California Apparel News

An all-encompassing blaze that broke out at 4:20 a.m. on July 11 destroyed two stores that occupied three spaces on Wall Street in the Los Angeles Fashion District.

It took 109 firefighters nearly two hours to knock out the fire, located at 1220 S. Wall St., which is owned by G.G. World, whose chief executive is listed as David Ju. Firefighters on the scene said the blaze is under investigation.

Hours after the incident, store owners on the block between 12th and 13th streets watched as firefighters pushed large puddles of water around mounds of debris accumulated in the street.

One burned storefront is occupied by Sunny Angels, who just moved in one week ago to the space, where he sells baptismal dresses and special-occasion dresses for girls. Angels was not at the scene, but the owner of an adjoining childrenswear store, Peter Pyun, said Angels had moved in after the Good Girl store there moved down the street.

The other store destroyed by the blaze was Unik, a childrenswear store whose owner was in Vietnam. The owner’s sister-in-law, Stephanie Huynh, who owns a nearby store, stood by and watched as firefighters surrounded the area in yellow tape. Huynh said her sister-in-law was informed about the blaze. The owner’s children came to inspect the damage before they had to go to work in a warehouse.

Pyun, whose boutique is called Kiki Kids, has only been in his space for six months. The smell of smoke permeated his merchandise and store, which was undamaged but had no electricity. Pyun said he heard about the fire from an employee who called at 7:30 a.m. and said to turn on the TV to see the blaze. “I was shocked, just shocked,” Pyun said. “I said, ‘Oh my God.’”

Hours after the blaze was extinguished, insurance adjusters were roaming up and down the sidewalks to talk to people about what had happened.