Topline
Thousands of structures have been leveled by the wildfires that continue to burn across Los Angeles County, affecting the homes of several celebrities in the Pacific Palisades—where the average home lists for more than $3 million—and damaging prominent local landmarks.
A view of burned houses and cars in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood during Palisades wildfire in … [+]
Key Facts
Palisades Charter High School, featured in movies like “Teen Wolf,” “Carrie” and “Freaky Friday,” was damaged by the Palisades Fire, including classrooms, bungalows, tennis courts and the school’s baseball field, a Los Angeles Unified School District official told the New York Times.
Several structures at the Will Rogers State Historic Park, a 300-acre property once owned by former actor Will Rogers until he died in 1935, were destroyed in the Palisades Fire, including Rogers’ former home, according to California State Parks.
The Topanga Ranch Motel, a bungalow home built by news publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1929 located in Topanga State Park, was destroyed by the Palisades Fires, according to state park officials, who previously signaled plans to restore the home for public use.
Theatre Palisades, a community theater founded in 1963, sustained “serious” damage and said in a notice it would suspend operations until further notice, saying, “We will rise again.”
The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, founded in the early 20th century, told congregants its buildings were lost to the fire, though the facility’s Torah scrolls were safe, officials said.
The Getty Center museum—perched atop a hill in the Brentwood neighborhood—was covered by an evacuation order Friday, though museum officials say it remains protected.
The Getty Villa, a museum near the Pacific Coast Highway featuring Greek and Roman art and antiquities, said it would remain closed through at least Monday and is still “safe and intact,” though trees and vegetation at the museum had reportedly burned.
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What Other Landmarks Were Damaged By The Los Angeles Wildfires?
The Altadena Golf Course, founded in 1910, sustained serious damage and the course’s clubhouse “did not survive the fire,” course officials said. Reel Inn, a popular seafood restaurant in Malibu, said the building had been destroyed by the Palisades Fire. The Malibu Feed Bin, a pet supplies and gifts shop founded in 1966, told its customers its location was destroyed in the Palisades Fire. Larry Schoenberg, son of the 20th-century composer Arnold Schoenberg, reportedly estimated about 100,000 scores written by Arnold were destroyed after the Palisades Fire burned down a building behind Larry’s home, where Larry operated the music publishing firm Belmont Music Publishers. Larry Schoenberg said none of the original manuscripts were destroyed, adding they would be digitized in the coming months.
What Celebrity Homes Have Been Destroyed By Wildfires—including Eugene Levy, Adam Brody?
- Comedian Pete Lee said he learned his home had burned down while watching his home burn live on a news broadcast.
- The daughter of late actor Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal, on Sunday said the Malibu home he once shared with actress Farrah Fawcett burned in the fires.
- Actor Joshua Jackson said he and his daughter “made it out safely,” though his “beautiful home did not survive the fires.”
- A home belonging to actors Cobie Smulders and Taran Killam was destroyed in the fire, after they moved into the house in 2017.
- Actor John C. Reilly’s home was destroyed by the fires.
- Stella Gregg, daughter of actress Jennifer Gray, posted on Instagram that Gray’s home was “burnt to the ground.”
- Country star Brad Paisley said the Pacific Palisades home he purchased with his wife Kimberly had burned down.
- Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said his childhood home, purchased by his parents in 1969, was destroyed by the fires.
- “Shark Tank” investor Barbara Corcoran said her Malibu home burned and shared a GoFundMe to help her neighbors in the Tahitian Terrace mobile home complex.
- Actors Bryan Greenberg and Jamie Chung lost their home in the fire.
- Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick lost his home in the fire, ESPN reported, as the Lakers postponed their home game against the Charlotte Hornets.
- Actor Mel Gibson told NewsNation he returned to his home in Los Angeles from Austin, Texas, to find it “wasn’t there,” saying he had “never seen a place so perfectly burnt.”
- A Malibu home belonging to actor Jeff Bridges reportedly burned down near Candy Spelling’s home, which was also destroyed in the Palisades Fire, a representative for Bridges told The Hollywood Reporter.
- Rosie O’Donnell posted a video to TikTok showing damaged structures along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, saying her home was “gone.”
- Cookbook author and TV host Sandra Lee said on Instagram she is staying in a hotel because her house is “gone.”
- Actor Adam Brody and his wife, actress Leighton Meester, evacuated their home in the Pacific Palisades, reportedly worth about $6.5 million, before it burned down.
- Paris Hilton said she evacuated her home in Malibu before it was lost in the Palisades Fire.
- Actor and the Pacific Palisades’ honorary mayor Eugene Levy told the Los Angeles Times he fled his home as the “smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon” before the house was confirmed destroyed.
- Billy Crystal and his wife Janice, who moved to the Pacific Palisades in 1979, reportedly lost their home to the fire.
- Grammy Award winner Dianne Warren said the beach home she’s owned for nearly 30 years was lost in the fires.
