Fair Oaks Burger’s survival in Altadena is chronicled in short film: ‘Light on a Hill’

When the Eaton fire struck Altadena on Jan. 7, 2025, filmmaker Myles Matsuno’s first instinct was to grab his phone and his camera and just begin documenting everything.

But he didn’t think about making a film until he arrived at Fair Oaks Burger, a lone restaurant amidst desolation, rubble and charred lots.

• Also see: Sisters keep serving at their humble Altadena burger spot, which survived the Eaton fire

It was through helping out with distribution events at the restaurant over the summer that Matsuno – who lived in Altadena for a decade, just blocks away from Fair Oaks Burger — found a story there, and not just one that began after the Eaton fire.

“Light on a Hill,” a 30-minute documentary of Altadena’s Fair Oaks Burger, made its premiere Thursday evening at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

“I kind of wanted to make the fire a secondary character, in a sense,” Matsuno said.

The film also chronicles the history of the Lee family, which opened the restaurant in the late 1980s. Immigrants from Korea, Jung Ja Lee and K. Sun Lee were “restaurant flippers,” who bought restaurants and turned them into more profitable businesses.

• Also see: ‘Here for a reason’: A popular Altadena burger spot spared in Eaton fire reopens

The lot that Fair Oaks Burger occupies was once a White Castle. After various ownership changes throughout the years, the Lee daughters, Christy and Janet, decided to own and run the restaurant.

Since opening in Altadena, it’s become akin to “the neighborhood Cheers bar,” Janet described, serving generations of Altadena families, like Matsuno’s.

“It was a place that my wife and I, before we had our two boys, would go to often,” Matsuno said. “They were so welcoming to my family and especially my youngest, Koa, where they would always give them cookies or let them play with the gumball machines.”

After the fires, Fair Oaks Burger continued to hold the same purpose in serving the community.

The restaurant, in effect, became a “light on the hill,” a central distribution hub for fire recovery, rebuilding and community outreach efforts, especially in West Altadena, where much of the destruction occurred.

It’s hosted a free, weekly farmer’s market, served as the stage for rallies urging equitable rebuilding, fed hundreds of Altadena residents who mourned the lives lost on the one year-anniversary of the fire, and countless other acts.

• Also see: Fair Oaks Burger was a place to ‘come for food, stay for friends.’ Then, it survived the Eaton fire

On any given day’s lunch hour, there are the sisters, busy in a bustline kitchen of staffers cooking up everything from burgers to rice bowls.

“I want…filmmakers making other films in Altadena and the Palisades to continue telling these stories and championing these people that are doing good in the community,” Matsuno said. “I want people to understand that yes, this happened, but this also happened… you saw a community come together in a way that was super special at that time.”