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On Reseda Blvd., Merchants Sell Moong Dal, Not Sizzle

On Reseda Blvd., Merchants Sell Moong Dal, Not Sizzle Economic Engines of the Valley By SHELLY GARCIA Senior Reporter You won’t find a Starbucks, a Jamba Juice or a Western Bagel along the stretch of Reseda between Sherman Way and Nordhoff Street. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find a single national chain anywhere around here. Business along this stretch spanning parts of the communities of Reseda and Northridge has remained pretty much the same for half a century. Reseda Boulevard has been the local business hub for residents of the Central Valley since its citizens sent their steeds galloping down the boulevard on Stampede Day. That may not make Reseda Boulevard a powerhouse on the San Fernando Valley’s economic scene, but its role in the local community has remained unchanged. Take Joyce’s Coffee Shop at Reseda and Raven, a local eatery that has survived for more than 40 years. Joyce herself passed away about a year ago, but the restaurant’s ownership had changed hands several times even before her death. “Regulars that’s how we stay in business,” said Dee Glodis, Joyce’s waitress. “There’s a guy who comes in here twice a day and he’s been coming here for 20 years.” Proprietors and workers from neighboring establishments all eat at Joyce’s. They send their customers there as well. The current owner, Rafael Vasquez, had worked at Joyce’s for 16 years when its last owner decided to retire and he bought in. “We have customers coming here for three generations,” he said. “They feel at home.” North of Nordhoff, shoppers can find Ross Dress for Less or Big 5 but to the south, the offerings are considerably different. And while the area’s role in the local economy hasn’t changed much, the locals have changed a lot. The area is a hodgepodge of Latino, Middle-Eastern, Indian and Asian ethnic groups, nearly all of them represented in the current business community. One big banner hanging outside A-1 Produce and Veggie Lovers Deli, a grocery and restaurant that opened about four months ago, announces that the store carries kosher foods. Alongside it, another banner says, “Se Habla Espanol.” Inside, shoppers of many different backgrounds shop for native foods, spices and produce from nearly every corner of the world: Chin Chin Milk Tea, Nihari Spice Mix, Moong Dal lentils and winter melon. “See these refried beans?” said owner Somi Rehil to a visitor. “A lot of Jewish people like this. We sell it to kosher customers.” The store’s deli serves freshly made sambhar soup, a combination of vegetables and lentils and jalebi, a kind of doughnut made with garbanzo beans, sugar and sweet spices. Everything is strictly vegetarian no meat, no meat byproducts, no animal fats a feature that pleases Muslims, Hindus and kosher Jews, whose meat intake is restricted by dietary laws. “We come for produce and tea,” said Ari M., a Chatsworth resident who has been coming to A-1 at least once a week since it opened. “We’re of Middle Eastern decent, so there are things that are to our liking.” Shoppers along Reseda Boulevard can select textiles for saris at several different locations, eat at a handful of Vietnamese restaurants or choose from a large selection of Farsi-language videos at Aryan Market, a kind of Afghani general store that also carries textiles, large sacks of flour and incense. Vallarta Markets, a Latino grocery chain, just opened off Chase Street. While many shopkeepers are settling here to tap into the growing ethnic market, Tricia Hendrix opened her hair styling business, It’s All About You, about three years ago hoping to capitalize on the college crowd at Cal State Northridge. “Being on Reseda close to CSUN, I figured we’d get good business here,” said Hendrix, as she braided a customer’s hair one a recent morning. “I expected a little more but, yeah, it’s been nice.” Not all business owners along Reseda Boulevard have been as successful. The vast majority of the businesses along the four-block stretch at the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way are closed, victims of high crime, low sales or both. Recent certification as a Business Improvement District has done nothing to change that. The glass storefront of Knick Knacks, just north of Sherman Way, has been broken twice by vandals, a neighboring storeowner said. A sign on the window of The Bookie Joint, a book store two doors down, announces the shop is for sale. Ali Saghar, owner of Aria Catering, which sits between the two shops, has been robbed three times in the two years since he opened here. “It’s not safe. It’s too dangerous,” he said. Saghar would move, he said, if his business required customers to come to him. But his kosher catering company delivers outside the area, and being on Reseda Boulevard has its advantages. The rent is cheap, labor is plentiful and the location is close to the freeway. “A lot of Jewish people live south of Ventura,” Saghar said. “My business is kosher catering, and it is very easy to connect with them from here.”

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