"After the blaze destroyed his uninsured home in the Palisades Bowl mobile home park - which the owners, to this day, still have not cleared of fire debris - the boat docked in Marina del Rey became his home. "You either rise from the ashes or you get consumed by them," he said between tokes from a joint as he watched the sunset with his chihuahua tucked into his tan Patagonia jacket."
""Some people take their own lives," he said, musing on the ripple effect of disasters. "After Katrina, a friend of my mom unfortunately did that. ... Some people just fall into the bottle." The flames burn not only your house, but also your most sacred memories. Among the few items Kaslow managed to save were journals belonging to his late mother, who, in the 1970s, helped start the annual New Orleans Jazz Fest, which is still going strong today."
"A disaster like the Palisades fire burns your entire way of life, your community, your sense of self. The fire put a strain too big to bear on Kaslow's relationship with his long-term girlfriend. The emotional trauma he experienced forced him to take a break from boat rigging, a dangerous profession he's practiced for 10 years that requires sharp mental focus as you scale ship masts to wrangle a web of ropes, wires and blocks."
Rashi Kaslow lives on a $1 houseboat in Marina del Rey after a blaze destroyed his uninsured mobile home in the Palisades Bowl. Residents accuse city and state of multiple failures: inadequate firefighting, limited water reserves, uncleared debris and looters on burned lots. Kaslow salvaged only a few items, including his late mother's journals; his mother helped start the New Orleans Jazz Fest in the 1970s. The fire erased his community, strained his relationship and forced him to pause a decade-long boat-rigging career. He faces financial strain and uncertainty but has received modest aid from lawsuits and federal programs while trying to rebuild.
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