Updates from BK and our family

Wildfire in Los Angeles region

Good morning.

Thank you so much to everyone who contacted us in the last 48 hours. We have been under multiple wildfire crises in Los Angeles, and it has been heartbreaking to be a direct witness to what has unfolded and is still unfolding.

To give you a brief context, we are currently in our rental house in Woodland Hills, which is immediately outside a mandatory evacuation zone in Topanga due to the Palisades Fire. But our rental house is safe for now. The neighboring canyon town Palisades experienced beyond imaginary devastation on Tuesday and yesterday, as well as a part of Topanga and Malibu. The entire Topanga Canyon residents have been under mandatory evacuation, so we opened our house to our elderly canyon neighbors from our old neighborhood to shelter. They have been the best and dearest folks to go through this experience with, and I am, once again, reminded of how incredible the power of community is. Even though their neighborhood is still in the path of fire danger, our friends are chatty, insightful, and wise, and I can see our kids listening to their stories, feeling grounded by their presence, and simply enjoying their company. In this extreme circumstance, they are the best comradery we could ever hope for.

On Wednesday morning. Heading to the Altadena/Pasadena area.

Our studio in Altadena is simultaneously facing the Eaton Fire, which started in the beloved Eaton Canyon on Tuesday night. Frido and I used to live on the cliff of Eaton Canyon and got married there, and it has been our home to lean on for the last 20 years, personally and for BK. There are no words to describe the devastation the Altadena community has experienced over the previous 36 hours and continues to do so. Some of my closest and dearest friends have lost their homes to the fire. Our studio, which stands on 2351 Lincoln Ave. in Altadena, barely got through standing yesterday. I tried to get into the studio yesterday morning to save a few essential documents and our computers, but by the time I got there, the smoke was too heavy with tense air, and it just didn’t feel safe to get through the last quarter mile to the studio, so I turned around. I found out later that the neighborhood across Lincoln was heavily impacted by fire.

My heart goes to everyone whose homes were impacted in Altadena and Palisades/Topanga/Malibu, as well as other parts of Los Angeles where fires have erupted. I know many of our BK community members live in the Altadena area, and I am holding you in my thoughts. More than the structure itself, home is a sacred place that holds memories, stories, and spirits of people who share the space, and those are not replaceable.

I am working on centering myself to stay strong and steady for my friends and community. We will need to show up for each other to walk the path together today, tomorrow, and as long as we need to.

Since our studio is still in the mandatory evacuation zone, we cannot operate our business at a normal capacity until the evacuation order is lifted. Frido and I are slowly getting our operation up and running at our home studio, and I hope to get brief access to the studio today to pull some of the pending orders that can be shipped from our home studio. If you have pending orders with us, please be patient with us right now until we can get steady and safe access to the studio.

Lastly and most importantly, please hold prayers and thoughts for Los Angeles and everyone impacted.