By the time Ira Mosley received a call around 6 a.m. from a friend who was stopping by Papa Dan’s Pizza & Pasta, his popular Palm Desert restaurant was already engulfed in flames to the point that all of its alarms melted.
Mosley, who has owned the restaurant just off Country Club Drive for most of its existence, quickly headed to the scene as the sun was rising that Sunday, April 14. But by then, four businesses – including his – had been largely shuttered. destroyed by the fire, which was reported just before 4 a.m. Putting it out took 16 fire trucks and 60 firefighters from the CalFire/Riverside County Fire Department.
“I just saw 40 years go up in smoke, but you know, it is what it is,” Mosley told the Desert Sun this week. “There was no one inside and no one was injured.”
He’s now focused on taking care of his workers and plans to reopen in a new location nearby.
Besides Papa Dan’s, which opened in 1984, three other businesses in the mall were destroyed in the fire: D’ Coffee Bouteaque, Reverse Mortgage Works and Miracle-Ear Hearing Aid Center.
Mosley said the hearing aid center will soon move to a nearby space in the mall, while he was unsure about the other two businesses. (Attempts by the Desert Sun to contact the owner of D’ Coffee Bouteaque about the cafe’s future were unsuccessful.)
Shortly after the fire, Cal Fire investigators determined it was “recklessly started,” leading to the arrest of a 30-year-old woman, Natalie Ann Marie Radu, who allegedly been homeless. Radu has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of illegally starting a fire, with the trial pending. Jail records show she was released from jail April 20 on $50,000 bail.
On Friday, a Riverside County judge issued an arrest warrant for Radu. This usually happens when a defendant fails to appear in court, although online records do not indicate a reason.
Court documents do not say why investigators believe she started the fire.
I hope to reopen this fall
Mosley said Papa Dan’s is covered by insurance and plans to use some of that money to reopen later this year in a slightly larger space near Monterey’s Plaza Shopping Center.
“The city has expedited all the permits and everything else, so hopefully we’ll be here and gone by October,” Mosley said.
The restaurant has 45 employees who Mosley said are “doing well” in this chaotic situation. He said his employees received a paycheck right after the fire and will receive another at the end of April, with some pay “coming out of my pocket, basically.”
“The insurance will cover some employees for 60 days and key employees for up to a year,” Mosley said, adding that he hopes to keep his crew. “Some of them have been here for 35 years. The very idea of having to retrain an entire staff does not excite me.”
Mosley said the support he has received from the community has been “overwhelming,” estimating he has received more than 250 messages of support. Last week, a fundraiser for affected businesses was held at a campaign office of Democratic congressional candidate Will Rollins, who sits in the same shopping center.
Given the near-term uncertainty, Mosley launched a GoFundMe fundraiser intended solely to offset lost wages for his employees, especially during the upcoming seasonal lull in the Coachella Valley.
“It’s unfortunate because finding employment for all these people, if they choose to do so, is virtually impossible here in the summer,” he added. “But surprisingly, I’ve gotten phone calls from other restaurants saying, ‘If you need them, we can find a place for some of these.'”
Mosley, who believes his restaurant is probably one of the oldest still operating in the area, said he’s heard of people coming to Papa Dan’s for 15, 20 or even 30 years. Although it will take several months, his team will soon be back making pizzas in Palm Desert.
“I’ve been here 40 years, and the city seems to be trying too hard to get us back on our feet,” Mosley said. “Everyone really, really stepped up.”
Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Contact him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com.
This article was originally published on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Desert pizzeria destroyed in fire plans to reopen nearby
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