Remembering Two Museums Lost In L.A. Wildfires
 

The numerous wildfires in the Los Angeles area have brought much heartache to many. They also destroyed two interesting places we’ve highlighted on Travels With Mai Tai Tom.

In Altadena, The Bunny Museum was consumed by flames. For 40 years, Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski have lovingly collected thousands and thousands of items, which made the Bunny Museum the largest collection of bunny paraphernalia in the world. Our hearts go out to them.

Another devastating loss, this time in the Pacific Palisades fire, was the historic 31-room ranch house of Will Rogers, the famed humorist/philosopher, movie star, Broadway star, cowboy, newspaper columnist, radio personality, philanthropist and one of America’s, if not the world’s, most quoted persons.

We were lucky enough to have great tours of both places. In case you never made it to these spots, our posts and photos are in the links below.

Also not a stranger to wildfires is the Getty Center, which was under evacuation orders as of Friday January 10. As you’ll see in The Getty post, they have a system in place that should keep it safe.

Our hearts go out to all affected by these horrible fires!

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/bunny-museum-altadena/
https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/wil...fic-palisades/
https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/get...y-los-angeles/

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...87c85deba.jpeg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b46519941.jpeg

OH no! - I had feared for the Will Rogers State park. In the scheme of the magnitude of the rest of the devastation it might seem a small loss but it really was special :(


Also just read Topanga State Park including the motel is gone :(

Ugggh, that is sad! My thoughts go out to all in the affected area.

I am heartbroken. My grandparents lived in a modest Spanish stucco house on one of the "alphabet" streets in the Palisades; I have enduring memories of idyllic childhood days spent in what was then a middle class neighborhood filled with friendly people.

​​​The sacrifice and the humanity shown by the people of greater LA shines through the smoke. God bless them all.

The Will Rogers ranch house was so iconic of early L.A. Rogers once owned hundreds of acres in an area that was in the "sticks" outside of the city. There are before/after pictures at the Park's website.

https://www.parks.ca.gov/NewsRelease/1346

The Topanga Ranch Motel "starred" in a few movies. And I remember the Huell Howser "California Gold" episode about the Bunny Museum.

Sad days for L.A.

Loved the Bunny Museum report. (Haven't read Will Rogers yet). I wish I had seen it. As one who has her share of what I refer to as bunnyabilia I was especially sad to think it is no more. As are countless other small treasures. And homes and.. and ..and. I can't imagine the tough road ahead.

The Bunny Museum has announced they will rebuild!!

Jean, wow! I'm surprised and impressed. I hope they do.

Thanks for sharing these photos of the museums lost in the LA fires—at least they’re preserved in your pictures. Glad to hear the Bunny Museum will be rebuilding though!

This is really tough, but I hope we can slowly start to rebuild what we lost in the fire

That is great news. Will they try to rebuild in the same area or ...?

(There used to be an Easter Bunny Museum in Munich. The early Easter bunnies were a pretty scary bunch; others weren't scary, just...weird. https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/...ich-germany-19 )

"That is great news. Will they try to rebuild in the same area or ...?"

Some good news! From our local newspaper.

https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/202...altadena-site/

We loved watching polo games at Will Rogers, and touring the home. So sad it's gone.https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...35748153c8.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a3ce223410.jpg
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I wish there was some way to rebuild/recreate the McNally House... Tragic loss.

https://la.curbed.com/2018/3/23/1715...house-for-sale

I wonder if they are reaching out to Lindt chocolate makers for some sponsorship and support. The Lindt Easter Bunnies are a seasonal fixture, at least in Europe. It would be a nice gesture. I posted a message to that effect on the Lindt Facebook page.

MT, thank you for posting this and sharing your past experiences. So many fascinating aspects in all three blog posts plus some excellent imagery of challenging museum photography. The colors in the latter are impressive and I love them!
I had no idea about how Rogers met his demise, nor that the Getty had such extensive preparation for wildfires.

WT, what a superb idea to reach out to Lindt that way. I'd have made this whole font-line choco-brun but our forum colors seem not to include brown.

I am done. the bunnies