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Hello everyone, for those who don't know me, my name is Susan Carnel, I am the owner of The Living Room Sports Bar, and have been since October 2017. Prior to this, I worked as a bartender for approximately 30 years. Business has been great until Covid hit last March. God blessed my efforts, yet, it has been a long journey during this pandemic. Although I have been able to maintain the business while being shut for the past year, I now find myself struggling.
For many of you who do not know the history of The Living Room, the bar is one of the longest standing Black owned bars in Los Angeles. Losing the bar would not only affect my personal life, but it will take away a huge staple to the community. The bar has been Black owned for the past five decades, and I would love nothing more but to keep the legacy going.
In Los Angeles county, Covid restrictions for businesses has been divided into four tiers; yellow, orange,red and purple. Purple means the virus is widespread, red means the cases are slightly going down, but still not safe to open. The next tier, orange will allow some businesses to open with limited capacity, and yellow is safe to reopen. Unfortunately, since my business is only a bar and not a bar with a fully equipped kitchen, or inside of a restaurant, I am not in the operational stage to reopen and not sure when my business will be able to do so. As of March 15th 2021, the bar tier has gone from purple to red and then hopefully to orange if Covid cases continue to decrease. Even with limited capacity of 10-25% the bar will continue to struggle. Businesses have no set date to when they can reopen to a yellow tier where they are back operating at 100% capacity level.
Bills and rent are still due. Money is going out, but it is not coming in. I have taken a huge loss during this pandemic. I'm sure many of you are thinking there is some sort of bailout concerning the SBA and PPP loans, but those are in fact loans and not grants. I can not afford to accumulate any debt especially while my business is still closed. The money that I have lost due to Covid can not be replaced and I am on the verge of losing the bar.
I am simply asking for help and support for those that are aware of the struggles that Black owned businesses have faced during this pandemic. Losing the bar would only add to the loss of another Black owned business.
Thank you all for your support in advance.
For many of you who do not know the history of The Living Room, the bar is one of the longest standing Black owned bars in Los Angeles. Losing the bar would not only affect my personal life, but it will take away a huge staple to the community. The bar has been Black owned for the past five decades, and I would love nothing more but to keep the legacy going.
In Los Angeles county, Covid restrictions for businesses has been divided into four tiers; yellow, orange,red and purple. Purple means the virus is widespread, red means the cases are slightly going down, but still not safe to open. The next tier, orange will allow some businesses to open with limited capacity, and yellow is safe to reopen. Unfortunately, since my business is only a bar and not a bar with a fully equipped kitchen, or inside of a restaurant, I am not in the operational stage to reopen and not sure when my business will be able to do so. As of March 15th 2021, the bar tier has gone from purple to red and then hopefully to orange if Covid cases continue to decrease. Even with limited capacity of 10-25% the bar will continue to struggle. Businesses have no set date to when they can reopen to a yellow tier where they are back operating at 100% capacity level.
Bills and rent are still due. Money is going out, but it is not coming in. I have taken a huge loss during this pandemic. I'm sure many of you are thinking there is some sort of bailout concerning the SBA and PPP loans, but those are in fact loans and not grants. I can not afford to accumulate any debt especially while my business is still closed. The money that I have lost due to Covid can not be replaced and I am on the verge of losing the bar.
I am simply asking for help and support for those that are aware of the struggles that Black owned businesses have faced during this pandemic. Losing the bar would only add to the loss of another Black owned business.
Thank you all for your support in advance.
Organizer
Susan Carnel
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
