After earthquake, Napa bed-and-breakfast owner prepares to rebuild

NewsChannel 5 reporter Jake Reiner visited downtown Napa Monday to survey the damage caused by Sunday’s earthquake and speak with business owners and residents as they work to rebuild.

Celeste Carducci Ahnfeldt, who owns a bed and breakfast in Napa, watched security footage from the morning of the quake.

“At 3:19 in the morning, everything was really peaceful and then right at 3:20 you saw the jolt and then the cameras went off,” she recalled.

Her business, the McClelan Priest Bed and Breakfast, was mostly undamaged except for an antique chandelier that’s been in the place since 1879.

The light fixture has survived three previous earthquakes, including 1989’s Loma Prieta, but it succumbed to Sunday’s quake.

“That’s really my old sadness that I have,” said Ahnfeldt. “Aside from that fact, I’m very grateful no one was harmed or hurt.”

The bed and breakfast had a packed house of guests when the quake occurred, but no one there was hurt and business remains steady.

“Tomorrow (Tuesday) we have three more rooms checking in and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we’re sold out, so we’re good,” she said.

The chandelier is repairable — even the glass bulbs displaying the four seasons, she added.