Have you ever driven up the Pacific Coast Highway?
It starts in Dana Point in Orange County and traces the edge of the shoreline up the length of the great state of California, all the way to Sacramento.
All of it is beautiful. But it really comes to life as it travels through Los Angeles, the place that I call home.
Off the PCH, from Venice Beach up to the seaside city of Malibu, you will see one of the most beautiful stretches of land and community in all of human civilization. Beachside markets bustling with surfers and musicians, families and tourists. The smell of food and the sounds of song crackle up along the coastline as the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier looms into view. Imagine the jewels of the California Coast spilling out before you as the summer sun watches warmly over the columns of seagulls and the dotting of boats in idle pilgrimage upon the water. The splendor of the hillside homes and beachfront houses kissing the coast is a marvel, bracketing the highway as you cruise past the celebrated restaurants, hotels, and shops that are the pride of L.A.
It is romantic. It is beautiful. It is home.
My father grew up in Bel Air, California, adjoining the Pacific Palisades. Extraordinary homes in the most pristine neighborhoods make up one of the most glorified communities in the world. My dad grew up in the 1960s, when it was still safe enough to hitchhike around town for a kid without a car. It seemed utterly ordinary to him at the time that the movie star Cesar Romero should see him strolling down the sidewalk from University High School and offer him a ride home.
But wealth and celebrity did not prevent the community from suffering the rage of flames in the Bel-Air, Brentwood Fire of 1961, when a severe brush fire burned 500 homes and devastated “Uni” High. A terrifying moment my father still remembers.
In more recent years, however, I have found myself enchanted by the gardens and mountains that majestically roll out beyond the suburbs of Pasadena. The trails, forests and mountains of Alta Dena where eagles sore, resting in peaceful remove from the crushing bustle of life in Downtown Los Angeles. You can find peace in Pasadena and beyond, retreating up into the natural formations that overlook the serene neighborhoods in the restful community below.
As of this week, most of what I have described here is gone—swallowed up in blazes that have consumed so much of Los Angeles.
Hundreds of thousands of Angelenos have been or soon will be evacuated from their houses. Thousands have seen their homes and businesses go up in flames with everything that they own (including local Braver Angels leaders and volunteers). Some of the most beautiful landscapes in the United States of America have been decimated—nearly 40,000 acres worth, an area twice the size of Manhattan. All of Will Rogers State Park and the historic Will Rogers Ranch, where my family and I used to picnic on sunny weekends near the sea, stands now only in our memories. Much of the heritage of our community is gone.
For all of this, however, it must be remembered that loss is a part of life—for individuals and communities alike. While the debates over accountability and responsibility will ensue, tragedy is perennial. It is why we sing the blues.
But if in the midst of this tragedy, the people of Los Angeles, and all America for that matter, are given cause to remember how precious we are to one another, then something will have been gained in this. The outpouring of love and support from within and beyond California has shone as a testament to the goodwill of the American people, as well as a resilience within this community that many did not know we had.
The fires continue. All of us here have loved ones whom we are worried about. As firefighters gallantly race to contain the blaze, life feels uncertain for many.
But it is still a gift to be able to cherish the memory of what Los Angeles was and to take hope in what it still is and may yet be. For our forests will return. Our communities will rebuild. And the sun will yet shine on the California coast, the waters of the Pacific unscarred by the wind-driven fury that, for the time being, has transformed life in L.A.
Though political bickering is inevitable, we can forget the question of whether we are Republicans or Democrats today. We can forget the question of who we voted for.
And we can remember that we are neighbors; here to hold each other through the trials of today; here to help each other reach the promise of tomorrow.
