Miss LA Strong

Misspelling with Tory Spelling and iHeartRadio podcast.

Hi everyone, so we hear at Misspelling are back and

Are devastated across the world.

But when it happens right in your hometown, You're like, I don't know. Everyone says you know, you should always be prepared, but I don't think you're ever quite prepared. As much as you could be prepared, you're just not. So I apologize because it's my duty as the host of this podcast to keep some consistency and to quite frankly, do my job and give you weekly tapings. And I was just frozen for a week. I didn't feel like

I didn't.

Feel and my audience knows me well I had any right to talk about it. But I know sometimes comfort for others comes in different ways, and comfort comes in knowing and relying on something that is constant and does make you happy. So I don't know if this episode

God for babies. Okay, here goes nothing, folks.

So when the fires started last week, I remember, I remember getting the first text I got from one of my best guy friends and he said, are you seeing what's happening the fires? And I didn't know? And I said no, what do you mean? And it was the Palisades fire? And I immediately said, what's going on?

There's a fire.

It's happening, he told me. I of course. The first thing that goes through your mind is are we close? And I think that's just normal. You know, it's happening in La We live in La La La. Sounds like such a condensed version. We live in southern California, No La County like it was.

It was. It was close.

Enough, and it was like, oh my gosh. My immediate reaction was, oh my god, my kids are in school.

Do I need to.

Go pick them all up? That was immediate, like what just happened? What's going on? It's not stopping. They said, it's spreading. He said it's coming over the hill. The hill meant it would come towards us. So immediately checked in with all the schools there were still open. There

Weather.

It has been very inconsistent, very inconsistent. As someone that grew up, born and raised in La Are, California, our weather has changed so drastically. It's nothing like it used to be, and so there's no expectation. You don't know what's going to happen. It changes so frequently. We used to talk about earthquake weather. Now it's every advisory weather and it could change from day to day. So I checked with the schools. The schools did post something. We

He helps me with drop offs.

When he can, but pickups he can't do because of his job. I was just like, oh my gosh, okay, I I got to get to these pickups. I got to pick them up. Am I standing by? Am I pulling the kids too soon?

You know?

I don't want to be that person. But anyway, the kids were fine. They came home. Teens being teens. I could hear them all, you know, on the and preteens on the phones with their friends, and they were just you know, that's all. They weren't talking about the fire. The fire is a close, is a closer. You're staying home, what are you doing? And it's a very different conversation than the conversation as an adult and a parent that you're having with your friends.

Let's just say that.

And my friend had said you got to get on watch duty app. First he said you got to get on Citizen, which I swore to go off of.

That was taking me down, like years ago. I had to I had to get off of that.

Because you know, it would be really random things that wouldn't even be helpful, and it was consuming my life in a panicked way. So I went back on Citizen and then he said, Watch Duty.

This is the one. It's just the wildfires.

It's you know, covering the palisades, covering the eaten fire, covering you know, all the smaller ones that were still arding. And so I went on that, and I got to be honest.

I you know how your.

Phone knows what you do the most. So like my phone, for instance, you know it'll pull up my messages, it'll pull up Instagram and now pulls up Watch Duty because it knows that's basically all I'm focused on. Because our phones know us. I have not gone off of it, and I think I refresh it like every five minutes. It's probably not even healthy, but you know, making sure like did I miss something.

It's something not refreshed.

And I don't know about it, but I think it's become a way of life now for everybody, at least for now until some sort of normalizing happens for LA. But that was Tuesday, I believe Wednesday, we had power outages, the winds were crazy, the kids didn't go to school by Wednesday, my friend who had alerted me of the fires.

He said, you need to get prepared, you need to go.

He wanted us to go as a single mom. I'm grateful that I have a couple guy friends that feel the need to step up. I have girlfriends as well, but they have families, you know, But I have guy friends. They don't have families, and they have made our families, specifically one of my friends, and he's made our family really a priority. And he checks in on us about everything, and.

He was like, you need to go. It's getting close.

