May 7, 2025 • 16 mins
ICYMI: ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A conversation with Spectrum News LA Reporter Taylor Torregano (@taylortorregano), who joins the program with a preview of her special report on business owners in Altadena rebuilding four months after the Eaton Fire devastated the community - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
KFI AM six for it is Later with mo Kelly.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and we'll be
back up on YouTube in just a second. But I
want to introduce you to someone new, someone you've probably
seen before, but you've not heard before here on this show.
And you know that I do a lot of work
with Spectrum News and I get introduced to a lot
(00:35):
of great professionals who are very knowledgeable in the TV realm,
and it's nice to be able to bring them into
the radio realms. I want to introduce you to Taylor Toregano,
who is a reporter at Spectrum News and she today
has been working on this piece regarding Pasadena and Altadena's
small business and how they are maneuvering and navigating this
(00:58):
space after the fires and devastations. So, Taylor torgan it's
a pleasure to see you. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Thank you, Moe Kelly. It's an honor to be here.
This is cool to be on the other side of things.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
What's it like then?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Let me just start there digress very quickly. What do
you see is the difference between radio and TV in
terms of the storytelling and connecting with an audience.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I don't know that there's much of a difference other
than being here. Obviously as a reporter, I'm like boots
on the ground, right so I'm out in the field
running all over Los Angeles. Today it was Altadina and Pasadena,
And it just depends on the day. You here are
kind of an anchor like what we have over there
in studio, so that would be the biggest difference. But
other than that, you're still doing the storytelling when.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
You set out today.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
How do you go about compiling that story that you
may not know what it's going to sound like, what
it's going to look like when it's completed.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That's maybe one of, if not my favorite part of
it is kind of the adventure I get to go
on the journey that I get to go on first,
to then bring my viewers along with with me. So today,
you know, I showed up at one business owner's establishment.
It was one of the first times she had gotten back.
She owns Code Ninjas in Altadena. Thank god her business
(02:12):
did survive the flames, but literally right now, I mean,
she's surrounded by a ring of just destruction. And if
you're not familiar with Code Ninjas, they do a lot
of coding for kids, so they own the business that
has you know, all these kids are super into rope
blocks and Minecraft and I don't even know it's not
our generation, but they had three D printing and so
(02:35):
basically she's channeling that obsession into coding into engineering and
things that they could really use to turn into careers.
So she goes in today and you can still see,
I mean, the remnants of what was left behind. She
has on the whiteboard January seventh that it was a lesson.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Oh, the structure is there, but the building is unusable.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Exactly, no power, no water. Today was the first day,
or one of two days. I think she said that
she's been back since. So everything around her has been
burned to the ground. She's right next to the Bunny
Museum if you're familiar with the area, just I mean
you can see it in complete ruins. She survived the flames,
(03:18):
but you can see there's ash all inside. She's cleaning
up and so she's talking about what do we do now.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
As a brick and mortar business, still although unconventional, it's
still a brick and mortar business. So she's been completely
off the scene as it were, since the fires. Correct,
she has not had like a satellite or an alternative location.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
She does own other she's a franchise, so she has
other locations, one in Silverlink where she's trying to bring
her kiddos there now, but she says a lot of
the Altadena kids aren't going because they're just trying to
figure out day to day because they've lost everything. Their
parents aren't able to bring them to after school programs
because in many cases they're not even going to school still,
(04:03):
so still not going to school. That's what she was saying,
Oh my, it's just it really just disrupted everything. And
then the other woman, there's a second business owner that
I went to play Lab Beauty in Pasadena. She's another
brick and mortar who survived, but her entire inventory, her warehouse,
everything that she was using to stock her new business
(04:24):
was at her house that burned down in the fires,
so she lost everything. And she was telling me the
story about how you know, they're trying to figure out
how to move forward, but she started crying because she's like,
oh my, God, my kids went to Code Ninja and
there's always these connections. We were talking out there to Tea.
