On January 10, three days after the Eiton fire erupted for the first time, I went to Lake Avenue, the commercial heart of Altadina, a few miles away from the place where I live.
The surreal scene amazed me as if it were filming Hollywood. This should be a movie after the end of the world, shown with amazing special effects. The entire part of the upper commercial area was destroyed. I somehow think that within a few weeks, after the completion of the filming, the street and its shops will return to appearing.
Why did we write this
A story that focuses on
Our correspondence wipes homes and companies destroyed by fires in their neighborhood in Altadina, California, and meditates in the future of this mini world of the Greater Los Angeles.
Residents are not allowed here yet. It is very dangerous. Electric lines are broken. The fire is still burning, and the gas leaks. Toxic lead, asbestos and arsenic inherently invisible in the rubble. My press card enables me to cross the checkpoints guarded by the National Guard in California.
I drive my car near the grocery store aldi. My husband is shopping here to buy sausages. It’s completely hollow. The grocery store is located directly on the street. It is safe.
The “Greeting from Altadena” store is shining under the afternoon sun. The city’s name was written in messages on postcards depicting its rich history. I wonder how we will be able to survive as a society with a lot of lost pieces now.
I stopped the car and walked to our favorite burger restaurant, Mount Everest. It is a pile of rubble. We were stopping on the way back from a stunning journey in our small open car, hiking on foot, or when none of us feel the desire to cook.
Chimneys are all the remainder of a residential house. The hardware store has been obliterated. As well as the mortal rabbit museum and three churches near the intersection.
It started drowning. This is not a movie.
On January 10, three days after the Eiton fire erupted for the first time, I went to Lake Avenue, the commercial heart of Altadina, a few miles away from the place where I live.
The surreal scene amazed me as if it were filming Hollywood. This should be a post -end -ended film, which is shown with amazing special effects. The entire part of the upper commercial area – restaurants, churches, post office, and bank has been destroyed. I somehow think that within a few weeks, after the completion of the filming, the street and its shops will return to appearing.
Residents are not allowed here yet. It is very dangerous. Electric lines are broken. The fire is still burning, and the gas leaks. Toxic lead, asbestos and arsenic inherently invisible in the rubble. My press card enables me to cross the first checkpoint, which is guarded by the National Guard in California. Then again. Then a third.
Why did we write this
A story that focuses on
Our correspondence wipes homes and companies destroyed by fires in their neighborhood in Altadina, California, and meditates in the future of this mini world of the Greater Los Angeles.
I am slowly rolling the top of the long hill towards the wonderful San Gabriel mountains, as the fire began on January 7. On my right is the Elliot Magent School, which is a general intermediate school of art. The Art Deco -designed building appears as it is, and its rectangular towel is still rising in the blue sky.
I look closely. The ceiling is only black wooden beams. I notice myself that my friend’s daughter at Al -Kitab Club goes here. You are supposed to play the role of the evil witch in the play of the Spring Music School, “partner”.
I drive my car near the grocery store aldi. My husband is shopping here to buy sausages. It’s completely hollow. The grocery store is located directly on the street. It is safe.
The “Greeting from Altadena” store is shining under the afternoon sun. The city’s name was written in messages on postcards depicting pictures of this selective pocket and its rich history. This city is a small mosaic inside a much larger mosaic in Los Angeles Province. I wonder how we will be able to survive as a society with a lot of lost pieces now.
This mosaic appeared to life in the grocery store, which was full of neighbors of all kinds: NASA’s jet laboratory engineers, artists who are just searching, and the elderly who shop in Mozak who got to know them, and young people pick up a mixture of hiking paths. They came from all races: black, Latin, Asian, white.
I stopped the car and walked to our favorite burger restaurant, Mount Everest. no! no! no! It is a pile of rubble, one existing wall. This is where we were on the way back from a stunning journey in our small open car, or from walking on foot, or when none of us feel the desire to cook.
I continue to go on foot at the Lake Avenue and Altadena Drive intersection. Chimneys are all the remainder of a residential house. The hardware store, as well as the twisted rabbit museum and three churches near the intersection.
Only the Christian Science Church, which it sometimes attended, still exists. Once reopened – no one has the opportunity to inspect him yet – members plan to make their New England edifices available for other gatherings.
It started drowning. This is not a movie.
The list continues to grow
“The uncertainty is the brutal part of it,” says my girlfriend at Al -Kitab Club, Tircy Van Hoten, who is studying her daughter in Elliot Ertz. The school was severely damaged and closed, but she later sent a text message that the musical play is running! The ash and soot cover her family’s home in our fadina inside and outside, and they cannot return yet. But the house is sound.
It cannot be said about many others. Like a missile scientist, Tercy maintains a data schedule for destroyed homes, friends and neighbors who lost them. It has about thirty homes in the list, and checks as much as they can. The list continues to grow.