And I kept looking and of course the kids are panicked and the kids, sorry, my dogs are barking. We're here at an airbnb and we're all here in it together. So he said, you need to pack up stuff and have everything prepared. And I kept saying, but but it's not close enough. We don't need to evacuate. We are okay. And I think, of course, my children come first and my family comes first. But I was trying to be pragmatic.

And I was like Okay, we have all our food here, We're financially secure here. You know, I don't. We're a big family.

There's six of us, five kids, me, there's three dogs, there's a cat, and there's a ferret. And to put the burden of us on another family is insane, you know.

It's just.

Although I got to say, I did have a couple people reach out and say, if you need to come here, you know, we can do sleeping bags.

We can.

But I also think in my situation, people probably assume like, oh, she's fine, she has a lot of people that are wanting to put her up, or she's I don't know. I don't know what people think. But anyway, I was like, okay, we're here in our home. I'm checking everything, I'm making sure it's fine. I'm seeing the proximity of the fire. I was more concerned at the time dealing with I have a couple good friends that live on Topanga, like old Tapanga, and like.

They had to evacuate.

I was more concerned telling them before they had the mandatory, like they couldn't go back in of getting their stuff out, and I said, we're here, there's six of us, Like, let me come to you and help you move stuff. You guys can all come to stay with us. I was more concerned about taking people in than getting us out. And my daughter, who is sixteen, she kept saying, my friends are evacuating. My friend, we need to go, We need to go. And I kept saying, but ours isn't mandatory.

But I didn't.

Want to leave yet. And then Wednesday night power was going in and out. Everything was going off. The winds were insane. You could smell the fires outside. We couldn't go outdoors. And my friend said, my friend, that was super helpful.

He said, do me a favor. At least go gas your car up, so if you have to go and you have to go far, you have gas in your car. And I'm glad I took his advice. I did. I left the house with my daughter. We went.

We filled the car up with gas, our SUV and that was prepared on Thursday. Then it got to the kids didn't go to school again. They were you know, schools were shut down, the fires were and it wasn't until another fire literally started on the other side of us that my friend said, you have fires starting on both sides of you.

You've got to go. You've got to go now.

And then right as he was like texting me this, I was getting the is it Amber alert for five I don't know what it was, but it was going off. I could hear it going off on all my kids' phones that our area we needed to go, and I was like, okay, let's go. Of course, I didn't have a plan. My friend had told me for two days to have a plan. I didn't listen. And I posted this on on Instagram. I told my story exactly how it went down. I'm always very authentic and truthful. Such

Have a plan.

And when we evacuated and fled, we just literally we we did the best we could. I would say, in thirty minutes or less because it was getting dark, and my friend said, they're going to close the one on one soon.

There's talk of it, and.

You you got to get out and get on the one. You know, you got to get somewhere. So I said, kids, we got to get out of here fast. I didn't want to panic my kids either, like that. That's not helpful. Someone's got to be the voice of reason. Too bad they have me, but uh, it's yeah. So thirty minutes or less, we packed up six lives and three animals. It was it was I don't know how we did it, honestly. And my daughter Stella, she she's kind of we always I always joke with her as well, like she's I

And in a moment, I was like, I don't know, I don't know what to take. I'll tell you what I took. It wasn't much. This is weird.

I was wearing a Los Angeles T shirt that my daughter had di wide can cut and it was actually hers, and she was like, I don't want anymore.

I'm like, I'll take it in s cool. I was wearing a Los Angeles T.

Shirt will Wave Back Waited, which is so bizarro, and I didn't even have it on because what was happening.

So I went into my closet.

I looked around and I was like, none of this matters, Like, who cares?

Where am I gonna pack it? We don't have room. We don't have room to even put suitcases if we wanted to. We're packing a cage. We had to put our two big dogs in a cage so they don't move around. To put their cage in the.

Back seat of our suv, it took up the whole back seat, to be honest, and then our third big dog like it was like.

Nowhere.

