Los Angeles Fires Ravaged a Historic Black Neighborhood. Now Residents Wonder Who Will Return.

[question everything]

ALTADENA, Calif.—In a time of declining Black homeownership in California, Altadena stood out as an exception.

Since the 1960s, Black families have settled in this slice of the San Gabriel Valley, building a community around churches, schools, restaurants and other small businesses. Some 81% of Black households in Altadena own homes, compared with 32% across Los Angeles County. Median home values for Altadena’s Black households were $961,000 in 2023, compared with $677,700 countywide.

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On Jan. 7, fire tore through the community, killing at least 17 people, destroying more than 2,700 structures and raising fears that Black Altadena—the work of generations—could be lost. Though the Black population of Altadena had dwindled to 18% before the fire—from a high of 43% in 1980—the neighborhood’s Black section remained a cohesive neighborhood of professionals, retirees and government workers. Now, many fear that fights with insurers and lowball offers from speculators will unravel what’s left.

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The fire transformed Altadena into a surreal landscape of random destruction. Some blocks appeared relatively untouched. Christmas lights still wound along a fence. A paper Harris/Walz sign was planted in a yard, unburned. Other blocks had been rendered moonscapes: gnarled metal and charred wood, with blackened oranges and lemons scattered around dead trees. Ashen husks of cars and trucks melted into roads and driveways. The air smelled of burned plastic.

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Northwest Altadena for years ranked among the few places Black families could buy nicer homes in Southern California, alongside Baldwin Hills, Compton and Leimert Park. The neighborhoods offered decades of upward mobility despite barriers like racist lending policies and racial covenants. Black workers also tend to be paid less than their white counterparts, straining savings for a down payment, and many have parents who rented their whole lives, leaving no real estate to inherit.

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