Eric Bell graduated from California State Long Beach last year. But he is no stranger to the world of professional music. When I met Bell he was playing organ in a three-piece in Santa Monica.

   The venue, a wine bar, was illuminated by a bright pink neon. On that night Bell and the band played loud, but not as loud as two weeks prior when Bell and the band had been asked to quiet down.

    The music was loud and as the band warmed up the crowd did too. 

On his break, Bell and I stepped outside for an interview about music, going pro and burn out.

According to the Orange County Register, the Source OC defaulted on $140 million dollars of loans earlier this year. A large draw for entertainment, food and shopping, many of the retail spaces remain empty as highlighted in the map above.

Customers walk around the upper level of the mall. George Espinoza, a janitor at The Source OC observed that the source is less busy now than it was before the coronavirus struck the United States.

A broken escalator on the ground level of the Mall. Problems such as these are not uncommon, Espinoza explained that The Source, like many other businesses in the area, was understaffed.

A customer walks past one of the numerous empty spaces in the mall. Property Manager, Charlie Cervantes, explained that he is unaware of a potential sale of the mall. This is not uncommon, of the employees at the source I spoke with, many were shocked that the space had defaulted on its loans.

The pandemic affected numerous businesses. Espinoza explained that he saw many businesses open at the source only to close shortly after. Cervantes explained that if a change in ownership were to occur it wouldn’t affect the businesses leasing space within the source. “[I’m] surprised they have stayed open this long,” Espinoza said.