The Brief

Altadena is one of those rare places in Los Angeles County where people of many backgrounds and ethnicities have been able to afford the American Dream of homeownership.

Situated near the base of the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of downtown L.A., Altadena was known for its mixture of single-family homes, restaurants and businesses.

It’s been a sanctuary for Black residents in particular: according to census data, about 75% of African Americans living there own their homes — close to double the national rate.

So when the Eaton Fire ignited last week and tore through Altadena and parts of neighboring Pasadena, the loss was felt deeply in the community and beyond — both by those who are familiar with its history and by those just learning of it.

A brief history of Altadena

Until the 1960s, Altadena was almost an entirely white community largely because of redlining, the practice of discriminating against people in certain areas by denying them access to financial support, like mortgages. People of color and and other underrepresented communities, weren’t able to buy homes in Pasadena or parts of Altadena because of this practice.

Major societal change came during the Civil Rights Era. Racist property-use laws became unenforceable and later legal actions banned housing discrimination outright, helping end de facto practices that locked Black families out.

This contributed to a "white flight" from the area as one of L.A. County’s first middle-class communities to include Black people emerged: The Meadows neighborhood. The area is on the western edge of Altadena and was originally co-owned by abolitionist Owen Brown.

Many Black residents in Altadena were displaced when the 210 Freeway was built in the ‘60s, but local organizations continued to encourage people of color to move in. Between 1950 and 1960, the Black population rose from less than 1% to 4%.

Octavia Butler, a celebrated science fiction writer, and Sidney Poitier, the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, were once residents.

The community today is 58% people of color, more than 18% of whom are Black, according to Census data.

A firefighter extinguishes the remains of a hardware store destroyed in the Eaton fire in Altadena, California, on January 8, 2025.

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Major losses in a historic Black neighborhood 

The Eaton Fire, named for the canyon where it first sparked, started the evening of Jan. 7 and by Jan. 13 had burned more than 14,000 acres in Altadena and parts of northeast Pasadena, reduced hundreds of homes to ash, and killed at least 16 people.

It is one of the deadliest fires in California history. The cause of the blaze is still unknown.

Of the confirmed and identified victims of the fire so far, many are older, Black homeowners who were rocks of their communities — people who held the community’s history in their lived experience and offered support and advice to younger generations.

The loss is immeasurable.

A screenshot of an old photo of Large's grandmother Maxine Morgan outside their family home in Altadena.

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By Friday, the flames had mostly died down in Altadena and the winds had calmed. Firefighters went block by block, mopping up smoldering hot spots in the rubble of homes reduced to charred foundations.

Porsha Large spoke to LAist last week while standing at the corner Woodbury Road and Navarro Avenue, waiting to get to her grandmother’s home nearby. She knew that the house, which she said her grandmother bought in the 1960s for under $10,000, was a total loss.

The seven family members who lived there made it out safely.

Her grandmother, Maxine Morgan, was part of a wave of Black families who moved to Altadena during the Great Migration that started in the 1910s as they fled racial discrimination in the southern U.S. She died six years ago.

“She was a single mother from Oklahoma, four kids. And, she was the first Black grocery clerk in Sierra Madre,” Large said, tears in her eyes.

Over decades, the house, which once had paper walls, Large said, became a focal point for her family and the area.

“I'd say about five generations were raised in that house,” she said, her voice breaking. “It's always been a home — I mean, to the community, like, not just our family. My grandma opened her doors to anyone that ever needed anywhere to stay….

“The community knows my grandma's house.”

And now it’s gone.

The former home of Maxine Morgan and Porsha Large's family before it burned in the Eaton fire.

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Porsha's brother, Justin Cook, stands on the rubble of their grandmother's house in Altadena.

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The family members found shelter in an Ontario hotel room at first, then later in a two-bedroom apartment they own in Pasadena, Large said. But that’s a temporary solution, and one that keeps them removed from the community they loved and that may never again be the same.

