You may have seen my story Thursday on Rick Walken.  He and his wife own a restaurant called Il Tramezzino.  It's located on Ventura Boulevard just west of Coldwater in Studio City.

Or it least it used to be there...before the DWP flood of September.

That pipeline explosion sent two or three feet of water and mud into his business.  He's had to rebuild from scratch.  He had to tear out and replace all the drywall and electrical, build new cabinets, completely redecorate.   He guesses the disaster has cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars when you consider lost business.

You'd think at least he'd get a letter of apology from the DWP.  Perhaps something that said "we're sorry for the inconvenience."

But Walken says he's never heard anything from them.   His insurance company has filed a claim with the DWP, but Walken says he's received no response.

That interview apparently ruffled some feathers at DWP headquarters downtown.   After it aired, I received an e-mail from DWP spokesman Joe Ramallo, demanding a retraction.

Ramallo was upset that, in my report, I said Walken had filed a claim with the DWP.  

That's not true, Ramallo insisted. Only his insurance company had filed a claim.

"I’m sure you’ll agree that a correction is in order here," Ramallo wrote.

Later, I called Ramallo to ask more questions.   He proceeded to suggest that Walken couldn't be trusted.  

Ramallo told me it was unclear if Walken was in business at the time of the flood because he didn't appear to have an account with the DWP.  

He made it sound like I was being manipulated by some charlatan who was trying to defraud the DWP.

I called Walken back.  He was incredulous.

Of course he was in business, he said.  And yes, he did have a DWP account.  It just happened to be in the name of a DBA, with a mailing address of his office in Tarzana.

Walken couldn't understand why anyone at the DWP would want to spread lies about him.

He suggested an idea.  Why not set up a meeting so that he could talk face-to-face and the DWP spokesman and anyone else the utility wanted to send?   KTLA could send a camera.  Everyone could discuss this in a civil way.

I called Ramallo late today.

"What about sitting down with this guy and having a meeting?" I asked.

No, he told me.

Why?

"Because we've already had multiple community meetings," he said.

Well, why not just talk to the guy, I asked.

"The process is for him to file a claim," Ramallo insisted.

Meanwhile, Rick Walken is almost out of time.  His insurance payments have just about run out. With no income, he's worried about missing the mortgage payment on his home.

On December 5th, he'll reopen the restaurant.  It will be three months to the day since it was flooded.

He's hoping customers will come back.