Amid the parade of surreal images from the last few days, few have been stranger than this one: a FEMA disaster recovery center for L.A. fire victims inside the former Westside Pavilion. Alongside the escalators and signs for the now-defunct movie theater in the carcass of what was once L.A.'s premiere shopping mall, dozens of government agencies have gathered to offer fire aid.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration opened the city’s Disaster Recovery Center on Tuesday at the UCLA Research Park, which was formerly known as the Westside Pavilion. 'This is a one-stop shop,' Bass said of the services offered for fire victims at the center.
Inside a cavernous stretch of the former mall at the corner of Pico and Westwood boulevards, more than 70 government agencies and departments have set up booths. The representatives from local, state and federal agencies will help with tasks as diverse as requesting new birth certificates, applying for disaster relief loans and turning off power and water services at now-destroyed homes.
A strange paradox of apocalypse & business as usual today in LA: On one side of Pico Blvd, the former Westside Pavilion is being transformed into a FEMA disaster recovery center, utterly surreal. On the other side of street, it’s lunch rush w/not a single empty seat at The Apple Pan.
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