So I'm like, okay, I'd rather my kids grab things they want than me, like who cares about me? And so in that moment, in that panic moment, I looked down, I grabbed my I went to John Thomas d which was JTD in elementary school that if you grew up in La you know, and if you live in you know. I grabbed my jacket from nineteen eighty five.

I grabbed that jacket. I don't think it fits me.

I don't know why I grabbed that, because I was like, okay, this will be my memory, and great, this will be my one memory.

And then I'm not gonna lie.

I looked down at like my lou batons and my Blenciaga shoes and my.

Ugh and I said, h what does it matter?

And I did take a seashell because my uncle Danny was in the seashell business and he had given me one, and I grabbed that seashell. I grabbed a couple of my crystals because I was like, okay, I want to bring some good energy. Grabbed my contacts because I got to have those, and really that was all I grabbed. And then I went downstairs and I was like, okay, photos, I got a that and Stella said, Mom, Luckily, we still had a box from our last house that we

So I'm really glad.

I grabbed that photo album because I had no idea that our family beach house would be gone, so I grabbed it and I had pictures of my dad and us at the beach.

There, so I grabbed that and packed food for the dogs, packed water. You're supposed to pack water, right you always know an emergency, like always packed water, and we shoved everyone in the car. My twelve year old he said, Mom, I had a really good idea. And I said what, baby, And he said, I put all my stuff into a blanket. Mind you, it was a really fuzzy, huge blanket.

I put all my stuff in there and I tied it, just like Snoopy used to do when he would leave home and going back to the cartoon. It's Charlie Brown, and I was like, well, where's the stick? You know, I hold it, but uh it was ginormous and I'm like, okay, buddy, encouraging him, thinking this is not a good idea. And it was huge, huge, And then I see that Hattie, his thirteen year old sister, had followed suit, so she had that, and I'm like, we're not getting this all

Can't move, I can't breathe, I can't.

It was stuffed and my daughter said, well, you're not gonna be able to see how the back.

I said, it's okay. I mean.

I don't even know how we got ourselves packed into that car. It was like Tetris on a next level, and not in a good way, it was just jammed in. I looked back and my daughter Hattie was folded up. She had one dog across her. She was holding a ferret. And I said, oh my god. But you know what, I said, Okay, everything else, it's just stuff.

It's just stuff.

And we got out of there, and as we were leaving, I saw all the neighbors evacuating and getting in their cars and we drove and I and it was in that moment I remembered that because my kids said, where are we going?

And I said, I don't know. I don't know where to go.

And my best friend Jess is simultaneously calling and she's telling me they had to evacuate, and she's like, all hotels are booked, they're all sold out. There's nowhere to go. Where are you guys going? And of course, you know, I'm like, I don't know, I said, And then I was like, oh my gosh. And sometimes I believe everything happens for a reason. And in December at Iheart's jingle Ball, I was there with my two girls and a lot of people at one point were, you know, coming up because it's.

Our demo the night of twent zero and they were like, oh my gosh, we watched your childhood. Can we take a picture.

My friends are here, we work with this business and here, and fans were here at the concert, and I said, yeah, of course, of course. And we actually ended up missing the concert, mostly because I was taking pictures. But my girls understood that the kindness that comes with what I do, it's I don't know. It was important to me, and it was making all these people so happy. And there was the last person in line. Came up with her best friend and she said to me, I can't believe you're doing this.

Thank you.

I know you're here with your family. If you ever need anything, I'm with Airbnb. And I said, oh my gosh, we love Airbnb. We always you know, you guys are so cool to navigate. I have the app and we've used you guys so many times. Especially we went through Mold and we used them. And she gave me her number and she said if you ever need anything, and I didn't think much of it in that moment, and I reached out to her and I said, we're evacuating and we have nowhere to go, and I'm panicked.

I just want to drive my kids out of here. And through the fires.

And I said, I know this is a long shot, and her name's Jamie, and I didn't expect her to respond, and she did respond, and she said, we got you. We are going to we're going to help you out, and I'm going to put you in touch with one of my colleagues, Taylor, and Taylor stayed on the phone and on.

