It was such an abstract thing, Gazin tellsRolling Stone.It was like my brain flatlined.
Baumgarten had to see the destruction himself.
Thefirethat first erupted Tuesday evening was still blazing.
A home smolders during the Eaton fire in Altadena, California, on Jan. 8.Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
The sun was a smokey, red, ominous, Armageddon sun.
We could hear things just exploding all around us in the neighborhood.
There were all these dead birds that had just fallen out of the sky.
One of my sons swings melted.
It looked like taffy dripping from two chains, he recalls.
I was just amazed there was nothing there.
Our brass bed frame was, like, melted.
It became the backdrop for their creative domesticity and parenting videos shared with a combined 276,000 followers on Instagram.
(Gazin is also a dancer and a drummer.
As a member of the bandSlut Island, shes known for performing withone leg behind her head.)
They all lost their homes to the devastating fire.
By 1990, 39 percent of Altadena residents were Black.
Her father, who is Mexican American and Native American, was living with her when the fire struck.
Their prized Chicano art collection, including a piece by Diego Rivera, was lost, she says.
Actor John C. Reilly was another close neighbor from around the block.
He just pops into our house sometimes, Gazin says.
He lost his house too.
We have a really close-knit street of really special people, Gazin says.
She recallsfilming a music videofor Baumgartens single Lizard Girl in McDonalds orchard.
Willetts, meanwhile, had free rein to enter their yard unannounced to pick fruit off their trees.
Skip regularly visited McDonalds goats.
I cant believe this magical community burned to the ground, Gazin says.
I really thought we were going to have grandkids in that house.
Max and I were literally married in the back yard.
I found out I had cancer and found out I beat cancer while living in that house.
It was so special.
On Friday, McDonald was back at her property, surveying the damage.
She had just buried two of her goats who didnt survive the siege: Butter and Ladybug.
She tore the sleeves on her shirt to fashion makeshift wood crosses for their graves.
McDonald said her 18-year-old daughter called from another location and reported seeing flames.
She recalled thinking her daughter was in danger, not her.
She had yet to receive a formal evacuation notice.
There was a red glow in the sky but no visible flame.
I really thought we were going to be okay, she recalls.
We wanted to see what was going on.
She stopped for food and kept her eye on the mountain with some binoculars.
When she tried to return a few hours later, first responders blocked her.
It was chaos, she says.
I wanted to get back to the animals.
I did the best I could.
Shes about to host her first showroom for buyers at New York Fashion Week.
If its successful, shell have more options, she says.
My instant reaction was that Im not sure I want to rebuild.
It was such a special old house.
I dont know how it would ever be as cool as it was before, Gazin says.
But she knows her town is worth fighting for.
It was like a little paradise, she says.
The last photo I took before we lost it all, she wrote.
Thank you to the village.
