The landmark Business Block Building has become one of the symbols of the Palisades Fire. The facade of the building, which turned one hundred years old last year, will be preserved as reconstruction begins. Six months after the Palisades Fire residents of the burn zone are still picking up the pieces and digging out from the disaster, but progress is being made. New houses are starting to go up in the Palisades, plans are being prepared and vetted for new houses in Topanga and Malibu, the roads and surviving businesses are open. There is still a long way to go on the road to recovery, but half a year later we are on our way. Cover illustration, concept and design by Urs Baur.
The Palisades Fire is half a year behind us, but it remains a daily presence for those affected. Most of the burned structures have been cleared—the first major step in the process of rebuilding and healing—but the rebuilding process is slow and complex. Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway reopened at the end of May, but delays remain frequent, traffic slow. The absence of familiar landmarks is still disorienting and the loss of homes and businesses still hurts, but humans are remarkably adaptable, and life goes on.
Here at Topanga New Times we are pausing on the six month anniversary of the disaster to reflect and look back, but also to explore the road ahead. That road is a long one. The fire was a reminder of how fast life can change. The aftermath is an exercise in patience and endurance. Six months is an important milestone, but just one on what is likely to be a very long journey.
Azmina and Sasha Kanji were among the 33 families in the Topanga area who lost their homes in the Palisades Fire. They shared their fire experiences with TNT shortly after the fire swept through and changed their lives. In this issue of TNT they share some of their experiences dealing with the aftermath of the disaster and beginning the rebuilding process. TNT contributor Claire Fordham, who is following their journey, writes, “Not everyone’s experience will be the same but there will be similarities and lessons for us all to learn.”
We are also taking a look at the post fire landscape, revisiting some of the places we documented immediately after the fire. The message there is one of renewal. Rubble is still being cleared, but the first new houses are already under construction in Pacific Palisades, and all over the burn zone wildflowers have emerged, bloomed, and are setting seed.
Here in Topanga, the Farmers Market is back, every Friday at the Community House; the shops that have weathered the fire and the lengthy road closure are stocked for summer and open for business; and the Theatricum Botanicum’s summer season is in full swing and receiving rave reviews. Two upcoming events come from and speak directly to the heart and soul of this community and the things we value: On July 26, volunteers will be gathering at Topanga State Beach for a beach cleanup event cosponsored by Heal the Bay and the Resource Conservation District that is focused on cleaning and restoring one of the beaches most heavily impacted by the Palisades fire. On the same day, Reggae on the Mountain, Topanga’s celebrated homegrown music festival, returns to the Canyon.
We’re not sure why they chose this moment in history to do it, but Senator Adam Schiff and Representative Laura Friedman have reintroduced the Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, a long-sought project that would add more than 118,000 acres to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The proposal would add the existing parcels of open space that ring the San Fernando Valley and parts of the greater Los Angeles Basin into the 154,000-acre National Recreation Area.
The bill has the support of a coalition of residents, non profit organizations, local governments and the state of California, but it’s hard to imagine a political environment less conducive to passing park-related projects. However, despite approving massive cuts to the National Park Service budget, even the right wing majority of Congress balked at plans to sell off more than three million acres of public open space during the recent budget bill debate. It turns out that America’s national parks, famously described by writer and historian Wallace Stegner as “the best idea we ever had”, are one of those rare issues that transcend right and left, liberal and conservative. The American people still value the wide open spaces that define the western United States, and are willing to fight to keep them. That’s encouraging in a time when the political divide sometimes seems too deep and wide to bridge.
And speaking of that divide, TNT life coach Olivia Pool has some thoughts on how to build bridges. “The world needs more people who are awake, aware, and are making compassionate, kind choices for themselves and others so their kids can grow up knowing and living the value of love over hate,” she writes. “It seems to me the only true answer lies in both the immediate action of standing up for what’s right and working on the long game of generational changes towards more kindness and self-awareness.” Amen to that.
Stay safe, be well.
