Owner of looted sneakers store surveys post-Lakers-victory damage

At the Holy Grail, a vintage sneakers store around the block from Staples Center, owner Richard Torres appeared exhausted from staying up all night after revelers ransacked his shop after the Lakers' victory.

Torres was watching the Lakers' game Sunday night at his father’s house in Corona when he saw images of the civil unrest on the TV news. He recognized the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Flower Street, where his store is located. Torres and his girlfriend, who works as the manager, jumped into their car and headed downtown.

About fifteen minutes later, their security company called, saying the store alarm had been triggered. When they arrived less than an hour after the game had ended, shoe boxes were scattered all over the block. Some shoes had been lit on fire and thrown down the street.

Torres and his girlfriend entered through the back door and saw the storage room all but empty. Fewer than 20 pairs of shoes were left out of the 800 pairs they had in stock. The floor was littered with receipts, price tags, tissue paper and crumpled-up shoe boxes.

Torres’ eyes grew teary at the sight. Neighbors told them the revelers had gone to the back of the store, and pulled and pulled at the white metal door until it broke open, all the while chanting: “We want shoes, we want shoes.” Glass display cases had been shattered. Two computers, cash, sunglasses and hats were also looted.

“It makes me not want to be a basketball fan,” Torres said, adding that he opened the store near the Staples Center in November 2007 because he was a fan and thought the post-game crowd would be the right clientele for his consignment sneakers.

He hand-picked a dark gray for the interior, lined the walls with plastic replicas of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House design and put up lighting so his shoes would be visible even when the store was closed. He tried to be at the shop after Lakers' games and had employees spin records on DJ equipment in the back.

Torres said he regrets not having been at the store Sunday night but knows he could have been hurt if he had been there.

“I thought it would be a whole different reaction” to the Lakers’ victory, he said. “Usually after the games we get a real positive response.”

Torres estimated his loss at $140,000. He expected his insurance would cover it but noted that some of the vintage sneakers were irreplaceable. He said he hopes to reopen the Holy Grail by the end of the week.

This morning, police arrested a man and a woman who live in a loft in the building after finding six boxes of shoes in their apartment.

-- Corina Knoll

Photo: Richard Torres, owner of the Holy Grail, stands outside his boarded-up vintage sneakers store Monday morning. Looters left behind fewer than 20 pairs of shoes out of the 800 pairs in stock. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[LetsGoMets]

Hooray vatos! Good job destroying people's lives during your "celebration!"

http://letsgomets.vox.com/library/post/nothing-good-ever-comes-of-lakers-or-dodgers-victories-in-los-angeles.html

[Kevin]

Shameful. Cancel the parade.

[Dan]

Can the city help this man with the one million dollars it is giving to sponsor a parade. This should be the first rule of business before any celebrating.

[Paul]

The Lakers should step up and help this guy out.
Just another small businessowner trying to do the right thing
and the animals would not allow it. LAPD FAILED.

[Adam Vant]

Where the heck are the cops while this looting is going on? Eating donuts. Nowhere to be found. This is why I am working as hard as I can so I'll have the means to leave third world Southern California and move to a civilized part of the country.

[guest]

just another naysayer trying and clouding the the lakers victory with a bit of negative shade. the damage that was done will be forgotton by all and even those that did it by tomorrow, but the memory of our victory will live on forever, so just get over and look at the good we have just acomplished!!! GEESH!!!

[Alicia]

How embarrassing for Los Angeles ! I sure hope none of those low-life losers embarrass us more by showing up to the victory celebration. Please stay home, and let the classy Los Angelinos enjoy Laker victory.

[Aaron]

Another splendid display of downtown LA civility. A bunch of stupid hoodlums. I wonder what the ethnic make-up of the rioters was like? Why does this always happen in cities like LA, Detroit, etc?

[Mitleid]

That's completely heartbreaking. The meanness, the disrespect and the downright stupidity of the whole thing makes me sick. This is one of the reasons I'm not a basketball fan. I'll stick to hockey, thank you very much. Those fans actually know how to say please and thank you.

[Gerry M.]

It truly angers me to know that we have pathetic losers like this roaming our streets. I am a LAKER fan but this is just an excuse by worthless people to show their true colors. It's sad to know that these types of people are among us, probably enjoying beers next to us at the local bars, L.A. Live, etc. They are scum and give hardworking people in the area a bad name. I will say this though, LAPD should have been more than ready in that area to completely stop any possibility of this. Did they not think this may happen???

Richard, I applaud your entrepreneur spirit and wish you the best of luck in reopening. The City of L.A., LAPD and even the Lakers need to be held accountable on some level and lend you some support! Maybe once you open some LAKER players can show support by being at your store??? I'm just saying...

