Regal Cleaners Owners Save Precious Memories

By LISA KAAS BOYLE | Contributing Writer

We can all count the things, the community, the sense of home we lost in the Palisades fire. We were blessed beyond measure to have experienced our town together and for now, it’s mostly gone. But some things, community and reminders of home have a way of circling back, of providing relief and reminding us of who we are.

I’ve had three great gifts that survived the total loss of my home. My cats were rescued weeks after the fire by Viva Cat Rescue. My safe deposit box miraculously survived at Chase Bank preserving jewelry my ancestors brought to America. And finally, Regal Cleaners brought me a very unexpected gift. I had no idea what clothing we had at Regal when the fire burned our village, and a very special item was preserved, thanks to the care of Regal.

It is the intangible loss of community that I miss the most post fire. The friendly faces I had seen daily or weekly since I moved to be with my husband to his town of Pacific Palisades in 1990 when we graduated from law school.

One set of faces that I truly loved was the Flores family of Regal Cleaners. They took care of my suits when I was a practicing environmental attorney, my husband’s suits as an entertainment attorney who built his own law practice over these years and my now grown children’s clothing.

As my family grew, so did the Flores family, and I recall Cira’s pregnancy with twins, now 14. Lovely Cira was always smiling and handsome Antonio always wore beautifully patterned shirts. They were a warm part of the Palisades family that we almost took for granted until it was gone in a flash.

My husband read that the Regal family had reopened as French Hand Laundry in Pasadena and had saved the clothing from the Palisades. I called the number and was so happy to hear Cira’s voice. We made a day of it in Pasadena with the highlight, a visit to see the Flores family’s new business and see what memories they had saved for us.

The Flores Family

Cira and Antonio Flores bought Regal Cleaners on July 31, 2006, from previous owners.

“I have only good memories of Regal,” Cira said. “Palisadians took us in with a welcoming attitude. Before I knew it, I felt part of the community. We were blessed to get to know many, many people that made us feel appreciated, and we serviced their dry cleaning needs with pleasure.”

Cira described having a “big amount of clothing” from customers coming back from vacations on Monday, January 6.

“The morning of January 7, we were thinking, ‘It seems we are going to have a good year,’” Cira continued. “Then about 10:30 [a.m.], we could see the flames starting from the mountain in front of us. Anxiety started to take over our bodies, and we had to leave like everyone did.”

It took the Flores family about five weeks after the fire before they could go into the Village and find out the damage to their store.

“The feeling was indescribably hopeless,” Cira said. “We went back home to think how we were going to give customers back the clothes. During the few times we went inside the Village, some of the customers we saw, they took their clothes with smoke.”

At the start of February, Cira said they received a call about a location in Pasadena.

“Our idea was to go back to Regal as soon as they let us in and work in both stores, but we could not get an agreement with the landlord in the Palisades, so we removed all the inventory from Regal by March 31 when our lease was finished, and on April 1 we took over French Hand Laundry on 606 S Lake Avenue in Pasadena,” Cira said. “This store has a big empty room, which allowed us to do the smoke treatment for all the clothes from Regal, and now it’s all clean and ready to be picked up or mailed.”

Antonio is making trips to the Palisades every Wednesday, while Cira has been trying to contact all of their customers.

“The list is long,” Cira said, “so please call us at 626-792-3881 or even at my cell: 310-869-8615. It is really sad for me to say we won’t be able to go back to the Palisades, but I will always keep Palisadians in my heart.”

Preserving and Persevering

Seeing Cira and Antonio’s smiles again was very healing for me, and their new business is beautiful.

The biggest gift they saved for me: the kilt my husband bought for me in Ireland in his family tartan 35 years ago before I became a Boyle.

So many memories were preserved thanks to the Flores family’s care. I am deeply grateful for all the years of community with this special family, and wish them all success and love in their new community.