Silver Lake restaurant owner says the restaurant industry needs help amid pandemic
"To be fair, I really didn't even know if we would still be here for the holidays," said Silver Lake restaurant owner Lien Ta.
SILVER LAKE (KABC) -- Lien Ta is the co-owner of the restaurant All Day Baby in Silver Lake.
"For me, all day baby is like a feel-good diner, adult diner or a feel-good restaurant with the soul of a diner. That was its original intention. Right now, it's a takeout window," said Ta.
Ta has adjusted to the dining restrictions in place today, offering takeout and outdoor dining. But it hasn't been smooth sailing.
"I just shut down my first restaurant that I own with my chef partner Jonathan Whitener, that restaurant was called Here's Looking at You. We shut it down the day before it would have turned to four," Ta said.
According to Ta, Mayor Eric Garcetti was a frequent customer at Here's Looking At You, which shut its doors in July. So, when she realized the restaurant industry needed help, she decided to reach out to him.
"Sometimes when you just feel like you're about to lose everything, there's nothing to lose. So, I wrote him a letter. And I just walked up to his house and gave it to the security guard. And the mayor wrote me back that night and thanked me for my letter," said Ta.
That led to her appearance at the Democratic National Convention in August. Garcetti asked if Ta would be in his video.
She touched on the struggles that the restaurant industry is facing right now and says financial help is key.
"I acknowledge and really appreciate the ways in which our city officials have tried to help us with, you know, with the resources that they do have. I think ultimately, and I think I probably speak for many industries, what we really need is federal relief," said Ta.
