{"id":430852,"date":"2025-12-07T11:27:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T11:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/430852\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T11:27:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T11:27:15","slug":"pacific-palisades-residents-preserve-community-with-block-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/430852\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Palisades residents preserve community with block party"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the block party on Duende Lane, Elissa Atwood was delighted Saturday morning to greet neighbors she hadn\u2019t seen in months, hoping their reconnection would help preserve the sense of community that was so shaken by the Palisades fire. <\/p>\n

She is a third-generation Palisadian whose home, built by her grandfather in 1953, was threatened by the flames. Several of her immediate neighbors\u2019 lost their homes. Atwood\u2019s daughter was pregnant during the disaster, and her granddaughter is the fifth generation of the family to live in that home.<\/p>\n

The party, organized by the Marquez Knolls Property Owners Assn., was the neighborhood\u2019s only gathering of the year \u2014 music playing from a speaker, Pueblano-style tacos sizzling on the grill, dogs happily roaming around.<\/p>\n

Many residents say it has been difficult to get in touch with their neighbors, some of whom have left or are still deciding whether or not to sell their land. They fear developers will turn what were originally middle-class properties into rows of walled-off mansions where residents don\u2019t know each other.<\/p>\n

\"Residents <\/p>\n

Residents gather for the annual Marquez Knolls Block Party in Pacific Palisades on Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Christina House\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s hard to overestimate how debilitating and disorienting this has been,\u201d Atwood said. \u201cOne of the things we\u2019re doing in our neighborhood is knowing each other\u2019s contact information so we know who\u2019s gonna need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 40% of residents in this corner of Pacific Palisades are senior citizens, according to Haldis Topple, former president of the Marquez Knolls Property Assn.<\/p>\n

The 83-year-old lost her three-bedroom home in January. Topple has called Pacific Palisades her home for more than 60 years. Now, she rents an apartment in Marina del Rey while her house is under construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met my husband here. My son was born here,\u201d Topple said. \u201cI have decided to rebuild because I can\u2019t live anywhere else. Where will I go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Topple, some residents have found it difficult to rebuild their homes. She says she has contracted three architects so far, two of which took her money and \u201cdragged out the process before dropping me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atwood says some insurance companies have not paid the standing homes claims<\/a> for smoke damage needed to speed the recovery process.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are still fighting it,\u201d she said, adding that residents who suffered full loss have been paid by insurance companies, while those who suffered partial loss have received less than 10% of claim pay. \u201cThis has been a big obstacle for us coming back faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resident Michael Edlen, a Realtor in the area, said it may take up to five years \u201cfor things to settle down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many people have fled the area to avoid what\u2019s ahead: years of construction, Topple said. \u201cSome of them just don\u2019t want to deal with it and have sold.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Eleanor <\/p>\n

Eleanor Keare, a Pacific Palisades resident who lost her home in the Palisades fire, sports a \u201cPalisades Strong\u201d hat at the block party.<\/p>\n

(Christina House\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Some neighbors took the opportunity to air out their frustrations about how the fire and its aftermath were handled. Julie Valentine, a resident in the area, says she is still \u201ctraumatized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like it was a lack of leadership, a lack of planning, and a lack of understanding,\u201d Valentine said. \u201cI just feel bad that we\u2019re having to meet under these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valentine\u2019s brother suffered back burns after trying to save his home in the Pacific Palisades Highlands area. He saved their mother\u2019s home, \u201cwith a garden hose and his finger as a nozzle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The shared trauma and struggle brought many residents together, but as more people leave the community, the battle bonding fades.<\/p>\n

Sam Lagana, a broadcast announcer for the Los Angeles Rams, kicked off the party with a speech.<\/p>\n

\"Eleanor <\/p>\n

Eleanor Keare, left, a Pacific Palisades resident who lost her home in the Palisades fire, greets Gordon and Shirley Wong, right, the owners of Knolls Pharmacy, which also burned down in the fire.<\/p>\n

(Christina House\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be positive because quite frankly, it isn\u2019t easy,\u201d Lagana said. \u201cNo matter what your situation is \u2014 whether you were completely burned out, partially burned, had smoke damage or your mental game has been challenged. We are all in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the speakers were representatives from the American Cross and American Legion, fire personnel from the Los Angeles Fire City Department Station 23 and a liaison from the Los Angeles Police Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a closely knit community,\u201d Topple said. \u201cWe would like to keep it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the block party on Duende Lane, Elissa Atwood was delighted Saturday morning to greet neighbors she hadn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":430853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[7910,81893,1582,276,718,200200,200198,316,200201,2961,11894,224,2444,5337,110436,3042,20038,200199,37370,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-430852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-area","9":"tag-block-party","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-community","13":"tag-elissa-atwood","14":"tag-haldis-topple","15":"tag-home","16":"tag-julie-valentine","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-lack","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-times","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-many-resident","23":"tag-neighbor","24":"tag-neighborhood","25":"tag-pacific-palisades-resident","26":"tag-speaker","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115678049486886448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}