Carnival closes Pico Boulevard

The Los Angeles Police Department-sponsored carnival that took over three blocks of Pico Boulevard Nov. 12-14 got an enthusiastic reception from local Jewish parents. The reaction from businesses on those blocks was decidedly more mixed, particularly from those under Jewish ownership.

“Everybody is against it,” Delice Bakery and Bistro owner Julien Bohbot said on Friday, the second morning that the stretch of Pico running in front of his shop was closed to vehicular traffic. “Thank God I have very good customers, loyal customers,” Bohbot said.

On a day when the bakery is usually swarming with customers buying challah and pastries for Shabbat, Delice’s business was down 75 percent. One block away, on the other side of Pico, Schwartz Bakery saw its business drop significantly on Thursday, the first day of street closures.

LAPD solicited the early support of the South Robertson Neighborhoods Council in the planning stages. “We’ve been planning this for maybe nine or 10 months,” Sgt. David Podesta said, explaining that the proceeds for the carnival would help support the West Los Angeles Division’s youth programs. Of LAPD’s 24 divisions, 17 have staged carnivals to raise funds for these programs.

But little outreach seems to have been done on the level of the individual businesses. Bohbot said he only heard about the carnival plans two-and-a-half weeks before the event. He and other local business owners said that when they did hear about the planned carnival from Podesta and other uniformed officers, the plans sounded less like a possibility or a proposal and more like a fait accompli. “Four weeks ago, I found out they were having it,” Nick’s Coffee Shop & Deli operator Clinton Love said. “Four weeks ago, I didn’t find out they were planning on deciding to have it.”

By Sunday afternoon though, local business owners were trying to make the best of the situation. Bohbot was selling burgers and fries in the open doorway of Delice Bistro. A kosher popcorn and cotton candy concession had been set up on the sidewalk outside Schwartz Bakery. The manager of Twin Dragon Restaurant hung two large banners advising carnival-goers that half of the Chinese restaurant’s profits would go to support the youth programs of LAPD’s Western Division.

Senior Lead Officer Chris Ragsdale said that while traffic had been slow on Friday night and Saturday during the day, owing to the large concentration of Shabbat-observant Jewish residents, people showed up on Saturday night “as soon as the sun set.”

“Today’s been a great day,” Ragsdale said Sunday afternoon.

Though there was a strong Jewish presence — the carnival’s main food concession stand had switched to Hebrew National corn dogs for this weekend — it was a diverse crowd overall. “We have had so many different kinds of people come over,” said Joy Parris, the owner of a gym on Pico. “We need to do it again.”

Mark Hecht owns and operates Schwartz Bakery, and he is hoping to have more conversations with the LAPD in advance of any future event. “This was their first time,” Hecht said. “I think they realize that bringing us in in the future is going to help them.”