Two women console each other as the survey the desolation left by the Eaton Fire. Most people who lost their homes in the wildfire that raged for three weeks hope to rebuild their homes.
Photo by Mayra Beltran/Los Angeles County
By Janice Hayes Kyser
Contributing Writer
ALTADENA — Diane Lewis, CEO of Alkebulan (the ancient name of Africa) Cultural Center in Pasadena, is committed to helping young people who lost their homes and schools in the Eaton Fire in Altadena stay strong while coping with her own loss. Lewis’ home of more than 30 years also burned to the ground in the firestorm that devastated Altadena’s historically Black community.
“We are the adults,” said the retired LAUSD teacher and community activist whose center provides karate lessons, African drumming and dance, tutoring and more. “We have to be there for the children. They are looking to us for stability and reassurance.” Still, Lewis admits it hasn’t been easy.
“For the first month after the fire I was just lost,” said Lewis, who grew up in Santa Monica and moved to Altadena with her young children after losing her husband to be closer to family. “This was the home I taught summer school and took tutoring assignments to pay off so I could leave it to my children,” she says, the pain evident in her voice.
“I never thought it would be gone,” Lewis continued. “But when I returned, all that was left were the chimneys from my fireplaces; everything else was rubble. People say that they are only things, but they were my things and they mattered to me.”
Those things included a lifetime of memories such as her daughter’s dance recital pictures, her son’s golf certificates and trophies, the ashes of her late husband and parents, and the cherished award she received for being community activist of the year from U.S. Rep. Judy Chu.
Like many of the African Americans who called this section of Altadena west of Lake Avenue home, Lewis’s brick home on Loma Alta Street was a point of pride; a symbol of the American dream and generational wealth. Lewis said everyone on the street knew each other, their kids grew up together and as they got older, they looked out for one another.
It’s that bond Lewis says she is determined to restore. She knows rebuilding could be a long, costly and often complicated process, but she’s determined to build back better.
“Altadena is not for sale,” she said defiantly. “The most important thing is that we stay strong and help each other and pull together because we are all experiencing a great loss. We didn’t come this far to let it all go.”
Lewis is committed to working with community leaders, the government, insurance companies, contractors and others to rebuild the historic culture and character of Altadena, which made it an affordable and welcoming enclave for generations of Black families like hers.
Jeron Jordan, 39, who grew up in Altadena and cherishes fond memories of the close-knit community where he and his siblings swam in the backyard pool and rode their bikes, worries about the community’s future. His father, Larry Jordan, 80, lost their ranch style family home on North Visscher Place in the fire.
“The loss of my dad’s home and the homes of so many others is a major blow to generational wealth in the Black community,” said Jordan, who lives in Tennessee and is trying to assist his father with the labyrinth of forms needed to navigate the rebuilding process. “Without equity and action Altadena’s Black working class could disappear and that would make this disaster even more tragic,” said Jordan. “I really hope that community leaders do the right thing and protect and support the people. There is a lot at stake here.”
Janice Hayes Kyser is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers.
