The Voices of Altadena: Rebuilding Black Legacy After the Wildfires

The historic Los Angeles community refuses to be erased

- By Jameelah Nasheed

A family affair: Black Panther Party leader and political activist Eldridge Cleaver with his mother, Thelma, wife, Kathleen, and children Ahmad and Joju, in the front yard of his mom's home in Altadena, circa 1977.

In January 2025, the Eaton Fire ravaged Altadena, California, an unincorporated community of nearly 43,000, northeast of Los Angeles and near the San Gabriel Mountains. The fire, driven by powerful Santa Ana winds, consumed over 14,000 acres, destroyed more than 9,000 structures and claimed at least 31 lives. For many residents, the devastation involved not just lost homes but also the potential erasure of a rich cultural legacy.

Altadena has long been a sanctuary for Black families. Well-known public figures like Sidney Poitier, Jackie Robinson and Octavia Butler called it home, as did many other Black folks—medical professionals, lawyers, school principals and so on—who never became household names. One of the first Black-owned financial institutions west of the Mississippi, which offered mortgage loans to families of color, was located here. Due to discriminatory practices such as redlining, it was one of the few places where Black people in the area were able to purchase property. In the 1980s, Black Americans made up over 40 percent of Altadena’s population. Although its Black population in 2025 has fallen to 18 percent, about 75 percent of today’s Black Altadena residents own their homes, which is significantly higher than the 44 percent national rate of Black homeownership.

“Altadena is such a special place, where, post-redlining, Black families were able to put down roots by purchasing homes and starting to build generational wealth,” says Aja Brown, former mayor of Compton, who was raised in Altadena during much of her childhood. “It is very much ground zero for Black generational wealth.”