Seeking PalisadesStories about the Fire

BY HENRY KAMER

Our town, the beloved Palisades, was forever changed by the devastation experienced during the Palisades Fire that raged from January 7th onwards. Almost everything that defined the Palisades was destroyed, and the people that made the Palisades community so close-knit and attractive were forced to flee as the town became unlivable.

Now, as the Army Corps of Engineers continue and finish their clearings and other private companies contribute as well, the Palisades will be sent down its slow, complex, and arduous path to recovery. The Palisades that springs up in the future will never be the same as it was before. However, a sense of normalcy and tradition can be brought from collecting the stories of the people who made the Palisades the community it was. This is what I (Henry Kamer) and my friend Max Dorband are trying to accomplish.

Max and I have been close friends ever since we met at Kehillat Israel preschool (we are rising seniors at Pali High now.) We share many memories of the Palisades, from the days that seemed like they would never end at Pali Elementary to eating at the Bat N’ Grill during the PPBA days to the hangouts at Garden Cafe and the larger village. Those memories are integral to the long-standing image of the Palisades, and we want to ensure they remain, even if some of the physical spaces where these memories occurred were completely destroyed.

To ensure that the beautiful history and many traditions of the Palisades aren’t lost because of the fire, Max and I started PalisadesStories.

PalisadesStories is a community project that seeks to record the stories about the fire and the Palisades in general from as many people as possible. To collect the stories, we are primarily utilizing a google form, which can be found click here.

It asks only a few questions and should not take more than ten minutes. We will also conduct zoom interviews with prominent community members and any individual who prefers this option. The data collected from the form and zooms will be finalized and presented on a website (in development).

This website will feature the stories of all Palisadians, young and old, on an interactive map that depicts where people lived and where business were located. In addition, there will also be a New York Times survey detailing post-fire relocation and resources to contribute to the project and get in contact with us. This website and its data will be passed to the Palisades Historical Society and also memorialized by the Friends of the LIbrary in a future section about Palisades history once the library is rebuilt.

As time goes on, the Palisades will slowly come back and will change dramatically as it does, and so will we, its former inhabitants and community members. However, those changes need not destroy the sacred history and traditions of our town.

With PalisadesStories, Max and I intend to record, honor, and preserve the lived history of our community—so that future generations will remember not only what was lost, but what was saved. Thank you.