Text with Stella the whole drive. I was scared.

I was, And it was really amazing and what Airbnb has done for all of La in California and placing people that have lost their homes that have been evacuated, It's really been remarkable. And this is in no way, shape or form and add for Airbnb. It's just exactly how it happened in real life.

So anyway, they found us the place because I said, well here's why, I said. I said, I'm getting on the one oh one, and they said, given the circumstances, a lot of people a going to Palm Springs, so you might want to head that way. And I said, the traffic is stand still that way. I said. I the kids were literally shoved. It was like painful for them. And I said, we don't have like I can't sit on the freeway with kids for five, six, maybe eight hours.

At that point, everyone was evacuating and I said, I'm going to head on the one on one north. It was just a gut reaction, a cut decision, and I just drove and Stella said, Mom, Mom, are you sure you're going the right way? And I said, what's the right way right now? And she said, but the but it stands still going.

South the other way. We're headed this way.

Nobody's going and the fire, one of the other the smaller fire that had started after is headed up there, and Negre like, it's it's there, Like why are we headed this way? And I said I don't know, but this is where we are and this is what we're doing.

And she said, we're driving ray into the fire.

And I looked and we could see the fire and all of a sudden, smoke was coming through the vents, and I said to the kids. Everyone grabbed a T shirt and I said, put it over your mouth, hold your breath, and we're driving right through it.

And they were panicked, are we going to be okay? And I said We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine.

So as we were literally driving on the freeway, my kids covering their faces with T shirts and holding their breath.

I couldn't help but think, like, God, I've seen this movie.

I've seen this I'm my brain thinks in movies and TV. I was born into it, you know, so that's how I think. And as we're driving, specifically, I remember thinking like Independence Day and in Vivoca, a fox like on the freeway, like getting her kid and the dog out, and I just flashed to that and I was like, oh my god, she made it through. I mean, it

We didn't know if it was going to stop. We didn't, So yeah, I was like, wow, okay, here's the movie. You know.

I wish I had worked out a little bit more before it took the song, because there's gonna be a lot of running involved if it keeps going this way. But yeah, we drove through. We drove past it. The kids were able to breathe again. We finally hit an area way past where the fires were up north where we did hit standstill traffic, and I said to Stella, see, see there's traffic this way. They just got it out a little sooner and made it this far, and they're closing the roads near where the fire was.

So we're okay, had it this way.

And Taylor from Airbnb was was still texting with us and trying to find a place, and it was, you know, at this point, it was night and we were just driving and I didn't know where we were going. And he said, okay, I've tried a few places. They either can't accommodate this last minute, or you know, don't take animals, and because we do, we have our animals.

And I said, okay, well I'm just.

Going to keep going and uh he said, you know, you might have to try to a hotel for the night. And I said, no, one's going to take us with all these animals, and oh my god. So I was like, okay, there's going to be a sign. Let's keep going, and all of a sudden, he said, oh my god, something just popped up. I don't know why it didn't pop up before, it just popped up. It's where we are now. Just contacted the owner. They you know, are listing on Airbnb, and they can set it up. They can take you

We're good.

We'll take anywhere. We're not picky, We're not. And I said, just you know, I'm not like that anyway. I'm easy. And I said, as long as we have a place tonight, we can always. We think about it tomorrow, and I just want my kids to feel comforted and can sleep.

You know.

We were just all crammed in a car and driving aimlessly and anyway, we got here and we checked in and it was unbelievably beautiful and gorgeous and a retreat of sorts, I would say, or at least to us it was. And it was dark so we couldn't see much, so the kids were tired. We were able to order pizza and get pizza in.

Everyone found a room.

We went to bed, and the next morning we woke up and I was able to see where we were because it was late, and I looked around. I walked outside and there was this beautiful cooi pond and I was like, oh my god, that's amazing.

And then I.

Find out that the area we're in, but not just the area, but the house specifically, is a monarch butterfly sanctuary. If you know me, you know I love butterflies or one of my main things always has been, but more so than that, butterflies were a big thing. And when my dad passed, I just remember everyone saying, look for him because he loved the butterflies, look for him. And when you see a monarch, that's your dad. And I

I believe Yeah, so I believe we found this place because of that.

