The former Western District Pavilion is now used as a disaster recovery center
In a series of surreal images from the past few days, few have been stranger than this: the Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Recovery Center for Los Angeles fire victims inside the former West Side Pavilion.
In the rubble of what was once Los Angeles’ premier shopping mall, save for the escalators and signs of a now-abandoned movie theater, dozens of government agencies gathered to provide firefighting assistance.
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration unveiled the city’s Disaster Recovery Center on Tuesday at the UCLA Research Campus, formerly known as the West Side Pavilion.
“It’s a one-stop shop,” Bass said of the center’s services for fire victims.
More than 70 government agencies and departments have set up booths in a huge area in the former shopping center at the corner of Pico and Westwood avenues.
Representatives from local, state and federal agencies will assist with a variety of tasks, including requesting new birth certificates, applying for disaster loans and shutting off power and water service to now-destroyed homes.
The site is one of two FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers in the area, the other being at the Pasadena City College Community Education Center, 3035 E. Foothill Blvd.
The University of California purchased the property last year and is currently developing it to convert its commercial space into a research facility. When completed, it will house programs including UCLA’s California Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.
The approximately 700,000-square-foot site is located two miles from UCLA’s main Westwood campus. The mall closed in 2019, and before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Google had signed a lease for the site and had ambitious plans for a new campus.
Space on the property has been donated to UCLA for use. FEMA will temporarily operate recovery centers to provide assistance to fire victims and evacuees with document recovery, insurance claims, federal assistance, social services, mental health and other needs.
The center is located at 10850 Pico Blvd. It operates from 9am to 8pm, 7 days a week, for several weeks.
