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Southern California Wildfires Claim Will Rogers Ranch, Other Landmarks

The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen in the early morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen in the early morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
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Southern California Wildfires Claim Will Rogers Ranch, Other Landmarks

The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen in the early morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen in the early morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)

Raging wildfires that continue to burn a path of destruction through Southern California claimed the Will Rogers ranch along with a number of other local landmarks in what is already the most damaging fire in Los Angeles history.

Some monuments remain unscathed, such as the famous Hollywood sign that looms above the city in the Santa Monica mountains, and the Getty Villa, a museum named for billionaire oilman J. Paul Getty that houses a collection of artifacts and antiquities.

However, the Will Rogers ranch, home to the one-time vaudeville performer who rose to fame as a syndicated newspaper columnist, "cowboy philosopher," radio personality and movie star, was gutted on Tuesday by the Palisades Fire.

State parks employees were able to remove some of the cultural and historical artifacts from the Rogers home, though the 31-room ranch house and stables are gone. All that remains are two chimneys.

It is unclear whether touchstones from Rogers' life, such as a light fixture made from a wagon wheel and a stuffed calf that a friend gave him so he could rope on rainy day, were recovered.

"When you were there, you could really feel the guy’s presence," said Ben Yagoda, author of "Will Rogers: A Biography," who became overcome with emotion while discussing the loss. "It was kept exactly how they had it. It’s just such a lovely location and it’s very, very peaceful."

Another casualty of the fire was the Topanga Ranch Motel once owned by publisher William Randolph Hearst.

In Altadena, the Eaton Fire claimed the Bunny Museum, the quirky home to more than 46,000 rabbit-themed objects that owners Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski collected over four decades. The museum, which earned a Guinness world record for amassing the most bunny-related items, was leveled by fire on Wednesday, despite attempts by Lubanski to save it.

"The museum was the last building to burn around us as Steve so valiantly hosed the building down all night long, but when the building next door went down, it spread to the museum," the owners wrote on Instagram.

The Reel Inn, a seafood shack on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, was heavily damaged by the Palisades Fire. The restaurant known for its kitschy decor of faux sea creatures and twinkling lights was a local favorite, according to one review from Travel + Leisure.

"We are heartbroken and unsure what will be left," owners Teddy and Andy Leonard wrote on Instagram. "Hopefully, the state parks will let us rebuild when the dust settles."

The Queen Anne Victorian-style mansion Rand McNally co-founder Andrew McNally built in the late 1800s in Altadena was among the homes destroyed on Wednesday, according to video of the fire captured by ABC News.

"We aren't just losing homes -- we're losing history, culture, and pieces of our shared history," wrote Eric B. on the social media platform X.

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Los Angeles Artists, Collectors Reel from Wildfires

An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Los Angeles Artists, Collectors Reel from Wildfires

An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

As the Los Angeles area begins the formidable task of rebuilding after the most destructive wildfires in its history, the city's artists and art collectors are mourning what could amount to billions of dollars in irreplaceable art that went up in flames.
The wildfires have altogether destroyed more than 13,000 structures, with many among those located in the affluent Palisades neighborhood -- home to many priceless art collections -- and the town of Altadena, which was home to a flourishing artist community.
Some of those art collectors likely lost many of their acquisitions as the fires burned out of control for weeks, while local artists have watched as their studios and homes burned, destroying their work and jeopardizing their livelihoods.
"There's part of me that's numb or in shock," said Brad Eberhard, an artist who ran Altadena's Alto Beta gallery, which also housed his own studio. Both burned down in the Eaton Fire. "Every half hour I remember another thing gone."
Alto Beta, a 550-square-foot (51-sq-meter) space in an Altadena shopping center, hosted exhibits focused on artists who had not had a showing in Los Angeles in the past three years.
Eberhard lost between 50 and 70 of his own sculptures as well as about two dozen pieces of art from his friends and colleagues.
When he returned to visit the gallery, "all I recognized was an aluminum door frame," he said.
Just days before the gallery burned down, Alto Beta had opened a show called "Quiver" exhibiting paintings from Mary Anna Pomonis, a Los Angeles-based artist. Pomonis described the work in the show as female-centered paintings rooted in devotional imagery.
"It felt like it was an appropriately dramatic response to work that I felt dealt on that scale of an epic narrative," Reuters quoted her as saying.
Many in the Los Angeles area have heard the fates of their homes but have been unable to return to see what's left, as tens of thousands of Angelenos remain under evacuation orders.
Kim McCarty, a watercolor painter and owner of the Michael's Santa Monica restaurant with her husband, lost her home to the Palisades fire. Like many, she has not been able to return to assess the damage in person.
Through their restaurant, which opened in 1979, the McCartys became acquainted with local artists and housed many pieces in their Malibu home from friends such as Roger Herman, a German-born artist who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Pippa Garner, an American artist who died in Los Angeles in December.
"(I'm) sad to lose that all because it's such a loving thing," said McCarty, who added she was not able to salvage any of her own artwork before she was forced to evacuate.
Experts have estimated that the LA wildfires could be the most expensive disaster in US history. AccuWeather has estimated at least $250 billion in losses due to the fires, although that figure could still change.
It is too early to estimate much of the losses that are art-related, but there were perhaps "billions" of dollars worth of fine art in properties in affected areas, said Christopher Wise, vice president at Risk Strategies, an insurance broker and risk management consultancy.
"If you take a look at the size of the areas that are under threat or have burned, the scale of it really is staggering," he said.
Still, Wise cautioned that the amount of losses remains unclear, as many collectors have yet to return to their homes.
Despite the uncertainty created by the wildfires, the organizers of Frieze Los Angeles made the decision last week to go ahead with the international art fair, scheduled for late February.
Frieze, which also holds annual fairs in London, New York and Seoul, has presented the Los Angeles edition since 2019, elevating the city's status as an art capital. The fair attracts galleries and collectors from around the world, especially those from the US West Coast.
"Since the fair's founding six years ago, Frieze has been proud to support and be part of this vibrant community," said a Frieze spokesperson. "The challenges the city is currently facing only strengthen our commitment to work alongside the community to rebuild and recover together."
Frieze Los Angeles, in conjunction with several smaller art fairs, aims to send a message to the local art community by going forward despite the fires, said Marc Selwyn, the owner of Marc Selwyn Fine Art in Los Angeles.
"I think it's important that people know that LA is open for business and art is something that can be a boost for people in these kinds of times," the gallery owner said. The world-famous Getty Museum, which survived the fires, led several major art organizations in standing up a $12 million LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, which is set to provide emergency relief to artists and others who work in the arts.
If there is a silver lining to be found in the disaster it may lie in how the Los Angeles artistic community has pulled together to help one another, said Eberhard. He has already been able to find homes in other galleries for most of the shows that Alto Beta was set to exhibit this year.
"I didn't know that the artist community was this caring. I really didn't, because artists are notoriously, and accurately, independent, self-reliant, like little islands," he said.