On the second day of the Moss Landing battery fire to the south—as mask-clad shoppers along North Santa Cruz Avenue took in an especially colorful, if hazy, evening display—Raschel Archambeault, the assistant manager of East Kennedy, helped load about $60,000 in merchandise into my car.
While hauling garment bags and boxes filled with beauty products and apparel destined for victims of fires in the Los Angeles area, she couldn’t help but be reminded of the 2020 wildfire that threatened her home in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“I’m having flashbacks to the CZU Fire,” she said, recalling how she was mistakenly stopped by law enforcement, with guns drawn, who thought she might be a looter taking advantage of a natural disaster.
As local firefighters remain in Southern California, monitoring the impact of Santa Ana winds on fire zones that have claimed more than two dozen lives and leveled entire communities, Archambeault says she’s just happy her place of work can do its part to provide a sense of respite to those who have lost everything.
“You’re trying to rebuild your life,” she said of the impact she hopes the brand-new items—with tags still attached—they’re donating will have on SoCal’s grieving quarters. “It’s going to rebuild your identity.”
East Kennedy teamed up with Kristen Doute, a reality TV star who was part of the “Vanderpump Rules” cast, and now appears on “The Valley,” to host a free shopping day for “anyone that has been affected” by the wildfires.
Los Gatos retailers who’ve contributed new goods include Romantiques, French Lessons, Jackie ’O and Tassels.
From East Kennedy came duvet covers with a champagne Greek key pattern, silk sleep sets, Mac Duggal evening jumpsuits, green athleisure leggings from Joah Brown, and short velvet dresses and classic sweat sets from Juicy Couture—among other items.
Hayley Aurelio, the owner of East Kennedy, spent much of her adult life in and around the LA area.
And on Jan. 9—just two days after the Palisades Fire sparked—she shared her plan in an Instagram story.
“We are dedicated to donating at least 300 items and collaborating with our designer friends, vendors (and) other small businesses to acquire brand new garments directly from showrooms & boutiques for those affected by the fires,” she wrote. “While we acknowledge that clothing may seem trivial in light of larger issues, we understand the emotional value of a wardrobe. Items like a favorite pair of jeans, a sentimental shirt, or a meaningful dress may not have been prioritized during such a crisis, yet they hold significant memories.”
Aurelio said she couldn’t help but be inspired by the “overwhelming support” bubbling up.
“Our goal is to create an opportunity for those impacted by the fires to ‘shop for free,’ selecting only brand new items. These garments are intended solely for them, helping them to create new memories.”
The concept was to manifest “a true retail therapy experience”—essentially conjuring up a small positive moment in the wake of tragic circumstances.
(Drew Penner / Los Gatan)
The next step, she added, would be to concentrate on the logistics of how to bring the vision to life.
“If you have any ideas or suggestions to help us make this event possible, please reach out!” she typed. “The city I once called home is in crisis, and many cherished memories are at stake. We are committed to doing everything we can.”
Within a day, she’d secured the partnership with Doute and her brand James Mae.
“We did it, everyone!” she announced in an all-caps font displayed tastefully at an angle on another IG story. “Since we can’t be there in person, they have graciously volunteered to host a ‘free shopping’ day for the victims of these disasters in the coming weeks.”
There’d be more details to come, Aurelio promised.
“A heartfelt thank you to all our local Los Gatos boutiques, our designers across the US, and vendors who have generously committed to donate new and unworn items! The support has truly been remarkable!”
On Jan. 16, as Archambeault prepared the items to ship, in walked Jaclyn Blackwell, the owner of Jackie ’O next door, sauntered in with a bag of jumpsuits, shorts, pants and tops to add to the load.
Her own brother, who lives in the Hollywood area, evacuated to San Diego as flames crept closer.
Their mom, Andrea, remembers her son as the situation unfolded.
“All you heard in the background was sirens,” she said in an interview. “So many of us have people in LA.”
Jaclyn says, in the end, her brother’s residence wasn’t impacted. And she’s happy her small business can do something to help those who have lost their homes.
“I’m glad that we’re able to do something like this—and have enough clothes to give,” she said. “I can’t imagine losing everything. It’s devastating.”
At the time, East Kennedy was raising money to cover the cost to ship the wall of boxes that was stacking up.
(Drew Penner / Los Gatan)
I’d mentioned in passing to Scotts Valley Mayor Derek Timm that I was considering driving a load of goods to LA and he offered to pitch gas money.