“That's what Altadena was, a bunch of grandmothers and grandfathers that raised us all,” said Whitney Large, Porsha Large's sister. “We didn't go to parks and play. If you were raised right here, you came to my grandma's yard, six kids at a time.

“We played football and basketball and we raced up and down the streets."

'Angry' winds 

A few blocks away, Tamara Carroll and her nephew, Akeem Mair, stood outside Carroll's one-story house. It survived the blaze. Many other houses on the same street did not.

“My neighbors three doors down... there's like six houses that were burned to the ground,” Carroll said, shaking her head.

Carroll said her parents bought the home in 1966. When the fire approached the house early Wednesday, she didn’t evacuate.

Akeem Mair, left, and his aunt Tamara Carroll outside Carroll's home. Both of their family homes survived, but they worry how Altadena will change in the rebuild.

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She said she just didn’t expect it to get so bad.

“Growing up here with the Santa Ana winds, we used to come out in the street and play,” Carroll recalled. “Me and my brothers, it’d be pitch black and we would try to see who could stand the longest without moving in the winds. But these winds were different. They were more angry.”

The winds that drove these fires deep into the flatlands were the strongest Santa Ana winds since at least 2011. Combined with an abnormally dry start to the winter, it was a recipe for disaster.

“We've never had any type of fire like this — they've always been in the mountains,” Carroll said. “We've seen fires, but nothing like this.”

William Jackson of Altadena stands at the driveway of the home where he found his neighbor Tuesday deceased in the rubble of his home on Monterosa Drive at on January 9, 2025 in Altadena, California. "I keep calling his name, Victor, Victor. He died with the water hose still in his hands." Jackson said.

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Carlos Martinez, who lives a street over from Carroll, said despite the orders to evacuate he stayed as flames burned around his home. Ultimately, his home survived.

“I got 30 years living here, I worked for this house,” Martinez said as he stood outside his home last week. “I wasn’t going to let it burn to the ground.”

His wife, Ana Martinez, said the house is much more than just property.

“This is where my two kids were born and my third was almost 5 when we moved here,” she said. “This is our home. So it means everything. Everything.”

Juan Carlos Martinez and his son Manolo try to put out a fire that burned down their neighbor's home in Altadena. They decided to stay overnight to protect their home, which is safe for now.

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A promise to retain Altadena’s roots and character

At a community meeting about the Eaton Fire on Sunday afternoon, residents said they worried their community will change into something they don’t recognize when and if residents can rebuild.

In recent decades, rising prices have already changed the demographics of many of these neighborhoods.

Carroll’s nephew, Akeem Mair, who lives in the Meadows neighborhood with his 94-year-old grandmother, said he worries the fire will only accelerate that, deepening inequality.

“ We already had people start moving out of here because of the prices,” Mair said. “But now the fire…so it's just…I don't know. I don't know.”

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Altadena, promised the community she wouldn’t let that happen, saying, among other things, that she would promote policy to prevent developers from replacing single-family homes with luxury condos.

“This is not a transient community, so I’m going to be looking at what we can do to protect those that are going to be priced out,” Barger said. "I’m going to speak with the governor to…suspend legislation that’s made it easy for developers to build dense condominiums…so that we can maintain Altadena the way it belongs.”

Altadena residents pour water onto neighboring properties.

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At least 100 people were at the meeting at Pasadena City College.

“We’re not gonna let what happened in Lahaina happen in Altadena,” Barger promised, referring to the situation after the 2023 fires in Hawaii, which became the deadliest in modern U.S. history.

Displaced people from that largely working and middle-class enclave have been fighting what’s been called “climate gentrification” since then.

Even for those who didn’t lose their homes, there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether they’ll stay.

 "My intention was to continue leaving this home to the next generation,” Carroll said. “But I honestly have to say, this has changed my thought process. Although the house didn't burn down, it's going to be a lot to repair it. It's gonna be very, very difficult for people to become whole again.”

Hundreds of people from across Greater L.A. journeyed to the Mojave Desert this weekend to protest living conditions at the Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center, where an estimated 2,000 people are being held.

Current and former detainees say immigrants there face rotten food, denial of medication and solitary confinement.