And it just made it even more special to be able to the next day go through the albums with my kids and show them Grandpa Aaron and be like, we're safe here, We're going to be okay. And when it's okay to go back, we still don't have power.

At our house. Where we lived.

Our house is fine for now, but when it's safe to go back, we will. And it's it's like when things are so horrible, you have to find blessings in.

Tragedy.

And for me as a mom, as a single mom, you know, my kids have gone through a lot in the last couple.

Of years, say, while it is so tragic.

Everything that is going on, we're together, we're safe, we're healthy, ish, we get psychot and we're able to have this time where we're spending time together.

We're airbnbas, everything, we're cooking. I'm trying to give them some sort of normalcy while we're here.

And you know, our schools did open this week, And I got to say, I wrote emails to all of our schools and I said, we're way up north. I couldn't get my kids to school daily if I tried. Right now, we were evacuated. We still don't have power, We can't go back. We didn't grab their laptops for school. We weren't prepared. And I said, but they accepted the absences. You know, we put them online for the week. But I got to be honest, you know, I didn't want

I want them all in eyesight right now.

They are what mean the most to me in my life, not things, not a home, They are my home, and I just wanted my pets around.

You know, so many.

People have lost their fur babies, and it's like, I just God, I don't want anyone out of my site right now.

Stay close. So yeah, that's our story.

And my heart goes out to people who have lost everything and are so strong throughough and resilient. As an LA native, it's unbelievable to see that the LA history will never be the same. My kids generation, their kids generation will never know the La that I grew up in, the magical La that was because it's gone. Palisades gone, Pali High's gone. Like all my friends in La, like

It did.

The morning I found out, I didn't want to believe it. My friend said, Malibu's on fire. All of LaCosta Beach is on fire, and that's where our home was. And I said, oh, my god, no, And then sure enough, Yeah, I've been in touch with my mom. She's processing.

It's a lot.

My brother and I are just super grateful for the memories, and I think our family as a whole, and my mom and brother would attest to this. The greatest tragedy about losing that home was you know, they can post in the press how much the home was worth, and it doesn't mean not to my mom. It doesn't mean not to my family. It was losing the memories with my dad, but memories are always there.

But it was just it was my dad's favorite place in the whole world. He was a workaholic.

He worked really hard, came from nothing, built up like such an amazing self made man, and he loved the simple things like he loved going to that beach house and fishing and just just amazing memories and the families that we grew up with on that beach that lost homes. I mean, I'm grateful we have all those memories. But Wiley's Bait shop, like that.

Was a family owned business and I used to go on there with my.

Dad and would buy bait. So my dad taught me how to fish when I was little, and would go there since I was five and go to Wiley's and be like, look, you know, I'm all grown up, and here's here's my children, and I'm teaching them how to fish now and share those memories and see such a beautiful institution and part of LA like historical gone and a family business, a small family business.

But you know, the good news is.

Everyone is stepping into help for everybody, and I'm hoping LA will rebuild. If anyone doesn't know Pete, we call it the Other nine two one oh podcast.

You are.

I mean, you're a nine o two and oh expert, not just a man.

I know a lot now.

I know a lot more than I ever knew. You know a lot about you. I know a lot about you.

Another creepy thing.

With a lot of creep.

I don't have my podcast microphone because it's a part of the earth now at the house I used to live with, I went back to the house, like, I have this cool picture of you as Donna Martin. I have Claire Arnold's pictures, right, I have all these cool things. I have the paintings from the Walsh House that Jill Hankel, the set decorator, gave me. I was like, one of these things is going to be there.

To a little bit.

Nope, total destruction. Nothing was there.

Well, you know, you and I used humor, and you guys were very good friends, and so.

My heart just fluttered a little by the way when you said that it's true.

You know I love you.

I love you too. Yeah, And I was.

