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Palisades Fire survivors are finding friends and community in new places
Palisades Fire survivors are sharing their stories and photos of what it means to find community.
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David Rodriguez
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LAist
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What does it mean to rebuild your life, friendships and community after a disaster?
For Palisades Fire survivors, it means everything.
Many people had to leave their neighborhoods, where 6,837 structures were destroyed, while they work to rebuild their homes.
They’ve also had to work at forging new friendships and connections.
Friends in unexpected places
Workers gather near the foundation where the Zetlin home stood after it was destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
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Barry Zetlin
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Who is considered a friend?
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For Barry Zetlin, it’s not only the people he’s known his whole life or who were his neighbors. It’s also the people who have helped him and his wife, Andrea Zetlin, after the Palisades Fire.
“They are my architects, my contractor,” he said. “Maybe I spent an hour with them a week, a couple of hours a month. Yet, when I'm with them, they feel like friends because we're working together and we feel for each other.”
The Zetlins had been living in Playa Vista as they rebuilt their home in the Palisades. By the end of October, Zetlin and his wife are one step closer to moving in. Their new home is surrounded by empty lots and homes under construction. They will be the first house on their block to be completed.
The Zetlin home before the Palisades Fire.
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Courtesy of Barry and Andrea Zetlin
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Barry Zetlin is excited to return to the Palisades in a newly rebuilt home.
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David Rodriguez
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LAist
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The avid readers and book collectors are excited to return to the area and move into their new home with custom bookshelves.
Zetlin shared with LAist a short story he wrote in a writing group with other fire survivors about what new friends meant to him as they were rebuilding their home.
Zetlin’s short story: “New Friendships”
There have been so many new friendships, mainly short lived friend acquaintances who have filled my life. The people who volunteered to sift my house, friends for a few hours, helping strangers from just the goodness of their hearts. My architects, friends on and off for an hour at a time, to talk to and plan a rebuild and tell stories to. My neighbors down the street that we knew casually, now we talk several times a week with advice and questions. The people who helped get us assistance of one kind or another — maybe not friends, but new people who went out of their way to help us rebuild our world. A new friend from a trip we took, always available to talk or meet up and bring fun and distraction from the realities of our new life. These are my new friends — much appreciated in our dissociated world.
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Share your story
With the second anniversary of the L.A. fires approaching, we still want to hear from survivors because we know everyone who was affected has a story to tell. So: What does it look and feel like rebuilding your life after the disaster?
Some of you have shared how you felt a deep connection with gardens or trees that survived on your lots. We’ve heard from current and former renters who want to return home.
Share your story and photos using the form below, and we may include them in an upcoming article. (We won’t publish anything you share without your permission.)
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L.A. residents from both communities shared their memories from before the Eaton and Palisades fires. LAist created hand-drawn illustrations to bring those memories to life. -
LAist asked what rebuilding your life means after a disaster. Fire survivors shared. -
As the two-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire approaches, survivors whose homes didn't burn down but had smoke damage shared their stories and photos with LAist.
Building a community
Kathy Katims and her family lived in the Pacific Palisades for about three decades, most recently in a blufftop house they bought in 2023.
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After the fire destroyed the house and displaced the Katimses and their neighbors, the community's dispersal was the hardest thing for Kathy Katims. Longtime friends moved to other parts of Southern California or out of state. The Katimses have moved a couple of times too.
Today they’re living in Venice while the home on the bluff is rebuilt.
They’re also rebuilding community.
“A lot of our community is not here,” said Katims, who invited neighbors over for a game night. “We wanted to really reach out and try to make some community.”
Kathy Katims, bottom left, joined a group of neighbors in Venice to play Paddle Tennis.
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Kathy Katims
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She also found a community playing paddle tennis. That experience was a relief from the rebuilding process, which many survivors say feels like a second job.
“I was focused on the ball and movement, and I let go of a lot of things like worrying,” she said.
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Katims also runs writing groups through Saved By a Story, including groups specifically for fire survivors, where Barry Zetlin is also a participant.
She has a word of advice for fire survivors that has brought her joy.
“Be bold,” she said.
Looking for community?
Youth services librarian Tommy Vinh Bui at the Lloyd Taber-Marina del Rey Library saw families affected by last year’s fires look to the library for resources and community. The branch still offers soil testing, disaster preparedness information and story times for kids.
The Palisades Library also has a temporary branch in its parking lot Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.
A collaboration led by L.A. County Library is focused on documenting the lived experiences, cultural heritage and collective memory of communities affected by the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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