The Doors’ hit “Light My Fire” was written in a home that burned down in Pacific Palisades

In 1967, Robby Krieger, guitarist for the legendary Los Angeles band The Doors, wrote the hit single “Light My Fire” in the living room of his parents’ Pacific Palisades home. This week – nearly sixty years later – the lyrics take on an eerie, unsettling resonance as the fabric of the music’s origins is burned away.

The home on Alma Real Drive has been owned by Claudio and Kathleen Boltiansky for the past 24 years. The couple gained access to their street in Huntington Palisades on Thursday after each hauling a 60-pound e-bike up the locally famous “secret staircase” of Hillside Vance.

Two days ago, when the devastating wildfire first broke out, Claudio installed a security camera in his backyard to monitor the fire. When the power was out Tuesday night, he saw nearby homes appearing to be engulfed in flames. Still, the Argentinian immigrant, who owns a fine French antiques shop in West Adams, remains hopeful.

It’s not just the location where The Doors’ famous songs were written. Claudio, 61, often entertains his friends here, participating in bimonthly poker games with $60 prizes. His son and daughter used to catch the school bus there. Mantles hang throughout the house, and vintage photos of Catherine’s grandparents from their engagement day are proudly displayed.

Now it’s gone. “Losing our house is one thing, but the biggest loss we feel is our entire community,” said Catherine, 56, an interior designer. “It will never be the same.”

The Boltianskis, who have struggled to come to terms with their new reality, said they are frustrated by the widespread perception that the Palisades is an affluent community.

“The misconception people have about Palisades is they think everyone is rich,” Claudio said. “People should know that this is not Beverly Hills, which has always been expensive. Before the 2000s, the Palisades was as affordable a neighborhood as anywhere in Los Angeles.

“The people who have worked there for 20 to 30 years are hard-working people – plumbers, electricians, small business owners. Yes, rich people live there, but hard-working, real people live there too, and they’re very Luck bought the house at the right time and rode it all the way to Ben Affleck, who moved into the neighborhood.

On Monday, Claudio organized a lunch in Fogo de Chão with 19 other men he met through poker games, most of whom had also lost their homes. Most of them became friends when their children were in preschool. “We need community right now – not money. People need to know that other people care about them and are suffering with them.

In a few years, he hopes to start hosting low-risk gambling parties at his rebuilt home in Alma Real. He and Catherine were unwavering about it—they would be back.

“We will rebuild it as our forever home,” she said. “But Ballychan is about community, and community isn’t the houses or the shops. It’s the people. We pray it will come back.