Out with the (not so) old, in with the new

Moving Sale, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

The other day I was walking down Myrtle and stopped dead in my tracks. The pet store was empty. No more puppies playing and squirming behind the glass.

No more pups, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

Part of me was sad but I knew that it was probably a good thing as many of them were out of the Midwest where puppy mills are thriving. And so, I became philosophical about it. Mostly, though, I was shocked. It seemed so sudden. Had I been out-of-it not to notice that they were pulling up stakes?

The last shop I really didn't want to see go was the guitar shop on the corner of Myrtle and Olive. At the time I thought it was a singular event. Now I see that it was a harbinger of things to come.

I walked on. Less than a block away, across the street, I got another jolt. The train store was gone. The train store? WOW.

The trains have gone, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

What was happening? That place was practically a landmark along Myrtle. I know that some businesses were complaining during the construction, but was it really that bad? They just couldn't make it? I started hearing murmurings about rents going up. I emailed the city but haven't heard back yet.

And so a few days passed. I walked into Old Town last night for dinner, and noticed the going-out-of-business signs in the window of Mystic Sisters. Damn. Ok, so it was kind of a kooky store, but it was part of Old Town, and had flourished for many years.

50% off, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

I stepped inside Mystic Sisters and asked the woman behind the counter about it and she said the rent had been hiked to $6000 per month from somewhere in the mid-$4000s. "Amori is gone, too," she said.

RIP Amori, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

Today, I decided to walk around and see what really had changed. Lo' and behold she was right. Amori has closed its doors, and so has the candle shop. Ice Spice, the humble little Indian place next to the Theater is now going half-Mexican under new ownership. And, oddly enough, the candy shop is now selling Tamales.

For Rent, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

The Thai place I liked, Sweet Garlic, moved out and thank goodness another Thai place is coming in...I hope they taste as good...and it looks as if the new dress shop, Senta Bella, couldn't make it either.

Coming Soon, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

I know that with improvements come eventual price hikes, because the neighborhood is nicer and more desirable, but I hope, and pray, that we won't become like Old Town Pasadena, and lose too many more of our mom-and-pop stores.