It's not even six degrees of separation. Everybody knows somebody
(04:47):
who's been affected directly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Okay, let me throw another wrinkle into this. We're in
a period of economic uncertainty. Larger picture, your businesses, supply
chains may be disrupted because of Is that playing a
role at all in how these small businesses are trying
to get back on their feet.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Absolutely, especially in the case of this. Her name is
Vanessa and she owns play Loud Beauty. Her entire store
is Korean Beauty. It's all imported from Korea. And so
she's like, I feel like I can't catch a break because, yes,
they're brick and mortar, they're little six hundred foot square
foot six hundred square foot square like essentially boss shop.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, but it's.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So small I want to even get it. It's like this,
it's not it's a it's a room. That's a great
way to describe. It's a room. She's like, we were
just starting, we were just launching our new business, and
we were so excited about expanding. We don't have much
space here, so everything that we have. All of our
storage was at my house and that all went up
(05:50):
in flames. And now she's trying to get all the
inventory back and she can't because everything is really expensive.
But she says she's trying not to get too caught
up in all the headlines because things change, so it's
such a fluid situation, right and things. She's just not
certain about what it all looks like. But right now
(06:11):
the costs are skyrocketing.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You're not part of the story, but you can't be
completely separate from the story.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
You are from the Inland Empire. You like me.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
We were reporting on the fires for the most part
while they were happening. What was your vantage point from
the fires? May it have touched you or your co
workers or friends or family?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Man, I mean, anybody who's from this area does know
somebody who's lost everything, and that was really hard. I
think we had somebody on the show talk about a
psychologist and a life coach, and he was talking about
a sense of hopelessness or even survivors guilt. We were
talking outside about survivors went yeah, you feel that, you know,
(06:56):
and the psychologist was recommending that if you can't do
anything else, just hold space for your people, the ones
who have lost everything. You don't really feel like you
can do much because what can you offer when you've
lost your entire house, right, But you can just be
that person that they can talk to and that they
can lean on, and they can call and just be like,
(07:18):
I don't know how to navigate FEMA. I don't know
how to go through all this building permits process.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
But I can talk to you about it.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
We can go to lunch, or I can pick up
your kids for you know, date night while you go
take a break from it all, because you can feel
the heaviness even today. The business owner I spoke with,
she was fine one second, and as she was connecting
the dots she found out I went to Code Ninja
where her kids used to go, and she broke down
in tears.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
So she was just, you know, She's.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Like, I never I'm not a crier, but now it'll
be the tiniest thing and I'm just I'm breaking down
because it's heavy and you can feel.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That if you just joined me. Taylor to Rogado from
Spectrum News. Reporter for Spectrum News joins me in the studio.
She's presently working on a piece talking about small businesses
in Pasadena and Altadena, what they've gone through and what
they are facing as they continue the journey on the
road back. Their stories are like many small businesses that
(08:14):
we may not know the names of, we may not
know the names of the owners, but their story is
one that needs to be told. And Taylor Toregano, with
the help of Spectrum News, is telling that story. And Taylor,
before we go to this break, when is it going
to air, to the best of your knowledge, I.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Believe day after tomorrow, Thursday morning, things change.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I think, so we understand in this business. We'll have
more with Taylor Toregano just a moment. It's Later with
mo Kelly. We're live on YouTube and KFI AM six forty.
We're live everywhere there on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
KFI AM six forty and also YouTube. It's Later with
mo Kelly. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And if you're just tuning in, my guest in studio
right now, reporter for Spectrum, Taylor Torragano. We're talking about
her latest feature that she's working on for Spectral News,
specifically about small businesses and how they are dealing with
(09:11):
not only the after effects of the fire, but also
trying to deal with the wider implications. As you said, Taylor,
about the tariffs, and I didn't think about that until
you mentioned it, but it's still something that's part of
the story, which brings me to my first question this segment.
How often are you surprised when you may think a
(09:32):
story is going to lead you one way and that
it takes you in all together different direction.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
A lot of people ask for questions beforehand, and I
never send.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Them, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
You just never know.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Actually, more often than not, it takes a different turn,
and you kind of just go with it, you know.
I learn more information information, just like you're doing now,
where you ask me something and then something I say
may lead you to a different question, and it's just
a fluid conversation versus ten questions that we have to
stick to and now you're rehearsing answers. So a lot
(10:03):
of the time, a lot of the time I do
go a different route, or I just learned to bits
of information that really complete the story and make it
more full. More relatable, make you and I or the
person that I'm interviewing, somebody that we can see ourselves in.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Which is the goal?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Was this something that you had been thinking about or
an assignment editor had given to you? How do you
go about deciding which stories, which people you're going to feature,
and stories you're going to tell this one?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
A lot of people pitch stories.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
So actually the newspeg as we call it, of this
one is a coalition.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Let me just read this.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It's la Strongcomm's Coalition, which is a group of different
pr people pr agencies that banded together to form a
coalition to give free pro bono services to businesses affected.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
By the fires.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Oh okay, So they pitched this to me as, oh,
these are businesses that are needing help getting back on
their feet. We are, we're providing this pro bono service.