The Trump administration, which has denied those charges, has promised to expand the network of immigrant prisons like Adelanto across the U.S., even as the number of people who’ve died in ICE custody grows.

The organizers stage a concert outside the detention center on Saturday to serenade the detainees, while also speaking to how the administration’s policies have harmed their communities.

Sandra Garcia was among dozens of people who boarded three buses outside the Pasadena Community Job Center. She decided to make the trek out of a sense of responsibility, she told LAist. Last summer, immigration agents raided her family’s tamale stand, pinned four of their regular customers to the ground and arrested them. She said it’s something her family can’t forget. Two of Garcia’s cousins have also been detained. One of them, she said, has already been deported.

Since then, Garcia has joined a rapid response network to help alert her neighbors to the presence of federal agents.

“ As a U.S citizen, I'm gonna continue pushing,” she added.

Sandra Garcia said two of her cousins were detained by ICE, as were four customers at her family's business in Pasadena.

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Heavenly Hughes, a longtime Altadena resident, said she joined the caravan “to show that Black and brown unity is important.”

Her parents, she said, bought their home in the early 1970s, and the community she grew up in was the product of redlining.

“Hardworking Black people built this community,” she said of Altadena. When the Eaton Fire broke out, “my friends, my peers, those who helped raise me — they lost everything in the fire.”

The day laborers at the job center have been integral to rebuilding the region, Hughes said. She was going to Adelanto to protest against the detention of these workers and to express her solidarity with them and their families.

“I love when I hear our community saying joy is resistance,” she said. “ We want the people there who are detained to hear our voices.  That they are humans. That they deserve to be treated right.”

Songs of resistance  

As desert winds blew, the activists made their way from the caravans to a mobile stage truck.

“It's heavy to be here,” said Elisa Schwartz, a resident of Valley Village who carried a sign that read: “We’ve seen this shit before.”

“As a Jew, I was raised to know that once you are othered, you are in serious danger,” she added.

To get to Adelanto from her home, Schwartz traveled nearly 100 miles. As she marched along the dusty highway with other protesters, she wished she could go out there every day.

“I hope [this] will mean something to them,” she said.

Demonstrators gathered at the front of Adelanto ICE Processing Center, in San Bernardino County. The privately run detention center has faced accusations of neglect and inhumane conditions, including in a recent lawsuit.

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Up on the stage, the musicians played folk songs about working class solidarity and resistance to repressive governments, like Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and a rendition of Alí Primera’s “Techos de cartón.”

Some protesters created an altar near the stage in honor of those who recently died in immigrant prisons, or at the hands of federal agents. For a while, the mood was somber, and the activists weren’t sure that the detainees could hear the music. The unyielding gusts of wind didn’t help.

A few feet away, brothers Abe and Ben (who asked LAist not to share their last name out of fear of reprisal) distributed groceries from the back of their truck. When a parent or partner is detained, Abe noted, it can wreak economic havoc on a household. They wanted to do their part to help ease their burden.

They would know. In late February, Abe had been detained at Adelanto. And Ben had flown to visit him in Adelanto from the Bay Area.

“It was really hard to see, you know, my older brother, who I grew up with, in these conditions,” Ben said.

Abe, left, said he spent nearly a month in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. He came to the demonstration with his brother Ben, right, to show support for people who are still inside.

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Abe was detained for three weeks after being arrested at an annual check-in. When asked about what it was like inside, he said he always ate canned food — “nothing was fresh” — and that getting medical attention could take up to a week. He most looked forward to the one hour per day he was allowed to be outside.

“You're behind the fence, inside the cages, but at least you're in the sun,” he said.

While he was detained, Ben’s friends suggested that he launch a GoFundMe page to help the family cover his brother's attorney’s fees. More than 200 people contributed. That level of support “was hope giving,” Ben said. Now that Abe is free, he, his brother and Abe’s wife decided to go to the protest and pay it forward.

Singers performed from a truck outfitted with huge speakers.

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Demonstrators gathered around a delivery truck that served as a stage for performers and speakers.

