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Douse • Members
of the Long Beach Fire Department extinguish
flames and remaining hot spots. Tracey
Roman / Online Forty-Niner
Long
Beach loses local ‘Legend’
By
Tracey Roman
Online Forty-Niner
Photo Editor
Two firefighters were injured and priceless sports memorabilia was destroyed
when Belmont Shore’s popular sports bar, Legends, went up in flames early
Tuesday morning.
A call came in at about 5:05 a.m., dispatching dozens of firefighters to the
scene. No one was in the building at the time of the fire. Firefighters spent
most of the morning fighting the fire, putting out hot spots and clearing rubble.
An eastbound lane on Second Street in front of Legends was reopened before
noon.
The two injured firefighters were Jake Atwood and Ray Magana, according to
local reports. Atwood was hit in the shoulder by falling debris and Magana
sprained his back.
While battling flames, firefighters tried to save as much sports memorabilia
as possible.
“It’s not fun looking at some of this stuff out here,” said
Legends owner and Cal State Long Beach alumnus Gene Rotondo about his memorabilia
sitting out on the street’s center divider.
The building, constructed in the 1920s, was said to not have had a sprinkler
system. Because Legends’ attic was not connected to nearby buildings,
the fire was unable to spread beyond the one business.
Employees showed up as they received the news and watched in disbelief. They
helped load the items that could be salvaged into Rotondo’s sport utility
vehicle.
Along with some of the items salvaged, firefighters managed to save the American
flag that flew high outside the front of the restaurant. Firefighter spokesman
Paul Rodriguez brought the flag over to Rotondo who was emotional upon receiving
it.
When asked what the future of the restaurant would be Rotondo responded, “We’ll
reopen.”
The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen, though further investigation
is necessary. |