Going to make some silly joke like, well, it's just creepy that you had those paintings.

Anyway, everyone everyone, and I mentioned the paintings too, are like they were really creepy. Why did you want them? But it was, you know, it was a shocking turn of events.

The whole thing.

The crazy part is, you know, we were all glue dour phones, looking at watch duty, looking at Instagram, just trying to get some like what's going on. What's going on? I felt like you and I were texting things were fine, and then all of a sudden I found out because I see your Instagram story and I was like what, and I was like, oh my god.

Yeah.

It was a plot twist for me because we left. I had no idea what was going on. Like the power company told us the day before They're going to turn our power off the next day. I don't care, like fine, I could live with a little no power. And it went from the power did go off, it went from power out to there's a fire in Altadena. We have had wind and fire before, but so I was kind of like, well, I always saw the fire like so far off in the distance. I was like, well,

We're fine. But then it started.

Our whole house started to fill up with smoke and it was Honestly, one of the I haven't said this out loud, but like I was really scared. The house was making sounds that it never made before, Like a house doesn't really make sounds like it's dying or something like that, but that's what was happening. Like the the fireplace had this weird hissing sound going through it, and because of the wind, things just started pounding on our house and it became more and more like we need

To a hotel. And that whole time though I was I'm a mister.

Positivity, so I was like, I was like, we're not We're not going to be in the No, not our house, Like it's gonna be all the other houses and or it won't be anybody on our block because our block on Harriet Street, like everybody, all the neighbors, Like I haven't you know when you have like neighbor conflict. We never had that, Like I've had neighbor conflict in my life before, but not on this street. This street everybody was was really into each other.

We used to hang out, we used to do like get togethers and stuff.

That's a rarity by the way, right, because.

So many does some shit that pisces you off at some point.

Yeah, but no, it wasn't like that, And so we were all on a text threat about what was.

Going on, and like yourself.

Finally we saw on Instagram like places really near, very close to my house, like a car wash that I used to visit all the time, this little restaurant up the street from us, this pizza place, the pizza place that I brought you pizza from, Pizza Venice.

All of those places were on fire.

And I was like, oh shit, if those places are on fire, there's a really good chance my house is going to be on fire.

But still had held hope that it wouldn't be that. And then had you packed up. We packed the dogs.

A rack of clothes, like nothing, even like I just was like, oh, we'll be back by noon.

I grabbed my computer, you know.

Not like a plan, right, like when people talk about like did you have a plan, And people were sending out like notes with like.

Here's the lists of stuff you're supposed to pack.

I just froze when I saw stuff like that, and my situation is irrelevant compared to yours.

But what do you pack?

Like, what do you I'm a filmmaker. I grabbed all the hard drives with all the films.

As creators don't our brains don't think like that.

Right, Well, I'm not even thinking like this.

I'm still thinking like should I grab the computer, like I mean, I'll be back by eleven.

It feels ridiculous to bring to bring this bulky computer.

Like, I'm not in the mind even though the house is filled with smoke, the house is making these crazy sounds.

I'm only talking about that.

From the perspective of it, and that being now, I should have known all those things as were happening. And we took off and somebody in the group said the text said, I'm so sorry, but the house is.

Totally gone and it's still you know.

I saw the video and the drive by of my house and it was very much like, hey, are you okay?

I'm okay.

I was fine until I until then I started to see all those like Pizza Venice and Foxes and all those places that I go to. Though I go to places in Altadena. I love Altadena. I love that community. It's totally diverse. Like I fell in love with it. If I was going to pick a place to live in the world, it would be Altadena, Like it's my vibe.

And you did pick it well, and you're a transplant. You're an East Coast transplant.

That's right.

I'm originally East Coaster. The guy across the street was originally East Coaster. We bust each other about East Coast baseball.

So it was.

It was a really beautiful neighborhood. And the impact of it all really hit me the next day when I went down there, you know, when I went down to to see the place, because like I said, even though you cross you see someone your house.

Destroyed on on like a phone, like you get a text message, it's still like, well maybe this is there.

