In 1967, Robby Krieger, guitarist for the legendary L.A. band The Doors, wrote the hit single “Light My Fire” in the living room of his parents’ Pacific Palisades home. This week – almost 60 years later – the lyrics took on an eerie and ominous tone as the building where the music originated burned to the ground.
The home on Alma Real Drive has been owned by Claudio and Kathleen Boltianski for the past 24 years. On Thursday, the couple was able to reach their street in Huntington Palisades after each carrying a 60-pound electric bike and climbing the “secret staircase” at Hillside Vance, as it’s known locally.
Two days before the devastating wildfire first broke out, Claudio had installed security cameras in his backyard to monitor the fires. By the time the power went out Tuesday night, nearby homes could be seen engulfed in flames. Still, the Argentinian immigrant who runs an upscale French antiques store in West Adams remained hopeful.
This isn’t just the house where famous Doors songs were written. It was where Claudio, 61, often invited his buddies to bi-monthly poker games with buckets of $60. Where his son and daughter rode the school bus. A vintage photo of Kathleen’s grandparents from the day they got engaged proudly hangs in the Mantle home.
Now that’s gone. “It’s not just losing your home, but the biggest loss we’re feeling is the whole community,” said Kathleen, 56, an interior designer. “It will never be the same.”
The Boltianskis said they are struggling to absorb the new reality and are disappointed by the general perception that the Palisades is just an affluent community.
“The misconception people have about the Palisades is that everyone thinks they’re rich,” Claudio says. “People should know that this hasn’t always been expensive Beverly Hills. Before the 2000s, the Palisades, like the rest of Los Angeles, was a very affordable neighborhood.”
“The people who have been there for 20 to 30 years are hard workers: plumbers, electricians, small business owners. Yes, there are rich people living there, but if you’re lucky It’s also home to some hard-working, genuine people who bought it at the right time and stuck with it until Ben Affleck moved in nearby.”
On Monday, Claudio is organizing a lunch in Fogo des Champs to meet up with 19 other men he met through a poker game, most of whom are also homeless. Most of them became friends when the children were in kindergarten. “What we need now is not money, but community. People need to know that others care about them and are suffering with them at the same time.”
In a few years, he hopes to be able to host low-stakes gambling gatherings in the house he built in Alma Real. He and Kathleen are unwavering about that and will definitely be back.
“We’re going to rebuild it as our forever home,” she said. “But Paris Strong is about community, and community isn’t about homes and stores. It’s about people. We hope that comes back.”
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