“Being a small business, this is the best time in the world to be right here in LA,” she told the California Post.
asserted
she → tell → Post
“We have a tremendous opportunity with LA28.”
asserted
We → have → LA28
On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Games could generate between $20.5 and $40.6 billion in economic output in the Greater LA area while supporting between 126,000 and 224,000 jobs, according to a new analysis.
uncertain
Games → reveal → analysis
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asserted
Sign → sign → California
The report also highlights that the LA28 Organizing Committee has pledged to spend 75 percent of its contract dollars locally within Greater LA, with 25 percent specifically earmarked for small businesses.
asserted
percent → highlight → businesses
Bolden-Pickens — whose third-generation, family-owned pie shop 27th Street Bakery has been in business since 1956 — remains optimistic that those targets will translate into real opportunity.
“The thing that all of us have to understand is that, why not us?
asserted
all → own → us
Why can’t we be featured in the Olympic Games?
asserted
we → feature → Games
Last week, LA28 opened applications for small businesses in the food industry to set up at both competition venue zones and non-competition venues to serve visitors.
asserted
businesses → open → visitors
Hundreds of vendors will be selected.
asserted
Hundreds → select → vendors
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Bolden-Pickens urged local business owners to apply, convinced that small enterprises have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
“I think the best thing that LA 28 can do is to make small businesses feel worthy and that they can apply and be vendors.
asserted
they → download → that
Just give us an opportunity, and I believe all small businesses have to understand that all you need is that opportunity.”
asserted
you → give → opportunity
To make sure 27th Street Bakery is fully prepared, Bolden-Pickens is putting her kitchen through its own rigorous training.
asserted
Pickens → make → training
“Understanding as an athlete that the Olympics comes around every four years, you do your best, you put all your energy into making sure you’re the best athlete… and now I’m trying to put my products into a position where it’s the best that it could possibly be for 2028,” she said.
uncertain
she → understand → 2028
When the 66-year-old steps onto the floor of 27th Street Bakery, she approaches the kitchen with the same focus that she brought to the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics as a sprinter.
asserted
she → step → sprinter
Winning an Olympic gold medal on home turf in 1984 remains a defining moment that Bolden-Pickens remembers vividly.
asserted
Pickens → win → that
She stepped out for her very first 100-meter heat as the first American runner, walking through the tunnel as the stadium erupted into chants of “USA! USA!”.
asserted
stadium → step → USA
Caught up in a wave of national pride, she briefly lost her focus until the familiar voice of her coach, Bob Kersee, snapped her back to reality.
asserted
voice → catch → reality
“I’m here for a job,” she told herself.
asserted
she → ’m → herself
She went on to win the gold medal alongside her teammates in the 4×100-meter relay, crossing the finish line in front of a hometown crowd that included her mother, sister and husband.
asserted
that → go → mother
More than four decades later, her journey has come full circle.
asserted
journey → come → ?
“I wish I was younger so I can compete or at least try to compete,” she laughed.
asserted
she → wish → ?
Growing up in Compton, Bolden-Pickens attended Fullerton College and then California State University, Northridge before eventually landing at UCLA, where she graduated in 1983.
asserted
she → grow → 1983
Bolden-Pickens spent 27 years coaching career at UCLA and the University of Central Florida, but the family business remained her true anchor.
asserted
business → spend → Florida
“The bakery’s always been a part of my life and my whole family’s life,” she said.
asserted
she → say → life
The story of 27th Street Bakery goes back more than six decades, when her grandparents, Harry and Sadie Patterson, moved west from Louisiana carrying 10 tin cans packed with cherished family recipes.
asserted
grandparents → go → recipes
They opened a small restaurant on Central Avenue, where their homemade pies and cakes instantly became a hit.
asserted
pies → open → Avenue
While working in the bakery, her granhfdfather taught all his grandchildren that nothing in life replaces honest hard work and believing in yourself.
asserted
nothing → work → yourself
“And I took that into my track and field,” Bolden-Pickens said.
asserted
Pickens → take → track
As a teenager, getting the keys to the family car meant making deliveries first.
asserted
getting → get → deliveries
Whenever she asked her mother for the car, she was told to drop off a batch of pies on her way out.
asserted
she → ask → way
“I’d pick up some of my friends, and we would have pies rolling around in the backseat of the car on the way to track practice,” she said.
asserted
she → pick → practice
The bakery expanded in a big way in 1980 under her mother and brother.
asserted
bakery → expand → mother
When pitching Ralphs grocery store to carry its products, Bolden-Pickens’ husband brought a formal slide deck and presentation, while her mother simply handed fresh, warm pies around the table to the executives.
asserted
mother → pitch → executives
We were in Ralphs,” Bolden-Pickens said.
asserted
Pickens → say → Ralphs
Today, the bakery supplies its pies to over 120 mom-and-pop shops, chicken shacks, barbecue spots and 7-Elevens stretching from the Inland Empire to Victorville.
asserted
bakery → supply → Victorville
We put the home back in homemade.
asserted
We → put → home
We’re not that microwaveable bakery.
asserted
We → ’re → ?
We are a homemade bakery, and that’s what I’m proud of,” she said.
asserted
she → ’ → what
If an Olympic athlete steps through the doors of 27th Street Bakery during the Summer Games, Bolden-Pickens already knows she will serve them the bakery’s signature: a freshly baked slice of sweet potato pecan pie.
asserted
she → step → pie
“When they finally light the Olympic torch, I am going to be torn between having that Olympic feeling, understanding what the athletes are going through and having a butterfly.
asserted
athletes → light → butterfly
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
