Photos: The spirit of post-Eaton fire Altadena lives on in its signs and symbols

A message is seen on a wall where homes were destroyed in the Eaton fire in Altadena on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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A message is seen on a wall where homes were destroyed in the Eaton fire in Altadena on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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There’s resilience in the rubble, you can see it in the scowl of the werewolf statue on Fair Oaks Avenue.

The tall, outsized beast stands tall, angling forward on a charred corner. Amid burned out cars and blackened chimney stacks, the statue has a message: Love for Altadena, just like the symbol emblazoned on the statue’s t-shirt.

Since the Eaton fire exploded on Jan. 7, taking with it thousands of structures, it’s not new news that resilient Altadena has founds ways to push forward in what will be a long recovery. But amid the disaster recovery centers, the community donation hubs, and the debris cleaning, small symbols of that resilience have popped up all over town.

It’s not just the werewolf. There’s the now famous “Altadena Strong -We Will Rebuild” banner on the exterior wall of the Grocery Outlet on Lake Avenue. There’s the “HOPE” sign mural at Woodbury and Glenrose Avenue.

And with literal signs of hope, there are the symbols of the town’s defiant spirit – the spirit underpinning the area’s pushback and concern over the possibility of real estate developers coming in and changing what had always been its unique character and raising its cost to live:

“We Love Altadena – (626) Not-4-SALE — reads one yellow sign with black lettering, hanging on a gate that borders off an array of charred cars.

The cars themselves have become their own kind of canvas for messages of community spirit.

In spray paint, someone scrolled: “Not an EV – Don’t Tow – ’55 Crown Vic.”

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The list goes on:

“Black Homes Matter”; “Altadena Not For Sale”; the charred Bunny Museum rabbit topiary, its quirky, statuesque form burned to its wiry endoskeleton, holding an American flag, still somehow standing proud and dignified amid the rubble of a museum that exuded Altadena charm.

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