Wildfires have reduced some 7,000 Los Angeles homes to ash and rubble since January 7.
The fires are now 99 percent contained, but consumed 37,000 acres – two and a half times the size of Manhattan. Most residents can now access their properties, though thousands remain homeless or displaced.
In the tony areas of Pacific Palisades and Malibu – two of the worst hit, engulfed by the Palisades fire – the devastation has exposed a divide between the superbly rich and the merely affluent.
It goes to show that in a city with 205,400 millionaires, a net worth in the low seven figures – much of it derived from a home’s value – does not necessarily make you feel rich.
Terrible as it all was, though, some who fell victim to the wildfires had softer landings than others. A TV writer, in the Wall Street Journal, recalled seeing an actress’s staff driving her miniature pet donkeys to safety. He also conveyed the horror of losing the last home he thought he would live in.
Being well-off meant only so much when there was nowhere to go for shelter.
The simply well-off, as opposed to those wealthy enough to own multiple homes, found themselves scrambling for places to live and dug deep to secure such spots. Illustrating the brutality of it all: Following the fire, owners of a four-bedroom house in Bel Air asked $29,500 per month for rent. It was an increase of nearly 86 percent over the pre-fire price.
Antony Hoffman is up against those people right now. After owning a place in Malibu for 20 years, he recently sold it and moved into a rental home there. That house burned down and now he is trying to find something similar.
“I was paying $14,000 a month,” Hoffman, a director of movies and commercials, told The Post. “Now an equal thing would be about $20,000 or $25,000. And I want to find a place that is in the same school district, so that my child can continue going to school here. Malibu is a very small, very finite place.”
Though it might be minor consolation to Hoffman and others in his untenable spot, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently extended an emergency order that put the kibosh on landlords jacking up rents by more than 10 percent. State charges have been filed against a broker who’s alleged to have taken advantage of desperate fire victims.
Some will not have to deal with unscrupulous realtors. Jeff Tahler describes himself as “incredibly fortunate.” He, his wife and their six-year-old son are among those with a place to go. “We have a second house in the desert, near Palm Springs,” Tahler, executive producer of the Netflix show “Ginny & Georgia” told The Post. “We have one less thing to worry about, at least in the short run.”
Tahler had the luxury to leave at a time and at a pace that best shielded his son. “I know people who left two hours after we did and they drove through smoke and fire,” he said. “Kids are resilient, but that’s a scarring memory.
“I packed a bag with a week’s worth of clothing and left.”
In the wake of the destruction, Thaler received text messages from friends asking if he needed help. “I tell them that they can help people who are less fortunate than I am.”
Despite everything, Mercedeh Motameni does not consider herself to be among the less fortunate. She lost the family home where she and her husband — who maintains a dental practice nearby in a building, which also burned down — raised two children. They have all been living in Pacific Palisades since 2007.
Right now, she and her husband are staying at a friend’s house. Their children, both grown, are elsewhere in the area.
While she acknowledges the value of their house is in excess of $3 million and will cost more than the insurance payment to rebuild, she sees people who have it especially rough and feels lucky. “Some of our neighbors put up Go Fund Me [pages] to get through this period,” Motameni, 60, a self-made Iranian immigrant who works as an optometrist, told The Post.
“We have savings and we have good friends but we don’t know what we will do in the long term.”
Wanting to remain in Pacific Palisades, Montameni is torn in a way the area’s celebrities – who include Billy Crystal, Mel Gibson and Paris Hilton – are unlikely to be, even as they mourn the life-changing losses of their homes. Hilton, for example, has an entire chain of hotels where she is always welcome.
Once the smoke clears, the well-heeled can opt to rebuild dream houses with wiring underground and materials better suited to withstanding fire.
“We’re worried if we can rebuild,” Motameni said, expressing gratitude to have home-owners insurance, as many in the area were dropped and could not get fresh policies. “At our age, we’re trying to pay down the mortgage. We’re not trying to put on more debt.”
Musing on a best case scenario, she added, “We could stay here after retirement. I like being near the beach and walking everywhere”
So does Peter Lenkov. Like Hoffman, he lost a house in Malibu. “It’s the California dream,” he told The Post, “a house on the beach in Malibu.”
What really made it the dream for Lenkov, a writer/producer, is that it is not his only home. He also has a pad in Hidden Hills, a gated community near Calabasas.
Considering the damage, Lenkov, 60, sounds philosophical. “It’s a part of living in California,” he said. “If you don’t have damage from an earthquake, it’s from a mudslide. This year it was a fire.”
Besides the home itself, Lenkov lost a 19th century surfboard and a 1953 collectible motorcycle that was displayed inside. He already is looking into rebuilding.
Feeling sympathy for less fortunate fire victims, he said, “I lost a second house. That’s a privilege.” If he lost his one and only residence – “I can’t even imagine” – he said, “I probably would be curled up in a closet, crying. I probably would not be talking to you right now.”
