These days, the temperature inside the kitchen at Red Peach Sweet Bakery is at least 93 degrees. Danny Griffin, the owner of the franchise, and his employees ducked behind the Pasadena store as they ran for cupcakes, cinnamon rolls and other baked goods before the frost melted.
The brutal heat and intense working conditions inside the kitchen and front of the business comes after a thief destroyed the air conditioning in the roof in search of copper wires. Griffin says he had no choice but to stay open this time, despite the heat risks to himself and the staff as the hottest temperatures of the year so far bake Southern California.
“We have to be here to stay open. If not, we’ll close,” Griffin said in an interview with The Times on Tuesday. The loss of AC “hits us hard,” he added.
Griffin and the bakery staff first realized something was wrong when it got unusually hot in their kitchen last Tuesday.
Owner Kenyatta Glover at Sweet Red Peach in Pasadena mixes cream cheese frosting in the kitchen, which has been sour due to the lack of AC during the July heat, the staff said.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“We wouldn’t want to involve ourselves in things like this, it’s not safe,” he said. “It’s like working outside.”
Since the beginning of the year, there have been a total of six rooftop air conditioning units in Pasadena businesses that have had their copper wiring removed, said Lt. Monica Cuellar of Pasadena police told The Times. Two of them happened in the last few days.
It’s a change in the tactics of thieves in the city, according to Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derdarian; before the spate of roof thefts, incidents of copper wire being taken by thieves were probably limited to what was accessible at street level.
Roofing theft is a new trend in the Pasadena area and has done more damage than the value of the copper property, Cuellar said.
However, the city has warned businesses with rooftop AC systems that the units are vulnerable to copper wire hacking because they are “not visible and [are] they are usually built in flat commercial buildings, which are so simple.”
The most recent burglaries occurred in the early morning hours of July 11 at the Petsadena Animal Hospital on South Raymond Avenue and the evening of July 13 at a bakery in the shopping center on Arroyo Parkway. The city said it is not clear if the two thieves are related.
The pet hospital has lost one of its two AC units, meaning the facility is able to keep animals in condition and their human clients comfortable. But staff have had to contend with local marsh police and fans, said Darlene Lopez, the hospital’s animal manager, in an interview with The Times.
One of the two HVAC units was removed from Petsadena Animal Hospital in Pasadena due to copper wire thieves.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
The situation “put more obstacles in the way of the hospital,” Lopez said, including daily runs to the grocery store for ice and refrigerator purchases.
“This is the first time something like this has happened,” he added.
Theft means thousands of dollars lost to each of these businesses, such as additional operating costs, fees collected to inspect AC units for damage, and eventual replacement costs. At Sweet Red Peach Bakery, replacing an HVAC unit can cost franchise owner Griffin as much as $25,000, he told The Times.
But, beyond concerns about the future of the business and the heavy costs of the AC unit, Griffin stressed the importance of the community at a challenging time. He said the owner of a sandwich shop in Gardena bought all his stock on Sunday and told him to “go home.” Others, including businesses within the same shopping center, have donated portable wetland coolers.
“People have been supportive. It’s been great,” Griffin said last week. Others came in to show their support after seeing local news segments about the situation at the bakery.
Before the string of air conditioner copper wire thefts, Pasadena experienced several instances in the past two years of copper wire thefts rampant in lights and traffic lights, which cost the city $87,000 in lost equipment and $200,000 in emergency repairs, Derdarian told The Times. From the city’s water and electricity department last year, $55,000 worth of copper wiring was stolen, he added.
The city found an effective tool to prevent theft from street lights and other areas. Sealing the vaults with copper wire “with a special glue,” said Derdarian, has reduced the number of further thefts.
Co-owner Danny Griffin has fans heading to Pasadena’s Sweet Red Peach on Tuesday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
He said the onus is on the house owners and the owners of these shops to take measures to protect the AC units from the roof.
The city recommends “non-barrier metal cages around the units,” locking all exterior stairways and installing motion-activated security cameras that will immediately notify business owners or homeowners of unauthorized rooftop work.
For Griffin, although public support and public awareness have grown, the health risks and business challenges worsen as time goes on and the air conditioner remains inactive. The extreme heat in the kitchen, he said, is hindering the bakery industry from producing its goods.
“That hurts sales because some people don’t get what they want and leave,” Griffin said.
