L.A. Workers Find Post-Quake Haven in O.C. : Commerce: Fleeing mechanical and safety problems, some got down to business at their firms’ other offices.
- Share via
COSTA MESA — Electrical and phone problems prompted some Los Angeles office workers set up shop in Orange County on Monday.
One was Rob Hoertz, a manager in the Los Angeles office of KPMG Peat Marwick. He ended up working at the firm’s Costa Mesa office Monday because of earthquake damage to the Downtown building.
Hoertz checked in at the accounting firm’s Los Angeles high-rise first and discovered that the elevator was not working. So he climbed 29 flights of stairs to reach his desk, only to find that electronic office equipment, too, had been knocked out.
“I did go to the L.A. office to work . . . but then I came here,” he said from Costa Mesa. “There was no power in the building” in Los Angeles.
At another big accounting firm, Coopers & Lybrand, some Southern California employees typically split their time between Newport Beach and Los Angeles. Those people opted to work a the former on Monday, spokeswoman Terry Goldfarb said.
“I believe our Los Angeles office was closed,” said Goldfarb, who is based in Newport Beach. “We couldn’t get through.”
Any Coopers & Lybrand employees who did show up to work Downtown had a whopping 50 floors to climb, Goldfarb said.
A bright spot for those who drove to Orange County for the day was a lack of congestion on the freeways, partly because of the holiday celebrating the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“It was the lightest day of traffic I’ve experienced in years,” Hoertz said.
Some companies, especially law firms and insurance offices, had already planned to close for the holiday. Other regional firms simply chose not to open offices that were near the center of the earthquake.
World Title Co., an insurer, closed its Burbank office for the day, and Ernst & Young closed its Downtown Los Angeles office.
Hughes Aircraft Co. workers in the areas of El Segundo and Los Angeles International Airport were sent home as a precautionary measure, spokesman Dan Reeder said. A Hughes office in Canoga Park was closed, too, due to broken water pipes.
Coincidentally, the company also closed some of its East Coast offices, Reeder said, because of snowstorms in the Washington area.
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
