Death of a Salesman?

La Crescenta man struggles to open autopsy business in Tujunga

Tujunga - Vidal Herrera's empty Foothill Boulevard shop looks like it's starting to come to life - so to speak.

In the "museum" section stands an old embalming machine. In the rear, near a bank of shiny, chrome-colored body lockers.

They are the nucleus of Herrera's dream, which now is dead in its tracks.

After years of dreaming and months of renovating, Herrera may not be able to use the building he thinks is perfect for his business: death.

Herrera's Autopsy/Post Services is a 24-hour-a-day mobile operation that provides from low-and-high profile forensic autopsies to after-death HIV and AIDS diagnosis

Herrera, a former field deputy coroner investigator for L.A. County, dreamed of a stationary business space to augment his mobile service.

Last year, he though he had found that space at 7245 Foothill Blvd.

"I've been dreaming, about this for 10 years," he said.

His vision?" Atrium Le Laboratory"- "dead man laboratory" spelled backward in Spanish-a multimedia death-education service center complete with tours, a gift shop, a museum devoted to coroners' antiques and a medical lab for autopsies, X-rays and tissue procurement.

"People are very misinformed about death," said Herrera, standing near an old body scale in the vacant shop.

"Usually, it's what they see on on TV- make-believe."

The Perfect Space

Herrera has hit a glitch on his way to realizing his post-mortem dream.

A clearance code was not added to a permit granted last year by the city's Building and Safety Department. That code would have allowed the Planning Department of sign off on Herrera's plan to convert a first-floor cafe into a lab said Rita Shack, a city planning assistant.

The shop is in an area zoned for major commercial use, not a medical lab. Herrera found out about the problem after checking with the city about a toe-tag sign he wanted to display outside his business.

"If I would have known about this I would have never bought the place," he said.

Herrera must get a Foothill Corridor Specific Plan exception, which means thousands of dollars in city and consultants' fees and community meetings to explain what he wants to do.

Not So Fast

Bodies being unloaded off Foothill Boulevard was not the kind of visibility Charlotte Leu was hoping for when she started an effort to clean up Commerce Avenue, a few doors down from Herrera's shop.

"I think there are other places better suited," Leu said.

Herrera,who said he makes a low-six-figure income, is not giving up. He keeps driving his 1-800-AUTOPSY van from job to job.

Meanwhile, a gurney with scribbling on it languishes in his storefront.

"Do not place bodies on this table," it reads.