On January 8, 2025, I was already glued to the local news, listening to updates about the Palisades Fire (about 8 miles west of me) and the Eaton Fire (about 20 miles east of me).
And then around 6 p.m. came some terrifying news: After a full day of new fires popping up seemingly everywhere, there was yet another blaze, just 3.5 miles northeast of where I live.
I looked out the second-story window at the front of our building, and I could see the flames. The Hollywood Hills were on fire.
And then I got a screaming alert on my phone that I was in an evacuation warning zone.
This was new for me, after living in "the flats" for nearly 14 years. I always thought if we were in danger of anything, it was of a tall skinny palm tree toppling over onto my car parked on the street.
But by then both the Palisades and Eaton fires had destroyed more of their respective city areas—nearly the entirety of Pacific Palisades and Altadena—than anyone ever thought could happen.
As it turns out, the warning on my phone was a false alarm for me—but I was, in fact, less than a mile down the hill from the real evacuation warning zone.
I took a shower (which I hadn't done in days) and washed my hair (which I hadn't done in over a week). I packed a suitcase to take along with my already-packed "go bag."
And then I got back into bed and let my cat fall back to sleep on me. I watched the news. And I waited for the official word to "go."
There were so many fire crews in the area at that point, and there were so many first responders already on high alert, that the Sunset Fire—which erupted on the western ridge of Runyon Canyon—spread neither to the residential areas of Nichols Canyon or Laurel Canyon, nor the historic commercial district of Hollywood Boulevard.
But there were a few places that were in the crosshairs—and we might've lost, had the winds been stronger that night.
Today I went to assess the damage and get some proof of life of what was saved. I could see the charred hillside from a little father south on Fuller Avenue (above).
The Vista entrance to Runyon Canyon Park looked fine, although I couldn't get close enough to it to photograph. The Fuller entrance looked untouched as well—although spookily void of any people or pups, who normally clog the entryway.
The park is closed until further notice because of the fire.
A peek through the fence shows the burn scar, which looks like an area that at least one trail used to go through. And although the fire is "out," sometimes fires flare back up days or even weeks later.
Part of the problem with all these fires we've been having is the wet winters we had in 2022 and 2023, which grew a lot of vegetation (as seen above in February 2024). But so far we've had almost zero precipitation this winter, making that growth dry out and become fuel for fires.
When the Sunset Fire began moving west last week, Wattles Mansion (pictured above, January 2025) was directly in its path.
It looks fine from both the Franklin Avenue and Curson Avenue entrances, although the park is still closed. Some workers on site said that the only thing that burned was the eastern part of the grounds that abuts Runyon—and that the city plans to reopen the park on Monday, January 20.
If the fire had traveled east into Outpost Estates, it might've reached the back of the Hollywood Bowl (pictured above in 2020)...
...or Yamashiro, that "Mountain Palace" restaurant I love so much...
...or The Magic Castle (pictured above in 2023), but thank God it didn't.
Today I had lunch at The Magic Castle and celebrated the fact that it's still standing, 113 years after the original house was built, and more than 60 years after becoming the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts.
And I've ever grateful that my kittyboy and I didn't need to evacuate, and we still have the only home we've known in LA.
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