Alex Coolman
GLENDALE -- About 15,000 local power customers were plunged into
darkness Wednesday when a transformer failed at a city substation near
the Glendale Galleria.
The outage started at 9:59 a.m., city spokeswoman Vicki Gardner said.
The boundaries of the affected area were roughly Harvard Street, San
Fernando Road, Pioneer Drive and Jackson Street. Gardner said power was
restored at 11:02 a.m.
Police Department spokesman Sgt. Rick Young said there were no traffic
accidents associated with the blackout, but added that many residents had
called the police trying to determine why power was cut.
Traffic signals along busy roads such as Brand Boulevard and Central
Avenue were knocked out by the transformer failure. Employees of many
local businesses -- including those at the Glendale Galleria -- found
they were unable to get anything accomplished for about an hour.
Outside the Glendale City Center, where escalators were still and
fountain motors inactive, Disney Stores Production Artist Kyle Jensen sat
with several of his colleagues waiting for the lights to go back on.
He said there wasn't much that could be done during the blackout: "We
do computer graphics."
A little further down Brand, at La Coccia espresso bar, Manager
Cinthia Zapata said the blackout had initially looked like a good thing.
When the power went out, customers flocked to her store to take a break.
The problem was, she said, she quickly ran out of coffee and then had
little else to serve besides "whatever was left over before."
"We're losing a lot of money," she said.
