The owners of Open Gallery in Long Beach are out of home and business after a suspected drunk driver crashed into their building. NBCLA’s Mekahlo Medina reports on Feb. 26, 2024.
As Liz Garibaldi and Anthony Saucedo were scooping up the rubble inside their popular Open Gallery in Long Beach, they can’t believe their lifelong dream is in ruins.
“It’s gone, it just completely gone,” said Garibaldi, who opened up the gallery on 7th Street with Saucedo five years ago. “We poured everything we had into this business, and we were finally at the point where we were going to start thriving, not just surviving.”
The couple was asleep with their 13-year-old son in the loft area of the gallery when two vehicles came crashing through the gallery’s windows early Saturday morning.
One SUV narrowly missed teenager, who was asleep in a bed closest to the window.
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“Just seeing that wall next to me pushed into my side of the bed, I imagined the worst,” said Garibaldi.
Luckily, no one was injured.
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Police said the driver of the SUV was drunk. He was arrested and taken away on a stretcher.
His female passenger fled in another car that was following behind.
The family said speeding is always a problem on 7th Street, and other local businesses have been asking for a crosswalk to make it safer for pedestrians.
“In the last year, there have been three fatalities of people just walking across the street … getting hit head on,” said Tarick Vales, who is the general manager of Long Beach Green Room across the street from the crash. “We hope the city council will approve a crosswalk to stop all these accidents from happening.”
Long Beach city councilmember Cindy Allen’s office, who represents this area, said she will work with the gallery owners to help with grants and funding. She added she wants the city to look into crosswalks for the area.
Meantime, the community is responding and pouring donations into the gallery’s gofundme, which has exceeded more than $30,000.
The family hopes to raise $150,000 to help pay for repairs and housing costs for the family that have been “bouncing around family member’s homes.”
