VAN NUYS, Calif. — It wasn't easy saying goodbye to 14 years of history at Carlitos Way cocktail lounge in Van Nuys.

Its owner, Carlos Castellanos, is among hundreds of small business owners in Los Angeles whose local operations couldn’t survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is my home, my baby and I will always love it,” Castellanos said.

Over the weekend, Castellanos had a chance to pick up the last remaining items left at his shuttered bar. There were some boxes of decorations from the holiday parties he used to host and, of course, one of the large signs, which Castellanos wants to keep as a memento. His final walk-through brought up nostalgia.

"It’s emotional," he said. "It was hard to leave to begin with. Everybody that came in here, there’s a lot of memories. We made a lot of friends. I brought a lot of people together, relationships. I’ve actually been invited to seven different weddings of people I’ve connected here and couples that I’ve brought together."

For more than a decade, Castellanos found a way to make ends meet at Carlitos Way. He survived recessions and slow times in the past, but being closed for more than a year without the ability to serve takeout led to the ultimate demise of his business.

"The pandemic definitely crushed me mainly because I don’t have a kitchen and I couldn’t open outdoor," he said. "I couldn’t open, period."

Castellanos is not alone. LA lost more small businesses than any other U.S. city as a result of the pandemic. He hoped things would eventually work out, but his landlord ended up evicting him for not being able to pay rent.

Even though eviction moratoriums are in place, Castellanos hadn't been under a lease since 2018, and the landlord issued a letter last December saying his holdover tenancy was being terminated.

“It really hit hard,” he said. “It made me angry, I’m not going to lie. And after seeing both sides of the story, I do understand.”

Castellanos noted that he's now focused on a brighter future and the opportunity to open a new bar in neighboring Sherman Oaks on Ventura Boulevard. He doesn’t want to reveal the exact location just yet because he hasn’t secured the lease. And he said the biggest obstacle is getting the money to make it all happen. He has been out of a real income for 14 months, having burned through savings.

He created a GoFundMe page, hoping the community and his former regulars at Carlitos Way can offer assistance.

"That’s definitely been what’s been stopping me and hurting me," he said. "It’s hard to reach out and ask for help. And I’ve learned that I have to and I have been. I want to continue this love and passion for what I love to do. I want to bring together more people, more marriages and be invited to more weddings and really create something wonderful."