Well maybe the thing is there, maybe Donna's pictures there, you know, none of that was there.

Maybe I can get you another one of those I was. I was going to ask, Yeah, you were only like one of the couple keepers of boast of it.

So it's true.

And I while I and you know, I went up there and I and I was devastated Tory, like, I mean, my home was just totally destroyed there like the places that I got in and like pondered life in that in that backyard, and pondered whether or not I would ever meet Tori sp you know whatever, You know what I mean, Like I pondered all the big life questions.

We're joking, guys, He's not really joking, but no, oh no.

No, I mean that was pondered there for sure. But I you know, I just I lost it.

It wasn't there.

And then I mean the images of seeing your town that I just told you about, that I loved and would pick as my town totally decimated and destroyed our images that you'll never get out of your head. I mean, and I don't mean to be even more horrific, but the neighbor behind us had a dog that used to interact with our dogs all the time. And when I went into the backyard, the dogs was dead in the backyard, you know. And I'm just I don't know why he didn't save his dog, why he didn't take this dog.

Maybe he was like me.

I don't know that neighbor, but maybe he was like me, And I'll be back by noon. That's not even really an excuse for it, but just to see to see that with your own property totally gone, and like, I know we're joking about nine two one of other stuff, but like real shit, you know, like the family photos, the videotapes, the artwork that you got in Cuba, the

I was at a bar a couple of nights ago listening to someone talking.

He was like, they could take away my things, but they can't take away my memories. And that actually helped me. That helped me to be like, well, I still went to Cuba. I still remember getting the paintings. It's like, okay, fuck, I don't have the paintings anymore. But like that all happened, and you know, we we I was scared, really scared afterwards too, because I didn't know what was going to happen. We started to gofund me. I mean, I'm not even that kind of person, but it just felt like I

Like a family. And I learned that.

Though I was not a cast member of nine O, two and zero, that it is a family.

It's a deep family. And when you're in that family.

You're protected by the people that were on it, the people that wrote it, the people that did various tasks on it, and also the community of people that loved the show. And all of them donated to the gofund me, all of them sent me text messages in wall wishes. I mean, you know, my TV crush is Kathleen Robertson.

You know, it's Caronald.

She's literally checked in on me every day, like she has Like like I said to her one night, I was like, I don't have any clothes.

I wish I could just have clothes. And she sent me like.

A curated list of clothes that I had to buy because she used to always bust me about my other clo and she said and finally she called me, she was like, maybe maybe some outfits were good that.

They were in right.

I concur with that.

And then Brian, you know, Brian, I mean I lost my guitar in this thing I got it in the nineties and it was something that was so special to me. And you know, he called me and was like, you know, I want to see you and went and got lunch and took us to lunch and really helped reshape my mind about all of this because the first, the first few days, it was it was like this deep grief that I'll never see those things again, like everything's over.

And but he reminded me, like.

He shaped my outlook a little bit and reminded me of the positive person I am, and like how to look at it from a from a positive place. And then he gave me a bit. He gave me a guitar, like he gave me his guitar from the nineties. I was like, this is the perfect one. And you, I mean, you're you're like, how can I help you? What can

What like me saying like just checking in an asshole, Yeah.

Just checking an asshole makes me because.

You got it, you know, yeah, the physical stuff that it's it's horrible. It takes tragedy for us to be like it was just stuff. But and I'm no one to say it. I didn't lose anything. You lost everything, but you have your family, you have your fur babies.

Good.

Yeah, I'm well, you still got your humor and looks.

So thank you.

I I sorry, I and I can still have a homemade meal. Like I'm gonna bounce back. I'm gonna go to another place. I'm gonna make dinner. I'm going to go to lunch with you. I'm gonna you know what I mean, Like, we're gonna I'm gonna enjoy life and have a fresh start at this.

And I know there's a lot of people.

That that their outlook right now is grief and devastation, and I am there with you.

