Personally, I was unscathed, but I watched the fires burn the Palisades and portions of Brentwood for several days from my balcony and roof top.
A very good friend from high school days lost everything... another best friend of my wife's also lost her home. Both families got out unscathed, but are now in the twilight of despair and going through the process of insurance hell and governmental bureaucracy while they try to rebuy all their basic needs: towels, sheets, beds, sofas, tvs, kitchenware, clothes to wear, etc. I know of a lot more who also are homeless today. Many others are in various stages of seemingly constant evacuation (now for mudslides).
It's a horrible mess that has effected everyone here. Everyone knows someone that was displaced by the Palisades or Eaton fires. Rebuilding will take a decade at least; infrastructure is gone and they city will require new zoning laws so this doesn't happen again. I know most people are thinking about rebuilding but I believe it is too daunting; most people were underinsured and the cost to rebuild will be too great. Many people will move elsewhere and get on with their lives. Developers will gobble up the Palisades. They were sniffing around at all the soon-to-be-available properties literally during the fires.
I'm not sure we've ever had a decimated area in Los Angeles like this before -- not even in the '94 quake -- but the Eaton and Palisades dead zones are massive.
What should have been an epic, surprise 3rd act reveal instead plays like an overdue inevitability. As soon as Ross pops his first heart pill early in the film I'm like, "well, now I know how Sterns is dosing him with gamma radiation". I still enjoyed my viewing (I thought both Mackie and Ford brought their A games), but I can't help feeling that a potentially GREAT time at the movies was stolen from me.
