On this day four months ago, flames swept from tranquil neighboring canyons to the doorsteps of Pacific Palisades residents. KCRW’s Adria Kloke evacuated her home off Sunset Boulevard — with her cat and a few suitcases — and drove off while talking live on-air. She relocated temporarily to a friend’s Marina Del Rey home, then rented Airbnbs while apartment hunting on Zillow, Westside Rentals, realtor.com, etc.
“It's a competitive rental market here in all of LA. So every single morning, you got to check it and see if there might be something new that fits what you're looking for, because stuff gets snapped up in a matter of hours,” she says.
Kloke and her neighbors have been in remediation — the process of salvaging items in their scorched homes that can still be used and cleaned. Fortunately, her renter’s insurance will cover the cost of remediation. However, the task has required regular visits to the burn zone.
“Being surrounded by that destruction, let alone the smell and the toxic presence, but just being inside of it, it's like stepping back into my grief every time. I'm really looking forward to leaving it behind.”
She adds, “I feel for my neighbors who maybe, because they aren't renters, don't have the luxury to turn around and walk away. So you can imagine that for people who are trying to move back in, it might be a while, and some people are eager to get back. And I understand that because that's home. And I just decided that the best thing for me to do is walk away, remove myself from the pain of this place. … And I'm excited to be in a new neighborhood, and enjoy Los Angeles from a new place, and be closer to a lot of friends and family.”
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