The Historic Landmarks Razed By Los Angeles’ Deadly Fires

January 9, 2025

Sonja Anderson

The raging wildfires in the Los Angeles area have so far killed five people, spreading over almost 30 square miles. The fires are the city’s most destructive to date: More than 2,000 structures have burnt down, including homes, businesses and historic buildings.

 

Will Rogers' Western Ranch House was on the National Register of Historic Places. California State Parks

According to a Wednesday statement by California State Parks, fires that spread through Will Rogers State Historic Park engulfed the eponymous 1930s actor’s ranch house. And blazes that swept through Topanga State Park destroyed the iconic Topanga Ranch Motel—once owned by 20th-century newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. State park employee residences at Topanga and Will Rogers parks were also razed by these blazes belonging to the Palisades Fire, which ripped through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, west of downtown Los Angeles.

“California State Parks mourns the loss of these treasured natural and cultural resources, and our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area,” says State Parks director Armando Quintero in the statement. “We are directing all available resources into the emergency response effort and working to secure and protect as much as we can at affected nearby state parks.”

Rogers was a cherished renaissance entertainer: movie star, radio personality, writer, philanthropist, aviation enthusiast and “cowboy philosopher;” the parks department referred to him as “America’s most beloved citizen.” Born in 1879 as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in territory that later became Oklahoma, Rogers traveled the world before purchasing land in the Palisades in the 1920s. By the time Roger died in 1935, he’d developed a sprawling ranch on his 359-acre property. The estate included a 31-room mansion, houses for guests, stables and corrals, a golf course and horse-riding trails. In 1944, Rogers’ wife, Betty, donated the property to California, and it became a historic park.

State park employees were able to evacuate the ranch’s horses and some artifacts, including pieces of art, from Rogers’ ranch. But the fires destroyed the entire building, save some stone chimneys and walls. As Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. says in a statement, “Rogers is among our most beloved Cherokees and a legacy of our people.” He lauded the protectors of the Will Rogers ranch, who have preserved history over the years.

The Topanga Ranch Motel also possessed a long history marked by a significant American figure. Hearst built the bungalow-style building in 1929, just across the street from Topanga Beach. By that time, he owned newspapers and magazines across the country. Hearst was a political influencer and pioneer of yellow journalism—dishonest and sensationalized reporting, which some historians believe contributed to the Spanish-American War of 1898. A native of San Francisco, Hearst spent much of his life in California and developed several properties in the state—most notably, the opulent Hearst Castle in San Simeon, 300 miles up the Pacific coast from Los Angeles.

The Topanga Ranch Motel had 30 rooms, which once hosted construction workers who built the Pacific Coast Highway. In its heyday, the place provided an “inexpensive seaside holiday vacation retreat for families and writers and was a popular film and television location,” according to State Parks, which acquired the property in 2001. The department had been planning to restore 20 of the old motel’s cabins for public use.

The Palisades Fire also brushed the grounds of the Getty Villa—an art museum founded by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in 1974 to house his massive collection of Classical and Renaissance works. The building itself has escaped damage so far.

“Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year,” as Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, says in a statement. These efforts included irrigating the grounds and sealing the building to keep out smoke. “Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe,” Fleming says.

Northeast of the Palisades, the Eaton Fire consumed Altadena, an unincorporated region inside Los Angeles County, up in the Verdugo Mountains near the Eaton Canyon Falls nature reserve. Among the many buildings destroyed is the Bunny Museum—“the world’s only museum about everything bunny.” As CBS News’ Dean Fioresi reports, the museum was a “beloved staple of Altadena for nearly three decades,” and possessed almost 50,000 bunny-related items.

“All of the Old Town, the iconic Altadena Old Town, is gone,” as Steve Lubanski, co-owner of the Bunny Museum, tells CBS News. “Our museum is gone. That'll hit me in a while.” Lubanksi says he and his wife spent nearly 40 years building their collection. They were only able to save their pets and a few items.

As of Thursday afternoon, first responders have made gains battling the Sunset Fire, which forced residents of the Hollywood Hills to evacuate, per the Los Angeles Times. Extreme wind speeds have contributed to the fires’ spreading. As Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said at a Wednesday press conference, “We are absolutely not out of danger yet.”