[Groop] More Bad News

[Elie A. Harriett]

Hey Gary,

Really sorry to hear about Mrs. G.  Good luck and I hope she feels  
better.

Elie & Janet



http://elieharriett.wordpress.com
On Jul 22, 2008, at 9:39 PM, Eric Chun wrote:

> Several of the "Did I Err" t-shirt wearing crew ate here before:
>
> --
>
> http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080626-1637-bn26fire2.html
>
> Fire guts landmark Kansas City Barbeque
>
> By Greg Gross and Susan Shroder
> UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
> 4:37 p.m. June 26, 2008
>
> SAN DIEGO – A fire that started in an open cooking pit Thursday at  
> Kansas City Barbeque gutted the landmark Marina area eatery, known  
> for being in the 1986 Tom Cruise movie “Top Gun.” The fire broke out  
> about 2:15 p.m. in the restaurant on West Market Street, located  
> across the street from the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel towers and  
> near Seaport Village. It initially created so much smoke that clouds  
> of it could be seen billowing behind Petco Park, where the Padres  
> were playing an afternoon baseball game.
> A restaurant cook told firefighters the blaze flared up from inside  
> the cooking pit and spread to the rest of the restaurant's interior,  
> despite his efforts to put it out.
> A force of six engine companies and two truck companies, 45  
> firefighters in all, managed to keep the blaze from spreading to an  
> adjoining office building and had the fire knocked down in about 20  
> minutes.
> But there was no saving the restaurant.
>
> “It's gutted,” said Maurice Luque, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department  
> spokesman. “It's destroyed.” The restaurant, which serves food such  
> as barbecue ribs and chicken, was used for a bar scene in “Top Gun”  
> where Cruise crooned to love target Kelly McGillis, and a sign in  
> the restaurant noted that the jet jockey movie's “sleazy bar scene”  
> was filmed there.
> Luque estimated damage at $250,000 to the structure and $150,000 to  
> the contents, not including the cost of decades of memorabilia,  
> including photographs and props from the film. Dozens of Navy caps  
> and license plates hung on walls and ceilings.
> Firefighters found Navy flight helmets inside the dining area –  
> melted.
> “It must've been a very intense fire,” Luque said. “You can see  
> where the fire swirled around, then just took everything out.”
> No one was injured. The only people inside at the time were five  
> employees, including the cook. A few patrons were sitting on the  
> patio outside; they quickly fled as the flames ravaged the interior.
> Another cook, Charles Ryan, 53, was taking a break outside when he  
> saw the smoke billowing out the front door. But he wasn't alarmed –  
> yet.
> “I've seen pit fires before. They're manageable,” said Ryan, who has  
> worked at the restaurant for about six years. “Normally, you can put  
> these things out; I've had a few of them myself. There's a hose  
> right next to the pit.”
> This time, however, the fire couldn't be contained. In the seconds  
> it took Ryan to re-enter the establishment, “the whole kitchen was  
> on fire and it was spreading out into the dining area,” he said.
> Sandra Angelo, a magazine columnist and author, lives across the  
> street from the restaurant on the 12th floor of City Front Terrace,  
> a condominium complex.
> She said her unit has a 280-degree view of downtown and San Diego  
> Bay, and she was working at home typing a book when she saw smoke  
> coming out of the chimney in the middle of the restaurant. She said  
> it then got a little thicker, and “I just thought they were being a  
> little enthusiastic with their barbecuing.”
> But within minutes, she said the smoke became very thick.
> “It was just tons and tons of smoke,” she said, adding that it was  
> “billowing out of every single window” and was as high as a nearby  
> 40-story building.
> Railroad tracks used by the San Diego trolley and the Coaster  
> commuter train run right behind the back of the restaurant. Had  
> there been a freight train going by, it would have taken  
> firefighters an extra 12 to 15 minutes to put the blaze out, Luque  
> said.
> Rob Schupp, a spokesman for Metropolitan Transit District, said  
> trolley service in the area was stopped for about 10 minutes while  
> the fire was extinguished.
>
>
>
>
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