Celebrities lose homes in LA fires
A home reportedly belonging to Hollywood actors Leighton Meester and Adam Brody and another owned by actor Billy Crystal were among more than 1,000 buildings destroyed by wildfires raging across Los Angeles, including a blaze that started on Wednesday in the Hollywood Hills.
Jamie Lee Curtis, Mandy Moore, Maria Shriver and other celebrities were among more than 100,000 people forced to evacuate their homes to escape the out-of-control fires burning in some of Los Angeles’ most desirable areas.
The largest blaze consumed nearly 4,856 hectares in Pacific Palisades, a picturesque neighborhood between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu that is home to many film, television and music stars.
Brody, best known for his roles in TV series “The O.C.” and “Nobody Wants This,” and Meester, who starred in “Gossip Girl,” bought their Pacific Palisades home in 2019 for $6.5 million, according to real estate and entertainment websites.
Crystal and his wife, Janice, said in a statement that they had lived in their Pacific Palisades house since 1979.
‘Firestorm’
Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles spread to the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, after other fires in the area killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit.
More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations and spread the fires, which have burned thousands of acres since they began on Tuesday.
“This firestorm is the big one,” Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass told a press conference after rushing back to the city, cutting short an official trip to Ghana.
A new fire broke out in the parched Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, fire chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference, forcing more evacuations and raising the number of wildfires burning in Los Angeles County to at least six.
“We are heartbroken, of course, but with the love of children and friends we will get through this,” they said.
Shriver, a journalist and the former first lady of California when she was married to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the destruction in the upscale enclave was devastating.
“Everything is gone. Our neighborhood, our restaurants,” she wrote on X on Wednesday. “The firefighters have and are doing their best, but this fire is massive and out of control.”
Hollywood hills burn
The day after actor James Woods evacuated his house in Pacific Palisades, he said “every house around us was on fire.”
“We were literally in the exact epicenter of the fire as it started,” Woods, known for roles in “Ghosts of Mississippi” and “Any Given Sunday,” said on CNN on Wednesday.
“There was so much chaos. It was like an inferno.”
On Wednesday evening a fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills and quickly doubled in size, forcing further evacuations in an area synonymous with the entertainment industry
Though relatively small compared to the others, the Sunset Fire burned just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame. It would need to cross the 101 Freeway to endanger the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory further up in the hills.
Within that area is the Dolby Theater, where the Oscars are held. Next week’s Oscar nominations announcement was already postponed by two days because of the fire, organizers said.
This weekend’s Critics Choice Awards was also delayed by two weeks, organizers said.
With a median home price of $4.5 million, Pacific Palisades is home to celebrities as well as the Getty Villa, one of the most popular museums in Los Angeles.
