across the country shut down between February and April. The number of shops owned by Latinos, Asians, immigrants and women dropped 32%, 26%, 36% and 25%, respectively.
These closures are what worry Jane Wurwand. “The thing I’m fearful the most of after this is, when we lift our heads and look around our communities and neighborhoods, I think we’re going to see a lot missing, and we have to rebuild our main streets in our neighborhoods because otherwise we just don’t have a point of connection,” she said. “I want to live near theRice and NoodleLunch sales at the tiny Thai and Vietnamese restaurant fell by more than 60% after offices in the area closed.
or economic injury disaster loans. Cleaning and sanitizing supplies have added more costs. But with her partner and chef, Son Ongjampa, she’s managed to hang on, her 8-year-old son, Hugo, and 6-month-old baby, Ethan, at her side.“I was so happy,” Chotikulthanachai said tearfully in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s like I won the lottery.” Hugo joyously jumped and screamed. She called her mother in Thailand — who cried, too.“I’m working so hard,” she said.
Owning a business has been a dream for Chotikulthanachai. She grew up in the restaurant world in Bangkok, where her mother ran her own place. She opened Rice and Noodle in 2018 with the help of family, and hopes someday to hand it down to her son. “I cannot let my family fail with me.”, a custom frame shop with locations in Tarzana and North Hollywood, closed her store for four months at the start of the pandemic.
Cruz-Ocampo, 55, kept working, too, despite fears of contracting the virus. She has scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that makes her
See, cash is king, look at those smiles
thank you very much for your work