Canoga Park business owner who ignored Garcetti order has a change of heart

The new coronavirus restrictions on places like bars and restaurants are putting a huge financial burden on small business owners.

Phil Shuman is in Canoga Park where one owner planned to ignore the ban but had a change of heart.

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Aron Celnik doesn’t necessarily consider himself a 'rebel' but for a time he was going to be. Initially, he planned to defy the unprecedented city order to shut his restaurant down for in table dining but after a call from the County Health Department threatening to shut him down completely, he agreed to go along with his thousands of colleagues in the restaurant business in Southern California and offer “to go“ or delivery food only.

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“We’re all in this together," he said. It’s a big family-style Italian restaurant with a great soundtrack playing called Grandi Italiani and it has become a popular spot on Sherman Way in Canoga Park since he opened last June.

He has fourteen employees here and another sixteen at the famed Andre’s Restaurant near the Farmers Market in Los Angeles. He doesn’t want to have to lay anybody off or let them go but the reality is as he told me today “It’s week to week for all of us."

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