One flickering ember is all that is required.
Tracy Park has lived in Malibu for 35 years and is a well-known local gallery owner. She resides across from the shore in a modest apartment building. To prevent the condominium from engulfing in flames, her husband Jeff and several men who lived in her building remained behind and watered the rooftop and the adjacent slope. “To save it, every single man who lived there stayed.”
Her voice breaks as she says, “We’re very, very, very lucky to have a house to go home to.” Nearly everything around us was destroyed by fire. Our apartment complex is very similar to Melrose Place. This site is scattered with cottages. Twelve pieces. There are four of them empty. To prevent the house from burning, five men stayed behind, and it was successful.
Not so lucky were thousands.
This has been the most catastrophic of the six flames in the area, destroying almost 12,000 buildings as embers were forced into the night sky by Santa Ana winds. Residents and firefighters were unable to contain the deadly smoke and flames that were spreading.
‘My friends who own restaurants — they don’t have anyone to sell food to. There’s no community to support it now. No food can be delivered.’
Tracy Park
Melissa Curtin, a writer and travel advisor who has spent eight years in Malibu, was familiar with the area. The Franklin fire, which began on December 9 and spread over 4,000 acres, was fought by her and her husband, Mark. “You’re in the middle of nowhere in Malibu when the lights go out. A shower of meteors occurred. When I looked around, I saw both terror and beauty.
This time, she attributes her building’s survival to the Santa Maria firemen. She claims, “I thought it was gone forever when I left there.” I was furious because I felt like I ought to have taken more. I’m collecting hats. From the wall, I took two caps. I took old pictures, wedding pictures, jewelry, and passports.
Many others were unable to preserve anything because they were away for the holidays.
During the Franklin fire, the inhabitants of her apartment building also watered the roof. “I’m yelling, ‘Embers! Embers!'” she exclaims. “You want to extinguish those because a single ember can bring down the entire establishment.”
The strong winds during the latest Pacific Palisades fire were more difficult to tackle for residents and the helicopters and planes, once they were cleared to take to the air, trying to target the blaze with water and fire retardant.
In Malibu when the lights go out, you’re in the middle of nowhere. There was a meteor shower. I looked around and there was beauty and horror, all at once.’
Melissa Curtin
“I’m unable to report to work,” Park declares. “I am unable to sell a painting.” I have no complaints. I still have a house. I’m still in business. My restaurant-owning buddies have no one to sell their cuisine to. There is currently no community to back it up. Due to the closure of the highways, neither food nor staff can be delivered.
As of Monday, at least 24 people had died as a result of the six California fires, the largest of which was the Pacific Palisades fire, which burned over 22,000 acres. Among them was Randy “Crawdaddy” Miod, a local resident and Park’s close buddy. She claims, “My friend Randy was killed because he stayed behind to save his house.”
Park explains, “I had only seen him two days earlier.” Randy leaped in the pictures that an artist was shooting of me. The photographer and Randy went to the same school, but they hadn’t seen each other in years. It’s really f—ing depressing. An antique hitching post once stood where his house now stands.
She claims that it was among Malibu’s oldest homes.
Communities that have been hollowed out
There will be significant financial problems. Park does not have business-interruption insurance, which covers losses brought on by a natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstances, but she does have renters’ insurance. (In 2020, this kind of insurance made headlines when numerous insurance companies asserted that their plans did not cover communicable diseases like COVID-19.)
Park, a gallery owner, claims that because it’s costly and her business’s revenue fluctuates greatly, it made less sense. “I don’t sell a single painting on some days,” she admits. Although not everyone has it, it’s a brilliant insurance policy. Positively, there is a fire station close to her gallery. “The department will not allow their firehouse to burn down.”
In the immediate aftermath of the fires, residents may face financial difficulties beyond insurance. Business owners will face a transformed landscape and a community that has been traumatized and hollowed out, with large areas of residences along the Pacific Coast Highway and nearly the whole Pacific Palisades neighborhood burned to the ruins.
‘Did I grab one pair of practical tennis shoes? No. I am going to walk around all day long with a pair of f—ing Chanel high-heel shoes with my sweatpants.’
Tracy Park
“How is your life able to fit in a car?” Park says. Along with her passport, prescription drugs, artwork, and clothing, she also stole her grandfather’s 1940 version of “Peter Pan” and her grandmother’s 1930s crystal. “Did I pick up a pair of useful tennis shoes? No. I’m going to wear sweats and a pair of f–ing Chanel high-heeled shoes for the entire day.
Curtin is currently working remotely from a hotel close to LAX, which is covered by her renters’ insurance. She claims that the majority of people she knows lack renters’ insurance. After the Franklin fire in December, she cleaned the ash from her residence for 12 hours every day. When she returns to Malibu, she has not yet decided what she will go back to.
“Malibu is often thought of as being all glitzy, but there’s so much more,” Curtin explains. “Will Rogers Ranch is no longer there. The renowned locations are all gone. These include The Reel Inn, which has been there for forty years; the Malibu Feed Bin, which was established in 1966 and is owned by Teddy and Andy Leonard; and Cholada Thai, which is owned by Nikorn Sriwichailumpan and Sawai Theprian, husband and wife.
‘People tend to associate Malibu with all that’s fancy, but there’s so much more. The Will Rogers Ranch is gone. All the legendary spots are gone.’
Melissa Curtin
Altadena, one of the oldest African-American suburbs in the Los Angeles area, has seen its neighborhoods virtually destroyed, despite the fact that the Pacific Palisades fire has caused the most damage. This is demonstrated by the numerous GoFundMe campaigns for Black families in the area.
Although some of the most expensive real estate in the nation may be found in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, these figures don’t fully capture the situation. People in their 20s who share apartments and rent guest houses, single mothers, students, and those who have lived here for 50 years on a fixed income coexist with the celebrities and “haves,” according to Park and Curtin.
Boldface names are just one aspect of this place. “You lose the charm and history that made Malibu so special for locals and drew tourists from all over the world,” says Curtin, referring to the disappearance of all those modest mom-and-pop stores and buildings. “The areas of Malibu that have been there for more than 50 years are the best. They are no longer there.
