The fires that have devastated Los Angeles have torn through residential neighborhoods, forced countless citizens to evacuate, and impacted the city's most famous cultural sites. With the ongoing wildfires, it's unclear what museums or monuments will be affected. However, reports have already emerged regarding a few locations where the impact of the fires has already been felt. 

Various galleries and museums have already been lost to the fires, many of them smaller artist-driven sites whose loss is felt on a community level and whose replacement and restoration will be far more difficult without considerable support. Art insurance specialists are calling this one of the worst disasters for art loss in American history, even comparing it to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and how that paled in comparison. 

Not only are people evacuating in large numbers, but valuable collections are also rushing to safer locations for storage. Los Angeles’ has a disproportionately high concentration of art pieces, and as such, it's believed the losses and claims that will result from this event will be unprecedentedly high. Right now, eyes turn to the Getty Center as it prepares to face the Palisades fire, something its sister site, the Getty Villa, survived last week. 

Specifically, regarding the art world, the fires in the north of the city have been the most devastating. The area is home to several creative-driven art projects and sites, which have been lost to the fires and will have to undergo significant reinvestment to restore. One of those was Zorthian Ranch. Founded around 70 years ago in Pasadena on the city’s northern edge, it was founded with bohemian ideals and was a ground for various artists to congregate and work together surrounded by nature.

It had become quite a mysterious and fabled location within Pasadena until the Eaton fires plaguing the northern side of the city ravaged the site. The entire 45-acre site of the ranch had been engulfed, with fifteen artists managing to escape. However, the art of its founder, Jirayir Zorthian (1911-2004), was destroyed along with most of the ranch’s operating infrastructure and animals, around 95% of everything the ranch had. Fortunately, its main house and annex were saved.

Repairs to the damage are estimated at US$400,000, with US$92,000 of that amount being dedicated to just cleaning up the debris. However, this will not make up for the artwork that has been lost to the fire and can never be restored. The goal right now is to make sure there are enough funds to ensure that the land won’t have to be sold off to developers. The team behind Zorthian Ranch, led by the founder's daughter, has begun a fundraiser. 

Similarly, just north of Pasadena in Altadena, the Alto Beta Gallery, a small location tucked away in a strip mall founded in 2022, was completely burnt down, with the work of painter Mary Anne Pomonis being completely lost, with her solo exhibition Quiver having just opened on 5 January.

Another smaller landmark that was lost in the fire was the Bunny Museum, also located in Altadena. It was founded in 1998 by couple Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski, who started the museum after a tradition where they gifted each other bunny-themed items every day. The museum was home to over 46,000 bunny-related pieces. It won the Guinness World Record for “owning the most bunny items in the world” in 1999, 2011, and 2023.

It sadly burnt down on 9 January after Steve Lubanski attempted to put out the fire. Only a few of the bunny-related items were saved from the fire, but all the rabbits and cats on the premises were safely evacuated. The collection included bunny plushies, ceramics, paintings, and more, with the owners vowing to rebuild the museum in the future. They have also begun a fundraiser to help reconstruct their collection in the future. 

However, there were museums more lucky when the fire hit. Most notable was the Getty Villa. Located in the devastated Palisades neighborhood of Western LA, the Getty Villa survived the fire with only the vegetation surrounding the building being burnt. While threatened by the fires, it remained safe, with the Getty Villa having several features that protected it from the fire. 

Modeled after the ancient Roman Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy, the Getty Villa houses more than 44,000 artifacts from antiquity, with some dating as far back as 6,500 B.C.E. To protect these valuable artifacts, the Getty Villa features its own irrigation system and water supply, which deployed itself during the fire. The areas that housed valuable artifacts and the library archives were further sealed off when smoke entered the premises.

Additionally, efforts were also coordinated remotely from the Getty Center further to the east, which was able to provide the team at the Getty Villa with valuable information through their cameras and communication equipment. Thanks to the combined efforts, all that was lost was some vegetation on the outskirts of the Villa, and a bit of rosemary that caused a false alarm inside the premises when it sparked. It is now the task of the Getty Center to withstand the blazes from the very same fire.

While the fire threat seems to have passed for the Getty Villa, things are not as clear for the Getty Centre. It welcomes over 1.4 million visitors per year and houses around 44,000 works of art, including Irises by Vincent van Gogh.

Constructed in 1997, the building has been hailed as a “marvel of anti-fire engineering.” The museum claimed and continues to insist that evacuating pieces is not necessary, due to how safe they believe the Getty Center is in the case of a fire. The building is specially designed to deal with fires, with its construction materials, layout, control systems, and operational protocols designed with fire safety in mind.

According to the Getty, the building’s materials are highly fire-resistant, and it is constructed out of protected steel, concrete, and stone. The center’s layout is also filled with large open spaces in between fires, so that in the case a fire enters the campus, its spread would be slowed down as it attempted to move between buildings. Furthermore, the campus’ watering system is also capable of being repurposed for the suppression of fires.

The Getty’s staff are also constantly prepared for a situation where a fire breaks out. The irrigation systems are frequently maintained, and the staff are put on high alert should fire conditions become a concern. The staff also coordinate with government officials on fire safety. The staff at the Getty are monitoring the situation, especially regarding what occurred at Getty Villa.