By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
Rafu Staff Writer
The last of three parts.
Part I: Recongregating
Part II: Re-engaging
Hearing Keiko Green’s recollections of finding a place in Altadena begins to tell the story of what makes a house a home.
In 2019, she and husband Brian were freshly married and in Southern California after making the decision to relocate from the Bay Area. On a whim and a random Saturday in August, the two decided to stop by a few home showings to have a look and gauge the possibilities.
“I knew Pasadena and towns around the area, because I had lived in the area as a young college graduate,” Green said. “I specifically remembered loving the area of Montrose and La Cañada, where I rented a studio from a couple of families. Altadena triggered a memory as well. Though I had never lived there, something made us curious enough to see some open houses.”
Green said she and Brian typically don’t have much stamina for shopping activities, but “send us to the mountains and we can hike all day.”
Somewhat discouraged by what they’d found to be available – plenty of properties hastily prepared for sale in an effort to flip them for a profit – the couple happened upon a modestly-sized house on Mount Curve Avenue, near the foothill top of Lake Avenue and close to Farnsworth Park.
Green said they were taken by surprise with the emotions they felt from the Spanish revival architecture of the home and the feeling of community radiating along the small residential street.
She remembered being welcomed in by high ceilings, archways and gorgeous, exposed beams. Stained-glass window panes prismed the afternoon light and a baby grand piano in the living room corner seemed to dare them to surrender to the house’s calling. The pool in the back yard was the clincher.
“I thought we were being discreet, whispering in delight, downplaying our comments and genuine interest,” she said, particularly after learning of how the previous late owner would host opera parties and was an ardent supporter of education.
“This house was not just a house, but a legacy and responsibility to uphold.”
Through nothing less than what she calls a small miracle, the Greens were able to sell their property in the Bay Area and move into this new home in Altadena.
Around two years later, however, the Greens found themselves living in Spain, as Brian took an assignment in the animation industry. They were still in Europe last January – on vacation in France, as it turns out – when they received word from the family renting their Altadena house that fire was ravaging the neighborhood.
The tenants evacuated safely, but everything in the home was lost, including Brian’s portfolio of artwork used in some Pixar films. Over the Thanksgiving holiday last month, Keiko and Brian were back in Altadena, having made the choice to restore the home.
“We definitely toggled between selling versus rebuilding, but insurance made the decision for us to rebuild,” she explained. “The process has been healing, as we talk with neighbors going through similar circumstances. We are choosing to build like for like, changing a few things to modernize it a little.”
As the process of designing and constructing a new home moves slowly forward, Keiko said she feels deeply for those who were present for the fires and are having to deal with its aftermath on a daily basis.
“After talking with the architects and seeing the prospects of what the updated house could be, we feel hopeful in the process. We have the Olympics to look forward to, and what a way to usher newness. We will be close to retiring by then and perhaps we push the restart button yet again.”
• • •
Scott Uriu was strumming a new Martin guitar on the couch in his bright and airy apartment in Highland Park, describing how he underestimated the peril at the outset of the fire that eventually took his home.
“I did not take it seriously. It’s amazing,” he recalled. “I saw the glow off in the distance, but the wind was blowing south. We decided to leave around 9 p.m. that night, thinking we’d be back in a few hours. I didn’t unplug my server, which would have taken 30 seconds, and I left my collectible guitars hanging on the wall. What an idiot.”
Uriu and his wife are renting temporarily while their home on Punahou Street in Altadena is being redesigned and rebuilt. It’s a process countless families are navigating, but Uriu’s case is unique, as he is the architect steering his own project.
“For the majority of people, this was never on their agenda, thinking about rebuilding a house – how a kitchen lays out, how they would use the space, morning light on the east side,” he said. “That was never on the agenda, but that’s my job, to try to help guide them toward what they want.”
Uriu teaches graduate and undergraduate architecture design at USC and is a former member of the design team of the late famed archtiect Frank Gehry. He has several current rebuilding projects in the area of the Eaton Fire in Altadena, including three on his home street.
Uriu’s reputation as a designer is complemented by his knack for communication, a lively penchant for conversation that friends and clients have said brings comfort to the business. Having lost his own home, he finds himself in a position to make decisions on his own behalf, the same way he makes them for those who seek his services.
“I think I have a reputation for not leading my clients up a golden path, not by any means,” he explained. “I know the sets of contractors, and form follows finance. It’s gotta fit whatever we’re doing to what people can afford.
“On the other side, as an architect, you’re designing for yourself. There are some oddball things I’m trying, but many more straightforward, like to radiantly cool the house by using groundwater … As an architect, you rarely get to do exactly what you want, but at the same time, we’re trying to do these very interesting things at a reasonable cost.”
Uriu’s two children, now both in college, grew up in Altadena and thrived in the Pasadena public schools. Originally from Davis, Calif., he graduated from Cal Poly Pomona and attended the Architectural Association School in London before settling down in Pasadena, then Altadena. He described Altadena as often quirky and oddball, and that’s why he and his family are staying.
“It is not incorporated, which can be both an advantage and disadvantage. There’s a super crazy independent streak, a kind of civic pride that has come out of growing as a sort of a heartland of mixed races and people.”
Beyond the labor of helping others get back home – while doing the same for himself – Uriu said there are some wonderful things that have come out of this horrific catastrophy, particularly getting to know the majority of his neighbors.
“Seeing the community come together, I gotten to know hundreds of people, and dozens who are leaders. It’s amazing and eye-opening, and a renaissance for me,” he said. “It’s pretty clear the vibe and identity Altadena has will endure.”
• • •
A glorious painted December sky was on display just before dusk, and Julie Toyama was staring into a hole in the ground that once was her family basement.
“All of our memories are here,” she said. “But you can’t dwell too much on it, because look, it’s the whole community that suffered and lost homes. The fire didn’t single out this house.”
Indeed, most of the houses on her block of Poppyfields Drive were destroyed, including the one Toyama’s parents purchased in 1966. One neighbor has begun the process of returning by living in a trailer on his property, while a house he had moved to Altadena from another city is being refurbished.
Toyama is one of Scott Uriu’s clients and said the decision to not sell and rebuild was never in doubt.
“This is family,” she said. “Mom and Dad bought this 60 years ago, and I feel like Dad would have put on a strong face, but it would have hurt him inside.
“When you look here, it’s an empty lot now, but you see your home … Your kids grew up here … all our family gatherings, all the dinners and holidays. All of our kids were babysat here.”
Toyama said she was unaware of the seriousness of the fire situation until her sister’s husband, Lewis Watson, called from their home on nearby Calaveras Street. He said it was time to evacuate and drove up to help get her 91-year-old mother into his van.
“I went back to get Dad’s car, got a few more items, and thought we’d be gone maybe a couple of days. I never thought we would never return,” she said.
Her sister, Sandy, was watching the progress of the fire via a mobile phone, app, as it went from yellow to orange to red. The next morning, Toyama received a photo of her house being consumed by flames.
She isn’t sure of the timeline for moving back in, but Toyama said the County has seemed committed to expediting the process for the hundreds of families who want to come home. “By next Christmas maybe. Cross our fingers.”
Asked what would be first to bring back home, Toyama half-jokingly said, “Mom,” adding, “We have to get it back to being a home. Maybe photos and things like that.”
Her sister had a more pragmatic response.
“There won’t be a first thing, it’ll be everything.”