Crews are finally clearing debris from the fire at Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Estates, an approximately 170-unit, rent-controlled home park located off Pacific Coast Highway.
Cleanup of the building — the largest area in Pacific Palisades still covered in fire debris — begins more than a year after wildfires destroyed the park, and more than four months after the city of Los Angeles declared the area a public nuisance.
The sight of fossil fuels and hazmat suits this week has put Palisadians at ease worried about the health risks of potentially toxic waste. But for Bowl residents, it’s not a step back home.
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“The owner, still, is not contacting us … and the only reason they’re doing this is because the city ended up threatening them,” said Jon Brown, who lived in the Palisades Bowl for 10 years and is now helping lead the fight to get residents back into their homes. “But once they clean it, they can just sit on their hands again.”
At the Bowl, like most mobile home parks in the US, residents rent their lots but own the homes in them.
The owners of the Palisades Bowl are still arguing that the residents’ rents remain the same. In addition, owners need to repair or replace damaged foundations and utilities before residents can begin rebuilding.
Crews used excavators to remove debris from Palisades Bowl.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
On Thursday, jagged metal rang as an excavator pulled together the remains of former homes. Workers in white hazmat suits are laying tiles and sorting through potentially hazardous materials. Cars on PCH raced past pink and red posters decorated with flowers and pinned to construction fence. “WE WANT TO GO HOME,” one read in thick, hand-drawn letters.
Both the Bowl and its sister mobile home park next door, Tahitian Terrace, have asked the federal government to include them in its cleanup program – which focuses on residential properties such as single-family homes, not commercial buildings such as apartments and mobile home parks.
After local officials backed out, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which directed the cleanup efforts of the US Army Corps of Engineers, agreed to include the Tahitian Terrace but not the Bowl. In a letter written last July, FEMA argued that unlike Tahitian Terrace, it did not conclude that the Bowl “represents a preserved or guaranteed source of long-term affordable housing.”
Proof of its claim: the record of Bowl owners.
The park, which began as a Methodist camp in the 1890s, was purchased by Northern California artist Edward Biggs in 2005. Court rulings over the years found that he consistently failed to maintain infrastructure and operated instead of a “high-end recreational community.” Residents also accused him of trying to circumvent rent control laws.
His death in 2021 split his estate between his ex-wife and widow – an arrangement residents say led to inefficient management.
The owners have failed to provide meaningful updates on whether, say, and when residents will be able to return.
In October – about a month after the Army Corps finished to remove debris from thousands of buildings in Pacific Palisades and Altadena – the city announced that the Bowl and seven other buildings are still full of public concerns of fire debris, giving the authority to enter, clean up and charge the owners.
But the city appeared to be struggling to find the money to cover the costs. In December, City Councilwoman Traci Park filed a motion to order the city to come up with a cost estimate and identify funding sources.
Signs at Palisades Bowl, where homeowners say they’ve heard little from park owners since the Palisades fire and are stuck in the mud, are unsure if they’ll be able to return home.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Shortly thereafter, Bowl residents received a notice from the property owners informing them that debris removal would begin as soon as Jan. 2. Residents were skeptical, saying they saw the owners dragging their feet many times.
All in all, the residents are still confused. As members of the eclectic community of artists, teachers, rescuers, boat repairmen, bookstore owners and chefs began to run out of money on their temporary housing insurance – if they were lucky enough to have insurance – many began to doubt whether they would be able to return.
Even now, doubts remain. After all, they are still arguing with the house owners about whether the fire has stopped or not. And while mobile home law experts doubt that owners can legally evict their tenants, residents still fear that their owners will try to use the fire as an opportunity to turn the park into a lucrative real estate project.
The Palisades Bowl cleanup program only started this month after a lot of pressure from residents and the city.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
And even if the residents are allowed to return, they will not be able to build new homes until their owners repair or replace the damaged foundation and electrical and plumbing connections. Residents are not holding their breath.
“We’re all ready and willing” to start rebuilding, Brown said. The owners “just won’t contact us. In fact, if we had a $10 million fund, we wouldn’t be able to do anything with it because the park owners won’t return our emails or phone calls.”
Bowl owners did not respond to requests for comment.
