Letters to the Editor: ‘RIP to our town, one of the best, Pacific Palisades’ — a reader grieves for the loss of her home

To the editor: “Our Town” is my favorite play. It’s about the power of everyday life in a beloved place with beloved people. Pacific Palisades was my town.

I was holding out hope for my home and my cats until Wednesday evening, when I heard from neighbors who saw our home burn on their Ring doorbell camera. Now, I have “phantom home syndrome” — I woke up in the hotel bed thinking I was at home, also thinking my cat Blue was jumping up to my side.

Alas, none of that is true.

I loved my home, my cats, my neighbors, my community since 1990, when I joined my husband in Pacific Palisades, his hometown, and made a family and a life here as an environmental attorney. How long will I trace my path around a home gone, my walks to town, my relationships with the beloved people in the places that made up my daily life?

I was in shock before. Now I am entering the mourning phase. I am trying not to, but I keep thinking of specific items lost, like my grandmother’s self-portrait that watched me cook from the wall in my kitchen.

I was the memory keeper of my family, going back centuries to lives in other lands uprooted through other tragedies. But the weight of all these memories held in belongings was also heavy, and perhaps there is a freedom in starting anew with no possessions but the clothes on my back. We don’t get to take our belongings with us when we go, so this is like being born again.

I send love to all my fellow Palisadians, those displaced by the other fires around us, and to the spirits of all the lives, including the wildlife and pets, lost to the fires. RIP to our town, one of the best, Pacific Palisades.

Lisa Boyle, Pacific Palisades

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To the editor: My wife and I were in the Palisades fire zone. We were evacuated. Fortunately, at this time, we are the lucky ones. Our home and the two of us are safe. Our home stands because of the fearlessness of firefighters. To those brave firefighters, police officers and all first responders, we are forever indebted to you.

But we have friends who have lost their homes. There is so much devastation. Businesses and livelihoods were destroyed. Our hearts break for those who have suffered loss of life and destruction.

When this city has a chance to move beyond saving lives, homes and then grief, it will rebuild because of the strength of its citizens.

I heard L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom say that they would be suspending existing regulations and streamlining bureaucracy so that Los Angeles can be rebuilt.

Our taxes are the highest in the nation, and the infrastructure of the city is far from world-class. Does this mean that we could do things better, more efficiently and just as safely if state and local governments got out of our way?

George Maranon, Los Angeles