Once a landmark of holiday lights in Pasadena, Upper Hastings Ranch community hit hard by Eaton fire

On any night a month ago in Pasadena’s Upper Hastings Ranch, there were lines of cars driving up and down each street, marveling at the annual Holiday Light Up tradition that has been going on for over 70 years. Giant inflatable reindeer, elaborate choreographed light displays, life-size nativity scenes and groups of onlookers enjoying the production put on by this tight-knit community.

Now, deflated Christmas characters lay a few yards away from the charred rubble and streets are adorned with red “unsafe” slips stuck to homes destroyed by the Eaton fire. Pink and black polka-dotted plastic ribbons are tied to gates surrounding homes, destroyed or not, as a sort of checkmark that house had been assessed by Pasadena’s Fire Department.

On Jan. 7, the Eaton fire erupted in Altadena, displacing thousands and killing at least 17 people.

Some 9,400 structures have been confirmed destroyed in the town and in neighboring communities, like in Upper Hastings Ranch, where 143 homes were destroyed, according to Pasadena spokesperson Lisa Derderian.

The destruction and impact to this neighborhood has not taken away its spirit as residents are already vowing a return to their holiday tradition.

“I’m thinking stars like very nice large stars that will go on every vacant lot, so that everyone regardless if their home is there or not is still a part of the Light Up,” said Patricia Vahdat, a block captain for the Upper Hastings Ranch Association (UHRA).

Vahdat, who lost her home in the Eaton fire, said the 2025 show will “100%” go on.

“I think 2025 is going to be quite an emotional one for everyone up there because it is what brings everyone so close to each other,” Vahdat added.

The association has been posting disaster information on its Facebook page.

For now, what remains is a stark contrast from the joyous scene that stood a few weeks prior.

Gold wooden stars, seemingly leftover holiday decor, adorned the front of one home. The words “joy” and “love” were written on some. The red tag in front of that home read “UNSAFE – entire structure was fire damaged.”

The frames of what was once a washer and dryer stood in the rubble of another home in Upper Hastings Ranch. A set of tea cups and small plates laid next to pairs of latex gloves on the front yard of another destroyed home further down the street. Just next door to some of these destroyed structures are houses that appear to be untouched by the Eaton fire’s deadly flames.

As residents return to the rubble, so to did locals who wanted to visit the neighborhood where they have shared many fond memories.

Bryan Strehl, 26, drove up to Upper Hastings Ranch to survey the familiar area. He was born and raised in Pasadena and teaches at Altadena elementary school, where, he said, six of his students and a colleague lost their homes in the Eaton fire.

Strehl and his family drive into the neighborhood every holiday season.

“We drive through for a few hours in between Thanksgiving and Christmas and just drive through and watch, look at all the lights, all the different displays. It’s almost a landmark for us in Pasadena,” Strehl said.

He’s even brought cousins from out of state to enjoy the neighborhood holiday decor.

“There’s nowhere else in the world that you get this or [where] the community comes together and does all these lights and has so much fun,” Strehl said.

On Jan. 8, the day after the fire tore through, Anna Leming was still processing what had just happened.

As the smoke-orange sun was setting, she stood on her street, consoled by neighbors as the rubble smoldered. The charred remnants of the life she’d built on Park Vista Circle, near the top of Michillinda Avenue, were all that was left.

“I’m in shock,” she said of the home she’d owned for 50 years, where she left with little. “I haven’t been able to process it at all.”

Leming evacuated early on Tuesday. She kept looking at NextDoor, seeing that her area was safe. But her neighbor of nearly 50 years, Norma Richman, was able to get to the street, seeing that Leming’s home was ablaze.

“I didn’t know how I was going to tell her,” said Richman, whose property up the street got singed but somehow survived.

The two stood with a cluster of neighbors feet away from the ruins on Wednesday. There were hugs. Conversation. Reminders that most importantly they were alive.

Not much else survived for Leming, not even personal papers. The relentless wind-driven blaze just moved too fast.

“I couldn’t think fast enough,” she said.

Further up, 65-year-old Roubik Assatourian was walking back to his home after talking to a neighbor. His home survived but the fire didn’t spare the family’s next door.

“This is Southern California, what can you do?” Assatourian said.

Recalling the night the Eaton fire broke out, Assatourian said, “I was here Tuesday night, about 15 minutes before all hell broke loose, and I was getting left and right offers from my neighbors, friends, to give me a ride to a safe spot while they were leaving.”

Assatourian described his neighbors as courteous, kind, ones who help each other out, and, “that’s pretty much all you can ask for in a neighborhood,” he added.

Christine and Darryl Montes, both 61, went back to their Upper Hastings Ranch property on Thursday to take photos of the destruction for insurance purposes.

A few minutes into the visit, a crew with the Riverside Fire Department stopped by and asked the couple if they needed help with anything. The couple expressed they were looking for an in-floor safe.

“We didn’t even know where it was. It was like all underneath the rubble,” Christine said.

The Riverside firefighters located and pried open the box filled with sentimental items.

“We found some items in there from my mother and my grandmother… that’s all we’re looking for is just a little something,” Christine said.

Darryl noted the items in the box were still warm from the fire nine days after their home burnt down.

Christine said though this experience has been a nightmare, “yesterday was honestly a better day for us, just to find those key small items, and we’re just so grateful for them.”

A few months ago, Darryl was thinking about retiring at the end of the year. Now, he’s not sure that’s a possibility. “I just don’t know where we’re going to be,” he said.

The couple, who will be celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary later this year, loved their home and community.

“It’s like everybody’s looking out for one another… just good-hearted people,” Darryl said about his neighbors.

A daughter of the Montes’ set up a GoFundMe campaign in support of her parents who lost everything in the Eaton fire.

The couple had called Upper Hastings Ranch home for over seven years. Now they’re considering what comes next. “If we’re going to rebuild, we’re going to do it right, we’re going to make it fireproof,” Darryl said.

Bob Michero, of Upper Hastings Ranch, said that in the fire’s wake there is devastation from Altadena to Hastings Ranch to Sierra Madre. There are also many stories of selflessness, neighbors saving neighbors, communities supporting each other.

That’s how he characterized his own community in Upper Hastings Ranch.

“Love. Caring. Support,” said Michero, whose home on Valley Lights Drive was destroyed by the fire. “That’s what’s going on right now.”

Still standing out in front of the rubble of his and his family’s home, there was a cutout of an angel, a symbol of Christmases past and a last remnant of what came before.

“And I would say, what would come in the future,” Michero said. “We will walk forward. We will be strong, and we will better because of this.”