3rd Street Shoe Shiner Couldn't Make Rent

When your shoe gets a scuff, Andy Waller won't be there to buff it.

After 15 years, Waller has vacated the stand on the Third Street Promenade near Arizona Avenue. He polished his last shoe sometime in March, because he could no longer afford to pay rent to the city.

"It hurt me really bad, but I was not getting enough customers nor was I making the money to keep the stand open," he wrote in an email in March. "I don't know where I am going to go from here, but I will have to make it some how."

The Santa Monica Daily Press reported Friday that Waller owed the city $500, nearly five months in past-due rent.

In 2010, Waller owed the city $965 in back rent. In over his head, local media helped rally donations from the community.

"It would be hard to say goodbye to a community-integrated businessman bound in friendship with a history of service. As the deadline approaches, Andy is working hard and also seeking donations," NBC Los Angeles reported then.

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