Latest news with #AngeliKakade
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blowtorch burglars access safes at another Southern California jewelry store
A jewelry store in Encino on Sunday became the latest to be targeted by burglars using a blowtorch to gain access to its safes. Surveillance video from Afghan Lapis Jewelry on the 17600 block of Ventura Boulevard shows four burglars crawling on the floor after breaking into the business during the early morning hours. KTLA reporter Angeli Kakade was at the store Wednesday morning. She could still smell the smoke from inside the ransacked shop, where items were overturned and a blowtorch was used to open two safes. The suspects are believed to have spent about an hour and a half inside the shop, getting away with an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, after taking down the alarm system. 'For one second, if you can imagine how would you feel if you built your life and you're at retirement age and everything you saved up is gone to zero, overnight,' the store owner's brother Amin Nassiri said. A GoFundMe donation page has been started to help the owner repair and reopen the family-owned store. The burglary is nearly identical to a break-in that took place at a jewelry store in Glendale last month, in which the suspects dropped through a roof before using a blowtorch to open a safe. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Beloved L.A. staple Original Pantry Cafe closes after 100 years
Beloved in the city for a century, Los Angeles staple Original Pantry Cafe is closing its doors for good, despite efforts to save it. Loyal customers waited for hours on Sunday to eat one more time at the iconic diner, located on the corner of Figueroa Street and James Wood Boulevard in downtown L.A. 'We're hoping we're not going to have to say goodbye,' one customer shared with KTLA's Angeli Kakade. 'I think you really don't, it stays in your heart forever.' The restaurant was owned by former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, and it was placed in a trust after his death in 2023. While news of the trust selling the pantry has been ongoing for months, Unite Here! Local 11 – representing restaurant employees – was trying to negotiate a contract with the trust to help workers keep their jobs even if the restaurant sells. Demonstrations took place this week to keep the pantry open – without success. Riordan's daughter sent KTLA a statement saying, 'As with most Angelinos, our family saw the Pantry as our home away from home. Our hearts go out to all those involved in the Pantry as it moves on to its next chapter.' This sentiment was shared by hundreds who showed up to bid farewell. The union told KTLA that as of Sunday, the trust wouldn't say if they had a buyer lined up or not, but representatives said the fight isn't over. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