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Getting in contact with people inside

Jax Santana, whose father, Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez, was detained last November, told the crowd that her father was a day laborer in Pomona; that he was the one who taught her to drive and cheered for her at her graduation; that she and her four siblings wanted him home.

As the sun began to set, the crowd moved the mobile stage across the street, closer to the detention center.

The musicians played more upbeat music including cumbia and quebradita.

Jax Santana came to the demonstration to speak out for her father, Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez. He was detained in November and is being held at Adelanto ICE Processing Center.

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Demonstrators marched around the Adelanto ICE Processing Center on Saturday to demand the release of people detained at the facility. Their goal was to make enough noise that people inside the detention center could hear them.

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Santana took the mic for a second time. Using a government-approved messaging system, they were able to make contact with their father.

“He can hear us!” Santana told a cheering crowd. “They all can hear us!”

Then, Santana led the crowd in chanting: “No estan solos! You’re not alone!"

As the chanting died down, Santana shared one more message from their father: “You better be dancing,” he said.

A federal judge Monday dealt a major blow to the Trump administration's efforts to overhaul the nation's vaccine policies, including the controversial decision to slash the number of federally recommended vaccinations for children.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy in Boston put a hold on the decisions made by an influential Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee, ruling that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had improperly replaced the entire committee.

The decision was hailed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other leading health groups that brought the lawsuit, as well as infectious disease experts around the country.

"Today's ruling is a historic and welcome outcome for children, communities, and pediatricians everywhere," said Dr. Andrew Racine, the pediatric academy's president.

The administration plans to appeal the decision, according to Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon. "HHS looks forward to this judge's decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing," Nixon wrote in an email to NPR.

Nixon, confirmed, however that the ruling had forced the CDC vaccine committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, to postpone a meeting that was planned for Wednesday and Thursday. The committee was expected to raise new questions about the COVID-19 vaccines and possibly revamp how federal vaccine policies are formulated.

The judge ruled that Kennedy and his committee had made arbitrary and capricious decisions, ignoring a long-used, well-regarded scientific process for developing vaccine policies. He wrote in his ruling, "the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions."

The ACIP, whose members Kennedy fired and replaced largely with new members who also criticized vaccines, had issued a series of contentious recommendations, including a recommendation that all babies get vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth. The judge's ruling stays the appointment of 13 committee members appointed by Kennedy since June 2025, when the previous members were fired.

Administration lawyers had argued that the changes were the result of different interpretations of vaccine data.

"This is a significant victory for public health, evidence-based medicine, the rule of law, and the American people," Richard Hughes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told reporters after the ruling.
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Team USA finished second in the overall Paralympics medal count, after 10 days of competition in which American athletes made dazzling debuts, defended titles and cemented legacies.

One of the many made-for-TV moments came just hours before the closing ceremony on Sunday, when the U.S. sled hockey team defeated rival Canada to claim its record fifth gold medal in a row.

"You don't ever start out and try to be the only five-time gold medalist in the sport," said captain Josh Pauls after personally achieving that very feat. "But to be with these guys, to lead them and kind of pass on that tradition, it's the ultimate honor."

The day — and the Games — ended with the closing ceremony in Cortina d'Ampezzo, featuring performances, speeches and the extinguishing of the Paralympic flame. American skiers Kendall Gretsch and Andrew Kurka, who are both leaving Italy with new medals, carried the flag for Team USA.

"I've been involved in four Games and have only been able to go to two closing ceremonies: in PyeongChang, where I won my gold and silver, and this year, where I won my bronze," said Kurka, who medaled in men's super-G. "It's been a career filled with ups and downs, but even the small victories count for me."

Andrew Kurka and Kendall Gretsch carry the U.S. flag during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games closing ceremony in Cortina on Sunday.

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At the ceremony, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons declared the Games — the 50th anniversary of the Winter Paralympics — officially over, and a success: "The biggest and most beautiful Winter Paralympics with more athletes, more nations, more women and more global broadcast and digital coverage than ever before."

