Commentary: Nearly every house on their west Altadena block was incinerated. Nearly everyone will be back

""It's like being in solitary confinement," said Robert Hilton, a retired teacher who evacuated in January but returned when he found that his house had defied the odds. Hilton lives alone. Very alone. Just him and the coyotes and the memories of the way things used to be, back when he'd take one of his homemade instruments across the street on a lazy Sunday and strum tunes while Steve Hofvendahl and Lily Knight hosted a farmer's market on the front porch of their little yellow"

"Neighbors brought chairs and food, including Thanksgiving leftovers. Last time, the property was littered with the charred remains of the Koskey house, and the scent of annihilation still hung in the air. This time, the lot had been cleared, and Koskey was eager to show off something unexpected. Before the fire, she did not have a pumpkin patch. She does now."

Neighbors on West Palm Street gathered nearly one year after the Eaton fire, greeting one another with hugs and remembering what they once had and what they lost. Of roughly two dozen houses on the block, all but two burned in January, leaving a ghostly row of vacant lots. Only one of the surviving homes has been reoccupied. A retired teacher who returned describes deep loneliness amid memories of communal Sundays. At a cleared lot, neighbors held a potluck; a pumpkin vine now climbs the former front yard, offering a quietly hopeful sign of regrowth.

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