Compare & Contrast: Evacuation

Inside L.A.’s High-End Getty Fire Evacuation Center

After fleeing to safety and in fear for their homes, Los Angeles residents hunkered down on uncomfortable cots. It wasn’t long before they were back to gossiping and namedropping.

That's all we fucking do around here alright. As if gossiping and namedropping aren't what "reporting" is.

Along with roughly 10,000 of his neighbors, Locke fled the area that morning. He headed seven miles south to the Westwood Recreation Center, a sprawling complex situated at the center of a West Los Angeles park. By rec-center standards, the Westwood facility has posh amenities: a pool, a playground, a tennis court, a soccer field, two gymnasiums, indoor racquetball courts, outdoor basketball courts, and the original baseball diamond that inspired The Bad News Bears. It does not, however, have beds. Still, within the span of a few hours, Locke saw the place converted from neighborhood sports center to active evacuation shelter. Volunteers unfolded cots in the gym. Neighbors brought food to the dining hall. Thousands streamed in and out, chatting, drinking coffee, ushering animals into the rooms designated for pets.

Never been inside, but in the summer of 2008 I slept immediately south of said Rec Center, under this playground airliner at Aidan's Place. That's the recreation center in the background.

From the Google Maps or Pictures or something account of one Brandon Miller.

LotsaFunMaps. Slept under the leftmost panel. Only rousted once, when the alarm at the center went off.

Tarpley Hitt

Reporter