ALTADENA STRONG!

This past weekend, I attended the Altadena Cars & Coffee—a Saturday morning event in a city recovering and rebuilding from last year's devastating Eaton fire, in which over 9,000 structures were destroyed and at least 19 people lost their lives.

Altadena isn't in some remote area. It's only about 14 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, and directly north of Pasadena, so what happened to this community last year, just like the Palisades Fire down by Malibu, truly affects all of us that call the Los Angeles area home (read about how the fires impacted another LA Car writer here).

Driving through Altadena is a bit gut-wrenching when you see so many empty lots where homes stood until just about one year ago, and even more mind-blowing to see how the massive fire consumed so many buildings while sparing others in its path (see the harrowing overview of the  "Afterburn: Ashes to Aid Relief Rally" on LA Car's Facebook page).

Today's event features an impressive array of vehicles, including two from the fire itself. 

One was scorched but survived, and one that was destroyed. 

Most of the vehicles are vintage classics, including an early 1970s Datsun 240Z—my dream car during my high school years.

If you live in the L.A. area, please visit Altadena and patronize the local businesses, some of which are struggling to survive since the fire. 

While it's great to see some of the homes and other structures being rebuilt, it will take quite some time for this community to fully recover.

Let's help Altadena build back!