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Residents of fire-ravaged Altadena — those who have returned and some who are still displaced — are not only focused on rebuilding domiciles and infrastructure, but rebuilding their community as well.
That’s why about 20 people took part in a low-impact walk on Sunday morning, April 19 — part of a monthly get-together aimed at getting locals back on the track toward community connection.
The Altadena Walk Club is the brainchild of Matthew Rahban, a Pasadena developer whose family’s company has been involved in general contracting with some residents.
“The Altadena and Pasadena community has been so kind to my family since we started rebuilding homes in the area,” Rahban said. “In return for that kindness, I’m grateful for the chance to give back.”
“When I spoke with survivors and community leaders, they shared that people were really looking for simple, casual ways to connect with each other, rather than lectures or formal meetings,” he said. “That’s when the idea for the walk club came to me.”
Over the last three months the group has seen as many as 50 participants — different ages and backgrounds meeting with the commonality of wanting to connect through a casual walk.
Seamus Bozeman, who currently lives in Pasadena, saw his family’s house destroyed in the fire. This walking club, he said, is an excuse to spend time in the area in which he grew up and see some of it on foot.
“I just want to walk around,” he said. “I think seeing it on foot is a lot easier to see the changes. I used to hike in the mountains and now it’s a totally different perspective.”
Like others, Bozeman is also hungry for every chance to connect with other people from the area — especially people who have gone through a similar experience to he and his family.
“I love this place so much,” he said. “There’s nowhere else I’d like to be. I’ve tried living other places, but there’s nothing like it.”
Other echoed his affection for their unique community, including Paula Bailey, who evacuated her Altadena home for two-and-a-half months before returning.
“We’re an incredible community. I knew that when I moved here. We’re an eclectic group of people,” Bailey said, describing an area rife with people of all walks of like, myriad professions and diverse composition.
“It’s just a great melting pot of people, which is supposed to be the American ideal,” she said. “It happened here and I love this.”
For she and others, the walk itself is an excuse to interact.
On the third Sunday of each month the group assembles at the Unincorporated Coffee Roasters on Lincoln Avenue for a 9:30 a.m. walk that usually takes about an hour.
On Sunday, April 19, the group headed out south and then east over to Fair Oaks Burger. After assembling, some with coffees in hand, the participants posed for a group picture and then started on their way, chatting together grouped in informal pairs and trios.
“How’s it going?” … “What’s your status?” … “What’s your insurance company?” … “Are you rebuilding?” These were among the questions people introduced themselves with to one another.
Cindy Courtier of Altadena is grateful not only that her Altadena neighborhood was largely spared in the fire, but also that she found this opportunity to connect with others.
“I heard about this and I love walking,” she said. “I get to meet a lot of interesting people and many of them are people who lost their homes in the fire.”
She commended the spirit of those who continue to want to stay in the area and return this community to what it was.
“They are a lot of very, very brave people in Altadena who are coming back or who never left,” Courtier said. “There are blocks and blocks and blocks of Altadena Drive that are just gone. After an experience like that it takes a lot of bravery to stay here and say we’re going to rebuild.”
Jarret Liotta is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and photographer.
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