'Happy place' reduced to rubble: Pacific Palisades residents confront utter destruction

LOS ANGELES — The weather on the morning of Jan. 7 felt different to Neal Flesner. He had lived in Los Angeles for some 25 years and had never before experienced such intense, dust-filled winds.

By the time Flesner left the gym in Venice Beach around 11 a.m. local time, he could already see smoke and flames filling the hills near his Pacific Palisades, California, home.

His wife, Carmen, whose family had lived in Los Angeles for generations, was already beginning to prepare for an evacuation. The couple had lived in the Mandeville Canyon area near the Palisades for years and had experienced at least a half-dozen wildfire evacuations, Flesner admitted.

But in the Alphabet Streets area of the Palisades where they lived, Flesner said there was always a feeling that they were far enough away from rural areas with the dry brush. That they were safe from the fires.

“It was life. The probability of fire was always high,” Flesner said.

'We put all our effort and building that home'

When Flesner returned to his home, roughly 24 hours after fleeing, he learned that wasn’t the case. As the Palisades fire raged, gobbling up huge swaths of land, Flesner, 48, decided to hike four and a half miles back into the area from Santa Monica with a man he had just met on the street.

He said he was propelled by a "burning desire" to see firsthand the damage the blaze had wrought to his and Carmen’s "happy place."

"That was where we lived. That's where we wanted to live for the rest of our lives. That's where we put all our effort and building that home," Flesner said. "And I need to see that firsthand."

Flesner found the entire Alphabet Streets neighborhood reduced to rubble. The only structure still standing, almost untouched, was his garage.

Inside was all that was left of his and his wife’s life. A few bottles of wine, some family photos, and a prized fountainhead that had belonged to his wife’s father, who passed away more than a decade ago.

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'It's helpful to have some support'

Palisades and Malibu, California, residents waited at intersections along the Pacific Coast Highway, such as Temescal Canyon and Channel Road, on Saturday for the opportunity to receive a police escort into the Palisades Fire burn zone.

Joel Kleinman, 51, waited 15 minutes for a ride to his family home in the Alphabet Streets neighborhood. He was overcome with emotion when he saw his house destroyed by the fire.

His police escort, an officer with the Los Angeles Port, offered a sympathetic arm. Kleinman couldn’t salvage much from his home but did find that his vehicle, which had melted headlights, was still drivable.

"It’s obviously still fairly chaotic, dangerous environment, so it’s helpful to have some support," Kleinman said. "Even emotionally supportive."

Others have already begun talking about rebuilding.

"It was like small town USA, like Main Street USA in Big City, Los Angeles," Flesner said about Palisades. "I want to be part of the effort to just not rebuild the homes, but rebuild the community, rebuild the culture, rebuild the life that we all shared and loved there."

“It's a special place,” he added. “I think everyone wants to come back.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pacific Palisades residents return home to confront fire destruction