One of the first Black homeowners in Pacific Palisades lost home during wildfire but has hope for future
A Southern California woman who broke barriers as one of the first Black homeowners in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood was one of the many who lost everything in the recent wildfire. Now with the support of the community around her, she's holding onto hope for a better future.
Although now she lives in a brand-new assisted living facility in Culver City, 96-year-old Louvenia Jenkins said she feels lost.
"Each day I wake up and I'm like where am I," Jenkins said.
It's because the Palisades Fire destroyed her home of almost 60 years in a neighborhood where the postman once told her, she's a first.
"I said, 'Are there any other Black people who live in the Pacific Palisades?' and he said, 'No they're about six, but they're all passing. They are Black but you don't know they're Black.'"
Jenkins moved from the Midwest to Santa Monica, just after World War II. It was all her clever but uneducated single mother Ruby could afford.
"My mother was very sure that she wanted to see that I got my education," Jenkins said.
A city map from 1939 showed Santa Monica divided into the least and most desirable residential zones. After Jenkins got her master's in education from the University of Southern California, she knew she could move up into the more desirable zones.
"Somehow, I knew about the Palisades. I'm not sure why, but I knew it was someplace I wanted to live," Jenkins said.
By the 60s, Jenkins was a well-respected Los Angeles Unified School District administrator. She admits, as a single, African American woman, her house-hunting journey in the Palisades wasn't easy.
"There was one person who didn't get off the couch when I showed interest in the house," Jenkins said.
She didn't give up. She recruited the help of the Fair Housing Council.
"They'd go in advance and see how people felt about selling their homes. A person of my ilk would then go behind and make an offer," Jenkins said.
Her offer was $45,000 and they accepted. In 1967, Jenkins became one of the first female Black homeowners in the Palisades. She and her mother filled their home with art from their international travels.
Their furniture, valuables and tennis trophies are all gone in the fires.
"It's lost in a way, but it's not lost," Jenkins said.
Thanks to her long-time caregiver Josemaría Lima who always took photos of the 96-year-old's home, not everything is lost. Lima sends photos of Jenkins' home and memories to her relatives.
On the day of the fire, traffic was so backed up, that Jenkins told Lima to stay home. But Lima went to get her anyway and it saved her life. The two are now printing the photos to decorate her new apartment.
"I'm not defined by what I lost. I'm only defined by what I could rebuild," Jenkins said. "Hope is always alive. Hope is never dead."
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