And so we made it into a complete story. Instead
of just featuring the businesses, we also featured the part
because it all fits into this like lifting as you climb,
(11:17):
this community banning together to help each other get back
in many different ways.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
We talked about three different businesses.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
If I'm not mistaken last segment, If we were to
broaden this out. How many businesses do you think between
Altadena and Pasadena, if you were to just take a guess,
are impacted in a similar way.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Are we talking dozens, hundreds?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I would say thousands, because even if your business didn't
get I mean I was just I passed by on
the way to Code Ninjas. I passed by this entire
strip mall that was full of I would say maybe
thirty businesses small.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
And I talked to the property.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Owner there three months ago and he was like, yeah,
we have a little bit of smoke damage, but all
these businesses are going to be able to come back
because the building was still standing. I passed by today
and they were tearing it down.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
They're raising the buildings.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
They were demolishing it.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And so I think that as the reality of what
is happening sinks in and we start to see just
how extensive this damage really is, I think a lot
more people are going to be continue to be impacted,
even those that are still standing. The flames didn't touch them,
but they have smoke damage that's so bad, or you know,
(12:35):
they can't even sustain their business anymore because nobody's coming,
because nobody's in Altadena.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
It really feels like a ghost town.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
If I cannot, if I can interpret that, it sounds
like you're saying they may have survived the fire, but
they may not survive the.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Aftermath exactly, which is really heartbreaking.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Thousands of businesses.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I would I would estimate, Yeah, there's so many ripple effects,
and there's so many even just driving by and see
and they're all closed.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And if I take you at your word, if we're
talking about thousands of businesses, those are thousands upon thousands
of employees, people who they employ, presumably who would be
without jobs, or at least that job going forward, right
out of work.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Octavia's bookshelf was one of the first, if not the
She was the first independent black bookstore owner in Pasadena,
and I've done a couple of stories with her. Nikki
High is the owner there and she employs a couple
of people. But they had to turn their entire bookstore,
which is another really tiny little space and I think
(13:38):
it's right on the border of Pasadena. I think it's Pasadena.
But she also is affected in many different ways, and
they turn their entire bookstore into that's already struggling by
the way. She already had to start a GoFundMe just
to keep her own doors open.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
She turned her entire bookstore.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Into a recovery center because people were coming in just
needing help it. She couldn't even sell books because there
was so much need. And that's one example of countless
that we've heard over the last four months.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
That is one example.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
But I always ask people the general sense, are you
encouraged by what you see? Or are you more discouraged?
You could be more discouraged because you think about the
totality of the thousands of businesses and now former employees
which will never return. There are a lot of businesses
which will never come back, and that's an unfortunate reality.
But are you encouraged at the resilience that you may
(14:35):
come across?
Speaker 5 (14:35):
That's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I was going to use that same word because it's
the one thing that I see that really ties all
of everybody that I speak with there together. It is
a sense of resilience and almost a defiance, like, yes,
everything seems like it's horrible right now, but we will
rise from these ashes, and we'll do it together, and
(14:57):
we'll do it with each other, and we'll do it
leaning on each other, and we'll do it hand in
hand almost, and that's the beauty in it. Every single
person I talk to is crying by the end of
the interview because there is that sense of hope and
love and community and a restoration in humanity amid true devastation.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Taylor Toregano, this is the first time we had a
chance to work together in person. Even though we may
pass each other at Spectrum, we've known each other from
a distance for quite some time.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
This is not going to be the last time that
you come on with us.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And I also want people to know more about you
and your work. How can they find you on social media?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Uh? Instagram at Taylor Torgano. I'm trying not to get
onto the TikTok craze because I know once I get
on it, I'll just scroll incessantly all day. So just
Instagram spell your name real quick. T A Y l
O R t O r R E g A n O.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Taylor Toregano.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
A pleasure to officially have you on the show, and
we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And you said Thursday most likely.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
That this is going to air Thursday morning.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
All right, it's later with mo Kelly Cafi am six
forty and YouTube. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
KFI AM six for it is Later with mo Kelly.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and we'll be
back up on YouTube in just a second. But I
want to introduce you to someone new, someone you've probably
seen before, but you've not heard before here on this show.
