Jeff Ridgway and dog Abby have service as the community’s guardians, even when the town emptied during evacuation orders.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Palisades resident Jeff Ridgway texted this editor on the evening of the January 7 Palisades Fire and said he was fighting the flames on the apartment building that he manages on Haverford.
Having been stuck in gridlock traffic on Temescal, and now listening to the news while driving out of the Palisades, newscasters were talking about how the fire had jumped Sunset Boulevard and onto the Temescal Bluffs.
“Jeff get out!” this editor said. Then she did not hear from him again until the next day, learning he had not evacuated, but was safe.
He had saved the building. She later learned from thankful dwellers in the building next to his, that he had saved that building, too.
A native of Sacramento, Ridgway received a bachelor’s degree in English at UC Davis and then followed his future wife, first to Whittier and then Pacific Palisades in 1992.
The marriage did not last, but his love of the community did. He became manager at Crown Books (Sunset, no longer there) and then at Village Books (Swarthmore, also gone). He took a job as ad representative for the Palisadian-Post, which was practically in front of Ridgway’s apartment.
Editor Bill Bruns said, “he had the shortest commute of everyone, a half a block.”
When a new owner bought the Post, Ridgway handed in his resignation. He would continue to help the Palisades Americanism Parade Association by selling advertisements for its annual 4th of July program.
In December 2021, Ridgway took over the store lease for Collections Antiques & Accessories and expanded the shop into a bookstore. But two years later it closed, because the store was not economically feasible.
Although thousands of residents left on January 7 and the exodus continued the next week, Ridgway never left, even when it became a virtual ghost town.
He had no electricity, no water, but he and his dog Abby, stayed. This was his home.
Ridgway said after the fire the town was dark and quiet– no streetlights, no traffic. “Abby and I went to bed when it was dark and got up with the sun,” he said.
Abby, a small furry canine, was left without a home, when a tenant died. Ridgway took care of her and the two became inseparable.
He had given up his car this past summer and was used to walking everywhere, including the half block to Gelson’s supermarket. But when it and Ralphs both burned, and Erewhon remained closed, Ridgway had no place to buy groceries.
Gelson’s supermarket burned during the Palisades Fire.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Jamie Paige the editor of the Westside Current made a grocery run to Jeff on January 15. “Thank you for the groceries and the phone charging device,” Ridgway texted Paige. “It works.”
On January 19, Ridgway wrote this editor “All is well with us. We had a hot meal from the truck near the fire station last night. Red Cross workers reminded me of the food. Hoping for ice cream soon.
“We (Abby and I) continue our work guarding and cleaning out/off and washing down the apartment building,” Ridgway said. “There are more voices around during the day with various work crews.”
He speculated the workers were mostly gas crews and this might be the time for Pacific Palisades to go electric and make “Palisades into a 21 Century model community,” he said. “Maybe local news could champion the cause, and the Community Council could take a role as well.”
He reported, “Otherwise it is still pretty quiet and peaceful – and waiting for the residents to have a chance to come back and see the remnants of their lives.”
By February 7, he had water for laundry and showering but not for drinking. “I did three loads of laundry yesterday and two more today.” There were cases of drinking water at Fire Station 69 and in the library parking lot.
Ridgway was asked if he wanted a lift to the Disaster Recovery Center, but he said he had received money from Red Cross and had applied for FEMA.
Once Vons reopened, Ridgway, Abby and this editor went to check it out on February 15. Vons still didn’t have water, and the market was running on two generators, because the electricity had not yet been turned on. But the aisles were stocked.
Most of Via de la Paz was destroyed. Several of the condo buildings in the alley behind the buildings survived thanks to Jeff Ridgway’s efforts.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Ridgway continued daily walks with Abby, and provided information about the town.
On February 25, he wrote “I noticed this morning there is a lot on Haverford which has been completely cleared. One down.
“Also, electricity is back on the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Clubhouse and partly on Radcliffe, too,” Ridgway said. “They are stockpiling big mounds of dirt on the Methodist Church parking lot. I wonder where it is coming from?”
The next day he received a door-hanging notice that the drinking water was safe.
March 1, he reported that “Trash receptacles on Via have had new bags placed inside and the full bags of trash laying next to them have been taken away. It must have happened over the weekend.”
He said that as people returned to their apartments and condos, they cleaned out the spoiled food from their refrigerators and left them along the curb—which became a source of food for vermin.
“Oh, and by the way,” Ridgway wrote, “I heard my first leaf blower over the weekend. I think it was a gardening crew at a neighboring condo building. What a bad idea! The last thing we need is blowing dust and debris into the air.”
He advocated for putting a complete ban on anything that blows debris – “hand sweeping and raking only.”
The increased traffic in the area, with no stoplights, also became a concern for Ridgway. “There should be a 25-mph speed limit,” he said. “We are a vast construction site, so these restrictions are appropriate.
“It’s not just the hundreds of trucks, but the increasing number of regular cars. Maybe it is the ‘crisis’ energy in the air, but people are just going too fast and blasting through stop signs,” he said.
A neighbor brought him chlorine to put in the apartment building pool.
Ridgway said, the man “was concerned about breeding mosquitos. Now I’m wondering about all the other stagnant water in abandoned pools all over town. Are we facing a West Nile Virus mosquito festival this summer? I wonder if the City Health Department folk are thinking about this?”
On the night of the fire, Ridgway was asked if ever feared for his life? He said he had a backup plan. “If the fire got too intense, Abby and I would go to the Gelson’s parking lot and stay there.”
(Editor’s note: Councilmember Traci Park is giving air filters to residents. This editor has asked for one for Jeff—but if there’s anyone who could make it happen, it would be much appreciated. Jeff Ridgway has been the town’s guardian since the January 7 fire.)
Love this story so much,
Jeff’s courage is amazing.
He can have my air purifier from Parks office.
But they really should be able to deliver him one too
Great to hear you are safe Jeff.
Kudos to Jeff! We remember him well, all the way back to when he worked at Village Books. He was so helpful and knowledgeable. So glad he and Abby made it. They and those of a similar bent make up the very core of our community.
Thanks for sharing his story.
Wow ! Thanks, Sue !
I drove through Via Saturday and saw him raking leaves with his pup.
What a legend.
One of the people that makes the Palisades special. I also have known him since Crown Books days.