(Editor’s note: I received two videos from a Huntington resident John Moreland with the note, “I have lived on Toyopa for 40 years. I took this first video on 1-7-25 starting at 7:13 p.m. I started at my home and drove north on Ocampo. There were three houses on fire in the Pampas Rivas area. No fire fighters or police were there. The strain in my voice is evident in the video.
My house did not burn.
I walked to it at 7:30 a.m. 1-8-25. I left hurriedly at 1 pm because more fires were starting. The second video was taken as I walked south on Toyopa from my house at 487 Toyopa. One of the four houses just north of the Walter Matthau house that eventually burned that afternoon of 1-8 was just catching on fire.
No fire fighters or police were there although I understand some came later and stopped the fire from burning even though more houses on Lower Toyopa. )
Shortly after I received the videos John Moreland, the following note arrived on January 6 from a Palisades resident now living in Arizona.
LETTER: Do We Rebuild?
Tomorrow I will be flying out to LA for the day just to participate in the fire anniversary functions. Having lived my whole life in the Palisades and losing everything in that awful, preventable fire, I feel I have to be there to support my hometown. Hopefully it is a productive day.
I was struck by one of your recent posts about visiting Arizona. We too are hoping to rebuild in the Palisades but apparently don’t have enough insurance coverage so we have to decide whether to take on more debt in order to rebuild and move back.
Living in Arizona has me asking questions like yours. Why are the roads better here when we are only paying $2.99/gallon for gas? Why is it that city and state services are superior when both income and property taxes are so much lower than in California?
Going forward with a rebuild and the stress and cost associated with it, isn’t just a financial decision, it’s also about the future and whether the city of LA will still be worth living in when the construction is finished.
I find it interesting that in the NORC survey published by the Pacific Palisades Community Council noted that only 1 in 10 residents are confident in the ability of local elected officials to lead a rebuilding effort in the Palisades. Residents apparently have no faith in our city government–for good reason. The fact that the City Counsel can’t pass permit fee waivers is telling in regard to their priorities.
Meanwhile, Phoenix, like many Arizona cities, is growing. There is new construction everywhere here. West Los Angeles is dying. Established stores are closing everywhere.
We older folks remember when Santa Monica was a clean and vibrant place and the Palisades was a quaint little Mayberry where both school teachers and movie stars lived together.
Those days are gone for good for many reasons, but when one considers rebuilding one has to ask, what does the future of Los Angles really look like?
We got a glimpse of just how poorly run our city is in the aftermath from the fire. The police didn’t show up to manage evacuations, and the fire department didn’t show up to put out the fire.
The after action report turned into a cover up, so it appears that no real lessons will be learned from this. At least 12 City Council members consistently vote against Traci Park on most issues. I feel like some may even see the fire as a form of social justice. No way is the future of the Palisades a priority for them.
The NORC report says just over half of the residents affected by the fire expect to be living in the Palisades 10 years from now. The Palisades was a beautiful place, not just because of its proximity to the ocean, but because of its people.
If half of our community never comes back, it can’t be the Palisades again. So when one weighs the pros and cons of rebuilding, one has to look at the entire picture. The Palisades will always be close to the ocean and have great weather, but is that enough to outweigh everything else? I lived in the Palisades for 63 years, but I don’t know now whether rebuilding is the smart choice anymore.
Arizona’s population is 7.8 million. California’s is close to 40 million. A little more difficult to manage. Summer temperature in Phoenix is around 105 F. Marquez Knolls is in the 70’s. You may want to take a look at the growing homeless population in Phoenix. You might be surprised. A close friend who lived in Sedona left because she couldn’t handle all of the people walking around with assault rifles.
You couldn’t pay me to live in Arizona. I’m rebuilding.
There is so much video on YouTube showing spot fires, then later larger fires, and later, the adjoining home on fire. All with no firefighters present. It’s actually rare to find video of firefighters in action.
It is shocking, but not surprising, to read this in an L.A. Times article:
“The Business Block’s fate is still unclear. Some people want to preserve its shell and turn it into a memorial.
This week, it was ringed by a fence emblazoned with the words “Empowering fresh starts together.”
Caruso said the ruins should be torn down.
“It needs to be demolished and cleaned up,” he said. “It’s an eyesore right now and a hazard. I would put grass on it and make it attractive to the community.”
I agree, Arizona is not a location I could move to. It is too hot! We chose to move to Ojai as we know some people who live there. But oh my, the weekends are full of tourists which affects available parking. It is worth it as there is no charge for parking anywhere in town. What a lovely town. Last weekend, we saw two loose horses on the streets and they were safe enough because everybody slowed down their cars and passed the horses very slowly.
Life is lovely here (even for a West LA native).
Perhaps LA City will let us become our own city once they receive the bill from the lawsuits. First, they will spend much more money on attorneys to propagate that they “did everything in their power to stop the fire”.
Knowing how fast these things go in the courts it will probably be 10 years before we see any semblance of a resolution.