Beefing Up Broadway
Reported and produced by Meghan Forbes
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In downtown Los Angeles, the theater-lined street of Broadway is a monument to early twentieth-century architecture. Intricate moldings and ornate columns recall a time when the area was dominated by theatergoers and high-end retail. Now, the streets are bustling with Latino merchants and shoppers. But this population is dwindling as expensive lofts are built and theaters renovated in an effort to draw tourists back to the area. This causes problems for the shop owners who depend on that Latino population. Take Sia, for example, who runs PK’s Pizza and Deli.
Also known as Kiss Pizza, Sia’s small deli at 6th and Broadway sits next to the once grand Los Angeles Theater. As close as you can get to a melting pot, the deli serves American hamburgers, Greek gyro, and Mexican tacos. Drawn by the possibilities, I went in to talk to Sia about the changes he has seen.
“Business has dropped tremendously… especially these past two years,” he said, since the renovation of nearby buildings for lofts and apartments.
I asked if he thought, maybe, after all the lofts are fully occupied, and the 12 Broadway theaters renovated, business would improve.
He said he’s hopeful. But a future vision of his area becoming like 42nd Street in New York City, he said, “really put a chill in all of us that own a small business. What’s gonna happen to the small businesses?” As it is, he said, “our bread and butter is the foot traffic.”
Turns out, Sia was right to be concerned. A few weeks later, he had some bad news for me. He has been threatened with eviction. His landlord, who also owns the Los Angeles Theater, has charged him with displaying merchandise outside of his store, which the landlord says is hurting business for Los Angeles Theater.
But the theater is out of operation; right now, it has no business. And Sia has a different theory.
“I bring a lot of small businesses together. So… he’s trying to force me out,” Sia says. What his landlord ultimately wants, Sia says, is to make an example of him. “Because then they gonna say, hey look, we got Sia from Kiss Pizza, that everybody was looking up to.”
Sia is ready to bring this matter to court.
“We’re gonna fight the eviction… This retaliation is definitely a discrimination,” he says.
Whether or not Sia has been singled out, what is certain is that change is coming to his neighborhood. He is only one player in a complex game. Sia knows this, and he is okay with his self-appointed role.
Every day is challenging, he says, but “I roll up my sleeves until I can’t.” Sia says he has a passion for Broadway that keeps him here, though the business owners are all struggling just to pay rent, let alone take money home to their families. Sometimes in the midst of this neighborhood’s changes, he says, it seems the business owners’ struggles are being ignored. “What are we?” he asks. “Are we chopped liver here in the middle?”
That’s one thing Sia does not want on his menu.
Tags: broadway, business, LA, meghan forbes, morning edition
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