16 people have been killed so far, and more than 7000 buildings were destroyed Its destruction has been confirmed In the Etone fire. We have borne the greatest burden of this catastrophe, a society of 42,000 people located directly above our masters, where I live and where the houses were burned as well.
Although the area of Eiton fire is smaller, the damage so far is twice the size of the fire in Pacific Palssades, where there were eight confirmed dead and 3500 buildings I destroyed. All numbers are expected to rise as inspections continue.
Trussy says that its various Facebook groups and conversations are full of conversations on how to rebuild and restore the essence of Altadena, its beauty and free spirit.
“I am very optimistic in this sense,” she says. But the question is how to do that. “How can we keep what made this society very special while many of it has disappeared?” You ask.
Francin Kevir / Christian Science Monitor
We are a miniature world. There is a mixture of income and races here. There is an open wilderness and an unconventional feeling in the small city. There is a rural club and a clear counter -culture. There are new residents and those whose families have been here for generations.
For decades, black families moved here, and were transferred to the West Lake Avenue area during the era of red lines. It has grown to become one of the most prosperous black -class societies in the country.
The wall painting in Grocery Outlet highlights the black artists who lived here, such as painter Charles White, Octavia Butler, science fiction writer.
The area west of the lake is witnessing improvement, and the black community is smaller than before. Many blacks sold the homes of their families after the death of their parents and moved to less expensive places such as Las Vegas.
However, they reconcile Almost 20 percent From the residents of Altadina, and when the fire broke out, it was almost the same percentage of the affected population of blacks.
Surprising times, perseverance spirits
I call my neighboring neighbor, Gail Taylor. She and her sister, Woods-Valentine Mortuary, is a third-generation family company and one of the oldest companies owned by blacks in the region.
She told me that many members of the Gail family and their friends lost their homes. She introduced me to one of her dear friends since childhood, Tonita Fernandez, who grew up in our fans.
On Tuesday, Tonita is talking. She raised 12 children, some of them adopted and others adopted. Six years ago, health challenges began to escalate, and the teacher says she is looking forward to the future – not her future, but the future of her children.
Thinking about the future, she decided to redesign her home for her family, including her and her two -year -olds. She added a residence in the backyard of her adopted daughter, who was hoping to keep property for future generations. The project ended with Tonita retirement savings.
Francin Kevir / Christian Science Monitor
However, this year Christmas celebrated its new place. The boys got new bicycles. She was enthusiastic about them. She only had to wait for the final examination to update her insurance.
It never happened, and after a few days, everything was burned and the ground was burned. It is a trauma, but she has a spirit of perseverance. Ask if I can take a picture of her. We agreed to try to reach its burning place, which she has not seen since it was evacuated in a state of panic.
I lead to the checkpoint on its street. However, my journalist’s infringement cannot enter it into the banned area, even for press photos, so we were rejected. She later learned that Tonita has finally managed to see her home. Only stairs, handrails and balcony handrails remain.
“I hope and pray to God to be able to collect enough money to rebuild what I just lost,” says Tonita. “My biggest hope is to meet all, especially the black and brown community.” Like many of their homes, they have GofundMe page.
But developers are already invalidated and urge people to sell. It understands the reasons why some people consider this as a lifeline.
“I just hope they will not let this financial amount hinder the rebuilding of their homes,” she says about the pressure on black and Latin.
But rebuilding is difficult, she says, speaking of her own experience with requirements and permits. “The construction process with the boycott is very stressful. What worries me is that no one can withstand the storm.
Resistance to developers, and seek to achieve dreams
At a community meeting a few days after Etone fire, the residents expressed their concerns about the possibility that the developers would change the face of Altadina while trying to seize the ground.
Francin Kevir / Christian Science Monitor
This possibility is anxious Mariales Pedersen, an environmental expert and waste disposal expert.
After the meeting, she proudly spoke about her 100 -year -old Spanish -style home in Altadina, which she bought from a childhood girlfriend. The fire destroyed the house, but it was able to save the vehicle, the car and the cats. It also has the gofundme page.
Mrs. Pedersen wrote in a mutual email after the meeting: “It is clear that people are receiving messages from greedy who want to purchase damaged real estate from fires.” “We are trying to encourage everyone to resist.”
She wants to maintain the personality of our fans. She is considering the “barn breeding” model and equality in race for rebuilding that includes the entire society and is sustainable.
She says: This may also be the time to fulfill her dream.
“For a long time, I wanted to create a house for rock and roll lovers.”
It imagines homes for different levels of income surrounding a community space that includes a library and music. She can also build three or four huts around her friends’ swimming pool. “It will be fun.”
Yes, I think. And so we are very hands.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on January 17, 2025 to reflect the latest destroyed buildings.
