10/01/2024
Hello everyone.
First and above all other things, I hope this finds you all well, safe and secure with all your loved ones.
Obviously, you are all aware that all three of our locations were in the epicenter of massive devastation. I do not even have the words to describe what I have seen adequately. It is not exaggerating to say that what has occurred will take years of recovery if recoverable at all. There has been immeasurable loss of life and livelihood. I will keep the description short as possible because to go into more detail is too much to bear.
On Saturday, Luke and I parked at buildings above brother Wolf rescue which is likely not salvageable. We hiked through about 10 inches of mud to our building at Mulvaney Street. The building is still standing, but the garage doors were blown out. Many inches of mud in the building. While there are recoverable things in there, the building is inaccessible to any vehicle and will be for sometime. Many items were washed away completely. It is truly not safe to be in the building. It will not be able to be occupied again. We will not reopen Altamont vintage East River.
As we hiked forward towards Swannanoa River Road the devastation is extensive. Buildings are literally gone. Rubble. There are train cars toppled, and stacked trucks and gas tanks piled on top of each other and leaking. It is disturbing to look at and we are certain there is death yet to be discovered in the area.
Practically the only building on Swannanoa River Road, although damaged, is our building that houses Altamont Vintage, The Annex and our friends at Atomic and Ninjaville. Luke and I Managed to get up the stairs at the Annex, but the river was still out of its banks further down the parking lot. We peaked into the annex front door. Anything that could float did float. We could not open the door as the locks were jammed with mud. We saw many things intact, but as with East River, the building is not safe to enter. We could not see past the front area. Unlike East River, the garage doors in front and back were intact. Luke went around the back of the building and there has been a landslide that has collapsed the back wall down at the main store. We made our way down the walkway in front. Atomic is decimated. All their garage doors were compromised. They have lost everything. At AV, it was generally the same as Annex - things still intact, but that end of the building is definitely not safe to enter especially considering the landslide out back. The building in its entirety will probably have to be demolished.
We are devastated that this likely means the end of our businesses. We are so so sorry if this also means great losses for any of you. We love and respect you all. The relationships we have cultivated with some of you will be lifelong friendships. We will make an attempt at some point if allowed to enter the buildings to see what we can identify and catalog, and hopefully return to folks at some point in the future. Now is not that time. Do not attempt to come to the area and assess things for yourself. The risk is far too great. And there are police in the area. They will think you are looters and they will remove you. We will contact individual dealers as we can.
Please take care of yourselves and your friends and families. People are the priority in disasters like this. I am reminded of something my grandma used to say.: “ Help how you can, whenever you can.” She was a smart lady.
All the best,
Tammy Mansell
