West Hollywood businesses recover from water main break while another water line leaks
It's been one week since a large water main ruptured on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, and as crews work around the clock to repair it, businesses in the area say they are concerned.
The Lebanese restaurant, Pi On Sunset, sits right in front of the closure. Owner Sam Daouk says people are struggling to figure out how to get to the restaurant.
His business is just a trickle of what it should be after a 36-inch water main busted last week, sending 17 million gallons of water into his neighborhood. It flooded more than 80 cars, several homes, and businesses.
The infrastructure disaster struck on the same day as the FIFA World Cup final. "It was fully booked. It was 100 percent booked," he said, adding that less than 10% of the bookings showed up.
Harvey Jason owns Mystery Pier Books, Inc. on Sunset. He says his business isn't as dependent on foot traffic, but with the water missing his shop by feet, he's worried about the future.
"These books are worth a fortune. Every book in this shop is a first edition," Jason said. "Everything is a literal treasure and if the water came and ruined it, a fortune is gone."
Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power hit a small snag in its repair project as the 110-year-old trunk line sprang a pinhole leak, just feet from last week's break.
Another leak bubbled up a few blocks away early this morning on Santa Monica Boulevard at N. Laurel Avenue, prompting more repair work.
Danny Hang, vice mayor of West Hollywood, said at the scene of the second WeHo break that a city staffer noticed the leak early in the morning while driving by, and notified LADWP.
He said the break is on a service line, and is not connected to the water main break last week. Aerial footage showed water and mud flooding a small portion of the street and sidewalk, with LADWP crews working to repair the area.
"The city has to take care of the infrastructure. It's slowly falling apart," West Hollywood resident Darren Carl said.
LADWP does have a 150-year pipe replacement plan as it works to replace aging pipes, but the one on Sunset isn't slated to be replaced for another five years, and many fear that isn't fast enough.
"Hopefully they're gonna open by Friday, tomorrow, so things will be better, at least we can pick up whatever is missed," Daouk said.
After all the repairs, LADWP will conduct an after-action analysis of their schedule to replace the 6-mile truckline, scheduled for 2031, and determine whether the timeline can be moved up.
