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New community center at Oakridge Mobile Home Park replaces one destroyed by Sayre Fire
Photo of the new Oakridge Community Center which opened on July 23, 2010 courtesy of the City of Sylmar
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New community center at Oakridge Mobile Home Park replaces one destroyed by Sayre Fire
New community center at Oakridge Mobile Home Park replaces one destroyed by Sayre Fire
Los Angeles city and county officials, and people who live at the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar opened a new community center today.
The community center replaces an old center the Sayre Fire burned down almost two years ago. The fire destroyed 488 of the 600 homes at Oakridge, and a 15,000 square foot community center.
The new center arose in the same place, in the middle of what many people called the Beverly Hills of mobile home parks.
"We’ve got a media room, with a dual fireplace, a billiard room, a library, a card room. A fully equipped kitchen," said property manager Jenny Harmon, who has lived at Oakridge for 31 years.
On this occasion, she and her neighbors thanked government agencies for responding quickly to the fire.
Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon said these homeowners were easy to work with.
"They’re very humble. I call them sort of Tom Brokaw’s greatest generation type people," said Alarcon. "They respect the process. They respect the disaster."
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On the wall in the lobby of the new center hangs a framed American flag with holes burned through it. Firefighters found the flag in the ashes of the Sayre fire.
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