I don’t know anything you don’t.

Having said that, if you’re living in L.A., I recommend KABC, channel 7, which overlays streets onto the landscape, making it a bit easier to see what has burned.

Actually, that’s pretty amazing, that we don’t have specifics re which houses are gone and which are not. That map does not exist.

But what we’ve got here is a war between technology and nature…and nature is winning. You can’t put out a fire with the internet.

Now I was in a meeting yesterday when the person on the other side of the screen got a text to evacuate. His house is south of Sunset, I figured he’d be fine.

Now it appears that everything in that neighborhood is gone.

Generally speaking, if you live in the flats in Los Angeles, you’re safe…from fire, from rains, from mudslides… So I was surprised these neighborhoods south of Sunset were torched. The fire had to come down the hills, cross the business district and then march all the way to the sea. Hasn’t happened previously, but it happened last night.

I first got an inkling that these houses were in trouble when they showed Theatre Palisades burning. That’s on Temescal, south of the Boulevard. Furthermore, there’s flat land, Temescal Canyon, on the other side of Sunset. No way I figured that would go, but it’s history now. I’ve been there numerous times, to see plays of the kids of my friends, other events.

And on the other side of the road is the high school. We kept hearing that was on fire, but there were no distinct images last night.

As for what you’re hearing about Pacific Palisades being a rich neighborhood…

What you’ve got to know is this didn’t used to be true. L.A. is unique in that it’s a giant suburb, spread out for miles. But they’re not making any more land, yet they are making more people. So property that was reasonably priced yesterday ends up being mega-expensive today. Used to be you could live on Monument in a starter home (that’s north of the Boulevard, where the landscape starts to slope up). Maybe you had to be a lawyer, upper middle class, but if you drove through you’d see small ranch houses, you wouldn’t be impressed.

South of the Boulevard… What we’ve seen more and more over the years is teardowns. McMansions on tiny slivers of property. Because south of the Boulevard means closer to the beach… And the closer to the beach you are the better the weather is in Los Angeles, and the clearer the air.

And it used to be the Palisades were too far away to commute. The drive to downtown was unfathomable. The Palisades was a suburb unto itself. A small town. And to some degree it still is. But about thirty years ago the traffic flipped. Now west of the 405 is horrendous, whereas it used to be empty. Santa Monica is gridlocked in the afternoon whereas it used to be sleepy. But Santa Monica is no longer a distant beach town, it’s got tons of offices and it too is riddled with teardowns and McMansions.

Even the dreaded San Fernando Valley… Benjamin’s mother told him relatives came all the way from Tarzana for his party in “The Graduate.” But the disdain has evaporated, now you have to be rich to live on the other side of the hill. From Malibu to the Palisades to Santa Monica to Brentwood to Bel Air to Beverly Hills…this is where the money is in Los Angeles.

As for the hills… They’re long and languid on the city side, steep and short on the Valley side. But if you live in the hills, you’re susceptible to disaster. You have to constantly cut back the vegetation, it’s a regular battle against the elements, and you may be vigilant but your neighbor may not be and therefore their land can slide on top of yours.

We live in the hills. Meaning we are susceptible. Hell, you should see it when it rains, the water coursing down the street.

And it used to be everybody laughed about L.A. disasters. The earthquakes. But now there are all these floods on the east coast and shoreline that is constantly in danger and…is it global warming? Some of it definitely is, and that’s one of the first things I thought of yesterday, but you may think differently. Doesn’t matter, no one is really doing anything about it anyway.

Other than canceling property insurance. It’s a regular discussion in Los Angeles, and coverage is hard to replace. I just watched a video on TikTok of someone whose house was in danger in the Palisades who had had their insurance canceled and if their house went up in flames, they were SOL.

Funny about the government, people can’t stop complaining about it, but when they experience a loss… And there’s this fiction that the government will make you whole, it will not. If you lose your house and have no insurance…you’re not only homeless now, you probably can’t afford to build on the same piece of property, maybe you have to move to an apartment. Then again, land is so valuable in Los Angeles.

As for personal effects…

I went to the doctor for a physical this morning and there’s no way his house survived, like I said above, presently there is no accounting. But he just recovered from prostate cancer, so he’s got perspective. And we were talking about aged parents, how they end up living in small spaces with few possessions in retirement homes/care facilities. Everything that’s so valuable to you is gonna get tossed. But I’ve told Felice over and over not to toss my vinyl records, they’re worth a FORTUNE!

And historically I’ve been very into my possessions. After cancer a little bit less so. But that feeling doesn’t last. Over the years you normalize. But the older you get so much becomes meaningless. It’s about you and your life and then you’re gone too.

You’ve got your memories. Sure, it’s great to have the photos, but how often do you look at them? And even if you’re someone who puts them on the wall…

But the funny thing is so much is virtual these days. Contemplating evacuating I figured I’d take my laptop and two medications, everything else can go. My world is on my computer, in the cloud. Don’t they say that life is about experiences today?

So I used to spend a ton of time in the Palisades. Friends moved there in the early eighties, and then Kate opened a bookstore, but in the last few years there’s been a diaspora. But I still know so many people there.

And Felice’s mother used to have a beach house, that appears to have been torched.

The scale is devastating.

As for the living… Man, I woke up yesterday and you could feel the wind blowing, not only see it. And in certain places the smoke is dense and dark, in others perfectly clear. Credit the wind. But when I woke up today there was that hazy yellow light, which is familiar from previous fires.

But usually not in the winter, and usually not of this scale.

So how do you make those who lost their properties whole? I’m not talking about monetarily, but emotionally. What can you say and do?

And just like with school shootings, there’s a plethora of compassion and then everybody moves on. They live their life, you’re still hobbled.

But eventually it happens to you. No one is immune.

And then there are those who have nothing… Unlike in the Bob Dylan song, unless they’re truly homeless they’ve got plenty to lose. If you’re scraping along paycheck to paycheck and a disaster happens, unless you have insurance…

But the thing about America is everybody gets to live their own life, make their own choices. I’m paying so much in premiums and never collecting, you’re going bare and triumphing. But we’re all just one disaster away from being beaten down.

When he was still alive, my father always used to start our phone calls asking about my health. Which didn’t resonate when I was in my twenties. But I totally get it now.

No one here gets out alive. Don’t skimp on medical attention. You may think you’re winning, but statistically the wealthy live longer than the poor because of the health care they receive. You’ve got to get your priorities straight.

I just hope you don’t have to experience a disaster to realize this.

But one thing is for sure, a disaster is coming down the pike, no one lives a completely charmed life, it’s just a matter of when.

Thank god it wasn’t you today.