Anyone who has seen any footage of the recent fires in Southern California has to have been terrified. It looked as though Los Angeles, long seen by the world as a heavenly place, had been turned into a flaming inferno. The spreading, engulfing flames carried by high winds were beyond any human efforts to resist. It defied belief and still does. The situation is literally beyond comprehension.
California has suffered one of the worst disasters ever seen. The destruction is almost impossible to calculate. However, most of Southern California is still intact and escaped any damage from the fires. Californians need support more than ever.
According to the State of California nearly 58,000 acres have burned during the recent wave of fires, which is not even finished yet. More than 16,000 buildings have been destroyed. Miraculously, only 29 fatalities were recorded from the catastrophe.
This is a time when California needs the support of its friends, whoever and wherever they are. In spite of the scale of the damage, most of Southern California’s tourism attractions are still functioning as usual.
Helping with Tourism
Tourism is an important economic driver for any place, and California is no exception to that. California is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board says there are more than 500,000 people and 1,000 businesses in the tourism industry in Los Angeles County. One in five tourism jobs in the state are there, 22 percent of the state’s travel economy.
Last May, the state announced that tourism spending reached an all-time high in California at $150.4 billion. It surpassed the record of $144.9 billion set in 2019, the year before the COVID pandemic crashed tourism everywhere. While California is the third largest state in America, after Alaska and Texas, it is the top state for tourism. California has the 5th largest economy in the world.
California has a wealth of things to attract people from around the world. And now California needs those friends to show up, show their support, both in spirit and financially, through tourism, as Californians rebuild.
California still has the long coastline that inspired the surfing boom and the celebration of California culture around the world through songs by the Beach Boys and their many imitators, as well as in movies and TV shows. Los Angeles has the incomparable entertainment industries of movies and recording. It still has heavenly weather that is the envy of the world.
After California’s tourism recovered to pre-pandemic levels in May 2019, Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California, a nonprofit association that promotes tourism in California, said, “California tourism is back where it belongs—setting records and providing for the workers, business owners and all Californians who depend on the travel industry as a cornerstone of our state’s economy. The industry has once again proved its ability to recover from any challenge, whether it be economic or environmental. California continues to be the largest, most diverse and most resilient tourism economy in the United States.”
The fires may have left the impression that California has been pushed off the tourism map for the present, and it might cause some people to skip over their California trip for now. That misunderstanding could cause the state’s tourism revenues to slip. But in fact, California needs its tourism economy to thrive now more than ever. And what California offers tourists is as robust as ever, with a few exceptions.
Spared
As widely destructive as the fires were, it’s amazing that so few tourism attractions were affected by the fires. Regrettably, some were. The Bunny Museum in Altadena, which exhibits some 50,000 bunny artifacts, was completely destroyed. The Andrew McNally House, a historic Queen Anne-style house built in 1887, was burned down. The Reel Inn, a popular 40-year old seafood restaurant in Topanga Canyon, was destroyed. The Getty Villa, Will Rogers State Historic Park, and parts of Griffith Park have all been temporarily closed.
Unfortunately, some of the worst damage from the Palisades fire was in the terrain around the Pacific Coast Highway. The fire burned through 23,448 acres around the highway, destroyed 6,837 structures, and damaged another 1,017. The highway was closed for nearly a month but has now been reopened, with traffic limited to one lane in each direction, reduced speed limits, and restricted access to some areas. The formerly glorious drive along the coast, with its many beautiful homes, is now a disaster area. But Californians are getting busy rebuilding, so it will come back, though it may take a while.
However, the total damage from the fires is still a small part of what Southern California offers visitors. Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood were unaffected by the fires. The Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre were spared damage. You can still stroll down Hollywood Boulevard. The Hollywood Sign is still intact. Despite the proximity of the Palisades Fire, the Santa Monica Pier was not damaged and is open to visitors. Its Ferris Wheel is still spinning. Most of the Southern California beaches are as beautiful and clean as ever. Venice Beach, with its artists and acrobats, is as wild and exciting as ever.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), The Broad and the Getty Museum are open and undamaged. Southern California’s diverse landscapes , including Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino National Forest Big Bear Lake, Lake Arrowhead and the Santa Monica Mountains remain as beautiful as ever. The wine country of Temecula Valley is still as deliriously inviting as before. Farmers’ markets, food festivals, and cultural events are still thriving.
The cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara have come through unscathed. The Grove LA is still open for some of the best dining and shopping experiences in town. Rodeo Drive is still a world-class shopping destination that gathers the top brands in the world, such as Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
According to Visit California’s Caroline Beteta, “Fortunately, more than 98 percent of Los Angeles County was not in a burn area.” Most of the damage was to private homes and businesses to the west of Los Angeles in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and in Altadena, to the east of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley. Those areas are best left alone as people rebuild. But most of Greater Los Angeles is back to business as usual.
Not the fires themselves, but the recovery efforts create a new attraction for California. If you travel there now, you can feel that you are part of the recovery effort. Whatever money you spend there can be seen as supporting the cause. And you can experience the joy of helping and participating in a humanitarian effort.
For suggestions of ways you can help California recover, see Visit California.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
