Fundraiser aims to help San Fernando Valley small business impacted by Hollywood strikes
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The ongoing strikes by Hollywood actors and writers have hurt many small businesses in Los Angeles that rely on TV and film production for their customer base.
One such business that heavily depends on the industry is La Cienega Studio Cleaners. The business specializes in overnight turnaround for specialty dry-cleaning of wardrobes used in productions.
The business takes in costumes from 10 p.m. to midnight, and then returns them the next morning in time for the day's shoot. They specialize in hard-to-clean items, such as costumes with CGI sensors attached and custom, hand-made garments.
They normally handle clothing from some 60 or more productions per week.
Usually the heavy industrial machinery is humming all night. But now amid the two strikes the equipment is quiet.
"We are literally running out of money," said CEO Dmitry Tokar.
He's already had to lay off some 40 workers. Now he's faced with the possibility of having to shut down, at least for the duration of the strike.
"We tried for a couple months to sustain everyone here," said Nick Tokar, manager of La Cienega Studio Cleaners. "But after the actors went on strike it was literally impossible to keep everyone onboard, unfortunately. And it's tough, because people have been here for years."
Friends and loyal customers have started a GoFundMe to help keep the business running and it's raised more than $16,000 so far.
