Los Angeles Rick Citron and his wife left town to grieve the tragic death of their adult daughter, only four days before a devastating fire descended on his Pacific Palisades home.
They never thought it would be their final visit to their house of over 40 years.
Citron watched the unthinkable happen as he remotely activated his Tesla car camera at approximately 5 p.m. on January 7.
He watched as big embers swirled around the house on Ocampo Drive that he had bought in 1982. He recalls thinking, “This doesn’t look good,” before making himself go to bed at approximately eleven p.m.
However, he was startled awake at 5 a.m. on January 8 by a sinking sensation. When he turned on the video, he saw trees lighting up like matchsticks as firefighters fled his house while dragging a hose behind them. He noticed his house igniting when he switched to the rearview camera. His electric automobile burst a few seconds later.
He remarked, “I just realized that I’ve lost 40 years of history that the family has built.” All three of our children attended local schools and learnt how to ride bikes locally while growing up. At the park, I coached my children’s sports. It was the community’s way of life.
When a fire fueled by hurricane-force winds and dry conditions engulfed the area along the sea, the siege started on January 7. Parts of Altadena were destroyed later that day by another fire that was just as intense and spread over Los Angeles County. Between the two fires that destroyed heavily inhabited areas of the county, at least 27 individuals lost their lives.
Citron’s house was one of almost 3,500 buildings burned in the Palisades Fire, which destroyed a large portion of Sunset Mesa and the Pacific Palisades area.
According to Sherry Citron, Rick Citron’s daughter-in-law, who spoke about her husband, Justin, he lost both his sister and his house. How in the world do you think about that? Our future included the house.
Known as a playground for the wealthy and well-known, Pacific Palisades is perched on hills and bluffs with a view of the Pacific Ocean. Families who bought homes and condos there generations ago, when prices were far lower than they are now, also call it home.
For many years, there was a popular deli where children gathered after school, a modest sporting goods store, an ice cream shop that families frequented, and a cherished bookshop that brought people to its claustrophobic stacks.
It was like Main Street USA in Los Angeles, giving the Palisades a small-town vibe in the middle of a big city. Billionaire developer Rick Caruso demolished the historic town of mom-and-pop stores years ago and put luxury labels like Saint Laurent and Lululemon in their place.
According to Glenn Turner, who has resided in nearby Sunset Mesa since 1988, it was simply pragmatic at the time. Although the fire destroyed his house, he plans to restore it with savings and insurance money.
He went on to say, “You had people who worked at Vons who could live there,” alluding to the West Coast supermarket business. Teachers from your school could reside there.
Even after new developments, remnants of the old Palisades were still visible. Many longstanding locals who bought their piece of paradise when it was still reasonably priced intended to pass their houses on to their kids and grandkids, many of whom would never be able to afford to buy in the current harsh market.
Living in the Pacific Palisades on essentially working-class wages was possible, according to historian Wade Graham, who is affiliated with the University of Southern California. Until very, very recently, the wealthy did not control the place.
According to Graham, the Pacific Palisades began as a collection of separate real estate endeavors that eventually united to become a single community.
At what is now Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, a film producer established a studio named Inceville in 1911. At its height, it covered 18,000 acres and had space for 700 crew members. Hollywood legend states that the studio almost burned down in a fire in 1915.
Last week, hundreds of evacuating homeowners attempted to use Sunset, one of the sole exits from the area, to funnel into PCH, turning the crossroads into a chokepoint.
The Pacific Palisades Historical Society says that in the 1920s, a Methodist organization decided that the Palisades bluffs north of Santa Monica were an ideal place to build a church and hold its meetings. The neighborhood, which came to be known as the alphabet streets, saw the emergence of modest, single-family houses, many of which were destroyed in the conflagration last week. Jewish intellectuals and creatives escaping Hitler’s Germany also sought refuge in the region.
Birdie Bartholomew, whose sister, aunt, and uncle perished in the fire, stated, “Our parents found the Palisades 40 years ago when it was kind of in the middle of nowhere.”This community is the result of their building their life there. What was lost was that.
For decades, the Palisades’ accessible appeal persisted despite the urbanization of nearby Santa Monica, according to Graham. Sunset Mesa was transformed into a new Shangri-la further north on PCH.
Sunset Mesa began as a collection of condominiums and was later developed into a planned community perched on a hill with a view of the ocean and the nearby Getty Villa museum. According to historical records, 500 midcentury residences with beginning values of roughly $38,000 came after them. Many of the houses are now worth more than $3 million.
When a wildfire to the north devastated Malibu in 1996, flames licked its western slope. The Santa Monica Mountains have always been at risk of fire, yet Sunset Mesa was saved.
Jason Silver, whose parents relocated to the Mesa in 1988, said it felt like the safest place on earth. When the lampposts came back on, you could stroll down to the shore, surf in the ocean, and then stroll home.
Sunset Mesa was a distinct hamlet, kept apart from the Palisades by the museum and rough terrain. About 16 families and their dogs met at the intersection of Kingsport Drive and Oceanhill Way every day at 4 p.m. to exchange the day’s news. It subsequently earned the moniker “dog corner” and provided a sanctuary of safety, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when people were cut off from their loved ones and coworkers.
According to Anne Salenger, who started Dog Corner in 1981, we would be outside enjoying martinis six feet apart. Only two of the group’s houses did not burn down, including hers.
After moving to the area in 2001, Jon Cherkas claimed that it wasn’t until his wife started walking their black Labrador that he began to get to know the neighbors. Just a few blocks from his residence, he saw people gathering every day and thought he would join them. A new community quickly sprung up around him.
Several doggy corner members got together for lunch in Century City following the incident. He claimed that even though there were no dogs around, it was like being with relatives once more.
He remarked that it was wonderful to embrace our friends and see their faces that we hadn’t seen in a long time. It feels like forever, even though it has just been a week or so.
Cherkas intends to rebuild, just like the majority of the meetup participants. To be honest, he has no idea where he would live.
I will stay for the rest of my life, he said. My children will inherit it.