We Rebuild

Apparently they will not be giving us musical numbers at the Oscars because something something respecting the victims of the LA fires. Now, I am not a victim of the LA fires, nor do I pretend to be. I do, however, know a fair few of them—I can give you a list of people who would really like you to give them money toward rebuilding, including a family who lived in their house for over four decades and having basically nothing left. I have friends who lost their home who are even filmmakers. I’m pretty sure none of them think cutting the musical numbers will do them any good, even if it does mean no Diane Warren production number this year.

The thing is, the people of LA will rebuild. There’s already a movement in Altadena to keep from selling out to corporate interests and to preserve the town’s history properly. (There’s a lot to be said about how redlining influenced the history of Altadena and we’re not going to have that discussion here and now.) Altadena has long been home to millionaires and the working poor and everyone in between. We’ve lost a lot of movie history, but not even as much as I’d feared the last time I wrote about this, and movie history continues to be made. Altadena will be a filming location again.

Okay, so part of that is that Altadena is close. The house I grew up in is a lot more convenient than Wisconsin, for example. If you’re filming two or three scenes—a week’s filming, as I recall—it’s just easier to go to Altadena. But part of it is that I believe, deep in my heart, that Altadena will not just rebuild but rebuild with more than just the same five designs. Even if they were going to, enough of Altadena as it was is still there—to my relief, this includes that gas station that I’ve seen on TV all my life.

I’m willing to bet people who grew up in the other areas find themselves doing much the same thing as I, when it comes to obsessing. I have found the official map from the County of Los Angeles of fire damage, and it’s a whole new kind of doomscrolling. (The house I lived in for my earliest memories is gone, which doesn’t surprise me.) I’d imagine if you know Pacific Palisades like I know Altadena, you would have the same instinct of checking everywhere you could think of, including movie locations. And, sure, that’s going to include Miles Teller’s house, though Stevie Nicks apparently gets to go home. But there’s so much.

We will rebuild, and we don’t need the Academy to cancel musical numbers to help us do it. (I’ve lived in Olympia longer than I ever lived in Altadena, and I lived several other places in Washington before moving here, but Altadena is “we” as far as my brain is concerned.) Actually, the additional musical numbers of concerts are considerably more help, and it was nice to know that Flea is still able to dance around in his underwear at his age. Is it too soon to joke about where his house might have been?