Nearly two months after Silver Lake coffee shop Café Tropical closed its doors, former employees who worked there say they are still missing hundreds or thousands of dollars in final paychecks that never arrived.
The nearly 50-year-old Sunset Boulevard restaurant closed suddenly in late November when debt and a bitter family dispute devastated the company that owned the Cuban diner. But the unexpected decision to close left baristas and cooks out of work and without receiving the checks they were still owed.
“It's sad the way they kicked us out,” said Miguel Alarcón, 44, a barista who worked at Café Tropical for a dozen years until it closed Dec. 1. “I told them that I have children, that I have a family. … You have to pay me”.
Alarcón and other employees said the problems began at Café Tropical months before the closure. Employees' checks bounced and suppliers complained that they weren't getting paid.
The problems arose amid a lawsuit that owner Daniel Navarro's mother filed against him in 2022. Gladys Navarro claimed in the lawsuit that her son illicitly used money from the family business to finance Café Tropical. Daniel Navarro has not paid his mother and his sister more than $350,000 he owes in connection with the lawsuit, according to court documents.
The dispute left the workers in the lurch.
Alarcón is owed about a week's pay, which amounts to about $900, he said. Other employees are owed even more. Another woman at the company was missing three paychecks, Alarcón said.
Jasmine Perez, who started at Café Tropical in September, said she was owed about $1,000. When she started at Café Tropical, problems were already abound.
“The first thing someone asked me was if their check was approved.” she said. “Receiving payment on time became an absolute nightmare. There would be times when I would be missing paychecks for two consecutive pay periods. “It was very awkward trying to ask for the money you already earned.”
A group is raising money on GoFundMe to try to pay employees who have had difficulty getting answers from the owner. Ciara Keane, a Silver Lake resident who organized the GoFundMe, said Navarro changed her number after the shutdown.
“Employees remain out of work and have difficulty finding employment. They need it more than ever,” Keane posted on GoFundMe.
The group has raised nearly $10,000, but says it still needs more than $50,000 in additional contributions to pay the 33 employees who lost their jobs and had their last paychecks rejected.
The goal is to pay employees the $1,000 that many are owed, as well as another $1,000 for the time they were unemployed after the closure.
“I really want it [the staff] being able to feel how much the community loved and supported them, even though they didn't receive the same support from Daniel,” Keane said.
Keane moved to Los Angeles from Miami four years ago, and although she is not Cuban, Café Tropical reminded her of the Cuban culture of the city where she grew up.
He also recognized the important role Café Tropical played for the sober community, as well as older generations of Silver Lake residents who saw the restaurant as one of the last vestiges of the pre-gentrification days in the trendy neighborhood.
Keane and his friends have printed signs linking to GoFundMe in Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Echo Park, but they haven't yet been able to raise enough money to staff up.
