At the block party on Duende Lane, Elissa Atwood was delighted Saturday morning to greet neighbors she hadn’t seen in months, hoping their reconnection would help preserve the sense of community that was so shaken by the Palisades fire.
She is a third-generation Palisadian whose home, built by her grandfather in 1953, was threatened by the flames. Several of her immediate neighbors’ lost their homes. Atwood’s daughter was pregnant during the disaster, and her granddaughter is the fifth generation of the family to live in that home.
The party, organized by the Marquez Knolls Property Owners Assn., was the neighborhood’s only gathering of the year — music playing from a speaker, Pueblano-style tacos sizzling on the grill, dogs happily roaming around…