- Reality TV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt announced their home—valued at about $3.8 million—had been destroyed.
- Actor Cary Elwes wrote on Instagram he evacuated his Malibu home, though it was later destroyed.
- Melissa Rivers, the daughter of actress and comedian Joan Rivers, told CNN the Rivers family home was destroyed by the fires.
- Actor Cameron Mathison told ABC News he lost “my home and everything I own” in the fire, saying, “I have this hoodie and a pair of pants and two pairs of sneakers left. That’s it.”
- Actress Ricki Lake wrote on Instagram saying her “dream home” in Malibu was “gone” in the fire.
- Bozoma Saint John, Netflix’s former chief marketing officer and a “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, said on Instagram her home in Malibu was burned in the Palisades Fire.
- Singer Jhené Aiko said her home “burned to the ground with all of our things” and will be “starting from scratch.”
- Tina Knowles, businesswoman and the mother of Beyoncé and Solange, said her “sanctuary” in Malibu burned down.
- Actor Milo Ventimiglia told CBS he watched his home burn down through security cameras, saying his family will “make do.”
- Actor Harvey Guillen shared a video of his destroyed home, saying, “We will rebuild.”
- Actress Melissa Claire Egan said she purchased a Malibu home just two weeks earlier and “hadn’t moved in yet” before it was destroyed by the fires.
- Actress Denise Crosby posted an image to social media saying her home had been reduced to “ashes” in the Palisades Fire.
- Jen Atkin, founder of the hair care brand OUAI, said on Instagram her “house is gone.”
- Two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins had two homes destroyed by the fires (he also had a house destroyed by fire in London in 2000 and his Pacific Palisades home was threatened by the Woolsey Fire in 2018).
- John Goodman‘s Pacific Palisades neighborhood was reduced to a pile of rubble.
- Actor Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh Sperry lost their home to the fires, and Sperry shared what sentimental item she wished she’d saved before evacuating: Her wedding dress.
- The childhood home of models Bella and Gigi Hadid, which the family sold in 2015, burned in Malibu, Bella Hadid shared along with an aerial view of the house that showed the walls and ceilings completely burned.
What Other Homes Are Near Fires—including Kahwi Leonard, Tom Hanks’ And Kamala Harris’ Houses?
Actor James Woods, 77, shared videos of his neighborhood as it became engulfed in flames, and told CNN in a tearful interview he evacuated his Pacific Palisades home before saying it likely burned down. On Friday, he shared a video of his property looking relatively untouched, calling it “a miracle.” Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard left the team on Wednesday to help his family evacuate their Pacific Palisades home, valued at $17 million, head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters. His house reportedly survived the fire. Jamie Lee Curtis said she likely lost her Pacific Palisades home, appearing on “The Tonight Show” while calling for people to offer assistance to “anyone who lives in Los Angeles.” Curtis later said her home survived. Chet Hanks, the son of actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, wrote on social media the neighborhood he grew up in was “burning to the ground,” though it seems the $26 million Hanks home was unaffected by the fires. Actor John Guttenberg said he was assisting his neighbors in the Pacific Palisades, including working to clear abandoned cars on Sunset Boulevard. His home survived the fire. Model and actress Molly Sims wrote on Instagram that her community in the Pacific Palisades is “just gone,” though her home was still standing. John Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, evacuated their home on Wednesday as the Sunset Fire began in the Hollywood Hills, Teigen said on social media. Rapper and actor Kid Cudi said he evacuated his home and called for others who have yet to do so to “get out immediately.” Others who have homes in areas affected by evacuation orders include Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore, Vice President Kamala Harris, Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck and Steven Spielberg. The homes of Hamill, Affleck and Spielberg seem to have survived, and Moore said her house was “not livable, but mostly intact.” It was unclear of Harris’ home, which is in the evacuation zone, had survived the fire, but two people were detained at the property Sunday after police responded to a call about a potential burglary.
Crucial Quote
“Does anyone else find it appalling that insurance companies can take billions of dollars out of communities for years and then, all of a sudden, be allowed to cancel millions of policies for the very people they became rich on?” actor Tyler Perry posted Sunday. “People who have paid premiums all of their lives are left with nothing because of pure greed. As I am in the process of trying to figure out what steps to take to do all I can to help as many as I can, I am keeping everyone in my prayers.”
Big Number
$3.3 million. That’s the median home price in the Pacific Palisades, according to Redfin. Prices in the neighborhood exceeded $5 million in 2023 before steadily decreasing into 2024.
Key Background
A series of wildfires in Los Angeles County began Jan. 7 and rapidly spread to tens of thousands of surrounding acres. At least 24 people have died in the wildfires, according to Los Angeles County officials, who warned the blazes have the potential to continue spreading amid strong winds. More than 150,000 have been forced to evacuate, as at least 12,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed by fire so far. FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said the agency is “closely monitoring” the wildfires, and President Joe Biden has approved federal funding to assist those impacted.
Further Reading