Timm said he has friends in Calabasas who were ordered to leave during the fire, and his wife’s parents were on evacuation-standby in Woodland Hills.
One Weeklys editor who worked on this article also evacuated during the Palisades Fire.
Susan Testa, the owner of Romantiques and French Lessons, said contributing top-of-the-line undergarments and loungewear was a no-brainer.
“I have a friend that’s still evacuated in Topanga Canyon,” she said. “Especially with intimates—that’s one of the things that people really need when they evacuate a fire zone. They grab all their other stuff and forget their underwear.”
At least one of her customers—a former Los Gatos resident—lost her home to the fire, she added.
“I’m sure they’re happy to take whatever they can get,” she said. “It’s just nice to get something clean and fresh.”
By the time I left, the fire at the Moss Landing battery plant had finally been quenched, though Highway 1 was still closed.
Otherwise, the drive—through the night to avoid traffic—was uneventful.
By the time I got to the Southland, the worst of the fires were over. The air appeared cleaner than it had been in Los Gatos.
The local strike team on the Eaton Fire had been sent home days earlier; however, there was still a Cal Fire contingent and a Santa Clara County Fire Department group assigned to the fire in the Pacific Palisades.
When I arrived in Venice, the sun was rising past lavender clouds that obscured the view of the Malibu area.
A woman I met on the beach named Zoe Thompson, who was out walking her dog Maui-Wowie, said it was nice to finally feel like LA was finally turning a corner.
And she said it felt amazing to see help coming in from far and wide.
For example, she said she’d heard of another clothing initiative happening that weekend.
At the drop point I met Suzanne Jones, Doute’s partner on the James Mae brand, who helped unload the items.
“It keeps evolving,” she said of the free shopping day plan. “We’re getting such an outpouring of donations from brands.”
Suzanne Marchese, founder and designer of made-in-LA brand RESA, pulled up in an SUV.
Her company manufactured a line specifically for fire victims.
“I just wanted to make something that’s comfortable,” she said. “So, like unisex T-shirts and sweats.”
Later that day, I met up with Colin Noyes, a forester whose day job is at Cal Fire’s Soquel Demonstration State Forest, at 29400 Highland Way, Los Gatos.
In 2020, he responded to the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire, and was now assigned to public information officer duties on the Palisades incident.
“The big difference was the fuel types,” he said. “This was grass and brush; that was 200-foot redwood canopy.”
But, he added, both cases underscored how people need to put more effort into hardening their home against wildfires.
“They need to maintain adequate defensible space around their structure,” he said. “They need to contemplate upgrading their structure to be more fire-resilient.”
As we cruised up Sunset Boulevard in his pickup, I was reminded of the time I went to a job interview for a local newspaper in the Palisades; and the day I watched skydivers descend on a Fourth of July parade on a downtown that—particularly given the military checkpoints—now resembled a conflict zone.
“It’s very similar to old Los Gatos,” Noyes remarked as we got out to survey the rubble along one residential road. “It’s just blocks and blocks of this.”
A couple guys from NW Natural, a Portland-based company contracting for SoCalGas, were checking to see what was left of the heating infrastructure.
(Drew Penner / Los Gatan)
“There’s about 20 of us running around,” said one who gave his name as Michael. “They just gave us a spreadsheet and said, ‘Go.’”
On the other side of the street, Noyes pointed to one tree with tips extending in a similar direction.
“We call it leaf-freeze, or needle-freeze,” he said, as the sun dipped below the brick chimneys that were still standing.
There was an off-kilter, mournful aspect to the scene. The fires have left many in a state of uncertainty.
“It brings up a lot of questions about how people are going to move forward,” Noyes said. “Look where we’re at.”
The Soquel Demonstration State Forest has been somewhat of a laboratory for solutions.
“We’ve done lots of forest-thinning projects,” he said, noting this is one way to handle wildfires more effectively in the future. “We’re not going to stop it, but maybe when It burns, it will be at a lower intensity.”
Daniel Marcus, a 67-year-old physician, was living just down the hill at a mobile home park. He was supposed to move out the day the fire ignited.
He knows he’s luckier than many—lots of his possessions were housed in a different location.
Nevertheless, the following night, there he was at a Manhattan Beach boutique shopping for brand-new clothes.
“It was very unsettling,” he said of the ordeal. “It was very abrupt.”
The event has been scheduled for Feb. 1 + 2, from 9am-3pm, at 4228 Del Rey Ave., Marina del Rey. It’s open to anyone who’s been affected by the LA fires. Photo ID and proof of residency is required for gate access.
