Fires have engulfed several Los Angeles neighborhoods, forcing scores of residents to evacuate and damaging some of the city’s most iconic cultural sites. As the wildfires continue to burn, it is unclear which museums and monuments will be damaged. However, there are reports that some sites have already been damaged. The fire has destroyed scores of galleries and museums, many of which are small art spaces whose losses are felt at a community level and whose replacement and restoration will be difficult without large-scale support. Art insurance experts have called the event one of the worst art-loss disasters in U.S. history, even comparing it to Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which they say pales in comparison. Not only were large numbers of people evacuated, but valuable collections were rushed to safer storage locations. Los Angeles has an unusually high concentration of art, so damages and claims from this incident are expected to be unprecedented. All eyes are now on the Getty Center, which is bracing for a fire in the Palisades, after its sister institution, the Getty Villa, suffered a fire last week.
In particular, in terms of the artistic community, the fire damaged the northern part of the city the most. This area was home to several creative artistic projects and spaces that were destroyed by the fire and will require significant reinvestment to restore. One of them is the Zoltian Ranch. It was founded about 70 years ago in Pasadena, on the northern edge of the city, with a bohemian purpose – as a place where artists of all disciplines could gather and work together in the bosom of nature. It was quite a mysterious and legendary place in the city of Pasadena until the Eaton Fire, which swept through the northern part of the city, destroyed it. The entire 45-acre ranch was flooded, and 15 artists managed to escape. However, the art work of its founder, Jirair Zoltian (1911-2004), as well as much of the ranch’s production infrastructure and animals (approximately 95% of the entire ranch property) were destroyed. Fortunately, the main house and outbuildings survived. The cost of repairing the damage is estimated at $400,000, with $92,000 of that going to clearing the rubble alone. However, that cannot compensate for the artwork lost in the fire, which can no longer be restored. The goal now is to secure enough funding to avoid having to sell the land to a developer. The Zorthian Ranch team, led by the founder’s daughter, has already launched a crowdfunding campaign. Similarly, in Altadena, north of Pasadena, the Alto Beta Gallery, a tiny space tucked into a strip mall that opened in 2022, burned to the ground, destroying the work of artist Mary Ann Pomonis, whose solo show Quiver just opened on January 5.
Another small landmark destroyed by fire was the Rabbit Museum, also located in Altadena. The museum was founded in 1998 by Candace Fraser and Steve Lubanski, who started a tradition of giving each other rabbit-themed items daily. The museum houses over 46,000 rabbit-related items. The museum has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records three times as the “museum with the most rabbit-related items in the world”: in 1999, 2011, and 2023. Unfortunately, the museum burned down on January 9 after Steve Rubanski tried to put out the fire. Only a few rabbit-related items survived the fire, but all of the rabbits and cats in the museum were safely evacuated. The museum’s collection includes stuffed rabbits, ceramics, paintings, etc. The owner has promised to rebuild the museum in the future. They have also launched a fundraising campaign to help restore their collection in the future.
However, some museums were luckier when it came to fire. The most eye-catching of these is the Getty Villa. Located in the devastated Palisades neighborhood of West Los Angeles, the Getty Villa survived the fire, with only the surrounding vegetation burning. Despite the threat of fire, the Getty Villa remained unscathed because it has a number of features that make it fire-resistant. Modeled after the ancient Roman Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, Italy, the Getty Villa houses more than 44,000 ancient artifacts, some dating back to 6,500 B.C. To protect these priceless artifacts, the Getty Villa has its own sprinkler and water supply systems that automatically turn on during a fire. When smoke entered the premises, areas where valuable artifacts and library archives were stored were additionally cordoned off. In addition, the rescue effort was coordinated remotely from the Getty Center to the east, which provided valuable information to the team at the Getty Villa via cameras and communications equipment. Thanks to the combined efforts of all parties, only some plants outside the villa and a small patch of rosemary burned, which, when it caught fire, caused a false alarm inside the villa. Now it is up to the Getty Center to confront the flames of this fire.
While the threat of a fire at the Getty Villa appears to have passed, the situation at the Getty Center is less clear. It is visited by more than 1.4 million people each year and is home to some 44,000 works of art, including Vincent van Gogh’s Irises. The building was completed in 1997 and has been called a “marvel of fire engineering.” The museum has maintained, and continues to maintain, that because they considered the Getty Center to be completely safe in the event of a fire, there was no need to evacuate the collection. The building is specifically designed with fire safety in mind, with fire safety requirements incorporated into its building materials, layout, control systems, and operating procedures. According to the Getty, the building’s materials are highly fire-resistant and are constructed of protected steel, concrete, and stone. The center’s layout also allows for large open spaces between fires, so if a fire were to enter the campus, its spread would be slowed by moving between buildings. Additionally, the campus’s sprinkler system can be used to suppress fires. Getty staff are always prepared to respond to a fire. Sprinkler systems often require maintenance, and crews are on high alert in case of a fire. Staff also coordinate fire safety issues with government officials. Getty staff closely monitor developments, especially at the Getty Villa.