Minor fire at Woolworth’s building deemed ‘not malicious’; historic lunch counter untouched
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The owners of the historic Woolworth’s building — home of what may be the last surviving Woolworth soda fountain lunch counter in America — have had ongoing vandalism problems since renovations began six months ago.
Last year they replaced all the front windows — and that’s a lot of windows — with colorfully painted, temporary plywood.
Well, problems continue. The latest issue — a small but smoky fire on the top floor of the three-story, 44,000-square-foot mid-century modern structure.
The owners assume someone somehow entered the third floor of the building at 19th and K streets Saturday afternoon, and ignited a pile of 80-year-old roofing underlayment — that’s fiber insulation. But that might not have been the case.
In any event, the famous first-floor lunch counter was untouched. In fact, it was previously disassembled and stored so it couldn’t be damaged during the renovation.
Did vagrants really get into the locked-tight, concrete fortress of a building, and light a pile of insulation? City fire investigators found no accelerant and say the fire doesn’t appear to be a malicious act. The cause remains under investigation.
Surely no one came through this huge 10-by 25 foot opening that will one day be a window for tenants of this residential floor.
Construction manager Dan Aguilar said Jason Bourne couldn’t have squeezed past the protective barriers. And why would someone light just this one pile, anyway?
“It was only in one location, the southeast corner of the third floor, maybe an area of 500 square feet,” Aguilar said.
Emily Waite is part of the ownership team, all of whom are affiliated with Moneywise Wealth Management, which purchased the building in November 2021.
“There will be an ongoing challenge with the vagrants down here,” he said. “We have done everything that we can. However we can’t predict everything that happens. We will have to be pivoting and adjusting along the way. And that’s what we’re going to do to keep the building safe.”
The building’s grand opening is tentatively set for March 2025.
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