Black communities in Pasadena, Altadena devastated by Eaton fire

Pasadena and Altadena, two communities hit hard by the Eaton fire, have a rich history of Black community and culture.

Many homes go back generations and have been passed down for decades from parents to their children. Some say the areas were rare places where Black residents could afford homes, especially in the decades after the end of segregation.

Now, the blaze has brought a new reality to these neighborhoods for Black residents like Sheila Foster.

Her Altadena home of more than two decades was destroyed this week, dashing her plans of leaving it to her three children.

“It hurts to wake up and not even have a toothbrush, something you take for granted,” Foster, 55, said. “This house was going to go to my kids. I don’t have $500,000 sitting in the bank.”

Altadena, an unincorporated community in the San Gabriel Valley, is just north of Pasadena and largely surrounded by natural sites such as Arroyo Seco, Eaton Canyon and the Sierra Madre mountains.

Foster’s house cost about $250,000 when she bought it in 2001, she said.

The median cost of buying a home in Los Angeles County was $900,000 in December 2024, according to Realtor.com.

Foster, who grew up in Altadena and Pasadena and has lived there all her life, actually lost two homes to the fire — both on the same block.

One was rented to a tenant; the other was her own home, where her mother and family members often stayed and visited. The tenant, Foster and her family are all safe after evacuating early Wednesday, Jan. 8.

About 18% of Altadena’s residents and approximately 7% of Pasadena’s residents are Black, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.

More than 4,000 structures were lost in the Eaton fire and more than 90 GoFundMe pages have shown the impact of the fire on the Black community in Altadena and Pasadena. Nearly 14,000 acres have been burned in the fire.

“This will (displace) a lot of Black people,” Foster said. “Some of them are elderly, some were barely holding on before the fire, trying to keep their property because it was going down from generation to generation up here.”

Many of Altadena and Pasadena’s Black residents came after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, journalist and historian Michele Zack wrote in a piece for Altadena Heritage, a group that records historical buildings and events in the community. Zack also wrote a 2004 novel “Altadena: Between Wilderness and City.”

Schools forced to integrate, freeway construction and redevelopment conflicts caused “white flight” from Altadena during this time, which resulted in people of color taking the place of about half of Altadena’s former White population, Zack wrote for Altadena Heritage.

In 1960, Black residents comprised under 4% of Altadena’s population. By 1980, they made up 43% of Altadena’s population, the Altadena Heritage website states.

Homeownership is a major way to accrue generational wealth, of which Black people have historically been at a disadvantage because of the effects of slavery. Because they were historically considered three-fifths of a person, they often couldn’t own or afford land or property. By the time they were free and could begin to earn money and buy property, many White settlers were decades ahead in homeownership.

Black homeownership in California has been lower for many racial groups and Black people have faced disproportionate barriers to homeownership such as redlining, Jim Crow-era segregation and gentrification.

“Decades of intentional, government-sponsored zoning, redlining, and predatory lending schemes have kept many Black people from buying and sustaining a home,” the Urban Institute website states.

Despite seeing a boost after the Fair Housing Act of 1968, Black homeownership suffered after the 2008 mortgage crisis, something the Urban Institute said “reversed gains and worsened homeownership disparities.”

In California, Black homeownership is at 36.6%, nearly 28 points below rates for White homeownership, CalMatters reported.

“I don’t know what my next steps are other than prayer,” Foster said. “I do want to rebuild and come back because I’ve been in Pasadena and Altadena all my life.”

Elic Mahone, an Altadena resident since the 1980s, also lost his house in the fire Wednesday morning, Jan. 8.

He evacuated his Lewis Avenue home about 6 a.m. and within 30 minutes started getting calls that it had burned down.

Mahone’s family moved from South Central Los Angeles when he was in middle school and has been in the Altadena area ever since.

“Altadena was one of the first communities where a Black family could get through the red tape and buy properties,” Mahone, 53, said. “That’s why it’s one of the most diverse communities in California, for that to change is concerning. In the mid 70s, Black people often weren’t allowed to go and buy property west of Crenshaw or east of the 110 Freeway.”

Mahone bought his house in 1998 for $340,000 and had renovated it about a year ago. His worries include being taxed based on 2025 rates and not the late 1990s rates to which he’s accustomed and whether he will be able to afford demolition and rebuilding. He’s also concerned about insurance policies covering fire damage and how high policies may get.

Mahone and his sister have been caring for their parents’ house, also in Altadena, to protect against looters and flyaway embers. Despite being without electricity, water or gas, they feel fortunate that their parents’ house is still standing and suffered only smoke damage.

“There isn’t even a semblance of the frame of my house,” he said. “Yesterday, we were able to sift through what is left and found nothing but molten metal and ash. So protecting their house has given me purpose after losing my own. I need something to fight for.”