by Mark McDermott
Last October, when Allison Bath learned about her stage four cancer diagnosis, she was sitting at a booth in Ercole’s Bar & Grill. Bath has been a bartender at Erocle’s for the past 13 years. Surrounded by co-workers and patrons, she broke down in tears as she hung up the phone with her doctor.
“I had a bad feeling about my tests but initially thought it was an issue related to my spine due to chronic back pain,” Bath said. “I wanted to be surrounded by my second family when I made the call for my test results.”
Her diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma. It’s a highly treatable form of cancer, but the fact that it had already spread meant that Bath faced a long and difficult battle. Bath, a lifelong Manhattan Beach resident, was consoled by Ercole’s manager Mikey Benevitos and several regulars and close friends. Due to insufficient health insurance, she admitted herself to an emergency room for the necessary diagnostic tests, rather than face weeks waiting to see an oncologist.
“It felt like every moment mattered and I needed to figure out a treatment plan as soon as possible,” Bath said.
That initial visit turned into a three week stay at the ER. Friends and the community rallied around her.
Rick Arrigoni, owner of Hush Salon, went to her house to personally shave her head after one of her chemo sessions. David Slay hosted a fundraiser at Fete to help Bath and Benevitos organized additional ongoing fundraisers at the bar. Hundreds of homemade shells — which are still available at Ercole’s — were sold to support Bath.
“The community outreach and support has been incredible, and surreal,” Bath said. “When I’m strong enough to go for a walk so many local business owners and employees run out and hug me. It just gives me so much strength.”
Slay, who knows Bath both from the bar and from the yoga studio where they both practice, SoHo, said the fundraiser he hosted was a no-brainer. Bath is part of the fabric of the downtown Manhattan Beach community.
“When I heard she was sick, I just thought it was the right thing to do, to try to help her out any way we could,” he said.
But as everyone who has joined Bath in this battle has learned, witnessing the way she has handled her diagnosis and subsequent treatments has been a lesson in living.
“When you see someone that has that outgoing personality and who is always in a positive mood, and then gets dealt that blow and still keeps it, that’s pretty special,” Slay said.
One of her closest friends, Autumn Maher Raia, said the outpouring was simply the community giving back the love that Bath has given to everyone around her for so many years.
“Allison was the heart and soul of Ercole’s,” Maher Raia said. “She took so much pride in her work and the bar. She always had a smile on her face. She really is a wonderful mom, dear friend and human. It was easy for the community that knows her to step up and help with everything and anything possible.”
Bath said that she is trying to embrace each day as it comes, and not get overwhelmed by the long fight ahead.
“This is a very rare case of cancer,” she said. “We don’t know the origin. Navigating the world of insurance has been very stressful. I just try to focus on getting better and live life around that. I respect small moments, and time…even more now. My mom is from Alabama, and taught me that.”
Friends have organized a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for the extensive treatments. So far, the campaign has $48,800 towards the eventual goal of $150,000. And that is where a pair of local influencers got involved.
Heidi Rayden was on her regular early morning beach walk when another daily beachwalker stopped to talk to her. Rayden has an Instagram account, @LoveDriven, that highlights acts of love.
“Hey, you document love,” her fellow beachwalker asked. “Can you do something to help my friend who just got diagnosed with stage four cancer?”
Both Rayden and her husband, a writer who goes by the pen name Albert Barron, are what you might call “love influencers.” He’s written a novel loosely based on his own experience with love and loss, “Love Driven Out of the Linear”, the couple share a mission to focus on the quiet power of love even in the most trying times.
So Rayden was on board to help. She reached out to the popular Instagram account “South Bay People,” run by local influencer Ellie Brisbin, to collaborate on a shoot at Ercole’s to help spread awareness of Bath’s story. They co-shot a video that went viral, and Rayden later produced a short reel documenting Bath’s journey with an end goal to raise awareness to her ongoing need for financial support.
“When we were shooting at Ercole’s you could feel a warmth and energy in the space and it made sense this type of establishment would be so supportive of Bath,” Rayden said. “But as we were shooting and chatting with people I realized the entire neighborhood and collection of businesses around Ercole’s were supporting Bath in so many different ways. I thought this is bigger than just a few caring co-workers wanting to help, that it is truly Manhattan Beach coming together — maybe not the entire city but key cornerstone businesses that mark our town.”
Jeff Bonafides, the co-owner of UnCorked, was one of those business owners who stepped up to help. He’s not in Bath’s inner circle of friends, but knows her from mutual friends, particularly from the beach volleyball courts. He said rallying around Bath was simply what a real community does when one of its own needs a hand.
“Cancer is brutal,” Bonafides said. “I mean, we have all had friends and family who have had it. It is just part of human existence. We all get touched by it….The South Bay community always rallies together to help.”
And of course, Bath’s status as a leading light at Ercole’s, the South Bay’s oldest bar, has helped activate the community’s support.
“It’s obvious that Erocle’s is an orbit surrounded by so much love for one special woman who has made a positive impact on people just for being herself, a warm, kind hearted soul who always has a smile on her face,” said Rayden. “Even as she battles stage four cancer, everyone can learn something from that.”
Bath said that she has learned from her experience with cancer.
“I have the utmost respect for life now,” she said. “It does seem that it can go so quickly. I want to see everything, to travel, and live life as much as I can.”
Heidi Rayden contributed significant reporting to this article. For her Instagram account and the video about Bath, see @LoveDrivenBooks. For the campaign on Allison Bath’s behalf, go to GoFundMe.com/f/donate-to-allison-baths-cancer-treatment-fund. To contribute directly to Bath, scan this code: 
