Author and historian to add more pages to Altadena's story after Eaton Fire

With more than 9,000 homes and businesses gone in Altadena, the Eaton Fire stripped away generations of families from their history.

The book that chronicled much of Altadena’s beginnings is once again available and the author says she is ready to add more chapters to the city’s storied past.  

“We were just getting to the place, you know, where we had more restaurants and some were becoming hip,” said author Michele Zack.

In the book “Altadena Between Wilderness and City,” Zack goes back centuries to tell the story of Altadena beyond its founding in 1887 and before the Eaton Fire raged through last January.

“When half of the city practically is black and half white, I mean, you have incredible cultural mixing and interest,” said Zack.

First published in 2004, the book chronicles life in this foothill community from segregation to integration from the showmen to the scientists.

“Like, this is in 1919, where they were announcing, ‘We don’t want any people of color in Altadena,’” explained Zack.

The book describes the years when some communities were not welcome, to the moments when Altadena felt like a warm embrace, even mapping their acceptance.  

“People would sign something to say, I welcome a good neighbor of any color, creed, religion,” said Zack.

It was the coffee table book that many lost in the Eaton fire. Recently, the Altadena Historical Society reprinted hundreds of new editions.

Zack’s home, which she and her husband built over 40 years ago, is now in the rebuild stage. She says an Altadena of the future could mirror some of its past, when having means meant you could buy in.

“Nothing big is going to go through without a lot of scrutiny,” said Zack.

She and others in the community are working together to help take charge of what they want to see.

This current time, she says, is to learn from the two decades between publications and set up the chronicling of the years to come.  

“I want everyone to learn about our rich history and there’s a lot more to write,” said Zach.