By Emma Fox, Contributing Writer
Darran Turner moved to Altadena when he was 12 years old. Up until that point, he had lived in an area of L.A. with a gang presence and he recalls, “It was a place where I was bullied at school everyday for who I am.” Around the sixth grade, Turner was getting into a lot of altercations and, he said, “My grandma put on her cape and saved me.”
His grandmother, Yolanda Bailey, bought a house in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles called Altadena in January 1999. “She bought her dream home. It was a real big step for our family. I hate to say it but she got us out of the hood,” says Turner.
It was a family home with a big backyard. This was a place where their family came together to celebrate their best moments and where they came when they had nowhere else to go.
“She took in all of her grandkids and children. Even when the world rejected them. She always made space for them. And, that’s including myself,” said Turner.
Turner described going to school in Altadena as “an entirely different dynamic.” Though Darran might not have had a choice in coming to Altadena, he chose to stay. He went to high school in town, he raised his two daughters there, and he stayed there from the age of 12 years old until the fire.
Moving to Altadena was a turning point for Darran. He says that it was all thanks to the community members.
“They are very supportive. They are very loving, accepting, and open. Not really those who want to judge.”
They built their community on a foundation of acceptance and that allowed for families like Darran’s to bloom and flourish.
“The summer was so beautiful. The birds, the butterflies, the lemon trees. You could go across the street and ask someone for a lemon and they would be more than happy to give you a basket.”
“It was kind of like the Discovery Channel, like you could see a bird pick a worm out of the dirt and fly away. It was magnificent. And, to see it all… you know, look like hell… Hell on earth.”
Turner woke up in the middle of the night on January 8th to his beloved neighborhood in flames.
Around 3:30 am Turner received an alert to evacuate on his phone. He was grateful that he even received the alert because the electricity had been out for two days prior and he had been charging his phone in his car.
“When we had to evacuate we just assumed it was because of the smoke in the area. Nobody expected it to be everything ablaze. Unfortunately, we left our cat and I’m just praying to god that she made it out,” he says. “I think she was in the house when we left. It was abrupt. We just grabbed a few papers and the clothes on our backs and went to another family’s house to wait it out. We thought we were going to come back to a home. Then, two hours later…”
Two hours later, Turner’s home was gone.
As for the wildlife and livestock Altadena is known for, he mentioned that he hopes that his neighbors who have horses made it out safely. “I was really worried about the wildlife too. The squirrels that used to steal the fruits off our trees…” He wonders where the wildlife went and if they might ever come back.
“We have been through four fires and we never thought that this one would be the one to take everything,” he said.
The Eaton Fire demolished a community that treated each other with respect and love, and not just that, they practiced the art of showing it. Over the years they celebrated all of the wins and supported one another through hard times because they knew if they needed it,
the town would do the same for them.
“Compared to where I was, Altadena was like a heaven. The celebrations, the events, the New Year’s Rose Parade. Everything about it was so tight knit and expressed beautifully,” said Turner.
The town has been home to artists like Charles White, who devoted his life to creating art that put African American people front and center. “Images of dignity,” he called his art. White and other Black and Brown artists like him believed in the power of art as a way to address the needs of all people. Because they invested into art as a medium for real change, they laid the groundwork for a community that values art just as much as any other subject.
“My daughters, who are 8 and 6, went to Altadena Elementary and specialize in art. I was grateful that they were able to understand more about music and that they really focused on creativity,” Turner says.
For a small town, up against the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, just beyond the reaches of the discriminatory housing practices that historically plagued L.A., there was so much room to grow.
Turner’s message to his neighbors is that he hopes they can come back and rebuild. Though he knows a lot of people are struggling to navigate home insurance. “My grandmother’s insurance doesn’t cover everything that she’s lost,” he said.
“I wish I could hit the rewind button. I just wish I could restart. It was without warning and it was absolutely unimaginable.”
As he imagines the green grass and lush trees, he mourns his “beautiful Altadena.”
He fears the worst as he hasn’t been able to contact his neighbors due to losing his phone in the fire. His efforts are now going toward securing shelter and funds to rebuild a life for his daughters who lost everything they knew.
Because of what he witnessed that night, the elderly and disabled people waiting for the first responders to get them out, Turner emphasized the importance of looking out for your neighbors.
“Everything I lost is replaceable but my family is not.”
You can donate to Darran and his daughters, Angelize and Aurora, through his GoFundMe linked here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/aid-for-denises-family-starting-over