GM

[Scott in the OC]

This is awful. Stealing and tearing apart a business from a guy trying to make an honest buck. The Lakers won - why the need for a rage? Show some class.

[Steve]

That's too bad for this business owner! I wish each and all those looters be put to jail for life! They don't deserve freedom!!

[Shayna]

What scumbags...

I hope that anyone who sees the face of someone they know in the many LA Times photographs taken last night, calls the police and turns those people in. Everyone who took part in the theft or vandalism, or knows someone who took part and doesn't do anything about it, should be ashamed and know that they represent the WORST of society.

[esperanza]

With all due respect, this is exactly how Los Angeles idiots
react to a team victory, court ruling, suspect car chase -
stupidly, violently, with a gang mentality.

Game 4 reaction should have been the indication the
cops needed to have a far bigger and better presence
around Staples, and the other usual hotspots.

LA just did exactly what the rest of the nation knew it would do: rioted, looted, vandalized. That's the real Los Angeles.

The Ducks won a championship - I don't think anyone looted
a store. The Angels won a championship - again, I don't
think they had more than a few incidents. Then again, the cops were out in full force for hours before and after.

I do wonder why the police of Los Angeles, the Staple Center, and The Lakers, did not have a far more visible,
heavy handed, and prepared response? Is this yet another
LAPD weak response, in light of the many attacks the police
take in Los Angeles, i.e., the Immigration Protest Riots, etc.?

The LA City Council and LAPD and State should do a complete
review of this. 25 arrests? It should have been more like
2,500 after seeing what we were all able to see on tv.
Considering what we saw after game 4. That was a clear
indication of where these idiots, thugs, gangbangers, and
thieves were going with this.

They are not fans. They are not knuckleheads c/o: the
Police Chief's comments.

These are criminals. Arrest them. Please. Try it some time.
I hope this man is able to open his store again - soon, and that he gets new business from people who read this story.
He is a positive figure in a negative story.

Thanks to the idiots of Hunt. Park, South Central, downtown
L.A., Staple Center area, who did such a great job
cementing the stereotypes of Los Angeles citizens,
minorities, males w/shaved heads, guys who wear
oversized Lakers jerseys, and the other assorted morons
who were all over our tv's last night.

[Diddy]

Im surprised this hasnt turned into an immigration issue or anti-Latino,yet.

[Engr Guy]

Why has nobody in the Lakers organization condemned this crazy behavior yet? It seems like the responsible thing to do would be to have a public voice against looting and other destructive activities. In the least they should be denouncing the people responsible for the 'riots' as fans.

[Harold]

I hope this can be turned into a postive for the business owner. I am a big sneaker fan and didn't know about the Holy Grail. The next time I am downtown, I am going to buy some shoes from Holy Grail!!

I urge everyone else to do the same! Support local business!

[kgoddess]

This is truly sad that a very small minority of so-called Laker fans can turn what should have been a clelebration into an excuse for a riot. They are not in anyway, shape or form to be considered sports fans, they are nothing more than punks & thugs, & they make me asshamed to be a Los Angeles native. I'm glad Mr. Torres wasn't in the sotre...he could have bee killed.

[Mike]

Why wasn't the Mayor of L.A. standing by front door in his lovely pink shirt begging the rioters to cease their illegal activites?, Oh yea he was guest of honor at Happy Parade Dinner (they vote).

[Spiffy]

What kind of people hurt their own in order to celebrate a victory of their own?

I do not understand it and I never will.

[D Curmudgeon]

If the Lakers had any class, the team would pitch in and pay for the loss to this business owner from the criminals that claim to be "fans" of the Lakers.

[Billy]

If I were him, I would either sue the Anshutz people for attracting this hostile crowd or the illegal aliens who spawned these aggressive creatures and let them loose in our city.

[KT]

Mr. GM, I agree with you! Well said! It is a disgrace that these so-called Laker fans are terrorizing our streets! You are so right! They probably are individuals who have nothing better to do than to get drunk at L.A. Live, golf and terrorize our communities. This economy really needs to pick up immeidiately, so that those "funemployed" get back to work and we restore safety in our communities!

[Solracg]

to all the people who want to talk about the ethnic makeup of the morons who were rioting in downtown last night...
Oh my god...white people riot too?!?!?!

http://youbeenblinded.com/boston-celtics-fans-riot-after-victory/1316

[GoWatchSoccerUScumbags]

Close the borders! I'm happy my hard earned/easily wasted state taxes will go toward the clean up. All Laker fans are scumbags.