On a Friday evening at El Caporal, a southern California restaurant, the dining room buzzed with chatter.For owner Neddy Morelos, the soundtrack was a welcome contrast to the silence of other nights when employees joked that they could hear a fly flap its wings.
For the first time since January, when the Eaton fire bore down on her restaurant on Fair Oaks Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in Altadena, every vaquero-themed banquette was filled with hungry customers.
“I love it,” said Morelos, 45, between taking orders and delivering steaming plates of birria and carnitas. “Listen to all the small talk.”
Welcome to the Altadena Dining club. Unlike other exclusive clubs that dot Los Angeles, the cost of membership is free. many dining club members lost homes and community cornerstones in the fire, but that unfortunate credential isn’t required.
Come as you are,members say.
“we are kind of like a little misfit sort of group,” said Brooke Lohman-Janz, dining club founder and an altadena resident who lost her apartment in the fire.
El Caporal. Photograph: Courtesy of El Caporal mexican restaurant
Mundane conversation is a luxury for this group – many were strangers before one of the most destructive wildfires in California history leveled parts of their community. The businesses that remain – restaurants like El Caporal – report dips in sales.
United by tragedy, the dining club aims to save one struggling restaurant in Altadena at a time. Since June, the dining club has rotated through eight restaurants – most are family-owned like El Caporal, where MorelosS husband, Francisco Cortez, works the kitchen.
The dining club events offer vital economic boosts for participating restaurants,but along the way,something unexpected happened – neighbors who once only waved at each other shared meals together. Grief gave way to text chain jokes.Real connections blossomed between strangers who, before the fire, shared little more than a common zip code.
Altadena Dining Club: Finding community and Healing After the Fire
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In the aftermath of the devastating 2023 wildfires that swept through Altadena, California, a unique initiative emerged: the Altadena Dining Club. What began as a simple effort to support local restaurants has blossomed into a vital community hub, offering residents a space for connection, healing, and a sense of normalcy.
A Response to Loss
The idea originated with residents Sarah lohman-Janz and Amy Zobrist, who recognized the need for both economic support for businesses impacted by the fire and a way for neighbors to reconnect after experiencing collective trauma. “We were thinking, ‘How do we get people out and about, supporting businesses, and just being together?'” Lohman-Janz explained. The club quickly gained traction, with weekly gatherings at different local restaurants.
More Than Just a Meal
The Altadena Dining Club isn’t simply about providing meals; it’s about fostering a sense of community. Members regularly share their experiences, offer support, and build friendships. The club has become a safe space for residents to process their grief, share stories, and find solace in shared experiences. It’s a place where conversations naturally evolve from discussing the fire’s impact to deeper, more personal connections.
“I found a place where now I can belong and find refuge, find friendships, and people,” said Zobrist. “It’s fun to eat out.It’s essential to help businesses.There’s a lot of dynamics to it, but what keeps me coming back is a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, a sense of safety.”
More than food on the table
The dining club is not just about eating – members mix in social activities like yoga and karaoke. Most of the restaurants in the Altadena Dining Club aren’t fine dining establishments – think a burger joint, a family-run Greek spot, and a Thai restaurant with a view of cleared lots across the street.Eating out in Altadena means confronting the fire’s toll.
Before and after disasters, we need to rethink who can be voices of authority, Mays said. Groups like the dining club should be listened to and relied upon as models to guide other recovery efforts.
at the dining club, conversations almost always start out fire-related, said Lohman-Janz, 37. But then it goes deeper, especially as people keep coming back to the weekly events. Sometimes food drifts to tables slowly. but at this dining club, the food is the point – and not the point at the same time.