When a long-standing Altadena sorority group was suddenly denied space to meet at the Altadena Community Center, that prompted Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger to put another county department in charge.
Now, the center is being re-imagined, with hopes that it can better live up to its name.
The county’s Aging & Disabilities Department, which ran the community center for several years, as well as the Altadena Senior Center, was replaced by the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA). The new department took over on Jan. 1, 2025, six days before the Eaton fire tore through the unincorporated county community, wiping out more than 9,000 structures and damaging 1,000 more.
Barger cited mismanagement by the Aging and Disabilities department, saying they went rogue denying vested Altadena groups access by using technicalities, such as the group was not a registered nonprofit or did not have insurance, sources said.
“A couple of nonprofits and a couple sorority groups were told they could no longer meet there. I said ‘wait a minute, they were meeting there before I was supervisor. They were being disenfranchised,’” explained Barger in an interview on Aug. 19.
“They (Aging & Disabilities Department) were not being sensitive to the community needs,” she said. “People were interpreting the rules without reaching out to us or the community.”
Altadena historian and Altadena Heritage member Michele Zack, who helped refurbish the grave of abolitionist Owen Brown on a hilltop in Altadena, said the Owen Brown Committee was denied use of the facility because it wasn’t registered in the tax code as a 501C3 group and didn’t have insurance. It later got permission from Altadena Heritage to meet there once a month, she said, calling it a work around.
“There was tension over the use of the Altadena Community Center,” she said.
Since the county DCBA took over from Aging & Disabilities, many of the Altadena groups that had offices there have moved out, she said. The Altadena NAACP kept a desk there, Zack said, adding that the county has been using up most of the space. “It’s basically a county facility now,” she said.
Recently, Laura Trejo, the director of the Aging & Disabilities Department, announced she is leaving. Her last day is Sept. 2. The Board of Supervisors is searching for a new director.
Plans to open up the space for community groups got sidetracked by the fire, which damaged but did not destroy the building at 730 E. Altadena Drive, near the Altadena Sheriff’s Station. After cleaning out the ash and smoke, the Altadena Community Center re-opened, with an urgent focus on assisting fire victims.
Today, DCBA occupies the space and has brought in other organizations, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and CalOES (Office of Emergency Services). “We are starting to expand use of the community room, with a priority for events/meetings involving community support and disaster recovery,” said Kevin Chavez, DCBA spokesman in an emailed response.
Recovery and rebuilding are the foundation for the kinds of programs the community center will offer in the future, said Barger. Still, the DCBA is taking the temperature of the community by asking Altadenans to fill out a survey to inform the county’s next steps.
The survey is available in English and Spanish by going to the website: dcba.lacounty.gov/Altadena-center/. It asks to rank support for housing, mental health, legal or childcare services, for example. The survey asks to choose what kinds of programs they’d prefer, from yoga to Zumba classes to job training and computer learning.
Though DCBA would not address the reason why they were put in charge, Barger said that department is doing a better job running the community center than the previous department.
“They’ll be re-imagining the space, which doesn’t align with community needs,” she said. “It’s about defining services, programs and operations that matter most to the community. We want this to be community-driven.”
Recently, the Altadena Town Council went back into the Community Center’s auditorium where it held its first in-person meeting since the Eaton fire.
“It is a critical building for the community. We have had lots of community meetings there,” said Connor Cipolla, a member of the Altadena Town Council.
Barger said public space for groups, meetings and activities has become more of an issue since the Eaton fire destroyed the senior center, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center which hosted many nonprofit group meetings and get-togethers, and the William D. Davies Memorial Building in Farnsworth Park.
“Public space is limited in Altadena,” she said.
Barger suggests DCBA make room for nonprofits as well as mental health counseling. She also wants programs on emergency preparedness, especially since many Altadena residents did not get advance warning of the fire that started on Jan. 7 and continued into the morning of Jan. 8.
The Eaton fire killed 19 people, while the Palisades fire that same night took the lives of 12 people.
“We want to find out how best people can be prepared in an emergency,” she said. “And we are also putting together a registry (of elderly people) for the community.”
She hopes the survey will indicate what groups and programs can return to the community center building. “So we can develop programs that are laser focused on the needs of Altadena,” Barger said.