And you know that I do a lot of work
with Spectrum News and I get introduced to a lot
(00:35):
of great professionals who are very knowledgeable in the TV realm,
and it's nice to be able to bring them into
the radio realms. I want to introduce you to Taylor Toregano,
who is a reporter at Spectrum News and she today
has been working on this piece regarding Pasadena and Altadena's
small business and how they are maneuvering and navigating this
(00:58):
space after the fires and devastations. So, Taylor torgan it's
a pleasure to see you. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Thank you, Moe Kelly. It's an honor to be here.
This is cool to be on the other side of things.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
What's it like then?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Let me just start there digress very quickly. What do
you see is the difference between radio and TV in
terms of the storytelling and connecting with an audience.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I don't know that there's much of a difference other
than being here. Obviously as a reporter, I'm like boots
on the ground, right so I'm out in the field
running all over Los Angeles. Today it was Altadina and Pasadena,
And it just depends on the day. You here are
kind of an anchor like what we have over there
in studio, so that would be the biggest difference. But
other than that, you're still doing the storytelling when.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
You set out today.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
How do you go about compiling that story that you
may not know what it's going to sound like, what
it's going to look like when it's completed.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That's maybe one of, if not my favorite part of
it is kind of the adventure I get to go
on the journey that I get to go on first,
to then bring my viewers along with with me. So today,
you know, I showed up at one business owner's establishment.
It was one of the first times she had gotten back.
She owns Code Ninjas in Altadena. Thank god her business
(02:12):
did survive the flames, but literally right now, I mean,
she's surrounded by a ring of just destruction. And if
you're not familiar with Code Ninjas, they do a lot
of coding for kids, so they own the business that
has you know, all these kids are super into rope
blocks and Minecraft and I don't even know it's not
our generation, but they had three D printing and so
(02:35):
basically she's channeling that obsession into coding into engineering and
things that they could really use to turn into careers.
So she goes in today and you can still see,
I mean, the remnants of what was left behind. She
has on the whiteboard January seventh that it was a lesson.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Oh, the structure is there, but the building is unusable.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Exactly, no power, no water. Today was the first day,
or one of two days. I think she said that
she's been back since. So everything around her has been
burned to the ground. She's right next to the Bunny
Museum if you're familiar with the area, just I mean
you can see it in complete ruins. She survived the flames,
(03:18):
but you can see there's ash all inside. She's cleaning
up and so she's talking about what do we do now.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
As a brick and mortar business, still although unconventional, it's
still a brick and mortar business. So she's been completely
off the scene as it were, since the fires. Correct,
she has not had like a satellite or an alternative location.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
She does own other she's a franchise, so she has
other locations, one in Silverlink where she's trying to bring
her kiddos there now, but she says a lot of
the Altadena kids aren't going because they're just trying to
figure out day to day because they've lost everything. Their
parents aren't able to bring them to after school programs
because in many cases they're not even going to school still,
(04:03):
so still not going to school. That's what she was saying,
Oh my, it's just it really just disrupted everything. And
then the other woman, there's a second business owner that
I went to play Lab Beauty in Pasadena. She's another
brick and mortar who survived, but her entire inventory, her warehouse,
everything that she was using to stock her new business
(04:24):
was at her house that burned down in the fires,
so she lost everything. And she was telling me the
story about how you know, they're trying to figure out
how to move forward, but she started crying because she's like,
oh my, God, my kids went to Code Ninja and
there's always these connections. We were talking out there to Tea.
It's not even six degrees of separation. Everybody knows somebody
(04:47):
who's been affected directly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Okay, let me throw another wrinkle into this. We're in
a period of economic uncertainty. Larger picture, your businesses, supply
chains may be disrupted because of Is that playing a
role at all in how these small businesses are trying
to get back on their feet.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Absolutely, especially in the case of this. Her name is
Vanessa and she owns play Loud Beauty. Her entire store
is Korean Beauty. It's all imported from Korea. And so
she's like, I feel like I can't catch a break because, yes,
they're brick and mortar, they're little six hundred foot square
foot six hundred square foot square like essentially boss shop.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, but it's.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So small I want to even get it. It's like this,
it's not it's a it's a room. That's a great
way to describe. It's a room. She's like, we were
just starting, we were just launching our new business, and
we were so excited about expanding. We don't have much
space here, so everything that we have. All of our
storage was at my house and that all went up
(05:50):
in flames. And now she's trying to get all the
inventory back and she can't because everything is really expensive.
