A Los Angeles celebrity spot has been ravaged by wildfires
Los Angeles’ wealthy neighborhood of Pacific Palisades often has strangers walking by, trying to catch a glimpse of celebrity homes.
However, its streets are now full of firefighters battling a 3,000-hectare wildfire that is ravaging the area.
Across the city, tens of thousands have been forced from their homes as winds fan four fires. A state of emergency was declared, leaving roads closed as people fled.
Among them, a number of famous faces were forced to flee their homes, including Star Wars star Mark Hamill and Schitt’s Creek actor Eugene Levy.
James Woods, who has starred in films including Nixon and Casino, explained his exit on social media, saying he is not sure if it is still on.
“It feels like losing a loved one,” he wrote.
Pacific Palisades is known to be the only one, with a house worth $4.5m (£3.6m) on average as of November 2024, according to Realtor.com.
The northern part of LA is bordered to the south by three miles (4.8 km) of beaches on the Pacific Ocean, located between Malibu and Santa Monica.
It’s known to feel more like a small town than part of a big city, hosting trendy boutiques, cafes and a farmers’ market.
The area became sought after by celebrities and the wealthy in the 20th century because of its privacy and access to nature, compared to the increasingly urbanized Los Angeles.
Homes vary in style from modern to Mediterranean style with leafy, curving, often hidden by trees or nestled at the foot of the nearby Temescal Canyon.
But the Palisades fire — which grew from 10 acres to nearly 3,000 acres in a matter of hours — has devastated the landscape.
In a post on Instagram, Hamill called the fire “the worst fire since ’93” – when it burned 18,000 hectares, it destroyed 323 homes in nearby Malibu.
He said he left his home in Malibu “at the last minute there.” [were] small fires on both sides of the road”.
Levy, who became famous for his role in the American Pie film series, told local media of “dark and thick” smoke over Temescal Canyon.
“I couldn’t see the flames but the smoke was very dark,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
Reality stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag lost their family home in a fire, Pratt’s sister wrote on Instagram.
“My heart aches for my brother, Heidi and the children,” she said.
Miles Teller, best known for his role in Top Gun: Maverick, and his wife Keleigh, also live in the property.
Taking to Instagram, Mrs Teller shared a photo of the flames and a broken heart emoji. He urged people to leave water bowls for the animals left behind as they leave their homes.
Meanwhile, actor Steve Guttenberg, known for Police Academy, stayed to help firefighters by moving cars to make room for incoming fire trucks.
He appealed to the residents to leave the keys in the abandoned cars so they could be removed from the road.
“We need people to move their cars,” he told KTLA media. “This is not a parking lot.”
It’s not just famous residents who have been affected by the bushfire – landmark buildings in the area are also at risk.
Palisades Charter High School — which has served as a movie set and counts several notable alumni — was damaged by fire, local media reported.
The burned-out school was used in films including the 1976 horror film Carrie and Project X, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Past students include director JJ Abrams, singer Will.i.am, and actors Forest Whitaker and Katey Sagal.
The Getty Villa is an art museum in the Palisades with a large collection of works of art and artifacts, including works by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
The museum confirmed on Tuesday that it had closed to the public and that some trees and vegetation in the area had burned – but said “no buildings have burned, staff and the collection are safe”.
The star-studded events that were supposed to take place at the venue have also been cancelled.
The premieres of Unstoppable, Better Man and Wolfman have been canceled, as have the live nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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