A Hot Hiring Day at Northridge Mall

More than 2,000 job-seekers braved roasting heat and long lines Saturday as recruiters for the Northridge Fashion Center hurriedly sought to fill 1,000 positions at the mall, which is reopening this month in what is seen as a major step in the San Fernando Valley’s long recuperation from last year’s earthquake.

Job applicants--most in their teens and 20s--began lining up at the nearby Cal State Northridge campus at dawn for a chance to sell chess sets, french fries, lingerie, engagement rings, pantsuits, puppies, romance novels, cowboy boots and other products at the Valley’s biggest mall.

The 200-store complex was forced to close after the Jan. 17, 1994, quake and only a few department stores have reopened.

Samantha Sher, 16, of Granada Hills came Saturday hoping to land a job--her first--as a clothing salesclerk.

“You get to see the latest fashions and stuff like that,” she said, waiting patiently in a line that stretched 100 yards from Cal State Northridge’s satellite Student Union, where employers conducted interviews. “And it’s fun to tell people when they look good in things.”

Mel Bogart, 65, a retired architect who lives near the school, said he just wanted something to occupy his time. “I’m bored,” he said. “I used to work around a lot of people. Now I don’t see anybody.” Asked what kind of job he was looking for, he smiled and said: “I don’t think I want to be a stock boy. I’m a little past that.”

City and state officials said the mall’s reopening will inject not only more jobs but more cash into the Valley economy. With the big Northridge complex closed, many Valley residents have been taking their business to malls in Thousand Oaks or Valencia, one state official said.

“The most important thing about this is that it’s a symbol of the recovery,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who stood in line with his 15-year-old daughter as she awaited her chance for a mall job.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County, a nonprofit job creation group, said that although he had no hard figures, he believes thousands of jobs disappeared in the Valley after the quake, especially in the retail, manufacturing and service sectors.

But for many young applicants, their chance at a mall job was their first foray into the local economy--and they were upbeat about their prospects.

While some in line wore suits and ties, others sported earrings, T-shirts and running shoes. One young woman had blue hair; another’s eyebrow was punctured by a small metal ring.

Some employers interviewed applicants and promised to get back to them later. But others, such as A & W Carousel Snacks, hired on the spot. “So I see you’re a computer whiz,” said A & W representative Jay Coates, scanning the application of 16-year-old Aaron Theodore.

“Pretty much,” replied the boy.

“Right now we just have a computerized cash register,” Coates said. “You just push a button and it opens so that shouldn’t be too hard. . . . We’re looking for people who are not afraid to talk, to stand at the counter and serve the best darned hot dogs to our guests.”

Asked if he had a car, Theodore ventured carefully that he “had a ride.” Nonetheless, he got a job.