountered the burned-out building housing nine stricken businesses on his route. "This town's good at handling stuff like this," Chadick said. "We're going to do the same thing today we always do--get them their mail, one way or another."

Clobbered again by Mother Nature, businesses in this sodden community began patching themselves back together again Tuesday and talking of ways to woo back customers. In hard-hit Laguna Canyon, mudslides, road closures and power outages conspired to close many businesses while, downtown, most shops opened on time. Bill Paulsen, who owns Canyon Towing and Canyon Auto Repair in Laguna Canyon, stayed open by using a generator to operate his telephones, lights and radio.

In the pretty little town of Laguna Beach, every small shop is its own story of hopes and dreams of success, fulfillment and independence. So when fire or other catastrophe visits, as it is almost supernaturally inclined to do here, it is like an indignant challenge to the human spirit. Five years ago, a momentous firestorm damaged or destroyed more than 400 homes and yet the city survived and rebuilt.

Laura Downing stood across the street and watched as dense smoke and water damaged rows of new clothes hanging inside her Laguna Beach store on popular Forest Avenue. "We just re-carpeted from El Nino two times this year . . . and now this. It's depressing," she said. Downing's store in the city's downtown area had just about recovered from the battering storms and mudslides of El Nino when a fire Monday morning gutted the top floors of a Laguna Beach commercial building, damaging 12 businesses.

Clobbered again by Mother Nature, businesses in this sodden community began patching themselves back together again Tuesday and talking of ways to woo back customers. In hard-hit Laguna Canyon, mudslides, road closures and power outages conspired to close many businesses while, downtown, most shops opened on time. Bill Paulsen, who owns Canyon Towing and Canyon Auto Repair in Laguna Canyon, stayed open by using a generator to operate his telephones, lights and radio.