Altadena IS Home

Altadena Is Home - documents everyday life in Altadena before the Eaton Fire. Photographed from within the community since 2013, these images now serve as vital records of a town, its people, and small businesses lost, changed, and worth remembering.

Altadena IS Home - is a photographic series created from within the community it documents. Since buying our first family house back in 2013, I have photographed everyday life in Altadena and North Pasadena—mom-and-pop businesses, neighbors, and shared spaces that defined the town before the Eaton Fire.

The Eaton Fire devastated Altadena, destroying homes, displacing families, and erasing many small, independently owned businesses run by friends and neighbors. My family’s home survived, but the fires spotted just two blocks away on the west side of town, making the destruction immediate and personal.

These photographs, made before the fires, now serve as vital visual records of what Altadena looked and felt like before it was changed forever. They preserve storefronts, streets, and relationships that no longer exist, offering a necessary counterpoint to loss while asserting the cultural and historical value of a community that deserves to be remembered, protected, and rebuilt.