at a Glance

ter, "everyone stayed," said Steve Thurgood. "We were told by the Chamber of Commerce it was advisable for us to stay here. It was the closed stores that were getting hit. We laid out our fire hoses, got all ready and waited."

Although much of the looting and burning was directed at small shops and strip malls, an arson fire at a liquor store spread next door to All Size Foam, which sells lumber and other components to furniture manufacturers. Everything bumed in the $2 million blaze, but owner Robert Zamora had the phone operational and a newbuilding selected within a week.

With police forces spread thin, the violence extended to outlying areas. Small yard fires struck Barr Lumber Co.'s City of lndustry and Costa Mesa locations, but were quickly extinguished. A Builders Emporium inNorth Hollywood sustained minimal damage after a small fire in a bullpen area and other stores suffered a few broken windows.

In Pomona, a group of gang members stormed down Holt Avenue, vandalizing the businesses along the way. A salesman at Pomona Lumber Co. said, "They ransacked the joint and stole spray paint. Police called us, we came down, they were still inthebuilding, and we caught one guy."

Companies also refused to send their drivers into the riot-tom areas for pickups or deliveries. "It's really hurt our will call business," said Jim Beck, Galleher Lumber Co. "I was here during the Watts riots in 1965 and this was basically the same thing. It took us years to get people to come into the area and now we have to start from Point One again. They'll call and say, 'Oh, you're in that area? Deliver it to me.' We've been looking to move but couldn't because of the recession. But if this ruins our will call business, we might not have a choice."

Similarly, ABC Supply Co.,located near the first reported looting on Florence Avenue, closed for a few days, during which it found a new site to move to in Carson.

Overall, business was slow during the riots, especially in the evenings with people at home for safety or to watch the chaos on television. As things died down, some home centers experienced runs on plywood, lumber, building materials, paint and accessories, tarps, buckets, trash bags, shovels, brooms and tools. "It's crazy," said a clerk at Rompage Hardware. "You name it, we got it, they want it."

Local building supply firms also tried to pitch in to help. Fisher Lumber Co. donated some materials and offered a 10% discount to people seeking clean up supplies. Builders Emporium, HomeBase and Home Depotstores also made sizable material donations to local clean up efforts. Employees from Home Depot, Santa Ana, even went to physically join the clean up.

But the longterm reconstruction dollars that usually roll in after a major earthquake or other natural disaster may nevet come for south central Los Angeles. "In depressed areas,businesses tend totake theirtime rebuilding," said Dennis Johnston, Johnston Hardwood. "sometimes they never rebuild. " Some buildings destroyed in the 1965 riots are still empty lots.

Ed Fountain, Jr., owner of Ed Fountain Lumber, located three short blocks north of the torched All Size Foam on Hooper Avenue, does not expect the area to ever recover. "These are people who during bad times are barely hanging on," he said. "Donations are scarce. Private money is scarce. No matter what they say in public, I think banks, insurance companies and businesses will be hesitant to rebuild in the area. They have boards of directors who are not going to invest $250,000 in a store to see the community destroy it."

Yet the deepest damage may be internal, "damage to the psyche," Fountain said. "I hope my employees are able to adjust. One hasn't been able to sleep for three days."

Redesigning the physical layout of a yard and/or adding cantilever-storig" ,""kirg is a popular prescription for ai ailing yard, butmany dealers are leary of spending money to install an unfamiliar system. They have ques Alan Darne', sunbert i'Iateriar Handling;