But she says she's trying not to get too caught
up in all the headlines because things change, so it's
such a fluid situation, right and things. She's just not
certain about what it all looks like. But right now
(06:11):
the costs are skyrocketing.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You're not part of the story, but you can't be
completely separate from the story.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
You are from the Inland Empire. You like me.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
We were reporting on the fires for the most part
while they were happening. What was your vantage point from
the fires? May it have touched you or your co
workers or friends or family?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Man, I mean, anybody who's from this area does know
somebody who's lost everything, and that was really hard. I
think we had somebody on the show talk about a
psychologist and a life coach, and he was talking about
a sense of hopelessness or even survivors guilt. We were
talking outside about survivors went yeah, you feel that, you know,
(06:56):
and the psychologist was recommending that if you can't do
anything else, just hold space for your people, the ones
who have lost everything. You don't really feel like you
can do much because what can you offer when you've
lost your entire house, right, But you can just be
that person that they can talk to and that they
can lean on, and they can call and just be like,
(07:18):
I don't know how to navigate FEMA. I don't know
how to go through all this building permits process.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
But I can talk to you about it.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
We can go to lunch, or I can pick up
your kids for you know, date night while you go
take a break from it all, because you can feel
the heaviness even today. The business owner I spoke with,
she was fine one second, and as she was connecting
the dots she found out I went to Code Ninja
where her kids used to go, and she broke down
in tears.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
So she was just, you know, She's.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Like, I never I'm not a crier, but now it'll
be the tiniest thing and I'm just I'm breaking down
because it's heavy and you can feel.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That if you just joined me. Taylor to Rogado from
Spectrum News. Reporter for Spectrum News joins me in the studio.
She's presently working on a piece talking about small businesses
in Pasadena and Altadena, what they've gone through and what
they are facing as they continue the journey on the
road back. Their stories are like many small businesses that
(08:14):
we may not know the names of, we may not
know the names of the owners, but their story is
one that needs to be told. And Taylor Toregano, with
the help of Spectrum News, is telling that story. And Taylor,
before we go to this break, when is it going
to air, to the best of your knowledge, I.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Believe day after tomorrow, Thursday morning, things change.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I think, so we understand in this business. We'll have
more with Taylor Toregano just a moment. It's Later with
mo Kelly. We're live on YouTube and KFI AM six forty.
We're live everywhere there on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
KFI AM six forty and also YouTube. It's Later with
mo Kelly. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
And if you're just tuning in, my guest in studio
right now, reporter for Spectrum, Taylor Torragano. We're talking about
her latest feature that she's working on for Spectral News,
specifically about small businesses and how they are dealing with
(09:11):
not only the after effects of the fire, but also
trying to deal with the wider implications. As you said, Taylor,
about the tariffs, and I didn't think about that until
you mentioned it, but it's still something that's part of
the story, which brings me to my first question this segment.
How often are you surprised when you may think a
(09:32):
story is going to lead you one way and that
it takes you in all together different direction.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
A lot of people ask for questions beforehand, and I
never send.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Them, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
You just never know.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Actually, more often than not, it takes a different turn,
and you kind of just go with it, you know.
I learn more information information, just like you're doing now,
where you ask me something and then something I say
may lead you to a different question, and it's just
a fluid conversation versus ten questions that we have to
stick to and now you're rehearsing answers. So a lot
(10:03):
of the time, a lot of the time I do
go a different route, or I just learned to bits
of information that really complete the story and make it
more full. More relatable, make you and I or the
person that I'm interviewing, somebody that we can see ourselves in.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
Which is the goal?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Right?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Was this something that you had been thinking about or
an assignment editor had given to you? How do you
go about deciding which stories, which people you're going to feature,
and stories you're going to tell this one?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
A lot of people pitch stories.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
So actually the newspeg as we call it, of this
one is a coalition.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Let me just read this.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It's la Strongcomm's Coalition, which is a group of different
pr people pr agencies that banded together to form a
coalition to give free pro bono services to businesses affected.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
By the fires.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Oh okay, So they pitched this to me as, oh,
these are businesses that are needing help getting back on
their feet. We are, we're providing this pro bono service.
