Mar Vista Strip Mall Goes Up In Flames Again

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Firefighters were called out to battle a blaze at a Mar Vista strip mall early Tuesday that has been burned before.

Flames were reported at the strip mall, 3501 S. Centinela Ave., just before 5 a.m. Tuesday. One unit was well involved with fire, according to Los Angeles fire officials, and firefighters got the flames under control within 27 minutes.

It's the second time in a year the building has burned. In May of last year, a fire had spread through the common attic of the strip mall, destroying five businesses and heavily damaging Noelle Fanaris' restaurant, The Rustic Kitchen LA.

"Just kind of a horrible deja vu," Fanaris said.

The 75-year-old building was still under construction when Tuesday morning's fire broke out, and much of the units remain unoccupied since last year's fire. But The Rustic Kitchen has no power, and Fanaris will have to bring in a generator to keep her refrigerated food from spoiling.

Authorities would not say whether either fire was considered to be suspicious. A team of arson investigators, still investigating last year's fire, toured the charred building again and brought in an arson dog to sniff for accelerants.