Fire Storm

After the Heat, Here Comes the Burn

A little after 6 PM last Tuesday, January 7th, I sat outside the charming brick facade of Altadena Hardware on Mariposa Street waiting to pick up my teenage son, who worked after school as a stock clerk. Every day I would get there a little early and watch Steve of Steve’s Bike’s lock up his store and head home. I would admire the fantastical storefront of Wellema Hats, which was like something that belonged on Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland. And everyone in town went to Altadena Hardware.

My son jumped in the car and told me the store had been crowded all day with people buying flashlights and other emergency supplies, since we’d all seen the situation in the Palisades that afternoon and we knew the winds were coming to our neighborhood.

But the idea that this entire street, all the stores, and home after home, block after block…