A record 611 athletes from 55 countries competed in 79 medal events across six sports.

China topped the medal count for the second Winter Games in a row, with 44 total medals (15 gold), followed by the U.S. with 24 total medals, including 13 gold. The U.S. improved on its fifth-place standing from 2022. This is the same number of gold medals it won in 2018, in what officials are calling its "strongest gold-medal showing in the last 20 years."

A total of 28 American Paralympians and two guides reached the podium this year. Six of them won medals for the first time, and six of them earned multiple medals, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).

In third place — both overall and in gold medals — was Russia, which was allowed to participate under its own flag for the first time since 2014 despite its ongoing war in Ukraine. Ukrainian athletes boycotted both the opening and closing ceremonies in protest.

But even in a moment of intense geopolitical upheaval, amid conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, the IPC's Parsons said the Paralympics offered "proof that sport can unite us through respect, fairness and human achievement."

"Paralympians, you rose above pressure, expectation and global tension to keep the focus where it belongs: on you and your sport," he said. "You expanded the imagination of the world. You have shown that excellence is universal and that determination knows no boundaries."

Parsons passed the proverbial torch to the next Winter Paralympics host: the French Alps for 2030. Those will follow the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles.

Team USA highlights

Team USA's Declan Farmer, center, fights for the puck during the gold-medal match against Canada.

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On the ice: 

The U.S. sled hockey team got off to a strong start in an early-round match against Italy, when it beat the host nation 14-1 — the largest margin of victory in the sport's U.S. history.

It stayed dominant, outscoring opponents 46-6 throughout the tournament before becoming the first Paralympic or Olympic team to win five consecutive winter gold medals.

"You are going to enjoy something like this, for sure," Coach David Hoff said afterward. "But I don't know if it's just the wins. It's so much more than that. They just love playing together."

Team USA beat Canada 6-2 on Sunday, thanks to a hat trick from Jack Wallace — who was named "best defender" of the tournament — and goals by Kayden Beasley, Brody Roybal and four-time Paralympian Declan Farmer.

Farmer, the top scorer and official MVP of these Games, scored 15 goals and 26 points throughout the tournament to become the all-time leading scorer in Paralympic sled hockey history at just 28 years old. But he was quick to share the credit with his teammates.

"A lot of the guys stepped up and had their best games of the tournament, and we just carried each other," said Farmer. "I'm just so happy for the guys, we earned it together."

You're forgiven if you have deja vu from last month: This win makes the U.S. the first country to sweep all three Olympic and Paralympic hockey tournaments in one year.

Team USA also made history in wheelchair curling, with Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer finishing fourth in the brand-new mixed doubles event. That's the United States' best-ever Paralympic finish in the sport.

"In the two years we've been together, we've shown the world what we're capable of doing and we're going to go home, take some time off, relax, re-group and come back even better next year," said Emt, the most decorated Paralympic curler in U.S. history.

In Para Nordic Skiing (cross country and biathlon):

Oksana Masters competes in the para cross-country skiing 20km in Tesero, Italy, on Sunday.

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Eight-time, dual-season Paralympian Oksana Masters, the most decorated Winter Paralympian in U.S. history, is leaving Italy with four new gold medals and a bronze in biathlon and cross-country skiing events, bringing her career total to 24 medals.

That's despite a concussion, infection and injury that almost kept her from competing in the first place.

"I think that is what makes it so special, because nothing is guaranteed," Masters told NPR on Saturday. "A win's not guaranteed, and the podium's not guaranteed, and so that's been a really great motivator for this whole … year so far."

Four-time Paralympian Jake Adicoff, with guides Reid Goble and Peter Wolter, won four gold medals in four visually impaired skiing events to set a new record for the most Para cross-country golds won by a Team USA athlete in a single Games.

Joshua Sweeney, Oksana Masters, Sydney Peterson, Jake Adicoff and his guide Reid Goble of Team USA participate in the medal ceremony after the para cross-country skiing mixed 4x2.5km relay.

