Ben Jacobs had just moved into a home in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 1, with his wife and 10-month-old daughter.
They had lived in Venice for over three years and planned to start a new chapter living in the streets of Letters. On Tuesday around 10:45 am, Jacobs was at work when he noticed a large cloud of smoke in his yard.
She called her babysitter and told her to leave their house with their daughter and meet them in Santa Monica in the parking lot of a Whole Foods. The family came out with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Then they found out from a neighbor, who took a video of their house burning, that they lost everything.
Jacob’s wife lost her wedding dress and the bracelet she had received from her grandfather. He lost his grandfather’s belongings who was a soldier in World War II.
They lost the art and wine they had collected over the years.
“The basic things you start to love because yours are now gone,” he added.
The couple was excited to move to the Palisades, because it has a “neighborhood feel.” There were children playing in the streets, schools and parks and everything was going well.
Ben Jacobs and his wife, Taylor, moved with their young daughter, Theodora, to a new home in Pacific Palisades from Venice.
(Photo courtesy of Ben Jacobs)
“Our whole world was taken from us in a matter of days,” Jacobs said. “That place will not be the same for another five to ten years, if not more.” It’s hard to imagine where we could live in LA in the future that could replicate that feeling.”
Friday was a heartbreaking day at the fire station, as residents tried to see what was left of their town.
Sunset Boulevard was like a ghost town with homes and businesses in their last state of desolation, no longer smoking. The sky had started to clear since the fire broke out and the destroyed roads and the wreckage of the cars were made shocking by the blue background.
There were few signs of residents who called the neighborhood home – most of them trying to get into the one-mile checkpoint.
But the area was still blocked by the law enforcement officers who are strict about who can enter.
One couple said they were able to walk in from Santa Monica, but for the most part, the broken streets were empty. Only first responders and news crews were going up and down the highway.
Concerned Palisades residents lined up down Chautauqua Boulevard Friday afternoon waiting for their first glimpse of their homes as the fire ravaged their neighborhood.
Residents are still not allowed to enter the area alone. But the police car was slowly bringing the residents, a few at a time, into their homes. Others did not know what was expected of them.
Some knew that their homes had been destroyed and wanted to see what they could salvage.
“We go through the rubble and see if there’s anything left — any memorabilia,” said Whitney Farrer, 28, who grew up in the Palisades.
He said his parents ran away with nothing, thinking they would return the next day.
Her boyfriend, Kyle Warner, who also grew up in Palisades, said his family did the same. He saw pictures of the home he was about to look at. It seemed that the image of Buddah was left. He hoped that other inheritances would be there as well.
Evan Bishton, 29, had been standing in line for an hour and a half waiting to go up to his home to get medicine for his 78-year-old father.
He also had an idea of what he would see there. It seemed that the family home he grew up in, which he saw on the side of the road, was “in good condition.”
“The smoke is clear enough that I can’t see it in person from a distance,” he said.
But he already knew that the building he lived in was gone after photos were sent from a journalist’s friend.
“Obviously it sucks, but I feel like I lost a little bit compared to these people,” Bishton said, gesturing to the line of people. “So I feel for them more than anything.”
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