But it is a chance to begin again. And those are some of the most beautiful moments and times in your life when you can evaluate what's important and move forward with those things, and also then create new memories because in the end, what are we taking. Like I'm not going to ask them to put a picture of something in the you know, in wherever I am, like, in the end, what I'm going to be left with are my memories, and so they can take away my things, but they can't take away my memories.

You'll attest to this.

We have fast paced moving lives, especially in this industry, and we're going, going, going, We don't stop. You know when people say like, oh my gosh, different parts of the world, they live life differently, They take moments, they appreciate things often.

You know, I got to say, you know, in La and even in New York, like it's just it's just so fast paced that we're always.

Like work, work, work, you know, our family, but we got to go, got to go. And in the end, you're right, can't take it with you can't.

And what I was going to say, what's been beautiful too, is that Los Angeles and.

All of this entire place, this community are all dreamers, but they're all doers, and they're all helpers. And it's been beautiful to see how literally everybody is doing and helping people like me, other families like me. Those restaurants will rebuild the communities, come out in Los Angeles for their people, and as someone who lives here now, I'm really grateful to everybody who helped us in this time.

What can I do to make you feel better?

And it's really because of just the heart that people have out here, the imagination.

Which I didn't I didn't know until.

I mean, La and California has been through devastation and things before, but it's really this one that And maybe it's because I'm older now I'm able to really understand what's going on. I didn't always know if I believed the people in LA would do something like this, and they have.

You're right.

La has really come together, California has come together. I mean, I know people from all over the world are stepping.

Into help, but.

It is It does make me smile to know that is an LA native, a place that I was born and raised, that we are that community. I don't know if I would have thought LA was it became something so different for so long.

It's nice to know the film community and the restaurant community are people of action.

They're like, I gotta get.

This done, this done, this scene, this thing, this thing, this meal, this thing, this thing, and when they find that there's crisis, and it's in other cities too, it's not just La.

But what I love is that they they just did it. They just helped.

And yeah, I'm like, I'm I'm just blown away. Because I started this little podcast during the pandemic, I got to meet you and my TV crush and Brian and Chuck and Larry and this whole community of people of fans of nine to two one zero that just stepped up in a major way and said I want.

To help you.

You made an impact in my life, and it's in a weird way seeing your legacy come to life of like the things that you've done, and it was very beautiful and emotional for me. It was almost more emotional to see all of that beauty and to live in that gratitude than to think about the destruction of it all this it was more important to me to feel that love than anything else. And I've never felt more loved in my entire life because of this horrific tragedy.

Well, you are.

Loved, and everyone in LA is loved. And to go back to where I was saying, I didn't know if people in LA would step up. Ever, I think that's only because I was so conditioned over the years and just hearing, Oh, everyone in LA's fake. You know, we're so conditioned to hear that from people. That's not what I knew growing up, Like, I just bought into.

The perception that everybody put on us.

And it's so nice that that's peeled back now and the world can see, like, LA is real, We're not fake. Everyone everyone in the moment of crisis all stepped up and helped each other.

So what can they say about us now?

I think you're one of the most authentic people I've ever met. I don't think that there's anything fake about you. And as a nine oh two and oh.

Well just my nose, but.

My boobs, but yeah, nothing else, so real no matter what they say.

But I was gonna what I was gonna say was, you know, everyone I ever talked to from nine oh two and oh has always said that there is one person that was always in their corner.

And supportive of them, and that's you.

That goes from uh, every guest star I talked to, every director that they loved working with you because of them that you brought And it's that light that you have. There's a moment right here where I am in a really dark place, driving around all over trying to find places, not sure, displaced, and you offer me this bright light to come on here and talk to you and see your beautiful face and share some laughs with me, and.

I mean, there's nothing more beautiful.

So thank you well, thank you for being my friend.

I love you, love you too. See you guys, All right, by asshole.

In this episode, we will post links of how you can help the victims of these fires. Super grateful iHeart has partnered with the Dream Center in LA and they are doing amazing work getting people who have lost everything what they need and are taking donations daily. So again, please look for that information in the description and just hug your loved ones really tight, keep them close.

I love you, guys,