The built-in bookshelves in my Studio City home have two rows dedicated to works about California, three if you count a California fiction section that's mostly L.A. noir. As a native Californian and Golden State history buff now raising two children in Los Angeles, I've read probably two million words about the goings-on of this city. But until last week, I never considered L.A. home. That's because I grew up in the Bay Area and identify so strongly as a Northern Californian that I've carried that identity with me no matter where I live. I voted absentee while attending college in San Diego. During my decade in New York, I read far more about San Francisco politics (which were especially bonkers back then) than anything happening in "the city." The story I told myself was that those other places were waypoints on the way back to where I'm from. Something about collective trauma has a way of focusing the mind on where you are. Last Wednesday, my wife and I hosted a pizza dinner for friends and neighbors whose power was out. The party broke up when the Watch Duty app, which tracks wildfires, informed us that the Sunset fire put our neighborhood in the evacuation zone. Everyone left with their children in tears to prepare go bags, and an hour later, we were driving to a hotel. Thankfully, everything was fine. We have spent the days since explaining to our children the importance of being ready to go, and delivering toys and clothes to people who've lost everything. I cover housing for The Times, and I recently told my editor that I'm now on the "rebuilding L.A. beat." The story is urgent as well as personal. I've moved enough times to know that there's no point in declaring any place my forever home. And while I'm not quite ready to call myself an Angeleno, and while I'll always root for the Giants, this part of the state is a part of me now in a way that it wasn't a week ago. It's one thing to read about history, but it's something else to live it.
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California Today: Firefighting Pilots Face High-Pressure Job: ‘It Gets a Bit Scary’
January 15, 2025
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