Highland Park Business Owners Board Up Windows

The only sound on York Street Monday night was the hammering of nails as business owners prepared for potential protestors.

Matthew Schodorf, co-owner of Highland Park coffee shop Café De Leche, decided to board up the windows of his business around 5 p.m. on Monday.

Schodorf began acting, in part, because York Street grocery story Super A boarded up their windows earlier in the day, a move that Schodorf found “kind of unsettling.”

Schodorf, who co-owns Café De Leche with his wife, Anya Schodorf, talked to his landlord and then, according to Schodorf, “My neighbor, Eduardo, said, ‘Dude, let’s do this.’” Eduardo, whom Schodorf called “an amazing guy,” drove down to Home Depot to get equipment to board up the coffee shop’s windows.

On the other side of York Street, Jonathan Wilson, owner of AAA Board Up, Inc., was boarding up businesses. “We’ve been doing this fifteen years,” Wilson said.

Since Friday night, Wilson has boarded up businesses in Santa Monica, Studio City, Fairfax, La Brea and Highland Park.

“We’re getting calls from 3rd Street Promenade. We’re starting to get calls in Glendora,” Wilson said, adding that he’s been listening to scanners and is planning to head to Van Nuys after he was done working in Highland Park.

“Police and fire get priority,” Wilson said, “and then we’re working off a list.”

Wilson completed work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on Sunday.

“We did a fifty foot, twelve foot high wall there,” Wilson said, referring to his work at LACMA.

Kumquat Coffee, another coffee shop on York Street, probably will not board up their windows, though they’re still debating, according to co-owner Scott Sohn.

“We simply do not have anything that is valuable,” Sohn said. “Since we have been using only cashless transactions, [there is] no cash in the shop.”

City Council member Jose Huizar could not immediately be reached. LACMA is currently closed.