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"It's incredibly scary to put a high goal out to the public," the 30-year-old said. "I was doubting it so much this week, I didn't know what was going to happen, but the races came together and I'm just overjoyed."

One of those was the mixed 4x2.5km relay, where the all-star team of Adicoff, Masters, Josh Sweeney and Sydney Peterson came from behind in the final leg to defend the U.S. title.

Peterson, competing in her second Paralympics, won four medals — three of them gold — this time around.

And Kendall Gretsch, closing ceremony flag-bearer, won four medals at her third Winter Paralympics (and fifth total): one gold, one silver and two bronze. That brings her total medal count to 11 across Summer and Winter Games.

In Alpine skiing:

Andrew Kurka competes in the super-G leg of the para Alpine skiing men's combined.

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Andrew Kurka won bronze in the men's super-G sitting, adding to his silver and gold from 2018.

"I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to have a great career. Gold, silver, and bronze, happy to be done," said Kurka, who wrote on Instagram after the closing ceremony that he is stepping back from ski racing to deal with injuries.

In 2022, he competed with a broken nose, thumb and humerus bone, finishing fourth in the sitting downhill event before withdrawing from the rest of competition. Kurka said in Italy that he's broken over 20 bones in his career.

"When it comes to it, losing is nothing compared to the pain of failure," he said after winning bronze. "And when it comes down to today, I was just happy to get across that finish line without any injuries and in a relatively quick time. Usually, if I cross the finish line, it's pretty fast."

Meanwhile, Patrick Halgren won silver in the men's super-G standing event — the first for Team USA since 1998.

Patrick Halgren celebrates after winning a silver medal in the alpine skiing men's super-G standing on Monday.

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The 33-year-old wasn't necessarily a favorite for the podium, having placed 26th and 24th at his events in the Beijing Paralympics. But Halgren said he felt the presence of his late twin brother Sven — his source of encouragement to try para Alpine skiing — who died in a motorcycle accident in 2016. Halgren himself lost most of his left leg, and nearly his life, in a motorcycle accident three years earlier.

Halgren, who wowed the internet with his winning performance and rock-star persona, dedicated his win to Sven and called it the "best day of my life until tomorrow."

"You celebrate the victories the same as the defeats," he added. "I've been blessed to have to develop my character over the last 11 years, losing my leg, and could either roll over and die, or I could become the greatest Patrick Halgren on Earth, and that's what you're seeing."

In snowboarding: 

Kate Delson, center, and Brenna Huckaby, right, of Team U.S. pose for a photo on the podium during the medal ceremony for the para snowboard banked slalom.

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Three-time Paralympian Brenna Huckaby leaves Italy as the most decorated Paralympic snowboarder in history.

She won bronze in the women's banked slalom event — which she dominated in 2022 — to bring her career total to five medals. That came days after she finished sixth in the snowboard cross event, which she still saw as a win.

"I'm here representing a very small portion of people who want to see themselves represented," Huckaby said. "They want to know that if they lose their leg above the knee, life does not end. I accomplished that here simply by being. So I'm happy."

First-time Paralympian Kate Delson medaled in both of those events, winning gold in the banked slalom and silver in snowboard cross.

"I was just stoked to be here, I think it's such a fun course," Delson said after. "I got to get a medal with my teammate, [Huckaby], one of my best friends in the world, that's unreal."

On the men's side, Noah Elliott won gold in the banked slalom, a repeat of 2018, and silver in snowboard cross to double his career medal count.

Mike Schultz brought home a bronze medal in his final Paralympics, for which he outfitted many athletes with their prosthetics.

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And Mike Schultz earned his fourth career medal — bronze in banked slalom — at the last race of his third and final Paralympics.

"To finish my last run and bring home a bronze medal, that's storybook stuff there," Schultz said in an emotional Instagram video after watching a compilation of congratulatory messages from his U.S. snowboarding teammates, whom he called his family.

All the while, the 44-year-old outfitted many para athletes — including some who beat him — with high-performance prosthetics, a business he has run for over a decade, which he plans to pursue in retirement.
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