Oregon District fire hits businesses; community shows support
About half a dozen establishments affected by last month’s blaze.
The smoke has only started to clear from a New Year’s Eve weekend fire that displaced workers from a popular Dayton restaurant and about a half-dozen other Oregon District businesses.
Dayton fire officials said the blaze that started in the kitchen of Salar Restaurant and Lounge, 400 E. Fifth St., caused significant smoke damage to that restaurant and adjacent businesses.
Hicks Barber Shop & Shave Parlor and Spice Paradise are among about a half-dozen businesses that were affected in the Emporium building at 400 E. Fifth St.
“The experience has been pretty traumatic,” barber shop owner James Hicks said Wednesday.
Hicks said Adil Baguirov, the owner of the Emporium building that houses Salar, told him it may take up to three months before the impacted business can pass required inspections and reopen.
Meanwhile, the community has been fast to offer support.
Val Hunt Beerbower, a spokeswoman for the Downtown Dayton Partnership, said Oregon District businessed typically band together in times of crisis.
“When you are a small business you are part of a community,” she said. “People tend to work together there (the Oregon District). Support pouring out the the woodwork.”
Much of the support is person to person and out of public sight, she said.
Hicks said the owners of several other barber shops have offered him space to work during the interim.
A bingo fundraiser is planned from 7 to 10 p.m. Jan. 8 at Blind Bob’s, 430 E. Fifth St., to support about 35 Salar employees who were impacted by the fire.
An ongoing GoFundMe fundraiser has collected more than $6,000 on their behalf.
Dayton artist Mike Elsass said a portion of proceeds from a First Friday “fire sale” of works that had been up for sale at Spice Paradise during the fire will be donated to support those impacted.
Ulrike Massey, owner of Spice Paradise, said nearly her entire supply of spices will need to be thrown out because of the smoke damage.
“There is no power. There is
no heat. It was not the fire damage. It is the smoke,” she said. “They are spices, and it (smoke) changes the integrity of the spice.”
Massey said she received a call about the fire Friday, Dec. 29, at 6:25 a.m. from 416 Diner owner Guy Fragmin, who lives above his restaurant at 416 E. Fifth St. next to Salar. She made it to the Oregon District from her home in Oakwood in about 20 minutes.
“There was smoke billowing everywhere,” she said. “It was surreal.”
Massey said the Oregon District is a close-knit community and she loves having her business there.
“This is my dream and things were going quite nicely,” she said. “We’ve been here over four years. People know where we are.”
Spice Paradise supplies products to a list of local restaurants and stores that includes Salar, Lily’s Bistro, Dorothy Lane Market, Whole Foods Market, Canal Street Arcade and Deli, Keener Farm Butcher Block and Tom’s Market in Yellow Springs.
Massey said she is working with the Downtown Dayton Partnership, an organization tasked with supporting businesses downtown and in certain parts of the Oregon District, to find a temporary location.
Several of the other impacted businesses, among them Addison Home Health Services, The Scenery and Canary Consulting, have found temporary locations, she said.
Like Massey, Hicks said he plans to return.
“I have a lot of investment here. I just renewed my lease,” he said. “I am happy with my home here.”