And so we made it into a complete story. Instead
of just featuring the businesses, we also featured the part
because it all fits into this like lifting as you climb,
(11:17):
this community banning together to help each other get back
in many different ways.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
We talked about three different businesses.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
If I'm not mistaken last segment, If we were to
broaden this out. How many businesses do you think between
Altadena and Pasadena, if you were to just take a guess,
are impacted in a similar way.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Are we talking dozens, hundreds?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I would say thousands, because even if your business didn't
get I mean I was just I passed by on
the way to Code Ninjas. I passed by this entire
strip mall that was full of I would say maybe
thirty businesses small.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
And I talked to the property.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Owner there three months ago and he was like, yeah,
we have a little bit of smoke damage, but all
these businesses are going to be able to come back
because the building was still standing. I passed by today
and they were tearing it down.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
They're raising the buildings.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
They were demolishing it.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
And so I think that as the reality of what
is happening sinks in and we start to see just
how extensive this damage really is, I think a lot
more people are going to be continue to be impacted,
even those that are still standing. The flames didn't touch them,
but they have smoke damage that's so bad, or you know,
(12:35):
they can't even sustain their business anymore because nobody's coming,
because nobody's in Altadena.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
It really feels like a ghost town.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
If I cannot, if I can interpret that, it sounds
like you're saying they may have survived the fire, but
they may not survive the.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Aftermath exactly, which is really heartbreaking.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Thousands of businesses.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I would I would estimate, Yeah, there's so many ripple effects,
and there's so many even just driving by and see
and they're all closed.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And if I take you at your word, if we're
talking about thousands of businesses, those are thousands upon thousands
of employees, people who they employ, presumably who would be
without jobs, or at least that job going forward, right
out of work.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Octavia's bookshelf was one of the first, if not the
She was the first independent black bookstore owner in Pasadena,
and I've done a couple of stories with her. Nikki
High is the owner there and she employs a couple
of people. But they had to turn their entire bookstore,
which is another really tiny little space and I think
(13:38):
it's right on the border of Pasadena. I think it's Pasadena.
But she also is affected in many different ways, and
they turn their entire bookstore into that's already struggling by
the way. She already had to start a GoFundMe just
to keep her own doors open.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
She turned her entire bookstore.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Into a recovery center because people were coming in just
needing help it. She couldn't even sell books because there
was so much need. And that's one example of countless
that we've heard over the last four months.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
That is one example.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
But I always ask people the general sense, are you
encouraged by what you see? Or are you more discouraged?
You could be more discouraged because you think about the
totality of the thousands of businesses and now former employees
which will never return. There are a lot of businesses
which will never come back, and that's an unfortunate reality.
But are you encouraged at the resilience that you may
(14:35):
come across?
Speaker 5 (14:35):
That's exactly it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I was going to use that same word because it's
the one thing that I see that really ties all
of everybody that I speak with there together. It is
a sense of resilience and almost a defiance, like, yes,
everything seems like it's horrible right now, but we will
rise from these ashes, and we'll do it together, and
(14:57):
we'll do it with each other, and we'll do it
leaning on each other, and we'll do it hand in
hand almost, and that's the beauty in it. Every single
person I talk to is crying by the end of
the interview because there is that sense of hope and
love and community and a restoration in humanity amid true devastation.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Taylor Toregano, this is the first time we had a
chance to work together in person. Even though we may
pass each other at Spectrum, we've known each other from
a distance for quite some time.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
This is not going to be the last time that
you come on with us.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And I also want people to know more about you
and your work. How can they find you on social media?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Uh? Instagram at Taylor Torgano. I'm trying not to get
onto the TikTok craze because I know once I get
on it, I'll just scroll incessantly all day. So just
Instagram spell your name real quick. T A Y l
O R t O r R E g A n O.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Taylor Toregano.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
A pleasure to officially have you on the show, and
we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And you said Thursday most likely.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
That this is going to air Thursday morning.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
All right, it's later with mo Kelly Cafi am six
forty and YouTube. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
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