La Mirada~A fire broke out in the early morning hours at The Carriage Coffee Shop at 14871 Imperial Highway.

Nobody was hurt and the building was unoccupied when the fire started in the kitchen of the 49-year-old eatery about 3:30 a.m.

The first reader on our La Mirada Blog Facebook page reported the incident live at 4:15 a.m.

Later in the morning, owner Louis Liu told the La Mirada Blog he doesn’t know how the fire started as he allowed us inside to snap a few photos.

The kitchen appears to be destroyed. Cost estimates are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair.

Officials continue to investigate the incident.

Residents who consider the diner a cultural icon stormed city hall this past March to protest a decision by the owners of the property, Rich Development Co., to

The kitchen of the fabled eatery seems destroyed. Photo (c)La Mirada Blog 2014

replace the diner with a McDonald’s.

Because of the traffic concerns expressed by residents at that meeting in the form of a petition, the La Mirada Planning Commission suggested a traffic study be executed to address these potential issues.

The final draft of the study has been completed since August and has been sent to the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works Traffic Division for final approval.

That final approval has still not come however and the decision on the fate of The Carriage has been delayed–not appearing on either the October or November commission agendas.

The next meeting is scheduled for December 18^th.