Residents displaced, business owners struggling after Oakland bookstore fire

OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland Fire investigators plan to return to the East Bay Booksellers building this week to meet with the building owners and try to determine what caused the three-alarm fire that destroyed the building and damaged nearby structures.

Oakland Fire crews got the call at 5:24 a.m. Wednesday and say they were able to contain the fire in about 45 minutes. Fire officials said it is unclear, however, what time the fire started and it could have been burning several hours before the first 9-1-1 call came in.

The fallout from the fire, however, is just beginning for the businesses and residents along the 5400 block of College Avenue in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood.

“We were told mid-afternoon that anything the firemen did was our responsibility to do,” said Barbara Stelzriede, the fourth-generation owner of George and Walt’s bar next to the bookstore.

Stelzriede says her businesses had minor water damage and the heat melted her building’s wiring on the side facing the fire. 
Plus, she had to pay the cost of replacing the front door, where firefighters had to break through to check for flames.

She worries about submitting an insurance claim, because she says the bar has already had five break-ins that resulted in huge rate hikes and in one case, a canceled policy.

“After my second break-in they canceled my insurance, my business insurance. I was paying $9,000 a year and they raised it to $27,000 a year,” Stelzriede said. “I got brand new insurance and two weeks later we got broken in again. I didn’t even bother turning it in. So I’ve been having to fix this on my own.”

Stelzriede says in one case the thief caused thousands of dollars in damage and walked away only with rolls of quarters.

She now has spent her own money on multiple security systems, switched from cash to an electronic payment system, and has theft deterrent sensors and other measures in place.  

On the other side of the bookstore, the Chocolate Dragon Bittersweet Cafe and Bakery had a sign in the window saying they had lost power as a result of the fire next door.

The owner, Lise Dale said they planned to open half a day on Wednesday and stay open as long as they could.

“There’s still a chance pending further inspections that we might have to close, but for now, we’ve got permission to keep going as long as we have power,” Dale said.

Dale is still dealing with trauma from the fire, however, after being one of the five residents who live upstairs and had to rush out of the building when a resident in a unit facing the bookstore smelled smoke and called 9-1-1 to report the fire.

Dale says her unit is okay, but that resident who alerted the fire department cannot return and has no home after the temporary funds from the Red Cross run out in a few days. The destruction and cleanup on the damaged apartments could take months.

“It’s probably going to be a while before those are usable again,” Dale said, adding that they hope someone will contact the cafe if they have an extra room for rent to help the displaced residents.

In front of the bookstore, someone placed a heart made of flower petals, leaves from a nearby tree, and an open book that was half burned.

One neighbor, Celeste Travis stopped at the door of the bookstore with her two daughters. They brought a stapler to post letters that the girls had written to the East Bay Booksellers staff.

One girl wrote, ” We are very sad about what happened to your store…Hope you repair soon.”  

The other girls wrote, “We used to spend hours chicking out all of your wonderful books! I thought they were extremely beautiful. I hope you can still rebuild your marvelous bookstore.”

At the Elizabeth H salon next door, the owner Elizabeth Herzberg is grateful for another act of kindness. 

The owner of Vero Salon down the street offered to let Herzberg move in there temporarily to keep business going.

Herzberg’s business was dark Wednesday, with large fans to dry out the water damaged the salon flooring.

“I could see there was water pouring in the bookstore and our windows were covered in steam and mist,” Herzberg said. “I knew it was going to be bad…you can tell how bad it smells, so we’ll see what happens.”

“The Rockridge District Association has been amazing,” Vanessa Farmer, the Elizabeth H salon manager said. “Everyone is just coming together and we’re grateful for all the help and care from adjoining businesses.”