MTA Offers Loan to Save Restaurant

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has promised an interest-free $17,000 loan to save the owner of a Hollywood restaurant, who says she was bankrupted by subway digging, from losing her lease.

It is the first such rescue since tunneling began disrupting businesses in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley two years ago.

Doreet Hakman, owner of the Snow White Cafe in the 6700 block of Hollywood Boulevard, gained a measure of notoriety in recent months for tearful appearances at MTA board meetings and a short hunger strike at Los Angeles City Hall at which she blamed subway tunnel construction for slashing her income by 75% and thrusting her into bankruptcy.

Two weeks ago, she complained bitterly to MTA board members that she would lose her lease if she did not receive help by Tuesday. That’s when a federal bankruptcy judge was scheduled to decide whether to let her landlord evict her from the restaurant, decorated with historic murals of Disney film characters, because she had not paid rent since December.

Her attorney, Pamela A. Mozer, said the MTA faxed her a letter at 7 p.m. on Monday--15 hours before the hearing--pledging to send $17,000 for rent.

Hakman was unavailable for comment.

But Gerald A. Schneiderman, who helped her in the effort as part of his coordination of $2 billion in claims against the MTA for alleged damage to properties along subway tunneling routes, said he was delighted with the result.

“This is as good as a check,” he said, noting it was the first time that the transportation agency had agreed to help a business that was not completely closed down as a result of tunnel construction. Schneiderman said 40 other business owners in Hollywood and along Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood who blame tunnel construction for slashing their income have contacted him for help in receiving rent relief.

Authority spokesman Steve Chesser said the action was a “gesture of good faith . . . consistent with the MTA’s efforts to be a good neighbor” but did not constitute an admission of liability for the damage.

Chesser also said the amount would be deducted from any settlement or judgment that Hakman might in the future receive from the agency.

Marshall Caskey, attorney for Silvers Investment Co., Hakman’s Woodland Hills-based landlord, said his client remained skeptical of the MTA’s pledge and would continue to pursue her eviction until the money is in hand.

“My clients have the quaint idea that people who lease commercial properties ought to pay the rent,” Caskey said. “That doesn’t seem unreasonable, frankly.”