Fortunately, most residents in the Hancock Park, Larchmont Village area suffered minimal impact from Hurricane Hilary. We did not hear of widespread power outages like we had this past winter with the exception of Carthay Circle, where the power was out for several hours before it was restored.
Some businesses on Larchmont were open though the Sunday Larchmont Farmers was canceled. It wasn’t an easy decision for businesses to decide to open.
“We checked with our team to see who wanted to come in and opened with a skeleton staff,” Todd Warner, owner of Tailwaggers told the Buzz. Warner said they canceled their weekly pet adoption but wanted the store to be open in case customers needed pet food. We spoke to him while he was making a delivery to LAPD’s canine unit. “It was a very quiet day, we did not get many dog visitors at all and closed a few hours early.”
Sam Clark, owner and chief design officer for Scent Room told us everyone on their team who came in to work was close by and felt comfortable navigating the streets.
“We wanted to come in for the community, just in case someone really wanted to visit us in person,” said Clark.
Despite the weather forecast, the Center For Yoga held its final day of Master Training in Subtle Body led by teacher Jeanne Helieman. Heather Zimmerman, studio manager told us she kept an eye on the forecast should there be a need for class cancellations but none were needed.
“Dedicated students still attended their scheduled classes,” Zimmerman told us.
Chevalier’s Books had a quiet day too, manager Miles Parnegg told us. “We sold some books but half the staff ended up leaving after lunch,” said Parnegg.
The Holey Grail team came in to fulfill orders placed on the company’s app. There were over thirty orders when by 11:00 a.m.
Our thanks to manager Benjy Lachman-Sueker for serving as our eyes on the street. capturing the flooding on the street! (All flood photos are from Lachman-Sueker)
Fortunately, the team at Beyond Yoga was there as they ended up calling the city to clean out a clogged storm drain that flooding the street.
“As a new store manager, and native Angeleno who’s never experienced a tropical storm firsthand, I tried to be as proactive and diligent as possible,” Beyond Yoga store manager Annie Wyrick told the Buzz. “When my team and I noticed the puddle forming in front of our shared driveway, as it has done in the past when it rained. We factored the severity of the storm developing, and the water level at the driveway/puddle forming, and knew it was best to be safe rather than sorry, so I called DWP emergency drain and sewage to have a technician clear the storm drain which had been building up with debris, and blocking the flow of water.”
Fortunately, city crews responded quickly and the storm was cleared allowing the water to drain off the street.
In Hancock Park, residents on Rossmore and Clinton found the streets flooded during the heaviest period of rain late last night.  A reader shared a photo of a car and a van floating in what seemed like ten inches of water on Clinton Street and Lilian Way. Known locally as the Hancock Park cul de sac area, this area is vulnerable to flooding which is why residents at 585 N. Rossmore, closed their underground parking garage and barricaded it with sandbags in anticipation of potential flooding. Their system worked and it seemed their garage remained dry. At 555 N. Rossmore, the Chateau Rossmore underground garage was not so lucky. We saw crews sweeping out the garage earlier today.
“Overall it was pretty quiet,” Hancock Park HOA President Cindy Chvatal-Keane told the Buzz. “Our arborist Sabine Hoppner and her crew are out checking our trees for any fallen limbs which can be reported to 311 and will likely be removed in a day or two. As everyone is aware, there was a lot of rain yesterday and as the tree roots adjust to all this water, there could be some breakage. We advise residents to avoid parking under trees for a few days to allow the ground to stabilize.”
If you see a downed tree or a clogged storm drain, call 311, or you can place a service request online or through the app. If you have a downed tree on your property and want to donate it, the folks at EnrichLA.org will be happy to turn it into a garden bench for a school garden.
Tomas O’Grady posted the following message and shared it with the Buzz and permission to share his number and email address: [email protected]
“Please if you know of any downed trees that are being cut please we can receive the stumps at any of our 142 School site projects. It is sad the trees are falling but let’s use them for something good. My cell is 323-377-6320. If you notice a tree person this morning maybe please ask them to call me or text me.”
And, as if a tropical storm wasn’t enough, Sunday’s 5.1 earthquake centered near Ojai, was a good reminder that anything can happen anytime. Fortunately, as we write this, the sun is shining and neighborhood life is getting back to normal.
Great coverage…thanks for the very thorough story. Didn’t know about EnrichLA…sounds like a well run organization doing good work.