Up on Amalfi Drive within the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, luxurious properties owned by celebrities are nonetheless standing. However down on the Pacific Palisades Bowl Cellular Estates, a cellular dwelling neighborhood on Pacific Coast Freeway simply throughout from the seashore, all the almost 200 properties are destroyed.
“Nothing however ruins,” mentioned Maria Nol, who lived in a cellular dwelling there together with her daughter, her son-in-law and her three grandchildren.
Ms. Nol was considered one of many individuals who labored and struggled their option to a middle-class life however has now been digging by way of rubble for something that remained.
“The media is promoting and publicizing all of the celebrities that misplaced their properties, however the individuals who reside right here inherited properties from their dad and mom who purchased within the ’70s,” Ms. Nol’s daughter, Lynda Park, 43, mentioned on Friday.
Ms. Park had labored on the Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church. That additionally burned to the bottom this week. So did the house of the household her mom labored for as a cleaner.
Ms. Nol owned the home within the 16000 block of Pacific Coast Freeway however didn’t have an insurance coverage coverage on it. Getting one had grow to be too costly, she mentioned, given the excessive likelihood of a pure catastrophe on this scenic however fire- and landslide-prone space.
“The one issues we have now left are the garments we have now on,” Ms. Park mentioned.
She wore a blue down vest on high of a white T-shirt and Hole denims. Her mom had on a crimson zip-up sweatshirt and black sweatpants. Ms. Nol estimated her personal garments price round $50.
A couple of ft away was their neighbor, Bonnie Kanner, 63.
That morning, Ms. Kanner had been so frazzled that she put her high on inside out. Now, she was utilizing her iPhone to {photograph} the particles round her dwelling, as required by her owners insurance coverage coverage. The coverage gives for $400,000 in protection, she mentioned — $250,000 for the property itself, and $150,000 for her private results.
She must submit a list of her possessions to gather the total quantity, however all her data burned within the fireplace.
Left of her was a hollowed-out washer and dryer. To her proper was a round object about three ft in diameter with charred springs.
“My trampoline,” she mentioned.
Ms. Kanner used a metallic detector to search for her sterling silver cutlery. After it began beeping, she extracted one thing metallic that resembled Play-Doh from the rubble. Her forks, knives and spoons had melted collectively.
She left the ruins of her dwelling with the melted clump of silver. She mentioned she would possibly have the ability to resell it, most likely for just a few hundred {dollars}.
